966 After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polanie, Mieszko I, converted to Christianity on April 14, 966, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
The word "Poland" was written officially for the first time the same year.
1561 There was a mass sighting of a large black triangular flying saucer-type object over Nuremberg, Germany on April 14, 1561. A broadsheet news article printed later in the month describes how around dawn on that day, residents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and then a large crash outside of the city. Many skeptics claim the phenomenon was likely to have been a sun dog.
1758 Clara the rhinoceros was a female Indian rhinoceros who arrived in Rotterdam in the Dutch Republic in 1741, becoming the fifth living rhinoceros to be seen in Europe in modern times. After tours through towns in the Dutch Republic, she visited Dresden, Rome, Basel, Naples, Venice, Prague, and Paris, before dying in Lambeth, England on April 14, 1758.
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| The broadsheet |
1758 Clara the rhinoceros was a female Indian rhinoceros who arrived in Rotterdam in the Dutch Republic in 1741, becoming the fifth living rhinoceros to be seen in Europe in modern times. After tours through towns in the Dutch Republic, she visited Dresden, Rome, Basel, Naples, Venice, Prague, and Paris, before dying in Lambeth, England on April 14, 1758.
1759 Anglo-German composer George Frideric Handel died on April 14, 1759, three days after he collapsed during a performance of The Messiah. Some 3,000 people were present at the funeral service at Westminster Abbey. Handel died worth £20,000, and left legacies with his charities to nearly £6000. He was one of history's most prolific composers with 303 hours of music to his name; He is thought to have composed more notes of music than any other composer.
1828 Lexicographer Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary of American English on April 14, 1828. Published in two volumes, it was the first dictionary to give comprehensive coverage of American usage, and his name survives in the many dictionaries produced by the American publishing house. There were 2,500 copies printed, at $20 for the two volumes. At first the set sold poor, but when he lowered the price to $15, its sales improved.
1865 By the end of the American Civil War, between one-third and one-half of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This served as the catalyst behind the formation of the U.S. Secret Service. The legislation creating the US Secret Service agency was on Abraham Lincoln's desk on April 14, 1865, the same day he was assassinated.
1865 On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln went to attend the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. During the third act of the production, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, entered the presidential box and fired a pistol at point-blank range into the back of Lincoln's head. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15th.
1867 Two months after Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky married stenographer Anna Grigorieva, they began a delayed honeymoon in Western Europe on April 14, 1867. The honeymoon was financed with the money gained from the sale of her valuables. They lived in Geneva, Florence, Vienna, Prague and finally Dresden. Originally it was supposed to last a few months, but the trip continued until 1871 when Dostoevsky had gambled away the couples' money and possessions.
1894 The first ever commercial motion picture house opened on April 14, 1894 in New York City at 1155 Broadway, on the corner of 27th Street. The venue used ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films, set up in parallel rows of five, each showing a different movie. For 25 cents a viewer could see all the films in either row; half a dollar gave access to the entire bill.
1901 A motorized hearse was used at a funeral for the first time on April 14, 1901, for Dr. John Henry Knight, one of the employees of the Daimler factory in Coventry, England. The hearse was powered by a 6 horsepower engine and was capable of reaching speeds of up to 16 miles per hour.
1912 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic's maiden voyage began on April 10, 1912. Before she sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ocean liners of this design to sink. At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, she hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. The iceberg broke the Titanic's hull (bottom), letting water into the ship. The Titanic sank two hours and forty minutes later; 1,517 people were killed. The life boat drill planned for that day had been cancelled.
1912 The Titanic was capable of carrying 64 lifeboats, but the number was reduced to just 20 so the ship would look less ‘cluttered’. The life boat drill planned for April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic hit the iceberg, was cancelled.
1924 Boston architect Louis Sullivan died on April 14, 1924. Known as the "father of skyscrapers," he designed buildings as many as ten stories high by using the new method of construction made possible by the use of special steel girders. Purely functional, his buildings had large floor areas, which allowed more light to be admitted to the interior. Sullivan was particular known for his office buildings built in the early 1890s.
