1597 – William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
1635 – Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded
1838 – English steamship “Great Western” crossing Atlantic docks in NYC
1861 – Robert E. Lee named commander of Virginia Confederate forces
1900 – First know occurrence of word “hillbillie” (NY Journal)
1954 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death for killing Bobby Kennedy
1972 – Apollo 16 astronauts explore Moon surface
1984 – AIDS-virus identified
1995 – President Clinton declares a national day of mourning for Oklahoma City
2012 – 38,000 London Marathon entrants have their home and email contacts published in a data protection breach
Birthdays
1564 – William Shakespeare, Stratford upon Avon, traditionally regarded as his birthdate
1791 – James Buchanan, 15th US president (1857-61)
1813 – Stephen Arnold Douglas, US senator
1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, St Petersburg, Russia, novelist (Lolita, Ada)
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, famous as a child star in the 1930s and diplomat
1936 – Estelle Harris, actress Mrs. Costanza in Seinfeld
1942 – Sandra Dee, Bayonne NJ, ( a beautiful place) actress (Gidget)
1954 – Michael Moore, (Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Sicko)
Deaths
34 – Christ, crucified, according to Isaac Newton
1616 – William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright (b. 1564) (Julian calendar) dies aged 52
1850 – William Wordsworth, poet, dies at 80
1995 – Howard Cosell, sportscaster (Monday Night Football), dies at 77
1998 – James Earl Ray, Assassin of Dr. Martin Lither King Jr. (b. 1928)
2007 – Boris Yeltsin, first President of the Russian Federation (b. 1931)
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com and many other Google searches