So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

April 15th


- Arirang Festival, held to commemorate Kim Il-sung's birth. (North Korea)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Fordicidia, in honor of Tellus. (Roman Empire)
- Jackie Robinson Day (Major League Baseball)
- Latest day on which New Year festivals in South and Southeast Asian cultures can fall. (see April 14)
- Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States)

April 15th


- 1955 - McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois
- 1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
- 1912 - The British passenger liner, the RMS Titanic, sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two and a half hours after hitting an iceberg. 1,517 people are killed.
- 1892 - The General Electric Company is formed.
- 2010 - Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.
- 2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
- 1994 - Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
- 1992 - The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- 1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi Final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool F.C. fans.
- 1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
- 1986 - The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
- 1979 - A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) occurs on Montenegro coast.
- 1970 - During the Cambodian Civil War, massacres of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong River into South Vietnam.
- 1969 - The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
- 1958 - Walter O'Malley's Los Angeles Dodgers host the first Major League Baseball game played on the West Coast of the United States.
- 1957 - White Rock, British Columbia officially separates from Surrey, British Columbia and is incorporated as a new city.
- 1952 - The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress
- 1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
- 1945 - The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
- 1942 - The George Cross is awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta – its people and defenders" by King George VI.
- 1941 - In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attack Belfast, Northern Ireland killing one thousand people.
- 1940 - The Allies begin their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which is occupied by Nazi Germany.
- 1935 - Roerich Pact signed in Washington D.C.
- 1923 - Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
- 1921 - Black Friday: mine owners announce more wage and price cuts, leading to the threat of a strike all across England.
- 1920 - Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
- 1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies without regaining consciousness after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth.
- 1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
- 1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending the Revolutionary War are ratified.
- 1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
- 1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
- 1715 - Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
- 1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
- 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.

