13th April: Today In History

Today is Thursday, April 13th, the 103rd day of 2017. There are 262 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1742:  “Messiah,” the oratorio by George Frideric Handel featuring the “Hallelujah” chorus, had its first public performance in Dublin, Ireland.

1613:  Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, was captured by English Capt. Samuel Argall in the Virginia Colony. (During a yearlong captivity, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and ultimately opted to stay with the English.)

1743:  The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony.

1861:  At the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces.

1917:  American business tycoon James “Diamond Jim” Brady, known for his jewelry collection as well as his hearty appetite, died in Atlantic City, New Jersey at age 60.

1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the 200th anniversary of the third American president’s birth.

1953:  “Casino Royale,” Ian Fleming’s first book as well as the first James Bond novel, was published in London by Jonathan Cape Ltd.

1964:  Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.”

1967:  The movie “Casino Royale,” a star-studded James Bond spoof very loosely based on the Ian Fleming novel, had its world premiere in London.

1970:  Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)

1986:  Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship.

1992:  The Great Chicago Flood took place as the city’s century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River. “The Bridges of Madison County,” a romance novel by Robert James Waller, was published by Warner Books.

1997:  Tiger Woods, at age 21 years and 3ฝ months, became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament by a record 12 strokes at Augusta National Golf Club.

Birthdays:

Movie director Stanley Donen (DAH’-nehn) is 93.

Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 84.

Actor Lyle Waggoner is 82.

Actor Edward Fox is 80.

Actor Paul Sorvino is 78.

Rhythm-and-blues singer Lester Chambers is 77.

Movie-TV composer Bill Conti is 75.

Rock musician Jack Casady is 73.

Actor Tony Dow is 72.

Singer Al Green is 71.