April 28 birthdays
1442 EDWARD IV
King of England
Edward IV was King of England from 1461 until 1470, then again from 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions.
1795 CHARLES STURT
English explorer
Sturt led several expeditions into Australia’s interior, starting from Sydney and later Adelaide. His expeditions traced several westward-flowing rivers, establishing that they merged into the Murray River. Sturt believed Australia had an inland sea.
1908 OSKAR SCHINDLER
Austrian businessman
Schindler saved the lives of 1200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories. He was the subject of the 1982 novel Schidler’s Ark, and the 1993 film Schindler’s List.
1911 LEE FALK
American comic strip writer
Falk is best known as the creator of the popular comic strips Mandrake the Magican and The Phantom. At the height of their popularity, the strips attracted more than 100 million daily readers. Falk also contributed to a series of Phantom novels.
1926 HARPER LEE
American novelist
Lee is best known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which won the 1961 Pullitzer Prize. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.
1937 SADDAM HUSSEIN
Iraqi President
Saddam formally took power in 1979, though he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years. Saddam’s rule was marked by numerous human rights abuses, including an estimated 250,000 arbitrary killings.
1966 JOHN DALY
American golfer Daly in 1997 became the first PGA Tour player to average more than 300 yards per drive over a full season, a feat he repeated every year from 1999 until 2008. Daly’s two Major victories were the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open Championship.