Tuesday April 30th is the 121st day of the Gregorian calendar. There are 245 days left until the end of the year.
Saint of the day: Saint Pio
April Proverb
When April thunders, it’s a good sign for the barrel
It happened today
1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States
1904 – The International Exposition opens in St. Louis, Missouri
1936 – Ethiopian War: Galeazzo Ciano, Ettore Muti and three other aviators carry out, aboard a Ca.133, a demonstration raid on Addis Ababa still under Ethiopian control. Due to the violent enemy anti-aircraft reaction they will not be able to disembark as planned, but they will still manage to touch the field, leave again, fly for 45 minutes over the city and escape unharmed, after throwing propaganda leaflets and a “Disperata” pennant.
1939 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the first US president to appear on television
1944 – An aerial bombing hits the Municipal Theater and the popular Cristo neighborhood in Alessandria, causing 239 deaths
1948 – Land Rover is presented at the Amsterdam Auto Show
1966 – Foundation of the Church of Satan by Anton Szandor LaVey
1973 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the resignation of some White House advisors, including H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman
1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops occupy Saigon, ending the war
1977 – First march of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who demanded information on their desaparecidos, missing children.
1993 – CERN announces that the World Wide Web will be free for everyone.
1994 – During the qualifying session of the San Marino Formula 1 Grand Prix, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger lost his life after going off the track at over 300 km/h at the Villeneuve curve following the failure of part of the front wing.
1998 – NATO expands by approving the entry of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (the nations will be formally admitted on the occasion of NATO’s 50th anniversary in April of the following year)
2009 – 2009 attack on the Dutch royal family: during the Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) celebrations in Apeldoorn (Netherlands), a car plows at high speed into the crowd following the royal family’s honor parade and ends his run against a monument. 8 people die (including the attacker) and 10 are injured.
2013 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicates, her son Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands succeeds to the throne
Birthdays
Alessandro Barbero – Italian historian, academic and writer (30 April 1959)
Pietro Busolini – Italian conductor (30 April 1941)
Kirsten Dunst – American actress (April 30, 1982)
Lars von Trier – Danish director (30 April 1956)
