#TodayInHistory – April 28

April 28 – Some important events on this day

1253 👉🏼 Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1550 👉🏼 Powers of Dutch inquisition extends 🇳🇱
1611 👉🏼 Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, oldest existing university in Asia and largest Catholic university in the world.

1639 👉🏼 After the Great Plague of London broke out in 1665, 100,000 people (almost a quarter of the population) were dead within seven months. Those who could afford it fled the capital to escape the pestilence. But distance was no protection, as villagers 160 miles away in Eyam, Derbyshire, were to discover. After fatalities mounted, the church leader, William Mompesson, who was born on this day, took the courageous decision to isolate the village from the outside world, thus preventing the spread of the disease.
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1770 👉🏼 British Captain James Cook, aboard the endeavour, lands at Botany Bay in Australia 🇦🇺

1788 👉🏼 Maryland becomes 7th state to ratify US constitution.
The supreme law of the United States of America, the US Constitution was drafted by the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention which took place between May 25 and September 17, 1787.
It was the first constitution of its kind, and has influenced the constitutions of many other nations.
Since the Constitution came into force in 1789, it has been amended 27 times.

1789 👉🏼 Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against its captain William Bligh in the South Pacific.
William Bligh was the commander of a British naval expedition to procure a source of food to feed slaves in Caribbean plantations, breadfruit from Tahiti in the South Pacific.
On their return voyage, his men were so enraged by their commander’s antagonistic attitude, he in turn believed them incompetent, that a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian occurred 3 weeks into their voyage.
Bligh and 18 men were turfed into a 6-metre launch and then made the remarkable 5,800 kilometer voyage to Timor.
Bligh did go on to further commands, disastrously he served as Governor of New South Wales 1806-08 and his abusive attitudes helped spark the Rum Rebellion and he was removed from his post.

1829 👉🏼 Dutch parliament accepts new press laws 🇳🇱
1848 👉🏼 Slavery abolished in French colonies

1881 👉🏼 Outlaw Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
He was a gunfighter in the “Old West”. According to legend, he killed 21 men (but it is widely believed that he killed 8 people). He was catapulted into legend in 1881 when a price was placed on his head by the governor of New Mexico.

1902 👉🏼 Using the ISO 8601 standard Year Zero definition for the Gregorian calendar preceded by the Julian calendar, the one billionth minute since the start of January 1 Year Zero occurs at 10:40 AM on this date
1910 👉🏼 First night air flight by Claude Grahame-White in England ✈️
1916 👉🏼 Luxury car magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini is born
1937 👉🏼 1st commercial flight across Pacific operated by Pan Am ✈️
1945 👉🏼 Benito Mussolini executed.
“Il Duce” and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

1965 👉🏼 Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti makes his debut at La Scala, Milan in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of “La bohème” with Mirella Freni. 🎵
1969 👉🏼 Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France 🇫🇷
1977 👉🏼 Andreas Baader and members of terrorist group the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany.

1986 👉🏼 Soviet TV news program Vremya announces a nuclear accident at Chernobyl nuclear power station, 2 days after the event, on April 26.
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2004 👉🏼 Shrek the sheep from Tarras, Central Otago, New Zealand, is finally shorn live on TV after 6 years avoidance. The fleece weighed 27 kg (60 lb).
Discovered in a cave in Otago, New Zealand, the merino sheep had successfully evaded muster for six years. During this time the newly named Shrek had gown an amazing 27kg worth of fleece.
Shrek quickly became an international celebrity, he was shorn on New Zealand Television, visited parliament to meet the Prime Minister and was later even shorn again on an iceberg. He died a venerable 16 years old, in 2011.