What Happened in April 1926

Historical Events

Liquid-Fueled Rocket

Apr 3 Second flight of a liquid-fueled rocket by Robert Goddard

Apr 4 Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos elected president
Apr 6 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Maroons beat Victoria Cougars (WHL), 2-0 for a 3-1 series victory
Apr 7 Forest fire burns 900 acres & kills 2 (San Luis Obispo California)

Attempt on Mussolini

Apr 7 Mussolini is shot at 3 times by Violet Gibson in Rome, she only hits him once in the nose

Apr 11 Flemish Economic Covenant (VEV) forms in Ghent

The Pleasure Garden

Apr 12 Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film as director "The Pleasure Garden", in England; the silent drama was made in Germany

Apr 12 Dutch Catholic Radio Broadcast (KRO) forms

Johnson's 7th Shutout

Apr 13 At 38, Walter Johnson pitches his 7th opening day shutout

Apr 13 Cyclists without bicycle-tax-stamp rounded up in Amsterdam

Lady, Be Good!

Apr 14 George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin's 1st collaborative musical "Lady, Be Good!", featuring siblings Fred Astaire and Adelle Astaire as a brother and sister dance team, opens at Empire Theatre, London's West End; runs for 326 performances

Apr 15 Sesquicentennial Stadium opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; renamed Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, later renamed JFK Stadium (demolished 1992); played host to Tunney-Demspy fight (1926); 41 Army-Navy football games; professional football; and many concerts, including the US portion of Live-Aid (1985)
Apr 16 Book of the Month Club sends out its 1st selections "Lolly Willowes" & "Loving Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Apr 18 Rhein Stadium opens in Dusseldorf, Germany
Apr 19 30th Boston Marathon won by Canadian Johnny Miles in 2:25:40.4
Apr 20 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across Atlantic
Apr 22 Persia, Turkey & Afghanistan sign treaties of security

Turandot

Apr 25 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot" premieres in Milan

Apr 25 Persian cossack officer Reza Chan crowns himself Shah Palawi
Apr 26 Germany & Russia sign neutrality peace treaty
Apr 26 Karachai Autonomous Region forms in RSFSR (until 1943)

Ott's First Appearance

Apr 27 In the Giants' 9-8 win over Phillies, Mel Ott, 17, 1st appearance

Apr 29 France and US reach accord on repayment of WW I

Events in 1926

Famous Birthdays

Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)

Apr 1 American sci-fi author (Dragonflight, Dragondrums), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Apr 1 Charles Bressler, American tenor, specializing in early music (New York Pro Musica, 1953-63), and educator, born in Kingston, Pennsylvania (d. 1996)
Apr 1 Denis Lalanne, French sports journalist ('Le grand combat du XV de France'; 'Rugbymania: French flair attitude'), born in Pau, France (d. 2019)
Apr 1 Lyndon Brook, British actor (Invasion, Reach for the Sky), born in York, England (d. 2004)
Apr 2 David Mason, British orchestral, solo and session trumpet player (The Beatles - "Penny Lane"), born in London, England (d. 2011)
Apr 2 Jack Brabham, Australian auto racer and team owner (World F1 champion 1959, 60, 66 [only man to win F1 C'ship driving one of his own cars]), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2014)
Apr 2 Michael Rizzello, English sculptor and coin designer, born in London (d. 2004)
Apr 3 Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager and coach, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2019)
Apr 3 Andrew Keir, Scottish character actor (Rob Roy, Absolution, Blood Hunt, Catholics), born in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1997)
Apr 3 Virgil Grissom, US Air Force test pilot and NASA astronaut (Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1), born in Mitchell, Indiana (d. 1967)
Apr 5 Roger Corman, American producer and director (Little Shop of Horrors), born in Detroit, Michigan
Apr 6 Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)

Ian Paisley (1926-2014)

Apr 6 First Minister of Northern Ireland (Democratic Unionist Party: 2007-08), loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader, born in Armagh, Northern Ireland

Apr 7 Jon van Rood, Dutch immunologist (Eurotransplant), born in Scheveningen, Netherlands (d. 2017) [1]
Apr 8 Henry N. Cobb, American architect (Pei Cobb Freed & Partners), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2020)
Apr 8 Jürgen Moltmann, German Reformed theologian, born in Hamburg, Germany
Apr 9 Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish politician (Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party), born in Beechmount, Belfast, Northern Ireland (d. 2005)
Apr 9 Graham Hills, English physical scientist and principal (Strathclyde University, England), born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex (d. 2014)
Apr 9 Harris Wofford, American politician (Sen-D-Pennsylvania 1991-94), head of AmeriCorps, born in New York City (d. 2019)

Hugh Hefner (1926-2017)

Apr 9 American magazine publisher and businessman (Playboy), born in Chicago, Illinois

