Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

April 18

1983
Truck-bomb strikes the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans and 46 Lebanese.

1978
U.S. Senate votes to turn the Panama Canal over to Panama on December 31, 1999.

1956
First major-league umpire to wear glasses, Eddie Rommel of the American League. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1942
World War II - First U.S. bombing of the Japanese mainland: Doolittle raids Tokyo with 16 B-25 bombers.

1934
First U.S. launderette opens, in Texas.

1924
First crossword puzzle book is published by Simon and Schuster.

1906
The most violent U.S. earthquake ever recorded hits San Francisco, destroying 25,000 buildings and killing hundreds of people.

1846
First printing telegraph: American inventor Royal Earl House receives a patent for his device, which was capable of 50 words a minute.

1956
John James, American actor. TV: Dynasty (Jeff Colby).

1947
James Woods, American actor. Film: The Onion Field (1979), Videodrome (1983), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

1947
Dorothy Lyman, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Mama's Family (Naomi).

1946
Hayley Mills, British actress. Film: Pollyanna (1960), The Parent Trap (1962), and That Darn Cat (1965).

1937
Robert Hooks, American actor. TV: N.Y.P.D. (Det. Jeff Ward).

1933     d. 1993
Harold Innocent (Harold Sydney Harrison), English actor. Film: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, the corrupt bishop).

1921
Barbara Hale, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Perry Mason (Della Street).

1912     d. 1978
Wendy Barrie (Wendy Jenkins), British actress. TV: The Wendy Barrie Show.

1904     d. 1981
Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham, American comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (the judge).

1857     d. 1938
Clarence Darrow, American lawyer, defender of John Scopes in the famous Tennessee Monkey Trial (1925).

1993     b. 1919
Bernie Wayne, American composer. Music: There She Is (1955, Miss America Pageant theme) and the music for Blue Velvet (1963, #1).

1955     b. 1879
Albert Einstein, German-born Nobel-winning physicist and mathematician who introduced the theory of relativity.

1945     b. 1849
Sir John Ambrose Fleming, English engineer. He patented the first vacuum tube (1904), revolutionizing the wireless telegraph. He also made numerous contributions to the development of the telephone and electric lighting.

1912     b. 1833
Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, British tennis pioneer, inventor of the game of tennis (1873).

1873     b. 1803
Justus von Liebig, German organic chemist. His work in replacing soil minerals laid the foundation for modern fertilization.

1853     b. 1786
William Rufus King, 13th U.S. Vice-President (1853), took oath of office in Cuba.

1674     b. 1620
John Graunt, English statistician. He co-wrote the world's first book of statistics and is the founder of the science of demography (the statistical study of human populations).

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