April 4-10 Friday April 4 1949 Nato was set up. 1957 The government announced it would be ending National Service. 1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. 1981 Bucks Fizz won the European Song Contest with Making Your Mind

April 4-10

Friday April 4

1949 Nato was set up.

1957 The government announced it would be ending National Service.

1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis.

1981 Bucks Fizz won the European Song Contest with Making Your Mind Up.

1988 The soap drama Crossroads came to an end.

Births: Muddy Walters, legendary blues guitarist, 1915; Elmer Bernstein, movie score composer, 1922; Anthony Perkins, actor, 1932.

Today's birthdays: Jonathan Agnew, cricket commentator, 48; Graham Norton, television presenter, 45; Robert Downey Jr, actor, 43.

Deaths: Karl Benz, German car engineer, 1929; Martin Luther King, civil rights leader, 1968; Gloria Swanson, actress, 1983; Kenny Everett, broadcaster, 1995.

Saturday April 5

1902 More than 500 people were injured and 26 killed when a stand collapsed at Ibrox Park.

1939 Britain's largest aircraft carrier - HMS Illustrious - was launched.

1955 Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by Anthony Eden.

1976 Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned and was succeeded by James Callaghan.

1997 The Grand National was postponed after a bomb threat.

Births: Lord Lister, surgeon, 1827; Spencer Tracy, actor, 1900; Bette Davis, actress, 1908; Albert Broccoli, producer of the Bond movies, 1909; Gregory Peck, actor, 1916; Nigel Hawthorne, actor, 1929.

Today's birthdays: Colin Powell, ex-US Secretary of State, 71; Allan Clarke, of The Hollies, 66; Tommy Smith, ex-Liverpool soccer star, 63; Jane Asher, actress and celebrity cake-baker, 62; Agnetha Faltskog, of Abba, 58; Janice Long, broadcaster, 53.

Deaths: John Wisden, complier of cricket almanac, 1884; Howard Hughes, billionaire, 1976; Sir Arthur Harris, commander of the RAF in the Second World War, 1984; Kurt Kobain, singer-songwriter, 1994; Allen Ginsberg, poet, 1997; Gene Pitney, singer, 2006.

Sunday April 6

1843 William Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate.

1896 First modern Olympic Games began, in Athens.

1909 American explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole.

1917 The US entered the First World War.

1963 The Beatles opened their Apple record company in London.

Today's birthdays: Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland politician, 82; Andre Previn, composer and conductor, 79; Paul Daniels, magician, 70; Max Clifford, press relations guru, 65; Rory Bremner, comedian, 47.

Deaths: Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer, 1971; Issac Asimov, science writer, 1992; Tammy Wynette, country singer, 1998; Prince Rainier of Monaco, 2005.

Monday April 7

1948 The World Health Organisation was set up by the United Nations.

1949 The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened in New York.

1997 A blaze destroyed about 350 acres of the Dartmoor National Park.

Births: William Wordsworth, poet, 1770; Billie Holiday, jazz singer, 1915.

Today's birthdays: Ravi Shankur, Indian sitar player, 88; James Garner, actor, 80; Sir David Frost, television presenter, 69; Martyn Lewis, newscaster, 61; Russell Crowe, actor, 44.

Deaths: P T Barnum, showman, 1891; Henry Ford, car pioneer, 1947; Jim Clark, world champion Grand Prix racing driver, 1968.

Tuesday April 8

1838 Brunel's steamship the Great Western left Bristol on her maiden voyage to New York.

1963 Seven Oscars were awarded to Lawrence of Arabia.

1967 Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest with Puppet on a String.

1985 The Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox was sold to Rupert Murdoch.

1991 The Football Association proposed setting up the Premiership.

Births: Mary Pickford, Hollywood actress, 1894.

Today's birthdays: Kofi Annan, ex-Secretary General of the UN, 70; Vivienne Westwood, designer, 67; Alex Stewart, ex-England Test cricket batsman, 45.

Deaths: Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian ballet dancer, 1950; Pablo Picasso, artist, 1973.

Wednesday April 9

1838 The National Gallery opened in London.

1865 The American Civil War came to an end.

1955 The McDonald's hamburger chain was set up in Chicago.

1964 First television appearance of the Rolling Stones, on Ready, Steady, Go.

1973 First demonstration of Teletext.

1969 First test flight of the British supersonic aircraft Concorde.

2003 Soldiers pulled down a 20ft statute of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

Births: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer, 1806; Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party, 1906; Carl Perkins, singer, 1932.

Today's birthdays: Valerie Singleton, ex-presenter of Blue Peter, 71; Iain Duncan Smith, ex-leader of the Conservative Party, 54; Severiano Ballesteros, golfer, 51.

Deaths: Edward IV, 1483.

Thursday April 10

1912 The White Star liner Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage.

1925 First publication of F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.

1970 Paul McCartney announced he was quitting The Beatles.

2000 A Government White Paper proposed relaxing licensing laws.

Births: General William Booth, creator of the Salvation Army, 1829; Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper owner, 1847; Mike Hawthorne, Grand Prix racing driver, 1929.

Today's birthdays: Omar Sharif, actor, 76; Gloria Hunniford, television and radio presenter, 68; Paul Theroux, travel writer and novelist, 67; Lesley Garrett, opera singer, 53; Nicky Campbell, television and radio broadcaster, 47; Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer, 29.

Deaths: Auguste Lumiere, cinema pioneer, 1954; Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited and Scoop, 1966.