On this day: April 23

Events on April 23

• 1014 The Vikings were defeated by the Irish at the Battle of Clontarf. Wikipedia
• 1016 Edmund Ironside became King of England, reigning for only seven months before the country was conquered by Cnut the Great. Wikipedia
• 1348 The first knights of the Order of the Garter, an order of chivalry founded by King Edward III of England, were appointed. Wikipedia
• 1467 Ottoman wars in Europe: Albanian leader Skanderbeg defeated an Ottoman army under Ballaban Badera to raise the siege of Krujë. Wikipedia
• 1500 Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral reaches new coastline (Brazil). Wikipedia
• 1661 Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland at Westminster Abbey. Wikipedia
• 1685 Succeeding Charles II, his late brother, James II was crowned King of England, becoming last Catholic to hold the title. Wikipedia
• 1724 Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104, illustrating the topic of the Good Shepherd in pastoral music. Wikipedia
• 1891 Chilean Civil War: The armored frigate Blanco Encalada was sunk at the Battle of Caldera Bay, the first ironclad warship lost to a self-propelled torpedo. Wikipedia
• 1918 First World War: The British Royal Navy launched unsuccessful raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge in German-occupied Belgium. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the country's unicameral legislature, first met in Ankara in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence. Wikipedia
• 1927 Cardiff City defeated Arsenal 1–0 in the FA Cup final in the only time the FA Cup has been won by a non-English team. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht. Wikipedia
• 1942 Second World War: In retaliation for the Royal Air Force's bombing of Lübeck, the Luftwaffe began a series of air raids across England, beginning with Exeter. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The US Army's 90th Infantry Division liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany, freeing 1,500 prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1951 American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage by the communist government of Czechoslovakia. Wikipedia
• 1954 Batting for the Milwaukee Braves against Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hank Aaron hit the first of his 755 home runs in Major League Baseball. Wikipedia
• 1971 The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers, the first album on their own label, Rolling Stones Records. Wikipedia
• 1976 The American band the Ramones released their debut album, which became highly influential on the emerging punk rock movement. Wikipedia
• 1979 Blair Peach, a New Zealand teacher, was fatally injured while taking part in an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London. Wikipedia
• 1982 The ZX Spectrum, Britain's best-selling microcomputer, was released. Wikipedia
• 1993 Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum. Wikipedia
• 1999 NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Wikipedia
• 2009 The gamma-ray burst GRB 090423 was detected coming from the most distant astronomical object of any kind known at the time. Wikipedia
• 2010 Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into law the controversial anti–illegal immigration bill SB 1070, much of which was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Wikipedia
• 2018 A man intentionally struck pedestrians with a van on Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada, leading to 11 deaths. Wikipedia

Born on April 23

• 1185 Afonso II of Portugal (died 1223) Wikipedia
• 1564 William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (died 1616) Wikipedia
• 1791 James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (died 1868) Wikipedia
• 1857 Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1858 Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1867 Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1894 Frank Borzage, American actor and director (died 1962) Wikipedia
• 1897 Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (died 1972) Wikipedia
• 1899 Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1902 Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1907 Lee Miller, American model and photographer (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1918 Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1928 Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1936 Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1954 Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist Wikipedia
• 1977 John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor Wikipedia
• 1977 John Oliver, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1977 Kal Penn, Indian-American actor Wikipedia
• 1984 Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player Wikipedia
• 1990 Dev Patel, English actor Wikipedia
• 1995 Gigi Hadid, American fashion model and television personality Wikipedia
• 2018 Prince Louis of Wales, British royal Wikipedia

Died on April 23

• 303 Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr Wikipedia
• 1016 Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (born 968) Wikipedia
• 1200 Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (born 1130) Wikipedia
• 1605 Boris Godunov, Russian ruler (born 1551) Wikipedia
• 1616 William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (born 1564) Wikipedia
• 1850 William Wordsworth, English poet and author (born 1770) Wikipedia
• 1889 Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, French author and critic (born 1808) Wikipedia
• 1951 Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1986 Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1990 Paulette Goddard, American actress (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1992 Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 1996 P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1998 Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 2007 Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (born 1931) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Adalbert of Prague Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saint George Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Giles of Assisi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gerard of Toul Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ibar of Beggerin (Meath) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Toyohiko Kagawa (Episcopal and Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saint George's Day and its related observances: Saint George's Day (Catalonia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saint George's Day and its related observances: Saint George's Day (England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Teresa Maria Manetti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Canada Book Day (Canada) Wikipedia
• Castile and León Day (Castile and León) Wikipedia
• International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day Wikipedia
• Khongjom Day (Manipur) Wikipedia
• National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (China) Wikipedia
• World Book Day Wikipedia
• UN English Language Day (United Nations) Wikipedia
• UN Spanish Language Day (United Nations) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “April 23” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/April 23” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 23” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for April 23 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.