Today in History Sun. April 30
Billie
LONDON (Reuters) - Here are some notable events from this date in history:
1770 - David Thompson, Canadian explorer, born in London. The first white man
to explore the length of the Columbia river, he also mapped large parts of
Canada and the American West.
1777 - Johann Karl Freidrich Gauss, regarded as one of the greatest
mathematicians of all time, born in Germany.
1789 - George Washington was inaugurated as America's first president.
1803 - France agreed to sell Louisiana to America, the formal handover taking
place in December, and on this day in 1812 it joined the United States as the
18th state.
1804 - Shrapnel, invented in 1784 by British soldier Henry Shrapnel, was used
for the first time in warfare by the British against the Dutch in Surinam.
1870 - Franz Lehar, Hungarian composer, born. He wrote operettas and achieved
worldwide recognition for ``The Merry Widow.''
1883 - Edouard Manet, French impressionist painter, died. Originally destined
for a legal career, he studied art from 1850 and was heavily influenced by
Claude Monet.
1883 - Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist, born; author of ``The Good Soldier of
Schweik,'' an unfinished sequence of satirical novels.
1900 - American railroad engineer Casey Jones died saving passengers as the
Cannonball Express was about to crash.
1936 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet notably for the collection known as
``A Shropshire Lad,'' died.
1945 - Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide in his underground
bunker in Berlin; Russian troops penetrated Berlin, capturing the Reichstag and
other government buildings; Allied troops captured Munich and the French
crossed the border into Austria.
1973 - President Nixon made a television statement on Watergate accepting
responsibility for the bugging that took place at the Washington apartment
complex in 1972. On this day in 1974, he handed over partial transcripts of
tape recordings to the impeachment inquiry.
1975 - In South Vietnam, President Minh announced an unconditional surrender to
the Vietcong, ending the 20th century's longest conflict.
1982 - Actress Kirsten Dunst, whose feature credits include Interview with the
Vampire,'' ``Dick'' and ``The Virgin Suicides,'' born in New Jersey.
1989 - Sergio Leone, Italian film director, died of a heart attack. Best known
for his films with actor Clint Eastwood including ``For a Few Dollars More.''
~Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.~
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