PHOTO OF THE DAY. The head of Statue of Liberty, displayed in Paris (1878). 📷 Albert Fernique.

FACT OF THE DAY. 21 April 1926. Elizabeth II was born in 17 Bruton Street, London. She reigned from 6 February 1952 until 8 September 2022. She was the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch. She was also the longest-serving female head of state in world history. #Elizabeth100

PERSON OF THE DAY. 21 April 2016. Musical innovator Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson) died (aged 57). He was awarded 8 Grammy Awards and sold over 100 million records world-wide. He’s also regarded as one of the greatest guitarists and live performers in rock history.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. The Beatles rooftop performance (1969). 📷 google images

FACT OF THE DAY. 20 April 1653. Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament with the words: “I command ye therefore... to depart immediately... Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away the shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, GO!”

PERSON OF THE DAY. 20 April 2016. Popular comedy writer and star live performer Victoria Wood died of cancer (aged 62). She was best known for her BBC sketch Acorn Antiques and the BBC comedy series, Dinnerladies. She won 5 BAFTA awards. Her most famous song was the hilarious Let’s Do It.

He took this photo. The logo of the camera symbol followed by the name means that person took the photo.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. LIFE magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White, takes a photo from the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building, New York City (1934). 📷 Oscar Graubner

FACT OF THE DAY. 19 April 1982. NASA named Sally Ride as 1st US woman astronaut. On 18 June 1983 she became the 1st American woman to travel in space when NASA’s space shuttle Challenger was launched into space on its 2nd mission.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 19 April 1824. Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron), regarded as one of the greatest British poets, died of Malaria (aged 36). He remains widely read and influential. His best-known works were Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Albert Einstein's office on the day he died (1955). 📷 Ralph Morse

PERSON OF THE DAY. 18 April 1992. Benny Hill died (aged 68). His comedy shows on BBC then ITV were hugely popular when broadcast from 1955 to 1989. Hill described his comedy style as “seaside post card humour”. He had a UK Christmas No 1 hit in 1971 with Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in The West).

FACT OF THE DAY. 18 April 1955. Albert Einstein died (aged 76). He was one of the greatest physicists of all time. He’s widely known for developing the theory of relativity and for the development of the theory of quantum mechanics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

It’s my birthday today. Here I am aged 2.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Customers listening to new records before buying in a HMV record shop in London (1955). 📷 John Drysdale.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 7 April 1960. Rock ‘n’ Roll star Eddie Cochran (aged 21) was killed in a car crash near Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was travelling in a taxi that was carrying him from a show in Bristol when it crashed en route to Heathrow Airport, London, to catch a flight back home to the USA.

FACT OF THE DAY. 17 April 1970. Apollo 13 astronauts (left to right Lunar Module pilot Fred Haise, Mission Commander James Lovell and Command Module pilot John Swigert), returned to Earth after an aborted moon mission during which one of the oxygen tanks in the command module exploded.

PHOTO OF THE DAY The Beatles photographed in EMI House, Manchester Square, London in 1963 (above) and 1969 (below). 📷 Angus McBean

PERSON OF THE DAY. 16 April 1918. Terence Alan (“Spike”) Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India. He was a leading innovator in comedy writing and a member of The Goons whose surreal BBC radio show was hugely popular in the 1950s. His gravestone says, in Irish Gaelic, “I told you I was ill.”

FACT OF THE DAY. 16 April 1889. Charlie Chaplin was born in London. He rose to fame in the silent film era and became the 1st worldwide instantly recognisable star through his screen persona, The Tramp. He’s one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. One of the most famous Hillsborough photographs was of Liverpool fan Dave Roland sitting alone in the stadium on the day of the tragedy. Dave sadly died of coronavirus on 6 April 2020. 📷 John Giles

PERSON OF THE DAY. 15 April 1988. Kenneth Williams died (aged 62). He appeared in 26 of the 31 Carry On films. He also starred in the BBC radio comedies Hancock’s Half-Hour and Round The Horne and was a regular on BBC radio panel game Just a Minute. One of the funniest people who ever lived.

FACT OF THE DAY. 15 April 1989. 97 football fans were killed (94 on the day) at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield in a terraced area assigned to LFC fans. After a legal struggle a verdict of “unlawful killing” was reached in 2016 with negligence by the police and emergency services highlighted.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Newspaper boy in London selling newspapers announcing the sinking of the Titanic (1912) 📷 google images

PERSON OF THE DAY. 4 April 1865. US President Abraham Lincoln was shot once in the head at point blank range at 10:15 PM while watching a play in Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC. The assassin was John Wilkes Booth using a 44-calibre derringer pistol. Lincoln died at 7:22 AM on the next day.

FACT OF THE DAY. 14 April 1912. 11:40 PM. Luxury liner RMS Titanic hit an iceberg at almost full speed. Two-and-a-half hours later the ship sank to the bottom of the Atlantic, with the loss of 1,517 men, women and children. The Captain Edward Smith went down with his ship.

TOPPOP: B.A. Robertson - Bang Bang YouTube video by TopPop

Don’t miss my new podcast series: Bang Bang: It’s History. It will be full of out of date historical interpretations, funny accents and dressing up in historical costumes. 😂 youtu.be/BOunyg9ySCA?si… via @YouTube

PHOTO OF THE DAY. David Bowie (1973) 📷 Mick Rock.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 13 April 1852. Frank W Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York State, USA. In 1879 he opened his 1st “Five and Ten Cent” discount store in Utica, New York. He went on to open 3,000 stores across the world. The 1st British store was on Church Street, Liverpool.

FACT OF THE DAY. 13 April 1919. British and Gurkha troops massacred at least 379 unarmed demonstrators at the Jallianwala Bagh, a city park in Amritsar, India’s holy city of the Sikh religion. Most killed were Indian nationalists protesting against conscription and new tax increases.