Once Upon A Time – April 2 – 1902 – Electric Theatre, The First Full-Time Movie Theater In the U.S., Opens In Los Angeles

1453 Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29

1513 Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida

1792 The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime

1801 Napoleonic Wars: The British led by Horatio Nelson destroy the Danish fleet in the naval Battle of Copenhagen

1917 US President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany

1930 Ras Tafari Makonnen becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1982 Several thousand Argentine troops seize the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands from Great Britain

2020 Record 6.6 million Americans filed claims for unemployment in last week according to the US Department of Labor, 10 million over 2 weeks

HISTORICAL EVENTS TODAY

TODAY IN FILM & TV

1968 “2001 A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

TODAY IN MUSIC

1977 Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album goes to No. 1 & stays atop charts for 31 weeks

1978 Episcopal Canon Mary Simpson of New York speaks from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey in London, the first ordained woman to preach there.

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1902 “Electric Theatre”, the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS FACT ABOUT TODAY?

1952 The first official Panda crossing is opened outside Waterloo station, London.