Tuesday 23rd of April 1016

King of the English Æthelred the Unready dies of unknown causes at the age of 48 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Thursday 23rd of April 1564

Poet and playwright William Shakespeare is born in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Saturday 23rd of April 1616

Poet and playwright William Shakespeare dies of fever at the age of 52 in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Shakespeare had a merry birthday meeting with Drayton and Ben Jonson and drank too hard. Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted.

Sunday 23rd of April 1775

Romantic landscape painter William Joseph Mallord Turner is born in Maiden Lane, London, Covent Garden, Greater London, United Kingdom.

It is generally believed Turner was born between late April and early May. Turner himself claimed he was born on 23 April but there is no proof.

Saturday 23rd of April 1791

15th President of the United States James Buchanan is born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1850

Romantic poet William Wordsworth dies of an aggravated case of pleurisy at the age of 80 in Rydal Mount, Rydal, Cumbria, United Kingdom.

Friday 23rd of April 1858

Theoretical physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck known for originating quantum theory is born in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Thursday 23rd of April 1885

Start of the trial against 46-year-old Serial poisoner Maria Catherina Swanenburg aka Goeie Mie in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

Swanenburg was charged with the poisoning of over 100 people, killing at least 30.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1895

Crime writer Ngaio Edith Marsh is born in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1907

Notorious cannibal Alferd Griner Packer dies of a stroke at the age of 65 in Deer Creek, Colorado, United States.

Packer is widely rumored to have become a vegetarian before his death.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1907

Photographer Lee Elizabeth Miller aka Lady Penrose is born in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States.

Monday 23rd of April 1928

Actress Shirley Temple is born in Santa Monica, California, United States.

Thursday 23rd of April 1936

Singer-songwriter Roy Kelton Orbison aka Big O is born in Vernon, Texas, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1940

209 die in Rhythm Club dance hall fire in Rhythm Club, Natchez, Mississippi, United States.

Sunday 23rd of April 1961

36-year-old Satan worshipper and serial rapist Edward John Louis Paisnel aka The Beast of Jersey abducts and rapes an unidentified 11-year-old girl in Saint Martin, Jersey, United Kingdom.

Monday 23rd of April 1962

13-year-old Petra Giese is sexually assaulted and strangled by serial killer Joachim Kroll aka Jockel aka Der Ruhrkannibale in Stollbach, Dinslaken, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Sunday 23rd of April 1967

39-year-old Assassin James Earl Ray aka The Man Who Shot Martin Luther King escapes in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States.

Ray was captured a few days later.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1968

Terrorist Timothy James 'Tim' McVeigh aka The Oklahoma City Bomber is born in Lockport, New York, United States.

Wednesday 23rd of April 1969

22-year-old Linda Salee is raped and strangled by foot fetishist and serial killer Jerry Brudos aka The Lust Killer in Salem, Oregon, United States.

Brudos decided to not cut her breasts off because they were "too pink" and instead drove an electrical current through the body in an attempt to make it "jump", which failed.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1974

28-year-old Performance and installation artist Chris Christopher Burden performs 'Trans-fixed' in Venice, California, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1974

Start of the trial against 23-year-old Serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen in Assisenhof, Britselei 55-57, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Saturday 23rd of April 1977

32-year-old Patricia Tina Atkinson is hammered and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Flat 3, 9 Oak Avenue, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

"She told me she lived alone. I parked up outside her flat and she got out and went in. I picked up a hammer as I got out of the car. I remember this was a claw hammer that I had bought at the Clayton hardware shop."

Wednesday 23rd of April 1980

21-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Installation - 3' at the Symposium d'Art Performance in Maison des Avocats, 60 Rue Saint-Jean, Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France.

After the audience had entered the cellar, I closed the door and fastened a rope to my neck and the door, then I tied my feet and hands. The audience could watch my actions on a closed TV-circuit on the other side of the door. Then someone had to open the door -and pull me over- in order to get out.

Wednesday 23rd of April 1986

Film director Otto Ludwig Preminger dies of lung cancer and Alzheimer's disease at the age of 81 in New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of April 1991

Musician Johnny Thunders known from The New York Dolls dies of drug-related causes at the age of 39 in Room 37, St. Peter House, 1005 St Peter, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Thunders' death may also been the result of a robbery or foul drug deal.

Thursday 23rd of April 1992

Murderer Billy Wayne White is executed by lethal injection at the age of 35 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

White had been a habitual heroin user throughout his life, causing his veins to deteriorate. Only after 47 minutes of trying officials found a suitable vein in his hand.

Friday 23rd of April 1993

34-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'The Murder of Petra Giese' in Jockel Headquarters, Lothringer Straße 36, Bochum, Gerthe, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

On exactly the same day that, 21 years earlier, 13-year-old Petra Giese was killed by Joachim ‘Jockel’ Kroll, the Ruhr Hunter, I sat on a chair and cut off all the clothes off my body. To my left hand a rope was tied, leading to an electric winch at the other end of the room, slowly dragging my body over the concrete floor.

Thursday 23rd of April 1998

Assassin James Earl Ray aka The Man Who Shot Martin Luther King dies of complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C at the age of 70 in Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital, 3443 Dickerson Pike Ste 430, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Thursday 23rd of April 1998

42-year-old Kidnapper, serial killer and child molester Marc Paul Alain Dutroux escapes from the courthouse, where he was consulting the records for his defence, by knocking down a state trooper and running out of the building in Neufchateau, Luxembourg, Belgium.

Dutroux was found by forest watcher Stéphane Michaux about three hours later in a wood, where his stolen car got stuck in the mud.

Friday 23rd of April 1999

Mass murderer David J. Lawrie is executed by lethal injection at the age of 38 in Delaware Correctional Center, 1181 Paddock Road, Smyrna, Delaware, United States.

On 6 August 1992 Larwie stabbed his 25-year-old estranged wife Michelle in the chest, set the house on fire, killing his children 4-year-old Fawn and 2-year-old Tabitha and 3-year-old neighbour child Charles Humbertson. Lawrie's last meal request was for two bacon cheeseburgers, french fries, and a chocolate milkshake.

Monday 23rd of April 2007

First President of the Russian Federation Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin dies of at the age of 76 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Wednesday 23rd of April 2025

Musician David Lynn Thomas known from the Post-Punk group Pere Ubu dies of severe ilnesses at the age of 72 in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, United Kingdom.