41st year - Nº 92 Thursday, 2 April 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nº 92 Thursday, 2 April 2026

2 April / Today's 28 Events:

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(+) 301 years ago Monday 2nd of April 1725 Adventurer, writer and sexual athlete Giacomo Casanova is born in Venezia, Veneto, Italy.

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(+) 221 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1805 Writer of fairy tales Hans Christian Andersen is born in Bangs Boder 29, Odense, Syddanmark, Denmark.

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(+) 186 years ago Thursday 2nd of April 1840 Writer Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola is born in 10 Rue Saint-Joseph, IIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(-) 154 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1872 Painter and inventor Samuel Finley Breese Morse known for developing the Morse code dies of unknown causes at the age of 81 in 5 West 22nd Street, New York City, New York, United States.

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(+) 140 years ago Friday 2nd of April 1886 Serial killer Johann Mayer aka Stumpfarm is born in Uersfeld, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

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(+) 135 years ago Thursday 2nd of April 1891 Surrealist artist Max Ernst is born in Brühl, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(+) 112 years ago Thursday 2nd of April 1914 Actor Alec Guinnes, originally Alec Guinness de Cuffe is born in 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(+) 102 years ago Wednesday 2nd of April 1924 Serial killer Leslie 'Joe Goebbels' Irvin aka The Mad Dog Killer is born in Evansville, Indiana, United States.

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(+) 98 years ago Monday 2nd of April 1928 Singer-songwriter, actor and poet Serge Gainsbourg, originally Lucien Ginsburg is born in Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, 1 Parvis Notre-Dame, Ier, Paris, Île-de-France, France. Gainsbourg had a faux twin sister named Liliane.

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(+) 87 years ago Sunday 2nd of April 1939 Singer-songwriter and musician Marvin Gaye, originally Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. aka The Prince of Motown is born in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

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(-) 80 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1946 Murderer Frank Quarles is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Indiana State Prison, 1 Park Row, Michigan City, Indiana, United States.

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(+) 79 years ago Wednesday 2nd of April 1947 Singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris is born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

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(+) 79 years ago Wednesday 2nd of April 1947 Anti-war protester George Winne is born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

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(+) 71 years ago Saturday 2nd of April 1955 Mass murderer Mark Orrin Barton is born in Stockbridge, Georgia, United States.

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(-) 64 years ago He Was the Last to Spark Monday 2nd of April 1962 Murderer Elmo Smith is executed by Old Smokey at the age of 41 in Rockview Penitentiary, Benner Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Smith was the last man to die in the electric chair in Pennsylvania.

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(x) 58 years ago War es ein Politischer Akt Tuesday 2nd of April 1968 Arson-attack by 25-year-old Leader of the Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe aka Rote Armee Fraktion Andreas Bernd Baader and Gudrun Ensslin with Thorwald Proll und Horst Söhnlein on two shopping-centers in Kaufhaus M. Schneider, Zeil 98, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany. They were inspired by the fire in 'L'Innovation' in Brussels on 22 May 1967. The event marks the birth of the Baader-Meinhof Gruppe aka Rote Armee Fraktion.

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(-) 52 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1974 President of the French Republic Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou dies of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia at the age of 63 in Hôtel d'Asselin, 24 Quai de Béthune, IVe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 43 years ago Saturday 2nd of April 1983 Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV dies of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(x) 41 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1985 33-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Christian Klar is sentenced to life six times for nine murders in the 'Deutsche Herbst' of 1977 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(x) 41 years ago Tuesday 2nd of April 1985 36-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion and Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is sentenced to life five times with a minimum 24-year mandatory sentence for nine murders during the 'Deutsche Herbst' of 1977 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(x) 41 years ago He Didn't Have a Gun Tuesday 2nd of April 1985 24-year-old Double murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner attempts to escape during trial proceedings for the Otterstrom murder in Metropolitan Hall of Justice, 400 South 300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Gardner was immediately shot in the chest by guard Luther Hensley. After running to the courtroom archives, Gardner confronted attorneys Robert Macri and Michael Burdell and shot them both. Gardner made his way outside the building, where he was surrounded by dozens of police officers. Gardner threw the gun away, dropped and yelled: "Don't shoot, I don't have a gun."

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(x) 39 years ago He Had an Abrasion around His Neck Thursday 2nd of April 1987 44-year-old Serial killer Gary Michael Heidnik aka The Cellar of Horror Murderer tries to commit suicide by hanging from a shower pipe at the Philadelphia Detention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(x) 39 years ago Thursday 2nd of April 1987 28-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'L'Age D'Or nr2 / Variation Australis' with Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK in The Performance Space, 199 Cleveland Street, Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A variation on the L'Age d'Or nr 2 performance, where my feet were tied to the floor, and I tried to pull myself off the ground via a pulley and a rope around my neck. Using a throat-microphone I repeated "I wanna be injured", the sound was electronically distorted by AMVK.

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(-) 33 years ago Friday 2nd of April 1993 Lauren Marquez is strangled and her neck broken by serial killer Joel Rifkin aka The Long Island Ripper in Manhattan, New York, New York, United States. Marquez' body was found in June hidden by brush in a location Rifkin pinpointed for the police in a confession after his arrest.

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(-) 29 years ago Wednesday 2nd of April 1997 Murderer David Lee Herman is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Herman tried to kill himself on the day before by slashing his throat and wrist, but he was patched up and executed anyway.

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(x) 28 years ago Thursday 2nd of April 1998 88-year-old Prefect of Paris and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon is sentenced to ten years imprisonment for the deportation of 1560 Jews during WWII in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France.

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(-) 21 years ago Saturday 2nd of April 2005 Ioannes Paulus II, originally Karol Józef Wojtyła dies of heart failure from profound hypotension and complete circulatory collapse from septic shock at the age of 85 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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19 years ago The Eyes had it Monday 2nd of April 2007 Abandoned communication systems and electrical equipment in an abandoned office in Kattenberg 79, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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