April 2


April 2 is the 92th day of the year (93th in leap years) in the Gregorian
calendar, with 273 days remaining.

Events

   * 1513 - Juan Ponce de Leon sets foot on Florida becoming the first known
     European to do so.
   * 1792 - The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
   * 1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the
     Danish fleet.
   * 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and
     most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
   * 1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first movie theater in the United States
     , opens in Los Angeles, California.
   * 1917 - President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war
     on Germany.
   * 1982 - Falklands War: Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland
     Islands starting the war.
   * 1992 - In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and
     racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
   * 1993 - Doom alpha version 0.4 is finished.
   * 2002 - Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in
     Bethlehem which has around 200 Palestinians inside. A siege ensues.

Births

   * 742 - Charlemagne, King of the Franks (+ 814)
   * 1725 - Casanova, adventurer and writer (+ 1798)
   * 1798 - August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, lyricist (+ 1874,
     writer of "Das Lied der Deutschen")
   * 1805 - Hans Christian Andersen, writer (+ 1875)
   * 1834 - FrŽdŽric Bartholdi, sculptor (+ 1904)
   * 1840 - Emile Zola, novelist and critic (+ 1902)
   * 1867 - Eugene Sandow, body builder, circus performer (+ 1925)
   * 1875 - Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer (+ 1940)
   * 1891 - Max Ernst, painter (+ 1976)
   * 1908 - Buddy Ebsen, actor, dancer
   * 1914 - Sir Alec Guinness, actor (+ 2000)
   * 1920 - Jack Webb, actor, director, producer (+ 1982)
   * 1925 - Hans Rosenthal, showmaster (+ 1987)
   * 1925 - George MacDonald Fraser, author
   * 1928 - Serge Gainsbourg, singer (+ 1991)
   * 1934 - Brian Glover, British actor, wrestler (+ 1997)
   * 1934 - Paul Joseph Cohen, mathematician.
   * 1939 - Marvin Gaye, singer (+ 1984)
   * 1940 - Penelope Keith, actress
   * 1947 - Camille Paglia, feminist writer
   * 1947 - Emmylou Harris, singer

Deaths

   * 1502 - Prince Arthur Tudor, elder brother of Henry VIII of England
   * 1865 - General A.P. Hill, Confederate commander
   * 1872 - Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse code (1791)
   * 1922 - Hermann Rorschach, psychologist (1884)
   * 1966 - C.S. Forester, author
   * 1974 - Georges Pompidou, President of France
   * 1987 - Buddy Rich, drummer
   * 1994 - Betty Furness, author
   * 2003 - Edwin Starr, singer