April 13 History, Trivia, and Fun Facts
April 13 History Highlights
- 1962 – Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published.
- 1964 – Sidney Poitier became the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film, Lilies of the Field.
- 1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduced the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note.
- If you were born on April 13th,
You were likely conceived the week of… July 21st (prior year)
April 13 is…
Peach Cobbler Day
Plant Appreciation Day
Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday
Scrabble Day
April 13 Birthday Quotes
“When the people are afraid of the government, that’s tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that’s liberty.”
– Thomas Jefferson
“The creation of the world did not take place once and for all time, but takes place every day.”
– Samuel Beckett
“A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.”
– Guy Fawkes
“Teach success before teaching responsibility. Teach them to believe in themselves. Teach them to think, ‘I’m not stupid’. No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed.”
– Al Green
“Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.”
– Seamus Heaney
“There have been times I almost got a persecution complex. I felt like people wouldn’t let me grow up. They always saw me as a smiling kid or goofy teenager, no matter how much I’d changed.”
– Ricky Schroder
April 13 Birthdays
1743 – Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the United States (died in 1826)
1866 – Butch Cassidy, American criminal (died in 1908)
1899 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and game designer, created Scrabble (died in 1993)
1906 – Samuel Beckett, Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died in 1989)
1919 – Madalyn Murray O’Hair, American activist, founded American Atheists (died in 1995)
1939 – Paul Sorvino, American actor
1939 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet (died in 2013)
1946 – Al Green, American singer-songwriter and pastor
1947 – Mike Chapman, Australian-English songwriter and producer
1949 – Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (died in 2011)
1950 – Ron Perlman, American actor
1951 – Peter Davison, English actor, The Fifth Doctor
1964 – Caroline Rhea, Canadian comedic actress
1970 – Ricky Schroder, American actor
1975 – Lou Bega, German singer-songwriter
1988 – Allison Williams, American actress and singer
2004 – Brooklyn Nelson, American actress
April 13 History
1360 – On “Black Monday,” a hail storm killed 1,000 English soldiers and 6,000 horses. Edward III, fearing it a sign from God, paused the Hundred Years’ War.
1570 – Guy Fawkes was born (died in 1606)
1742 – Handel’s Messiah premiered in Dublin, Ireland.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act gave Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in the UK’s Parliament.
1869 – The first US Patent (#88,929) for an air brake was issued to George Westinghouse of Schenectady, N.Y., called an “Improvement in steam-power-brake devices”.
1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded.
1902 – James C. Penney (now Penneys) opened his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1943 – The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.
April 13, 1953 – The CIA’s Project MKUltra began
1957 – #1 Hit April 13, 1957 – June 7, 1957: Elvis Presley – All Shook Up
1959 – #1 Hit April 13, 1959 – May 10, 1959: The Fleetwoods – Come Softly to Me
1968 – #1 Hit April 13, 1968 – May 17, 1968: Bobby Goldsboro – Honey
1970 – An oxygen tank exploded on Apollo13, but everyone survived. It was also the major plot for the 1995 film, Apollo 13.
1974 – Western Union, with NASA and Hughes Aircraft, launched the US’ first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1.
1985 – #1 Hit April 13, 1985 – May 10, 1985: USA for Africa – We Are the World
1984 – Friday the 13th: Final Chapter, Iceman, and Swing Shift were released in theaters.
1990 – The Gods Must Be Crazy II and Crazy People debuted in theaters.
1991 – #1 Hit April 13, 1991 – April 19, 1991: Londonbeat – I’ve Been Thinking About You
1994 – Serial Mom was released in theaters.
1997 – Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2001 – Bridget Jones’s Diary debuted in theaters.
2002 – My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Scorpion King, and Murder By Numbers were released in theaters.
2007 – Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Condemned, and The Invisible debuted in theaters.
2012 – The Cabin in the Woods and The Three Stooges were released in theaters.
#1 Hit April 13, 2019 – August 23, 2019: Lil Nas X solo and/or featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts
This water closet used to be referred to as ‘the library’ … we should start calling it the ‘phone booth’.
Giving lotto tickets/scratch offs as a present is like saying “The best gift I could give you is a small chance at a vastly different life… good luck”
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” – Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard, 1950
The biggest film of 1955: Lady and the Tramp (Drama) earned ~ $93,600,000
Waldo’s mom must be worried sick.
Sonny Bono was the only member of the United States Congress to ever have a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 music chart.
Sophia Loren – Real Name: Sofia Scicolone
Roulette Odds: Black: Payoff: 1:1 True Odds: 47.37%
Red Shirt (redshirt) – doomed person, From Star Trek – the guy wearing the red shirt would be killed.
Mother Teresa is one of eight people to have been granted “Honorary Citizenship” by the United States