1927 Volvo was established in 1915 as a subsidiary of SKF, a Swedish ball bearing manufacturer. The name Volvo means "I roll" in Latin, conjugated from "volvere". The Volvo Group itself considers it started in 1927. The first Volvo car, a Volvo ÖV 4, rolled off the production line at the factory in Hisingen, Gothenburg on April 14, 1927. The ÖV 4 was not very successful in the Swedish climate, so the covered version, PV 4, was introduced at the end of 1928.
1929 The first Monaco Grand Prix, held on April 14, 1929, was won by William Grover-Williams driving a Bugatti. The Monaco Grand Prix represents one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport; other events being the Indianapolis 500, and The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1939 The Grapes Of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck and first published on April 14, 1939.The title came from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic": “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath on May 6, 1940.
1942 During the Second World War, Malta was attacked by the Axis forces. The bravery of the Maltese people during the second Siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on April 14, 1942. The George Cross continues to appear on Malta's national flag.
1945 The U-1206 submarine was lost on April 14, 1945 due to a toilet malfunction: the leak flooded the U-boat's batteries causing them to release chlorine gas, leaving the commander with no alternative but to surface. Once surfaced, U-1206 was discovered and bombed by British patrols.
1950 37-year-old Arthur Conway was the first man in Britain to be publicly labelled ‘work-shy' by the state. In a case brought by the National Assistance Board, he was jailed for three months on April 14, 1950 for failing to maintain himself, his wife and three children.
1950 Lancashire, England, vicar Marcus Morris, concerned at the growing popularity of American horror comics amongst children, founded the Eagle comic, which aimed to combine high moral values with the stories of space heroes such as Dan Dare. The first issue, which appeared on April 14, 1950, cost 3d and sold 900,000 copies. The comic lasted 19 years and 991 issues.
1967 Police were forced to use tear gas to break up mobs when the Rolling Stones appeared at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw in April 14, 1967, the British pop group’s first appearance behind the Iron Curtain. Trouble began when 3,000 teenagers gathered outside the venue before the gig. Inside, 3,000 boys and girls danced in their seats.
1986 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) hailstones fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986, killing 92. It broke a weather record for the heaviest hailstones ever recorded. The hailstorm was caused by a combination of factors, including a strong cold front and a moist atmosphere.
1999 A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in Sydney on April 14, 1999 and along the east coast of New South Wales. It caused about A$2.3 billion in damages, at the time the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history.
2014 276 schoolgirls were abducted by Islamists Boko Haram (meaning ‘Western education is forbidden’) in Chibok, Nigeria on April 14, 2014. In May 2014 Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger joined Nigeria in a united effort to combat Boko Haram in the aftermath of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls. However, despite the international campaign, as of April 2023, 98 of the schoolgirls are still missing.
In South Korea, there is a day called Black Day (April 14), where single people eat noodles to lament their loneliness. This is in opposition to Valentine's Day and White Day, the days for couples.
1828 Lexicographer Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary of American English on April 14, 1828. Published in two volumes, it was the first dictionary to give comprehensive coverage of American usage, and his name survives in the many dictionaries produced by the American publishing house. There were 2,500 copies printed, at $20 for the two volumes. At first the set sold poor, but when he lowered the price to $15, its sales improved.
 |
| Handwritten drafts of dictionary entries by Webster |
1865 By the end of the American Civil War, between one-third and one-half of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This served as the catalyst behind the formation of the U.S. Secret Service. The legislation creating the US Secret Service agency was on Abraham Lincoln's desk on April 14, 1865, the same day he was assassinated.
1865 On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln went to attend the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. During the third act of the production, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, entered the presidential box and fired a pistol at point-blank range into the back of Lincoln's head. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15th.
 |
| Assassination of Abraham Lincoln |
1867 Two months after Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky married stenographer Anna Grigorieva, they began a delayed honeymoon in Western Europe on April 14, 1867. The honeymoon was financed with the money gained from the sale of her valuables. They lived in Geneva, Florence, Vienna, Prague and finally Dresden. Originally it was supposed to last a few months, but the trip continued until 1871 when Dostoevsky had gambled away the couples' money and possessions.
