Monday 2nd of April 1725

Adventurer, writer and sexual athlete Giacomo Casanova is born in Venezia, Veneto, Italy.

Tuesday 2nd of April 1805

Writer of fairy tales Hans Christian Andersen is born in Bangs Boder 29, Odense, Syddanmark, Denmark.

Thursday 2nd of April 1840

Writer Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola is born in 10 Rue Saint-Joseph, Paris, IIe, Île-de-France, France.

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.

Friday 2nd of April 1886

Serial killer Johann Mayer aka Stumpfarm is born in Uersfeld, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Thursday 2nd of April 1891

Surrealist artist Max Ernst is born in Brühl, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Thursday 2nd of April 1914

Actor Alec Guinnes is born as Alec Guinness de Cuffe in 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, London, Maida Vale, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 2nd of April 1924

Serial killer Leslie 'Joe Goebbels' Irvin aka The Mad Dog Killer is born in Evansville, Indiana, United States.

Monday 2nd of April 1928

Singer-songwriter, actor and poet Serge Gainsbourg is born as Lucien Ginsburg in Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, 1 Parvis Notre-Dame, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

Gainsbourg had a faux twin sister named Liliane.

Sunday 2nd of April 1939

Singer-songwriter and musician Marvin Gaye aka The Prince of Motown is born as Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

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.

Wednesday 2nd of April 1947

Anti-war protester George Winne is born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Wednesday 2nd of April 1947

Singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris is born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

Saturday 2nd of April 1955

Mass murderer Mark Orrin Barton is born in Stockbridge, Georgia, United States.

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.

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.

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, Paris, IVe, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 2nd of April 1983

24-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV marries 32-year-old Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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.

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."

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.

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, Sydney, Redfern, 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.

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.

Friday 2nd of April 1993

28-year-old Lauren Marquez is strangled and her neck broken by serial killer Joel Rifkin aka The Long Island Ripper in New York, Manhattan, 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.

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.

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.

Saturday 2nd of April 2005

Ioannes Paulus II 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.

Monday 2nd of April 2007

Abandoned communication systems and electrical equipment in an abandoned office in Kattenberg 79, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.