April 28

Events

Pre-1600

* 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire.
* 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
* 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
*1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds ''Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō'' for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
*1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu.
* 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.

1601–1900

*1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
*1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.
* 1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.
*1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
*1789 – Mutiny on the ''Bounty'': Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
*1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.
*1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.
* 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
*1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
*1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
*1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.

1901–present

*1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom.
* 1920 – The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.
*1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
*1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
* 1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.
*1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
*1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
* 1945 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp.
* 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the ''Kon-Tiki'' to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
* 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, ''Orpheus'' at the New York City Center.
* 1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is ''en route'' to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.
*1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election.
* 1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.
* 1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
* 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
*1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
*1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
*1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
*1973 – ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US ''Billboard'' chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
*1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.
*1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
* 1978 – The President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
* 1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
*1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
*1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
* 1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
* 1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.
* 2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.

Births

Pre-1600

* AD 32 – Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
*1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (d. 1472)
*1442 – Edward IV, king of England (d. 1483)
*1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (d. 1598)
* 1573 – Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (d. 1650)

1601–1900

*1604 – Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (d. 1662)
*1623 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (d. 1707)
*1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet and author (d. 1687)
*1676 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (d. 1751)
*1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1767)
* 1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
*1761 – Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
* 1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
*1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (d. 1884)
*1827 – William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1904)
* 1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
*1848 – Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1909)
*1854 – Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (d. 1923)
*1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
*1863 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1933)
* 1863 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (d. 1929)
* 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (d. 1940)
*1868 – Lucy Booth, English composer (d. 1953)
* 1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1908)
* 1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
* 1874 – Sidney Toler, American actor and director (d. 1947)
*1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1938)
*1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954)
*1886 – Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (d. 1944)
* 1886 – Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
*1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (d. 1918)
*1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1970)
*1896 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (d. 1948)
* 1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (d. 1963)
*1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People's Republic of China (d. 1986)
*1900 – Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)
* 1900 – Heinrich Müller, German SS officer (d. 1945)
* 1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1992)

1901–present

*1901 – H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (d. 1973)
*1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (d. 1979)
*1906 – Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1978)
* 1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (d. 1999)
* 1908 – Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (d. 1987)
* 1908 – Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (d. 1981)
* 1908 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (d. 1974)
*1909 – Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (d. 1988)
*1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (d. 1996)
*1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
* 1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
* 1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
*1913 – Rose Murphy, American singer (d. 1989)
*1914 – Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (d. 2011)
*1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
*1917 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
* 1921 – Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
* 1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (d. 2012)
*1923 – Carolyn Cassady, American author (d. 2013)
* 1923 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
*1924 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
* 1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
* 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (d. 2021)
*1925 – T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1996)
* 1925 – John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic
*1926 – James Bama, American artist and illustrator
* 1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (d. 2011)
* 1926 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)
* 1926 – Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (d. 1991)
*1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
* 1928 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (d. 1997)
*1930 – James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State
* 1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
* 1933 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (d. 2014)
*1934 – Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (d. 2016)
* 1935 – Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player
* 1935 – Jimmy Wray, Scottish boxer and politician (d. 2013)
*1936 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
* 1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
* 1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
* 1937 – John White, Scottish international footballer (d. 1964)
* 1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995)
* 1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
* 1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
* 1941 – John Madejski, English businessman and academic
* 1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
* 1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (d. 2013)
*1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
*1943 – Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician
*1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer
* 1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of Wallonia
* 1944 – Alice Waters, American chef and author
* 1946 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (d. 2015)
* 1946 – Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
* 1946 – Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist
* 1947 – Christian Jacq, French historian and author
* 1947 – Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
* 1947 – Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist
* 1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
* 1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
* 1949 – Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge
* 1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
* 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (d. 2006)
*1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican-American trombonist and producer
* 1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
* 1950 – Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster
*1951 – Tim Congdon, English economist and politician
* 1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
*1952 – Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
* 1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
*1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (d. 2003)
* 1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
* 1953 – Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (d. 2013)
* 1954 – Timothy Curley, American educator
* 1954 – Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
* 1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality
* 1954 – Ron Zook, American football player and coach
* 1955 – Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator (d. 2020)
* 1955 – Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist
* 1955 – Dieter Rubach, German bass player
*1956 – Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
*1957 – Wilma Landkroon, Dutch singer
*1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
*1960 – Tom Browning, American baseball player
* 1960 – Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
* 1960 – Phil King, English bass player
* 1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish author
* 1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (d. 1993)
* 1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager
*1963 – Sandrine Dumas, French actress, director, and screenwriter
* 1963 – Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach
* 1963 – Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic
*1964 – Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer
* 1964 – Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer
* 1964 – Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic
* 1964 – Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
* 1964 – L'Wren Scott

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