April 15th


- 1992 - Richard Sandrak, American bodybuilder
- 1992 - Amy Diamond, Swedish singer
- 1991 - Daiki Arioka, Japanese actor & singer
- 1990 - Emma Watson, English actress
- 1988 - Thomas Albanese, Italian footballer
- 1988 - Eliza Doolittle, English singer
- 1987 - Sapphire Elia, English actres
- 1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Ghanaian footballer
- 1986 - Tom Heaton, English footballer
- 1985 - Chris Cates, American baseball player
- 1985 - John Danks, American baseball player
- 1985 - Aaron Laffey, American baseball player
- 1985 - Amy Reid, German pornographic actress
- 1984 - Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
- 1984 - Ben Kasica, guitarist (rock band Skillet)
- 1983 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 - Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
- 1983 - Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 - Bronson La'Cassie, Australian professional golfer
- 1982 - Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
- 1982 - Anthony Green, American musician
- 1982 - Seth Rogen, Canadian actor and writer
- 1982 - Albert Riera, Spanish footballer
- 1981 - Andrés D'Alessandro, Argentine football player
- 1981 - Seth Wulsin, American artist
- 1980 - Natalie Casey, British actress
- 1980 - James Foster, English cricketer
- 1980 - Raúl López, Spanish basketball player
- 1980 - Willie Mason, Australian rugby league player
- 1980 - Victor Núñez, Costa Rican footballer
- 1980 - Fränk Schleck, Luxembourgish cyclist
- 1980 - Billy Yates, American football player
- 1978 - Austin Aries, American wrestler
- 1978 - Milton Bradley, American baseball player
- 1978 - Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
- 1978 - Anna Torv, Australian actress
- 1977 - Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
- 1976 - Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 - Susan Ward, American actress
- 1975 - Paul Dana, American race car driver (d. 2006)
- 1975 - Phil Labonte, American vocalist (All That Remains)
- 1974 - Mike Quinn, American football player
- 1974 - Keith Malley, American comedian and podcaster (Keith and The Girl)
- 1974 - Danny Pino, American actor
- 1974 - Douglas Spain, American actor
- 1972 - Lou Romano, American voice actor
- 1972 - Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
- 1971 - Katy Hill, British television presenter
- 1971 - Jason Sehorn, American football player
- 1971 - Kate Harbour, English voice actress
- 1970 - Flex Alexander, American actor
- 1969 - Jimmy Waite, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
- 1969 - Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
- 1968 - Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
- 1968 - Stacey Williams, American model
- 1967 - Frankie Poullain, British musician (The Darkness)
- 1967 - Dara Torres, American swimmer
- 1966 - Samantha Fox, English singer
- 1965 - Linda Perry, American musician
- 1963 - Bobby Pepper, American journalist
- 1962 - Surjit Bindrakhia, Punjabi Bhangra singer
- 1962 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
- 1962 - Tom Kane, American voice actor
- 1960 - Tony Jones, English snooker player
- 1960 - Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist
- 1960 - HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne
- 1959 - Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
- 1959 - Emma Thompson, English actress
- 1959 - Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
- 1959 - Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager
- 1958 - Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1958 - Dolores Gordon-Smith, British writer
- 1958 - Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player
- 1958 - Noni ?oannidou, Greek fashion model and actress
- 1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer
- 1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
- 1956 - Michael Cooper, American basketball player
- 1955 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- 1954 - Seka, American pornographic actress
- 1953 - Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Greek politician
- 1952 - Bengt Gingsjö, Swedish swimmer
- 1952 - Kym Gyngell, Australian comedian
- 1952 - Sam McMurray, American actor
- 1951 - Heloise, American newspaper columnist
- 1950 - Josiane Balasko, French actress, director and screenwriter
- 1950 - Amy Wright, American actress
- 1949 - Tonio K, American singer
- 1949 - Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer
- 1949 - Craig Zadan, American film producer
- 1948 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
- 1947 - Lois Chiles, American actress
- 1947 - Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish politician
- 1947 - Mike Chapman, British songwriter
- 1947 - Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American writer and television producer
- 1947 - Woolly Wolstenholme, British musician
- 1944 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
- 1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
- 1942 - Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
- 1942 - Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
- 1942 - Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
- 1941 - Howard Berman, American politician
- 1940 - Jeffrey Archer, British author
- 1940 - Willie Davis, American baseball player
- 1940 - Woodie Fryman, American baseball player
- 1940 - Robert Lacroix, French Canadian professor of economics
- 1940 - Robert Walker Jr., American actor
- 1939 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
- 1939 - Marty Wilde, British singer
- 1938 - Hso Khan Pha, Burmese politician
- 1937 - Bob Luman, American country singer (d. 1978)
- 1936 - Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
- 1933 - Roy Clark, American musician
- 1933 - David Hamilton, British photographer, film director and producer
- 1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1933 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author
- 1933 - Jim Towers, English footballer (d. 2010)
- 1930 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
- 1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
- 1924 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor
- 1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
- 1922 - Harold Washington, American politician (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Georgi Beregovoi, Russian cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- 1920 - Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist
- 1920 - Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany
- 1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1917 - James Kee, American politician (d. 1989)
- 1916 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
- 1912 - Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
- 1910 - Miguel Najdorf, Argentine chess grandmaster (d. 1997)
- 1908 - Eden Ahbez, American songwriter (d. 1995)
- 1908 - Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1907 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
- 1904 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian artist (d. 1948)
- 1902 - Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
- 1896 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
- 1895 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards player (d. 1980)
- 1894 - Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
- 1894 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
- 1892 - Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author and Holocaust survivor (d. 1983)
- 1892 - Theo Osterkamp, World War I and World War II German fighter pilot (d. 1975)
- 1889 - Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
- 1889 - A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
- 1888 - Maximilian Kronberger, German poet (d. 1904)
- 1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
- 1885 - Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1883 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
- 1879 - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer (d. 1980)
- 1878 - Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
- 1875 - James J. Jeffries, American heavyweight boxer (d. 1953)
- 1874 - George Harrison Shull, American plant geneticist (d. 1954)
- 1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
- 1861 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
- 1858 - Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
- 1856 - Jean Moréas, Greek poet (d. 1910)
- 1843 - Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
- 1841 - Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian distillery founder (d. 1919)
- 1832 - Wilhelm Busch, German poet (d. 1908)
- 1828 - Jean Danjou, French Foreign Legion officer (d. 1863)
- 1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician (d. 1877)
- 1800 - James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
- 1794 - Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
- 1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
- 1772 - Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
- 1741 - Charles Willson Peale, American painter, soldier and naturalist (d. 1827)
- 1721 - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
- 1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician (d. 1790)
- 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1688 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
- 1684 - Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
- 1646 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
- 1646 - Pierre Poiret, French mystic (d. 1719)
- 1642 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
- 1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician (d. 1722)
- 1588 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
- 1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
- 1489 - Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
- 1469 - Guru Nanak Dev, the first of the ten Sikh Gurus (d. 1539)
- 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath (d. 1519)