April 23 is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 252 days remaining until the end of the year.
1901 – 2000
- 1914 - The first baseball game at Wrigley Field, Chicago, takes place.
- 1920 – The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
- 1923 – Inauguration ceremonies take place of Gdynia as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter.
- 1927 - Football: Cardiff City F.C. defeats Arsenal in the FA Cup final. With Cardiff City being in Wales, it is the only time a team based outside England has won this trophy.
- 1929 - Turkey becomes the first country to celebrate Children's Day as a national holiday.
- 1932 – The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands burns down.
- 1935 – Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
- 1940 – Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi kills 198 people.
- 1941 - World War II: The Greek government and King George II of Greece evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
- 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, is captured from Palestinian forces.
- 1954 – Hank Aaron hits his first major league home run.
- 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- 1967 – A group of young radicals are expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN). This group goes on to found the Socialist Workers Party (POS).
- 1968 – The United Kingdom produces its first decimalised coins, a 5p and a 10p coin.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Pakistan Army and the Razakars massacre around 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh.
- 1974 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 crashes in Bali, Indonesia, killing 107.
- 1979 – Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.
- 1981 – Stefano Bontade, Mafia boss in Sicily, is murdered in Palermo, the opening shot in a mob war orchestrated by Salvatore Riina.
- 1984 - The discovery of HIV is announced.
- 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its 99 year old formula to the sweeter new Coke. (It is doomed to failure and the company is later forced to reintroduce the original).
- 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1990 - In a referendum in Karl Marx Stadt in then-East Germany, 76% of voters support changing their city's name back to Chemnitz.
- 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- 1994 – Physicists discover the top quark subatomic particle.
- 1995 – Association of Autonomous Astronauts founded.
- 1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
From 2001
- 2003 – Beijing closes all schools for two weeks due to the SARS virus.
- 2005 - The first YouTube video, called Me at the Zoo, is uploaded by the site's co-founder Jawed Karim.
- 2006 - Hungary's Socialist Party wins the most votes in the country's parliamentary election, and can continue to govern with the Alliance of Free Democrats. This is the first re-election of a Hungarian government since the end of the Cold War.
- 2009 - Gamma-ray burst GRB090423 is detected, coming from the most distant known astronomical object of any kind at the time.
- 2013 - France legalizes same-sex marriage.
- 2017 - French presidential election, 2017: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advance to the second round, as the candidates of the main parties fail to get enough votes.
- 2018 - A new prince, Louis, is born to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, with Princess Charlotte becoming the first British princess not to be overtaken by a younger brother in the line of succession to the throne.
- 2018 - Serzh Sargsyan resigns as Prime minister of Armenia after only six days in office, following major protests in the capital, Yerevan. He had previously served ten years as President.
- 2018 - A white van collided with numerous pedestrians killing ten people and injuring sixteen others at Yonge Street in Toronto.[1] The suspect is arrested by police.
- 2018 - Donald Trump receives his first state visit since becoming President of the United States, by Emmanuel Macron of France.
Up to 1800
- 1141 - King Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1170 – Isabelle of Hainaut, Queen of France (d. 1190)
- 1185 – King Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
- 1464 - Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
- 1484 - Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian philosopher (d. 1558)
- 1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian and archaeologist (d. 1571)
- 1522 - Catherine of Ricci, Italian saint (d. 1590)
- 1564 – William Shakespeare, English playwright (d. 1616)
- 1628 - Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician (d. 1704)
- 1676 – King Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
- 1728 - Samuel Wallis, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1795)
- 1758 – Philip Gidley King, third Governor of New South Wales (d. 1808)
- 1775 – J. M. W. Turner, English painter (d. 1851)
- 1791 – James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
- 1792 - John Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
- 1794 - Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar (d. 1857)
1801 – 1900
- 1804 - Marie Taglioni, Swedish ballerina (d. 1884)
- 1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher (d. 1879)
- 1812 – Frederick Whitaker, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
- 1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American politician (d. 1861)
- 1813 - Frédéric Ozanam, French literary scholar, lawyer and journalist (d. 1853)
- 1819 - Edward Stafford, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
- 1823 – Abd-ul-Mejid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
- 1828 - Albert of Saxony (d. 1902)
- 1844 – Sanford Dole, American politician (d. 1926)
- 1845 - Pier Andrea Saccardo, Italian botanist (d. 1920)
- 1853 - Winthrop M. Crane, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
- 1855 - Marco Fidel Suarez, President of Colombia (d. 1927)
- 1857 - Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
- 1858 – Max Planck, German scientist (d. 1947)