Apr 9 Michael Ogden, British barrister (Ogden Tables), born in London (d. 2003)
Apr 10 Jacques Castérède, French composer and pianist (Pandora's Box), born in Paris (d. 2014)
Apr 10 Johnnie Tillmon, civil rights activist (National Welfare Rights Association), born in Scott, Arkansas (d. 1995)
Apr 10 Junior Samples, American comedian and country singer (Hee Haw), born in Cumming, Georgia (d. 1983)
Apr 11 Gervase de Peyer, British clarinetist, born in London (d. 2017)
Apr 11 Robert Hall Lewis, American composer, born in Portland, Oregon (d. 1996)
Apr 11 Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer, born in Quebec City, Canada (d. 2011)
Apr 12 James Hillman, American psychologist, and educator (C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich), born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2011)
Apr 12 Jane Withers, American film child star (Bright Eyes; Ginger), character actress (Giant), and commercial spokesperson (Josephine the Plumber), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2021)
Apr 13 John Spencer-Churchill, 11th duke of Marlborough, English large landowner, born in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England (d. 2014)
Apr 14 Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author, born in Hastings, New Zealand (d. 2013)
Apr 14 Frank Daniel, Czech-American screenwriter, director and teacher, born in Kolín, Czechoslovakia (d. 1996)
Apr 14 Gloria Jean [Schoonover], American actress (Never Give a Sucker an Even Break), and singer, born in Buffalo, New York (d. 2018)
Apr 14 Jan Maegaard, Danish composer and musicologist (Triptykon), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 2012)
Apr 14 Liz Renay [Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins], American actress (Desperate Living), born in Chandler, Arizona (d. 2007)
Apr 16 Barbara Tizard, British educator and author, born in London (d. 2015)
Apr 17 Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player, born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (d. 2004)
Apr 17 Ronald Senator, British composer (Holocaust Requiem), and educator (Musicolor), born In London (d. 2015)
Apr 18 Doug Insole, English cricketer (England batsman of the 50's, nine Tests), born in Clapton, London (d. 2017)
Apr 18 Günter Meisner, German actor (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Between Wars, Adolf Hitler, Quiller Memorandum), born in Bremen, Weimar Republic (d. 1994)
Apr 18 Jimmy Rowser, American jazz double-bassist (Dinah Washington; Ray Bryant; Les McCann), and teacher, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2004)
Apr 19 Kim Bok-dong, Korean sex slave activist, born in Yangsan, Korea (d. 2019)
Apr 20 Harriet Elizabeth Byrd, American politician, Member of the Wyoming House of Representatives (1998-88), born in Cheyenne, Wyoming (d. 2015)
Apr 21 Arthur Rowley, English soccer forward (most goals in English league football, 434 from 619 games; Leicester City, Shrewsbury Town), born in Wolverhampton, England (d. 2002)

Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

Apr 21 Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (country's longest reigning monarch 1952-2022), born in London

Apr 21 Herbert Schlosser, American television executive (NBC - hired Johnny Carson; championed Laugh-In; conceptualized Saturday Night Live), born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2021)
Apr 22 Charlotte Rae, American character actress, (Facts Of Life - "Edna"), comedian, singer and dancer, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2018)
Apr 22 James Stirling, Scottish architect, born in Glasgow (d. 1992)
Apr 23 J. P. Donleavy, American novelist (Ginger Man, Onion Eaters), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2017)
Apr 24 Marilyn Erskine, American actress (Tom Ewell Show, Westward the Women), born in Rochester, New York
Apr 24 Thorbjorn Falldin, Swedish politician, Prime Minister (1976-78, 79-82) and sheep farmer, born in Hogsjo (d. 2016)
Apr 25 Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (Social Democratic Party of Austria), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2008)
Apr 25 Paul Walter Fürst, Austrian musician and composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2013)
Apr 26 David Coleman, British sports commentator (BBC 1954-2000), born in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England (d. 2013)
Apr 26 Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator, born in Amberg, Bavaria (d. 2003)
Apr 26 Oldřich František Korte, Czech pianist, composer, and writer, born in Šaľa, Slovakia (d. 2014)
Apr 26 Preston Robert Tisch, American businessman (co-founder of Loews Corp), and NFL co-owner (NY Giants, 1991-2005), born in New York City (d. 2005)
Apr 27 Ernest McCulloch, Canadian stem cell research pioneer, born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2011)
Apr 28 Francis Burt, British composer, born in London (d. 2012)

Harper Lee (1926-2016)

Apr 28 American author (To Kill a Mockingbird), born in Monroeville Alabama

Apr 29 Carrie Meek, American politician (Rep-D-Florida 1993-2003), born in Tallahassee, Florida (d. 2021)
Apr 30 Cloris Leachman, American Oscar and Emmy Award-winning actress (The Last Picture Show; The Mary Tyler Moore Show - "Phyllis"), born in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 2021) [1] [2]
Apr 30 Edmund Cooper, British sci-fi author (Seed of Light, All Fool's Day), born in Marple, Greater Manchester, England (d. 1982)

Born in 1926

Famous Deaths

Apr 6 Giovanni Amendola, Italian anti-fascist and editor-in-chief (Il Mondo), dies at 43
Apr 9 Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer famous for his tapered head, dies at about 83

Luther Burbank (1849-1926)

Apr 11 American horticulturist who developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants, dies of gastrointestinal complications at 77

Apr 15 Frank Iredale, Australian cricketer (14 Tests for Aust, 807 runs at 36 68), dies at 58
Apr 19 Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian statistician (b. 1874)
Apr 19 Sir Squire Bancroft [Butterfield], British actor and manager known for creating 'drawing-room comedy' (Haymarket), dies at 84
Apr 23 Joseph Pennell, American artist and author, dies at 68
Apr 25 Ellen Key, Swedish author and feminist (Courageous Woman), dies at 76

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926)

Apr 30 American aviator and 1st African-American woman and Native American to hold a pilot license, dies in a plane crash at 34 [1]

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