#OnThisDay, April 15, 1755, Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" was published in London (depicted in Blackadder, s03e02 “Ink and Incapability”, 1983)

#OnThisDay, April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre (depicted in National Treasure: Book of Secrets, 2007)

#OnThisDay, April 14, 1912, at 11:40 pm, passenger liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southhampton to New York City (depicted in Titanic, 1997)

#OnThisDay, April 13, 1970, the NASA Mission Control Center received a radio communication from Apollo 13 astronauts John "Jack" Swigert and Jim Lovell: “Uh, Houston, we’ve had a problem.” (depicted in Apollo 13, 1995)

#OnThisDay, April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM UTC, the Vostok 1 spacecraft launched with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, the first human to travel into space (depicted in Gagarin: First in Space, 2013)

#OnThisDay, April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM UTC, the Vostok 1 spacecraft launched with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, the first human to travel into space (depicted in Gagarin: First in Space, 2013)

#OnThisDay, April 11, 1471, King Edward IV of England entered London unopposed, taking Henry VI prisoner and returning him to the Tower of London (depicted in The White Queen, “War at First Hand” 2013)

#OnThisDay, April 9, 1413, Henry V was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey (depicted in The King, 2019)

Today, April 7, 1862, Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War (depicted in How the West Was Won, 1962)

Today, April 6, 1710, Maundy Thursday, Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough saw each other for the last time (depicted in The Favourite, 2018)

Today, April 5, 1887, teacher Anne Sullivan taught her blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller, the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet (depicted in The Miracle Worker, 1962)

Today, April 5, 1895, author Oscar Wilde loses his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices (depicted in Wilde, 1997)

#OnThisDay, April 4, 1968, American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony outside of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee (depicted in King, 1978)

#OnThisDay, April 3, 1882, outlaw and train robber Jesse James was shot by new recruit Robert Ford, who hoped to collect a reward for the killing (depicted in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007).

On April 1, 1934, notorious outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker killed two highway patrolmen, H.D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, in Grapevine, Texas (depicted in The Highwaymen, 2019)

On this day, March 31, 1995, superstar Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club (depicted in Selena, 1997)

#OnThisDay, March 30, in 1984, police detective Robert Cunningham offered waitress Phyllis Penzo half of a lottery ticket in lieu of a tip. The numbers won, and they split $6 million between them (It Could Happen to You, 1994).

#OnThisDay, March 28, 2009, merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips departed home to take command of a cargo ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, set to sail from Oman through the Guardafui Channel to Kenya (depicted in *Captain Phillips*, 2013).

Today, March 26, 1827, composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna, Austria. Among his belongings are letters addressed to “Immortal Beloved,” a woman whose identity is still unknown (depicted in Immortal Beloved, 1994).

#OnThisDay, March 25, 1807, royal assent was granted after the British Parliament passed a bill to abolish the slave trade throughout the British Empire, after long campaigning by abolitionist MP William Wilberforce and his allies (depicted in Amazing Grace, 2006)