On this day: April 3

Events on April 3

• 1043 Edward the Confessor, usually considered to be the last king of the House of Wessex, was crowned King of England. Wikipedia
• 1559 Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain signed the second treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, ending the Italian War of 1551–1559. Wikipedia
• 1721 Robert Walpole took office as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons, becoming the first de facto prime minister of Great Britain. Wikipedia
• 1860 The Pony Express, a mail service that became the most direct means of long-distance communication across the United States before the first transcontinental telegraph, began operation. Wikipedia
• 1888 Emma Elizabeth Smith was killed in the first of eleven unsolved murders of women that took place in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London. Wikipedia
• 1895 The libel trial instigated by Irish author Oscar Wilde began, eventually resulting in his arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of gross indecency. Wikipedia
• 1905 Association football club Boca Juniors is founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina Wikipedia
• 1922 Joseph Stalin became the first general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1933 Lord Clydesdale and David McIntyre undertook the first successful flight over Mount Everest. Wikipedia
• 1944 Philippine resistance against Japan: Cebuano fishermen discovered the Koga papers after a plane crash killed Admiral Mineichi Koga, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet. Wikipedia
• 1946 Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March. Wikipedia
• 1948 The Marshall Plan, an economic recovery program established by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall to assist the post-World War II re-building of Europe, was signed into law. Wikipedia
• 1966 Luna 10 entered orbit around the Moon, becoming the first space probe to orbit an astronomical body other than Earth or the Sun. Wikipedia
• 1974 The Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes began, killing at least 315 people and injuring 5,484 in 13 US states at the end of a very strong La Niña event. Wikipedia
• 1984 Aboard Soyuz T-11, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to be launched into space. Wikipedia
• 1996 A U.S. Air Force CT-43 crashed into a mountainside while attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing all 35 people on board, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. Wikipedia
• 1996 Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States. Wikipedia
• 2000 In United States v. Microsoft Corp., Microsoft was found to have violated antitrust law by bundling the web browser Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system. Wikipedia
• 2004 Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves. Wikipedia
• 2008 Texas law enforcement authorities raided the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' YFZ Ranch, eventually removing 533 women and children from the premises. Wikipedia
• 2009 A gunman opened fire at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York, U.S., killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide. Wikipedia
• 2010 Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer. Wikipedia
• 2013 The northeastern section of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, experienced several flash floods that killed at least 100 people. Wikipedia
• 2016 The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies. Wikipedia
• 2017 A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people. Wikipedia
• 2018 A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, injuring three people before killing herself. Wikipedia

Born on April 3

• 1593 George Herbert, English poet (died 1633) Wikipedia
• 1783 Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (died 1859) Wikipedia
• 1880 Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (died 1903) Wikipedia
• 1881 Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1954) Wikipedia
• 1893 Leslie Howard, English actor (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1922 Doris Day, American singer and actress (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1924 Marlon Brando, American actor and director (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1925 Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1926 Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1930 Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1934 Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1948 Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico Wikipedia
• 1948 Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO Wikipedia
• 1958 Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host Wikipedia
• 1961 Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian Wikipedia
• 1964 Nigel Farage, English politician Wikipedia
• 1982 Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress Wikipedia
• 1983 Ben Foster, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1986 Amanda Bynes, American actress Wikipedia
• 1988 Tim Krul, Dutch footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia

Died on April 3

• 33 Jesus of Nazareth , (Julian Calendar Date) Wikipedia
• 1287 Pope Honorius IV (born 1210) Wikipedia
• 1680 Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (born 1630) Wikipedia
• 1682 Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter and educator (born 1618) Wikipedia
• 1827 Ernst Chladni, German physicist and academic (born 1756) Wikipedia
• 1849 Juliusz Słowacki, Polish-French poet and playwright (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1882 Jesse James, American criminal and outlaw (born 1847) Wikipedia
• 1897 Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (born 1833) Wikipedia
• 1941 Pál Teleki, Hungarian academic and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1950 Kurt Weill, German-American composer and pianist (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1990 Sarah Vaughan, American singer (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 1991 Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2013 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2016 Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (born 1932) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Agape, Chionia, and Irene Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Burgundofara Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph the Hymnographer Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Luigi Scrosoppi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Piotr Edward Dankowski Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Richard of Chichester Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “April 3” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/April 3” — 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 3” 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 3 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.