April 26

Events

Pre-1600

* 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
* 1478 – The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.
* 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown).

1601–1900

* 1607 – The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry.
* 1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
*1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rode to alert American colonial forces to the approach of British regular forces
*1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
* 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
*1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.
* 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.
*1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
*1900 – Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home.

1901–present

* 1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded.
* 1915 – World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to join the Allied Powers.
* 1916 – Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge.
* 1920 – Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12–1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match.
*1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
*1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
*1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring.
* 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria.
*1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1,549 Chinese miners dead.
*1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
*1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
* 1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
*1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
* 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army liberate Baguio as they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
*1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
* 1954 – The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.
*1956 – , the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
* 1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's ''Royal Blue'' from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
* 1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.
*1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
* 1962 – The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1.
*1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity ( Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
*1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
*1966 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (''Very strong''). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
* 1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
*1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
*1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
* 1986 – The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
*1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
* 1989 – ''People's Daily'' publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
*1991 – Fifty-five tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado.
*1993 – The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' is launched on mission STS-55 to conduct experiments aboard the Spacelab module.
*1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
* 1994 – South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.
*2002 – Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before committing suicide.
*2005 – Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
*2015 – Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97.7% of the vote, one of the biggest vote shares in Kazakhstan's history.
*2025 – A car ramming attack at a Lapu-Lapu Day festival kills 11 people and injures at least 30 in Vancouver, Canada.

Births

Pre-1600

* 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (died 180)
* 757 – Hisham I of Córdoba (died 796)
* 764 – Al-Hadi, Abbasid caliph (died 786)
* 1284 – Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (died 1324)
* 1319 – John II of France (died 1364)
* 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and academic (died 1600)
* 1575 – Marie de' Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (died 1642)

1601–1900

*1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and politician (died 1720)
* 1648 – Peter II of Portugal (died 1706)
*1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (died 1754)
* 1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (died 1796)
* 1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (died 1802)
* 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (died 1853)
*1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of France (died 1866)
* 1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (died 1851)
* 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (died 1862)
*1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (died 1863)
* 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (died 1889)
*1804 – Charles Goodyear, American banker, lawyer, and politician (died 1876)
*1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (died 1903)
* 1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (died 1867)
*1856 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1930)
*1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and educator (died 1938)
*1865 – Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Finnish artist (died 1931)
*1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (died 1959)
*1877 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (died 1950)
*1878 – Rafael Guízar y Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (died 1938)
* 1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (died 1917)
* 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959)
*1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer-songwriter (died 1939)
* 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet and publicist (died 1913)
* 1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 1981)
* 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (died 1951)
* 1894 – Rudolf Hess, German politician and Deputy Führer in Nazi regime until 1941 (died 1987)
* 1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (died 1967)
* 1896 – Ernst Udet, leading German fighter pilot in World War I and Chief of Procurement and Supply in the Luftwaffe (died 1941)
*1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (died 1967)
* 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (died 1987)
*1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984)
* 1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (died 1972)
*1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian-English saxophonist and bandleader (died 1958)
*1900 – Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder and calligrapher (died 1969)
* 1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (died 1985)
* 1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (died 1948)

