Today in History - History - April 1st

1854Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens magazine, Household Words.

1964John Lennon is reunited with his father Freddie after 17 years

1936Charles "Lucky" Luciano" is arrested in Arkansas on a criminal warrant from New York

1981CNN airs a videotape that shows that Tamara Rand predicted that Reagan is in danger from someone named Jack Humley (a hoax)

1693Cotton Mather's four-day-old son dies, and witchcraft is blamed

1934Clyde Barrow kills two young highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, at the intersection of Route 114 and Dove Road near Grapevine, Texas. Bonnie Parker's role in the murders was greatly exaggerated, but helped turn public perception against the gang for good

527Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne

1990Wrestlemania VI, 67,678 in Toronto, Ultimate Warrior beats Hulk Hogan

1836Charles Darwin aboard HMS Beagle reaches Cocos Islands

1939US recognizes Franco government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war. Pope Pius XII congratulates Generalissimo Franco's victory in Spain

1815Otto Von Bismarck, Germany, chancellor (1866-90)

1920Toshiro Mifune, Tsing-tao China, writer/actor (Shogun)

1984Marvin Gaye, singer (Sexual Healing), shot to death by his father Marvin Gaye Sr in LA at 44

1950Charles R. Drew, surgeon/developer of blood bank concept, dies at 45