April 28 birthdays & history

Famous people born on April 28

• 1937Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq
• 1974Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer
• 1906Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic
• 1981Jessica Alba, American model and actress
• 1926Harper Lee, American novelist
• 1948Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter
• 1896Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic
• 1908Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman
• 1950Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
• 1988Juan Mata, Spanish footballer

What happened on April 28

• 1253The Japanese monk Nichiren declared the mantra Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, now a central part of Nichiren Buddhism.
• 1611The University of Santo Tomas in Manila, one of the oldest existing universities in Asia and one of the world's largest Catholic universities by enrollment, was founded.
• 1869Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the first transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
• 1881Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
• 1910Frenchman Louis Paulhan landed his biplane at Manchester, having departed from London the previous day, to win the world's first long-distance air race.
• 1920The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.
• 1923The FA Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United was held on the opening day of the Empire Stadium in London.
• 1923Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
• 1930The Independence Producers host the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
• 1972Scottish trade unionist Jimmy Reid condemned the capitalist "rat race" in his inaugural address as Rector of the University of Glasgow.
• 1973The album The Dark Side of the Moon by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd entered the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, on which it spent a record 942 weeks.
• 2008The 1,388-foot-tall (423.2 m) Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, with the world's highest residence above ground level at the time, held its grand opening.

Also observed on April 28

• Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)
• National Heroes Day (Barbados)
• Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)
• Sardinia Day (Sardinia)
• Ed Balls Day