1901–present

* 1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (died 1991)
* 1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, 177th Prime Minister of Greece (died 2004)
* 1905 – Jean Vigo, French director and screenwriter (died 1934)
*1907 – Ilias Tsirimokos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1968)
* 1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (died 2002)
* 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (died 1997)
*1911 – Paul Verner, German soldier and politician (died 1986)
*1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (died 2000)
*1914 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (died 1986)
* 1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer (died 1996)
* 1916 – Eyvind Earle, American artist, author, and illustrator (died 2000)
* 1916 – Ken Wallis, English commander, engineer, and pilot (died 2013)
* 1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (died 1999)
*1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player and coach (died 1992)
* 1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower (died 2019)
* 1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (died 2013)
*1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch sprinter and long jumper (died 2004)
*1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (died 2008)
* 1922 – J. C. Holt, English historian and academic (died 2014)
* 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, Governor General of Canada (died 1993)
* 1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer (died 2019)
* 1924 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (died 1998)
*1925 – Vladimir Boltyansky, Russian mathematician, educator and author (died 2019)
* 1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013)
* 1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (died 2015)
* 1925 – Frank Hahn, British economist (died 2013)
*1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (died 2003)
*1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (died 2008)
* 1927 – Anne McLaren, British scientist (died 2007)
* 1927 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (died 2015)
* 1927 – Granny Hamner, American baseball player (died 1993)
* 1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (died 2002)
* 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner and sportscaster
* 1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2015)
* 1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (died 2008)
* 1931 – John Cain Jr., Australian politician, 41st Premier of Victoria (died 2019)
*1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (died 2010)
* 1932 – Shirley Cawley, English long jumper
* 1932 – Frank D'Rone, American singer and guitarist (died 2013)
* 1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer (died 2018)
* 1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2000)
*1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
* 1933 – Al McCoy, American sports announcer (died 2024)
* 1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican-American general (died 2005)
* 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024)
* 1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French racing driver and motorcycle racer (died 2015)
*1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2024)
* 1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
*1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
* 1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby league player (died 2018)
* 1940 – Tan Cheng Bock, Singaporean doctor and politician
*1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress (died 2019)
*1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (died 2014)
* 1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
* 1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
* 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor (died 2022)
* 1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic (died 2024)
*1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (died 2023)
* 1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and academic, designed the Therme Vals
*1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (died 2007)
*1945 – Richard Armitage, American diplomat and government official (died 2025)
*1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer (died 2016)
* 1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian racing driver
* 1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
*1946 – Ralph Coates, English international footballer (died 2010)
* 1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
* 1946 – Alberto Quintano, Chilean footballer
*1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
* 1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (died 1995)
*1950 – Junko Ohashi, Japanese singer (died 2023)
*1951 – John Battle, English politician
*1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
* 1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
* 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
*1956 – Koo Stark, American actress and photographer
* 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish racing driver (died 2021)
* 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
* 1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
*1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
* 1959 – Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rican politician
* 1960 – H. G. Carrillo, American writer and academic (died 2020)
* 1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
* 1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer
* 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
* 1961 – Chris Mars, American artist
*1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
* 1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
*1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
* 1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
* 1963 – Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
* 1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
*1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
* 1965 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
*1967 – Glenn Thomas Jacobs, American professional wrestler, actor, businessman and politician
* 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress and singer-songwriter
* 1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
*1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
* 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 47th First Lady of the United States
* 1970 – Kristen R. Ghodsee, American ethnographer and academic
* 1970 – Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
* 1971 – Naoki Tanaka, Japanese comedian and actor
*1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
*1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian racing driver
* 1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
* 1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
* 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
*1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
* 1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
* 1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
* 1973 – Óscar, Spanish footballer and coach
*1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician and songwriter (died 2021)
* 1975 – Rahul Verma, Indian social worker and activist
*1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
*1977 – Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut
* 1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
* 1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist and author
* 1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
*1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
* 1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
*1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
* 1980 – Marlon King, English footballer
* 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress and journalist
* 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor and producer
*1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch pop and jazz singer
* 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English rapper and producer
* 1981 – Sandra Schmitt, German skier (died 2000)
* 1982 – Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
*1983 – José María López, Argentinian racing driver
* 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American soldier
*1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
* 1986 – Lior Refaelov, Israeli footballer
* 1986 – Yuliya Zaripova, Russian runner
*1987 – Jorge Andújar Moreno, Spanish footballer
*1989 – Melvin Ingram, American football player
* 1989 – Kang Daesung, South Korean singer
*1990 – Jonathan dos Santos, Mexican footballer
* 1990 – Mitch Rein, Australian rugby league player
* 1990 – Nevin Spence, Northern Irish rugby player (died 2012)
* 1990 – Joey Wendle, American baseball player
* 1991 – Peter Handscomb, Australian cricketer
* 1991 – Isaac Liu, New Zealand rugby league player
*1992 – Aaron Judge, American baseball player
* 1992 – Delon Wright, American basketball player
*1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian racing driver
* 1994 – Odysseas Vlachodimos, Greek international footballer
*1996 – Jordan Pefok, American footballer
*1997 – Max Hechtman, American filmmaker, video editor and videographer
* 1997 – Kirill Kaprizov, Russian ice hockey player
* 1997 – Amber Midthunder, American actress
* 1997 – Calvin Verdonk, Indonesian footballer
*2001 – Thiago Almada, Argentine footballer
*2005 – Alex Sarr, French basketball player

Deaths

Pre-1600

* 499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (born 467)
* 645 – Richarius, Frankish monk and saint (born 560)
* 680 – Mu'awiya I, Umayyad caliph (born 602)
* 757 – Pope Stephen II (born 715)
* 893 – Chen Jingxuan, general of the Tang Dynasty
* 962 – Adalbero I, bishop of Metz
* 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (born 1127)
* 1366 – Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury
* 1392 – Chŏng Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (born 1338)
* 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (born 1378)
* 1478 – Giuliano de' Medici, Italian ruler (born 1453)
* 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shōgun (born 1465)
* 1558 – Jean Fernel, French physician (born 1497)