- 1858 - Ethel Smyth, English composer, conductor, writer and Women's Rights activist (d. 1944)
- 1867 – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish doctor, won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1928)
- 1879 - Tom Berry, 14th Governor of South Dakota (d. 1951)
- 1880 - Mikhail Fokine, Russian choreographer and dancer (d. 1942)
- 1882 - Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1883 - Clara Pontoppidan, Danish actress (d. 1975)
- 1888 - Georges Vanier, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1889 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
- 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (d. 1953)
- 1893 - Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1894 - Cow Cow Davenport, American singer and pianist (d. 1955)
- 1895 - Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
- 1896 - Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov, Russian inventor (d. 1964)
- 1897 – Lester Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1972)
- 1897 - Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
- 1899 - Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and inventor of Yakult (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist (d. 1979))
1901 – 1950
- 1901 - E.B. Ford, British ecological geneticist (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic Nobel Prize-winning writer (d. 1998)
- 1907 - Lee Miller, American photographer (d. 1977)
- 1908 - Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
- 1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Ronald Neame, British movie producer (d. 2010)
- 1915 - Arnold Alexander Hall, British aeronautical engineer (d. 2000)
- 1917 - Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Maurice Druon, French writer (d. 2009)
- 1919 - Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet double-agent (d. 1963)
- 1921 - Judy Agnew, wife of Spiro Agnew (d. 2012)
- 1922 - Marjorie Cameron, American writer, painter, actress and occultist (d. 1995)
- 1923 - Dolph Briscoe, Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
- 1924 - Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1924 - Margit Sandemo, Norwegian writer (d. 2018)
- 1926 - J. P. Donleavy, Irish-American writer (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress and political activist (d. 2014)
- 1929 - George Steiner, French-American literary critic, writer and philosopher
- 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
- 1939 - Stefano Bontade, Italian Mafia boss (d. 1981)
- 1940 - Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Paavo Lipponen, former Prime Minister of Finland
- 1941 - Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
- 1941 - Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
- 1942 - Sandra Dee, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1943 - Tony Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1943 - Frans Koppelaar, Dutch artist
- 1947 - Glenn Cornick, British musician (d. 2014)
- 1947 - Bernadette Devlin, Irish politician
- 1947 - Christer Pettersson, Swedish murder suspect (d. 2004)
1951 – 1975
- 1952 - Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer and producer
- 1953 - James Russo, American actor
- 1954 – Michael Moore, American movie maker
- 1955 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
- 1955 - Tony Miles, English chess player
- 1955 - Mike Smith, English television and radio presenter (d. 2014)
- 1957 - Jan Hooks, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1957 - Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer and art director
- 1958 - Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer
- 1958 - Magnus Andersson, Swedish footballer
- 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
- 1960 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (d. 1991)
- 1960 - Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 - Dirk Bach, German actor and television presenter (d. 2012)
- 1961 - George Lopez, American comedian, actor and talk show host
- 1962 - John Hannah, Scottish actor
- 1962 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (d. 1988)
- 1962 – Elaine Smith, British actress
- 1963 - Paul Belmondo, French actor and racing driver
- 1963 - Magnus Ver Magnusson, Icelandic powerlifter, four-times winner of World's Strongest Man title
- 1963 - Robby Naish, American windsurfer
- 1964 - Gianandrea Noseda, Italian conductor
- 1966 - Lembit Oll, Estonian chess player (d. 1999)
- 1967 - Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
- 1968 – Princess Aisha bint al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Princess Zein bint al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
- 1969 - Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
- 1972 - Patricia Manterola, Mexican singer, actress and fashion designer
- 1973 - Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Jón Thór Birgisson (Jónsi), Icelandic singer
From 1976
- 1976 - Brendan Cole, New Zealand dancer
- 1977 - Lee Young-Pyo, South Korean footballer
- 1977 - John Cena, American wrestler, rapper and actor
- 1979 – Barry Fratelli, Scottish musician (The Fratellis)
- 1979 – Lauri Ylönen, Finnish singer (The Rasmus)
- 1979 - Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
- 1979 - Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
- 1979 - Jaime King, American model and actress
- 1979 - Yana Gupta, Czech model, actress and author
- 1980 - Taio Cruz, English singer
- 1981 - Lady Gabriella Windsor, member of the extended British Royal Family
- 1982 - Andy Webster, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakian tennis player
- 1983 - Jay Cutler, American football player
- 1983 - Aaron Hill, American actor
- 1984 - Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
- 1984 - Ross Ford, Scottish rugby player
- 1984 - Fumihisa Yumoto, Japanese ski jumper
- 1985 - Tony Martin, German cyclist
- 1986 - Aleksei Rebko, Russian footballer
- 1987 - Emily Fox, American cup stacker and basketball player
- 1987 - Laura Mvula, English singer
- 1987 - Boaz Ma'uda, Israeli singer
- 1988 - Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
