April 26 in Pop Culture History

April 26 Facts, Fun Trivia and History

April 26 History Highlights

  • 1954Polio vaccine trials began.
  • April 26, 1968 Birthday (fictional) Lorelai Gilmore, TV Mom
  • 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, created the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
  • April 26, 19** Birthday (fictional) Donna Troy (Wonder Girl/Troia), DC Comics
  • If you were born on April 26th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… August 3rd (prior year)

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Reactor No 4 was the site of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and is now within a large restricted area known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It is also administered by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management that manages this former power plant and its exclusion zone.

During a test, an extreme power surge caused water to flood out from under Reactor No 4`s damaged reactor core. 200 tons (180 metric tonnes) of solid radioactive fuel mass hit a pile against metal plates which were designed to slow down this kind of meltdown accident.

April 26 is…

National Help a Horse Day
Pretzel Day
Richter Scale Day
World Intellectual Property (IP) Day
World Pinhole Photography Day

April 26 Birthday Quotes

“Don’t wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.”
– Charles Francis Richter

“I think it would be stupid for us to try and tell people who are dancing in a discotheque about the problems of the world. That is the very thing they have come away to avoid.”
– Giorgio Moroder

“If someone tells you that you cannot do something and you believe it, they are right.”
Carol Burnett

“I wish heroes didn’t exist. Whenever we need a hero, it’s because there’s a problem that needs to be solved; it’s because two groups of people, or two countries, are hurting one another, so a hero is needed to save us. If everyone were at peace if everyone were happy, why would we need heroes? The world is better off without heroes.”
– Jet Li

April 26 Birthdays

1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (died in 1917)
1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician, Nazi (died in 1987)
1900 – Charles Richter, American inventor and seismologist (died in 1985)
1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor
1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist and actor
1965 – Kevin James, American comedic actor
1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 45th First Lady of the United States
1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor

April 26 History

662 (Earthquake) Iran

1278 – Imprisoned for murder, John le F*cker sent a letter asking for bail, the earliest recorded instance of the English swear word “f*ck”.

1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. People were traditionally baptized three days after birth, this is how we know his birthday was April 23.

1721 (Earthquake) Tabriz, Iran

1882 – A perpetual motion machine was Patented (#257,103) by John Sutliff. I’m pretty sure it didn’t really work.

1921 – The first US broadcast of the weather was made from St. Louis, Missouri, over station WEW. Or so legend has it. There were few rules in the earliest days of radio, so another station may have made a weather announcement. It was about 55 degrees.

1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, was established.

1958 – #1 Hit April 26, 1958 – May 2, 1958: The Platters – Twilight Time

1975 – #1 Hit April 26, 1975 – May 2, 1975: B. J. Thomas – (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

1977 – Studio 54 opened at 254 West 54th Street in New York City.

1978 – Ringo Starr’s Ringo a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper, aired on NBC, with George Harrison narrating.

1986 – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, Ukraine, sending a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. It was announced two days later.

1989 (Tornado) Daulatpur-Salturia Tornado, Bangladesh killed 1300 people and injured 12,000.

1985 – Just one of the Guys and Stick were released in theaters.

1996The Truth About Cats & Dogs, The Quest, Mulholland Falls and Sunset Park debuted in theaters.

2002Jason and Life, or Something Like It were released in theaters.

2010 – Boobquake was envisioned by Jennifer McCreight. An estimated 200,000 people participated worldwide, and the epicenter was considered the Purdue Bell Tower in West Lafayette, Indiana.

2011The Voice premiered on NBC

2018 – American comedian Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault.

2019 – Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame was released

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

I’ve always hated calling our galaxy “The Milky Way”. Maybe after the Andromeda merger, we’ll come up with a better one.

A group of Sardines is called a Family.

The town of Hot Springs, New Mexico changed its town name to Truth or Consequences, in honor of the radio show of the same name.

John Ford – Real Name: Sean O’Fearna

“No hay banda! There is no band! Il n’est pas de orquestra! This is all a tape-recording. No hay banda! And yet we hear a band.” – Bondar in Mulholland Dr. #moviequotes

“Millions of people live in this world, maybe it’s not to late, to learn how to live and forget how to hate.” #songlyrics

Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn.

Still using my Santa stamps. Thumbin’ my nose at The Man.

“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” – Zoolander #moviequotes

“Cut ties from all the lies you’ve been living in.” #songlyrics

A “double-blind” study means that both the patient AND the researcher don’t know who the control group is and which option the placebo is.

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” #songlyrics

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