1601–1900

*1686 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (born 1622)
* 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1651)
* 1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish nun and educator, founded the Presentation Sisters (born 1718)
*1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian general (born 1721)
*1809 – Bernhard Schott, German music publisher (born 1748)
*1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (born 1838)
* 1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (born 1815)
* 1895 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian-English author and poet (born 1860)

1901–present

* 1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1832)
* 1915 – John Bunny, American actor (born 1863)
* 1915 – Ida Hunt Udall, American diarist (born 1858)
* 1916 – Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Portuguese poet and writer (born 1890)
* 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (born 1887)
*1932 – William Lockwood, English cricketer (born 1868)
*1934 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (born 1876)
* 1934 – Konstantin Vaginov, Russian poet and novelist (born 1899)
*1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)
*1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (born 1893)
*1945 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (born 1909)
* 1945 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (born 1871)
*1946 – James Larkin White, American miner, explorer, and park ranger (born 1882)
*1950 – George Murray Hulbert, American lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1881)
*1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (born 1868)
*1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (born 1890)
*1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (born 1868)
*1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and author (born 1882)
*1968 – John Heartfield, German illustrator and photographer (born 1891)
* 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founded aikido (born 1883)
*1970 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister and author (born 1886)
* 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, striptease dancer, and writer (born 1911)
*1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress and philanthropist (born 1902)
*1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (born 1903)
* 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (born 1913)
* 1976 – Armstrong Sperry, American author and illustrator (born 1897)
*1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer (born 1893)
*1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (born 1909)
*1984 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1904)
* 1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (born 1911)
* 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (born 1898)
* 1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (born 1899)
*1987 – Shankar, Indian composer and conductor (born 1922)
* 1987 – John Silkin, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (born 1923)
*1989 – Lucille Ball, American model, actress, comedian, and producer (born 1911)
*1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer and conductor (born 1904)
* 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (born 1910)
* 1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist and historian, (born 1901)
* 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (born 1931)
*1994 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese martial artist, founded Kyokushin kaikan (born 1923)
*1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (born 1918)
*1999 – Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1957)
* 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (born 1961)
*2003 – Rosemary Brown, Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (born 1930)
* 2003 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (born 1984)
* 2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (born 1904)
*2004 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author, poet, and screenwriter (born 1928)
*2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (born 1919)
* 2005 – Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1925)
* 2005 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (born 1926)
* 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (born 1917)
*2007 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (born 1921)
*2008 – Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (born 1938)
*2009 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (born 1920)
*2010 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian graphic designer and academic (born 1930)
* 2010 – Urs Felber, Swiss engineer and businessman (born 1942)
*2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)
*2012 – Terence Spinks, English boxer and trainer (born 1938)
*2013 – Jacqueline Brookes, American actress and educator (born 1930)
* 2013 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1931)
* 2013 – Earl Silverman, Canadian men's rights advocate (born 1948)
*2014 – Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (born 1936)
* 2014 – Paul Robeson, Jr., American historian and author (born 1927)
* 2014 – DJ Rashad, American electronic musician, producer and DJ (born 1979)
*2015 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (born 1919)
* 2015 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1930)
*2016 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (born 1937)
*2017 – Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (born 1944)
*2022 – Klaus Schulze, German composer and musician (born 1947)
*2023 – Jerry Apodaca, American politician, 24th Governor of New Mexico (born 1934)
* 2023 – Tangaraju Suppiah, Singaporean drug trafficker (born 1977)

Holidays and observances

*Chernobyl disaster related observances:
** Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
** Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes (Russia)
*Christian feast day:
** Aldobrandesca (or Alda)
** Franca Visalta
** Lucidius of Verona
** Our Lady of Good Counsel
**Pope Anacletus and Marcellinus
** Rafael Arnáiz Barón
** Riquier
** Paschasius Radbertus
** Peter of Rates (or of Braga)
** Robert Hunt ( Episcopal Church (USA))
** Stephen of Perm, see also Old Permic Alphabet Day
** Trudpert
** April 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
* Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, United States)
* Union Day (Tanzania)
* World Intellectual Property Day

References

External links

BBC: On This Day
*

Historical Events on April 26

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Days of April