Tuesday, April 21, 1998
Today's events
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A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington is scheduled to hear Microsoft's appeal of an earlier order to stop forcing computer manufacturers to bundle Internet Explorer with Windows.
The United States and North Korea begin the first of five joint operations to recover remains of U.S. servicemen lost during the Korean War.
The U.S. House of Representatives returns from spring recess.
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On the horizon
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Wednesday, April 22, is Earth Day.
Thursday, April 23, is the 6th annual Take Our Daughters
to Work Day in the United States.
On Friday, April 24, the 1998 American Lung Association/American
Thoracic Society International Conference is to begin in Chicago.
On Saturday, April 25, Pope John Paul II plans to fast in solidarity
with famine victims in North Korea.
Sunday, April 26, is the 12th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl
nuclear accident.
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On this day
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In 753 BC, according to the historian Varro, Romulus founded Rome.
In 1109, Saint Anselm of Canterbury, one of the founders of medieval scholasticism, died.
In 1509, King Henry VII of England, whose accession to the throne in 1485 ended the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York, died.
In 1634, Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch naval surgeon, was born; he was best known as the founder of Cape Town (1652), which helped open South Africa for whites.
In 1699, French poet and playwright Jean Racine died.
In 1792, Joaquin da Silva Xavier, Brazilian national hero, died. Better known as Tiradentes (the Tooth-puller), he led an unsuccessful uprising against Portuguese rule in Brazil and was tried and executed.
In 1809, Napoleon's army defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Landshut in Germany.
In 1816, Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three literary sisters, was born. Her publisher rejected her first novel, "The Professor," but she went on to write her masterpiece, "Jane Eyre."
In 1836, the Mexicans were defeated by the Texans at the battle of San Jacinto, thus ensuring Texan independence.
In 1910, American novelist Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) died. His two masterpieces, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," were drawn from his own boyhood experiences.
In 1918, Manfred von Richthofen, Germany's top aviator in World War I, was killed in action. Known as the Red Baron, he shot down 80 enemy aircraft.
In 1926, Elizabeth II, queen of the United Kingdom since 1952, was born.
In 1945, the last of the German troops pulled out of Bologna, Italy; on the same day, Russian troops reached the suburbs of Berlin.
In 1946, John Maynard Keynes, English economist and journalist, died; he was best known for his theory on the causes of prolonged unemployment.
In 1952, Sir Stafford Cripps, British statesman and chancellor of the exchequer, died. As chancellor, his policy of austerity caught the public imagination and led the trade unions to impose a voluntary wage freeze.
In 1959, English ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn was jailed for a day in Panama while the police looked for her Panamanian husband, accused of plotting a coup.
In 1960, Brasilia was inaugurated as the new capital of Brazil.
In 1961, a French army revolt led by General Maurice Challe began in Algeria.
In 1965, the 114-nation U.N. Disarmament Commission resumed talks in New York after a five-year interval.
In 1967, a military coup in Athens established the regime of the "Greek Colonels."
In 1968, British Conservative politician Enoch Powell made his "rivers of blood" speech, warning of the dangers of immigration.
In 1968, Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson resigned and was succeeded by Pierre Trudeau.
In 1971, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, president of Haiti since 1957, died. He ran the country as a tyrannical dictatorship and created a gangster militia known as the Tonton Macoute.
In 1975, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned after 10 years in office.
In 1985, Tancredo Neves, Brazilian president-elect, died on the eve of his swearing-in.
In 1989, tens of thousands of students and workers poured into Peking's Tiananmen Square in defiance of official warnings against anti-government protests.
In 1990, Erte (Romain de Tirtoff), prolific Russian-born Art Deco designer, died. He created the 1920s sets for America's Ziegfield Folies and France's Folies Bergeres.
In 1992, California carried out its first execution in 25 years when double murderer Robert Alton Harris was put to death in the gas chamber.
In 1993, Bolivia's Supreme Court sentenced former military dictator Gen. Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail for crimes ranging from mass murder and torture to wholesale fraud against the state.
In 1994, a Belfast court cleared Paul Hill of the 1974 murder of a former British soldier, formally absolving him of IRA guerrilla links for which he was wrongfully jailed for 13 years.
In 1996, the center-left Olive Tree coalition won the Italian general election, the left's first win since World War II.
In 1997, an advance contingent of Chinese troops entered Hong Kong to prepare garrison facilities for the July 1st handover to Chinese rule.
In 1997, the ashes of 1960s LSD guru Timothy Leary and "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry were blasted into space in the world's first space funeral.
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Newslink
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Rome is believed to have been founded on this day in 753 B.C. For a virtual trip back in time, visit the
Forum Romanum.
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Notable
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Today is Tiradentes Day in Brazil.
It is Easter Tuesday in Cyprus.
It is De Diego Day in Puerto Rico.
Actor Tony Danza ("Who's the Boss") is 47.
British Queen Elizabeth II is 72.
Actor and talk-show host Charles Grodin ("Beethoven") is 63.
Actress and singer Patty LuPone ("Life Goes On") is 49.
Actress Andie MacDowell ("Green Card") is 40.
Singer Iggy Pop is 51.
Actor Anthony Quinn ("Viva Zapata") is 82.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1998, J.P. Morgan
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