Today's The Day - 12th April

12th April 2006

Religious Events today...
Feast day of St Zeno of Verona,
St Julius I, pope,
St Sabas the Goth and Others,
and St Alferius.

History Test for April 12th
Known as `The Brown Bomber', which boxer died today in 1981? -Joe Louis
Born today in 1950 who had UK Number One hits in the seventies with `Daydreamer' and `How Can I Be Sure?' ? -David Cassidy
Launched today in 1981, what was the name of the world's first space shuttle? -Columbia
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt died today in 1945. Who succeeded him? -Harry S. Truman
Actor Andy Garcia was born today in 1956. In which film, also starring Sean Connery, did he play an FBI agent? -`The Untouchables'

Events today...
1204 Soldiers taking part in the Fourth Crusade under the direction of the Doge of Venice, captured the Byzantine city of Constantinople.
1606 The Union Flag became England's official flag, incorporating the red cross of England and the white cross of Scotland.
1709 "The Tatler" magazine was published for the first time.
1748 Death of William Kent, English architect and landscape gardener.
1782 Italian poet and dramatist Pietro Metastasio died.
1782 The British fleet under Admiral Rodney defeated the French fleet in the Battle of the Saints in the West Indies.
1817 French astronomer Charles-Joseph Messier died.
1861 The American Civil War began when Confederate troops fired on a the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter.
1930 Fifty-two-year-old Wilfred Rhodes became the oldest man to play in a cricket Test match, when he played for England against the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
1938 Death of Fyodor Chaliapin, Russian operatic bass.
1945 32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt died from a cerebral haemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice-President Harry S. Truman succeeded him as President.
1961 Twenty-seven-year-old Major Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when he was launched in Vostok I for a single orbit of the earth lasting 108 minutes.
1962 Sculptor Antoine Pevsner died.
1963 Martin Luther King was arrested in Alabama for leading a civil rights march.
1975 Death of Josephine Baker US-born French singer and dancer.
1981 Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis Barrow, popularly known as The Brown Bomber, died in Las Vegas.
1981 The US space shuttle Columbia was launched from Cape Canaveral.
1983 Richard Attenborough's film 'Gandhi' won a total of eight Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards, the most ever for a British film. After taking the awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, for Ben Kingsley, 'Ghandi's' monopoly of the top awards was stopped only by Meryl Streep winning the Best Actress award for her role in 'Sophie's Choice'.
1983 The Prince and Princess of Wales were mobbed for the second consecutive day in Australia, when Queensland police lost control of a crowd of 2,500 people after the royal couple made an unscheduled stop.
1988 An RAF pilot was awarded the Air Force Cross, the highest peacetime flying gallantry award, after landing his crippled Harrier jet which had been struck by a buzzard at over 500 mph, tearing apart his cockpit, severely damaging his engine and releasing the aircraft’s undercarriage.
1988 Death of Alan Stewart Paton, South African novelist and politician.
1988 King Olav of Norway began a four-day state visit to Britain.
1988 The National People’s Congress of China voted in favour of allowing capitalistic free-enterprise.
1988 Two hundred passengers escaped death when two aircraft narrowly avoided one another at Gatwick airport.
1990 Inflation rose to 8.1 per cent.
1992 Euro Disney was officially opened, with a concert starring such celebrities as Tina Turner, Cher and José Carreras.
1992 Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest by a goal to nil in the final of the Rumbelows Cup.
1992 Road lines that turned fluorescent blue in the cold to warn drivers of freshly fallen snow or ice were to be tested in the Midlands.
1992 Scientists claimed that Britons could face the risk of contracting mad cow disease.
1992 The London Marathon saw the closest finish in its twelve-year history, with the first four runners, led by Antonio Pinto of Portugal, separated by only eight seconds.
1993 A report claimed that in Britain, it was estimated, we spent £300 million pounds on 85 million Easter eggs.
1993 Krankies star Janette Tough revealed that she was being stalked by a girl midget who had threatened to kill her.
1993 Police in Exeter were being plagued by a new craze for stealing blue lights from patrol cars.
1993 The 1940 Buick Phanton used by Humphrey Bogart in the film 'Casablanca' was up for auction in California.
1995 Hundreds of passengers were stranded on a Eurostar train for four hours after its overhead power arm ripped down live cables in Kent, a mile from the Channel Tunnel.
1995 It was announced that households in England would pay an average of £499 in Council Tax in 1996, an increase of about 5.4%.
1995 Cornwall was enjoying a boom in tourism as hundreds of Canadians took their holiday in the West Country as a mark of gratitude to trawlermen supporting them in the fishing dispute with Spain.
1995 The High Court ruled that bans imposed by harbours and airports on live animal exports were illegal. Police and port officials were bracing themselves for mass demonstrations against the trade.
1995 The Assembly Rooms in Norwich were badly damaged by fire; antiques and oil paintings were carried to safety. The nearby city centre library was destroyed by fire in August 1994.
1995 A bank manager who fled to France with almost £100,000 that he had stolen from two cashpoint machines pleaded guilty to theft.
1997 The Turin shroud was saved by fire fighters, as flames engulfed Turin Cathedral in the early hours of the morning.
1999 Coronation Street actor Bill Roach finally declared himself bankrupt following a legal battle against The Sun newspaper for calling him boring. He was left with tremendous legal costs, and also sued his solicitors for bad advice.
1999 In protest at high fuel prices and an increased tax on five-axel trucks, a convoy of lorries and trucks caused major traffic problems in England’s major cities.
1999 Motor giant Ford took over the Kwikfit group.
2003 Saddam Hussein's senior scientific adviser turned himself in to US troops, as fighting flared in Baghdad.
2003 New cases of the mystery SARS illness were confirmed in northern China, reinforcing fears over the spread of the disease.
2003 Voting ended in the Nigeria's first civilian-run general election in decades after a day of delays and confusion.
2003 Russia's leader Vladimir Putin asked why no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq at a summit with French and German leaders.
2003 UK forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra went on patrol with Iraqi policemen to try to prevent more disorder.
2003 Man Utd thrashed Newcastle 6-2 to go back above Arsenal, but Sunderland finally slipped out of the Premiership.
2003 It was announced that Tony Blair was to appear as an animated character in the cult cartoon show The Simpsons to promote UK tourism.
2004 David and Victoria Beckham dismissed "absurd" claims of infidelity involving the England captain and instructed lawyers.
2004 Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto was voted the favourite classical work of Classic FM listeners.
2004 Frank Sinatra was played on BBC Radio 1 as listeners took over the airwaves for 10 hours on Easter Monday.
2004 West Indies captain Brian Lara became the first player to hit 400 in Test cricket.
2005 An "exceptionally happy" Charles Kennedy and wife Sarah left hospital with their new-born son, Donald James.
2005 Chelsea reached the Champions League semi-finals despite losing 3-2 against Bayern Munich.
2005 Sourav Ganguly was banned for six matches for India's slow over-rate against Pakistan.