1894 The first ever commercial motion picture house opened on April 14, 1894 in New York City at 1155 Broadway, on the corner of 27th Street. The venue used ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films, set up in parallel rows of five, each showing a different movie. For 25 cents a viewer could see all the films in either row; half a dollar gave access to the entire bill.
 |
| A San Francisco Kinetoscope parlor, ca. 1894–95. |
1901 A motorized hearse was used at a funeral for the first time on April 14, 1901, for Dr. John Henry Knight, one of the employees of the Daimler factory in Coventry, England. The hearse was powered by a 6 horsepower engine and was capable of reaching speeds of up to 16 miles per hour.
1912 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic's maiden voyage began on April 10, 1912. Before she sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ocean liners of this design to sink. At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, she hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. The iceberg broke the Titanic's hull (bottom), letting water into the ship. The Titanic sank two hours and forty minutes later; 1,517 people were killed. The life boat drill planned for that day had been cancelled.
1912 The Titanic was capable of carrying 64 lifeboats, but the number was reduced to just 20 so the ship would look less ‘cluttered’. The life boat drill planned for April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic hit the iceberg, was cancelled.
 |
| "Untergang der Titanic", as conceived by Willy Stöwer, 1912 |
1924 Boston architect Louis Sullivan died on April 14, 1924. Known as the "father of skyscrapers," he designed buildings as many as ten stories high by using the new method of construction made possible by the use of special steel girders. Purely functional, his buildings had large floor areas, which allowed more light to be admitted to the interior. Sullivan was particular known for his office buildings built in the early 1890s.
1927 Volvo was established in 1915 as a subsidiary of SKF, a Swedish ball bearing manufacturer. The name Volvo means "I roll" in Latin, conjugated from "volvere". The Volvo Group itself considers it started in 1927. The first Volvo car, a Volvo ÖV 4, rolled off the production line at the factory in Hisingen, Gothenburg on April 14, 1927. The ÖV 4 was not very successful in the Swedish climate, so the covered version, PV 4, was introduced at the end of 1928.
1929 The first Monaco Grand Prix, held on April 14, 1929, was won by William Grover-Williams driving a Bugatti. The Monaco Grand Prix represents one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport; other events being the Indianapolis 500, and The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1939 The Grapes Of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck and first published on April 14, 1939.The title came from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic": “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath on May 6, 1940.
1942 During the Second World War, Malta was attacked by the Axis forces. The bravery of the Maltese people during the second Siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on April 14, 1942. The George Cross continues to appear on Malta's national flag.
1945 The U-1206 submarine was lost on April 14, 1945 due to a toilet malfunction: the leak flooded the U-boat's batteries causing them to release chlorine gas, leaving the commander with no alternative but to surface. Once surfaced, U-1206 was discovered and bombed by British patrols.
1950 37-year-old Arthur Conway was the first man in Britain to be publicly labelled ‘work-shy' by the state. In a case brought by the National Assistance Board, he was jailed for three months on April 14, 1950 for failing to maintain himself, his wife and three children.
1950 Lancashire, England, vicar Marcus Morris, concerned at the growing popularity of American horror comics amongst children, founded the Eagle comic, which aimed to combine high moral values with the stories of space heroes such as Dan Dare. The first issue, which appeared on April 14, 1950, cost 3d and sold 900,000 copies. The comic lasted 19 years and 991 issues.
 |
| The front cover of the first issue of Eagle, Wikipedia |
1967 Police were forced to use tear gas to break up mobs when the Rolling Stones appeared at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw in April 14, 1967, the British pop group’s first appearance behind the Iron Curtain. Trouble began when 3,000 teenagers gathered outside the venue before the gig. Inside, 3,000 boys and girls danced in their seats.
1986 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) hailstones fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986, killing 92. It broke a weather record for the heaviest hailstones ever recorded. The hailstorm was caused by a combination of factors, including a strong cold front and a moist atmosphere.
1999 A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in Sydney on April 14, 1999 and along the east coast of New South Wales. It caused about A$2.3 billion in damages, at the time the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history.
2014 276 schoolgirls were abducted by Islamists Boko Haram (meaning ‘Western education is forbidden’) in Chibok, Nigeria on April 14, 2014. In May 2014 Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger joined Nigeria in a united effort to combat Boko Haram in the aftermath of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls. However, despite the international campaign, as of April 2023, 98 of the schoolgirls are still missing.
In South Korea, there is a day called Black Day (April 14), where single people eat noodles to lament their loneliness. This is in opposition to Valentine's Day and White Day, the days for couples.
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