- 1988 - Molly Burnett, American actress and singer
- 1988 - Steph Houghton, English footballer
- 1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
- 1989 - Nicole Vaidisova, Czech tennis player
- 1990 – Dev Patel, British actor
- 1993 - Rina Chikano, Japanese singer (AKB48)
- 1994 - Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1995 - Gigi Hadid, American model
- 1997 - Alex Ferris, Canadian actor
- 2018 - Prince Louis of Cambridge
Up to 1900
- 303 – Saint George, Christian martyr and patron Saint (date of birth unknown)
- 711 - King Childebert III of the Franks (b. 670)
- 725 - Wihtred, King of Kent
- 871 – Ethelred of Wessex, Saxon king
- 1014 - Brian Boru, High King of Ireland
- 1016 – Ethelred the Unready, Saxon king (b. 968)
- 1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
- 1217 - Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
- 1307 - Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1272)
- 1605 – Tsar Boris Godunov of Russia (b. c. 1550)
- 1616 - Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian historian and writer (b. 1539)
- 1616 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer (b. 1547)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright (b. 1564)
- 1625 - Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
- 1670 - Loreto Vittori, Italian singer (b. 1604)
- 1794 - Guillaume-Chretien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (b. 1721)
- 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, hero of the Greek War of Independence (b. 1780)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)
- 1895 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (b. 1815)
1901 – 2000
- 1905 - Gédéon Ouimet, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
- 1915 - Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States (b. 1865)
- 1965 - George Adamski, Polish-American writer, teacher and ufologist (b. 1891)
- 1969 - Krzysztof Komeda, Polish jazz pianist and composer (b. 1931)
- 1975 – William Hartnell, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1981 - Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and writer (b. 1897)
- 1981 - Stefano Bontade, Italian Mafia boss (b. 1939)
- 1983 – Buster Crabbe, American singer and actor (b. 1908)
- 1984 - Red Garland, American jazz pianist (b. 1923)
- 1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
- 1986 - Otto Preminger, Austrian director (b. 1906)
- 1990 - Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1992 - Tanka Prasad Acharya, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
- 1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian movie maker (b. 1921)
- 1993 – César Chávez, Mexican-American activist (b. 1927)
- 1995 - Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
- 1996 - P. L. Travers, Australian writer (b. 1899)
- 1996 - Mario Luigi Ciappi, Italian cardinal (b. 1909)
- 1997 - Hamani Diori, 1st President of Niger (b. 1916)
- 1998 – James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
- 1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907)
From 2001
- 2003 - Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
- 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, former President of Russia (b. 1931)
- 2007 - David Halberstam, American journalist and writer (b. 1934)
- 2011 – John Sullivan, British television writer (b. 1946)
- 2011 - Norio Ogha, Japanese businessman (b. 1930)
- 2012 - Tommy Marth, American musician (b. 1978)
- 2013 - Robert W. Edgar, American politician (b. 1943)
- 2014 - Mark Shand, British travel writer and conservationist, brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (b. 1951)
- 2014 - Michael Glawogger, Austrian movie director, screenwriter and cinematographer (b. 1959)
- 2014 - Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player, oldest living Major League Baseball player (b. 1911)
- 2014 - Yozo Aoki, Japanese footballer (b. 1929)
- 2015 - Sixto Valencia Burgos, Mexican comic artist (b. 1934)
- 2015 - Sawyer Sweeten, American actor (b. 1995)
- 2015 - Aziz Asli, Iranian footballer (b. 1938)
- 2015 - Richard Corliss, American movie critic (b. 1944)
- 2015 - Francis Tsai, American comic book, movie and video game concept artist (b. 1967)
- 2015 - Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian politician (b. 1950)
- 2016 - Banharn Silpa-archa, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1932)
- 2016 - Inge King, German-Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
- 2016 - Ron Brace, American football player (b. 1986)
- 2016 - Miguel Picazo, Spanish movie director (b. 1927)
- 2016 - Madeleine Sherwood, Canadian actress (b. 1922)
- 2017 - Isiaka Adeleke, Nigerian politician (b. 1955)
- 2017 - Jerry Adriani, Brazilian singer and actor (b. 1947)
- 2017 - Chris Bearde, Australian comedy writer and producer (b. 1936)
- 2017 - Kathleen Crowley, Australian actress (b. 1929)
- 2017 - Imre Földi, Hungarian weightlifter (b. 1938)
- 2017 - Ken Sears, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- 2017 - Leo Baxendale, British comics artist (b. 1930)
- 2017 - Chriet Titulaer, Dutch astronomer, television presenter and writer (b. 1943)
- 2017 - Michael Williams, Baron Williams of Baglan, British peer and diplomat (b. 1949)
- 2018 - Haddon Donald, New Zealand army lieutenant colonel and politician (b. 1917)
- 2018 - Bob Dorough, American jazz pianist, composer and singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
- 2018 - Béla Magyari, Hungarian air force colonel (b. 1949)
- 2018 - Jerrold Meinwald, American chemist (b. 1927)
- 2018 - Leland B. Yeager, American economist (b. 1924)
- 2019 - Henry W. Bloch, American businessman (b. 1922)
- 2019 - Matthew Buckland, South African businessman (b. 1974)
- 2019 - George Haigh, English footballer (b. 1915)
- 2019 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1921)
- 2019 - Mark Medoff, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- 2019 - Juan José Muñante, Peruvian footballer (b. 1948)
- 2019 - Terry Rawlings, British film editor (b. 1933)
- 2019 - Peter Skipper, English footballer (b. 1958)
- 2019 - David Winters, English choreographer (b. 1939)