10th April: Today In History

Today is Monday, April 10th, the 100th day of 2017. There are 265 days left in the year. The Jewish holiday Passover begins at sunset.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1912:  The British liner RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

1790:  President George Washington signed the first United States Patent Act.

1866:  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.

1925:  The F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby” was first published by Scribner’s of New York.

1932:  German President Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected in a runoff, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.

1947:  Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals.

1957:  Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to all shipping traffic. (The canal had been closed due to wreckage resulting from the Suez Crisis.) The jury-deliberation film drama “12 Angry Men,” starring Henry Fonda, premiered in Los Angeles. John Osborne’s play “The Entertainer,” starring Laurence Olivier, opened in London.

1967:  At the Academy Awards, “A Man for All Seasons” won best picture of 1966; its star, Paul Scofield, was named best actor; Elizabeth Taylor received best actress for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

1974:  Golda Meir told party leaders she was resigning as prime minister of Israel.

1981:  Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was declared the winner of a by-election to the British Parliament.

1992:  Comedian Sam Kinison was killed in a car crash outside Needles, California, at age 38.

1998:  The Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.

2010:  Polish President Lech Kaczynski (lehk kah-CHIN’-skee), 60, was killed in a plane crash in western Russia that also claimed the lives of his wife and top Polish political, military and church officials.

Birthdays:

Actor Max von Sydow is 88. Actress Liz Sheridan is 88.

Sportscaster John Madden is 81.

Reggae artist Bunny Wailer is 70.

Actor Steven Seagal is 66.

Folk-pop singer Terre Roche (The Roches) is 64.

Actor Peter MacNicol is 63.

Actress Olivia Brown is 60.

Rock musician Steven Gustafson (10,000 Maniacs) is 60.

Singer-producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is 59.

Rock singer-musician Brian Setzer is 58.