BIRTHDAYS (for 12 April 2006)
Giuseppe Tartini, 314 (born 12 April 1692)
Italian composer
Edward Bird, 234 (born 12 April 1772)
Painter
Lionel Hampton, 93 (born 12 April 1913)
jazz musician
Tiny Tim (Herbert Buckingham Khaury), 84 (born 12 April 1922)
singer.
Jane Withers, 80 (born 12 April 1926)
American child star of the 1930s
Hardy Kruger, 78 (born 12 April 1928)
actor
Elspet Gray, 77 (born 12 April 1929)
Actress
Bryan Magee, 76 (born 12 April 1930)
Writer, philosopher and former SDP politician
The Earl of Limerick, 75 (born 12 April 1931)

Montserrat Caballé, 73 (born 12 April 1933)
Spanish opera singer who widened her appeal when she recorded 'Barcelona' with the late, great, Freddie Mercury
Sir Alan Ayckbourn, 67 (born 12 April 1939)
playwright
Herbie Hancock, 66 (born 12 April 1940)
jazz pianist
Bobby Moore, 65 (born 12 April 1941)
English footballer who captained the 1966 World Cup winning side. He died in February 1993
Bill Bryden, 64 (born 12 April 1942)
Theatre director
John Kay, 62 (born 12 April 1944)
Steppenwolf. Their song 'Born To Be Wild' featured in the film Easy Rider, and hit the US charts. There followed two more hits Magic Carpet Ride and Rock Me John Kay broke up the band in 1972 but has, at various times, formed the group again
George Robertson, 60 (born 12 April 1946)
Defence Secretary
David Letterman, 59 (born 12 April 1947)
chat-show host
Jeremy Beadle, 58 (born 12 April 1948)
Telsvision presenter of 'You've Been Framed', who is also a writer
David Cassidy, 56 (born 12 April 1950)
He was cast in the TV series 'The Partridge Family', who had two big hits in the early 1970s with `I Think I Love You' and 'Cherish'. Going solo, David Cassidy had further hits with 'How Can I Be Sure?' and' Rock Me Baby'. He joined the musical 'Blood Brot
Andy Garcia, 50 (born 12 April 1956)
Actor
Will Sergeant, 48 (born 12 April 1958)
Echo and the Bunnymen. Their 'People Are Strange' was featured in the film `The Lost Boys' in 1989 but they had charted in the early 1980s with 'The Puppet' and 'The Killing Moon'
Howard Stableford, 47 (born 12 April 1959)
Presenter on television's 'Tomorrow's World'
Shannen Doherty, 35 (born 12 April 1971)
Actress
Emerson, 34 (born 12 April 1972)
Middlesborough footballer