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Updated April 25, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 26, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviets died immediately.
Go to article »On April 26, 1914, Bernard Malamud, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, was born. Following his death on March 18, 1986, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1607 An expedition of English colonists went ashore at Cape Henry, Va., to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere. (They later settled at Jamestown.) 1785 Naturalist and artist John James Audubon was born in Haiti. 1865 John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded and killed by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va. 1937 Planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. 1945 Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France’s Vichy government during World War II, was arrested. 1964 The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania. 1989 Actress-comedian Lucille Ball died at age 77. 1998 Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading Guatemalan human rights activist, was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he’d compiled on atrocities during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war was made public. 2000 Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions. 2005 Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended as Syrian soldiers completed a withdrawal brought about by international pressure and Lebanese street protests. 2008 Police in Austria arrested a man accused of holding his daughter captive in a windowless cellar for 24 years, fathering her seven children and killing one of them. (Josef Fritzl is serving life in a psychiatric ward.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress-comedian Carol Burnett turns 79 years old today.
AP Photo/Vince Bucci
Actor Jet Li turns 49 years old today.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
1938 Duane Eddy, Rock musician, turns 74 1942 Bobby Rydell, Singer, turns 70 1960 Roger Taylor, Rock musician (Duran Duran), turns 52 1961 Joan Chen, Actress, turns 51 1967 Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Actress (“Without a Trace”), turns 45 1971 Jay DeMarcus, Country musician (Rascal Flats), turns 41 1980 Jordana Brewster, Actress, turns 32 1980 Marnette Patterson, Actress, turns 32 1980 Channing Tatum, Actor, turns 32
Historic Birthdays
Bernard Malamud 4/26/1914 – 3/18/1986 American novelist and short-story writer.Go to obituary »
66 John James Audubon 4/26/1785 – 1/27/1851
West Indian-born American ornithologist, artist and naturalist71 Friedrich Flotow 4/26/1812 – 1/24/1883
German-born French composer75 Alfred Krupp 4/26/1812 – 7/14/1887
German industrialist; developed and sold armaments81 Frederick Law Olmsted 4/26/1822 – 8/28/1903
American landscape architect; designed Central Park in New York City72 Harold Rothermere 4/26/1868 – 11/26/1940
English newspaperman; built a journalistic empire in England53 Ma Rainey 4/26/1886 – 12/22/1939
American singer; known as “the mother of the blues”62 Ludwig Wittgenstein 4/26/1889 – 4/29/1951
Austrian-born English philosopher92 Anita Loos 4/26/1889 – 8/18/1981
American novelist and Hollywood screenwriter89 Cass Canfield 4/26/1897 – 3/27/1986
American publisher and editor83 Morris West 4/26/1916 – 10/9/1999
Australian novelist
MORNING
“God, even our own God.”
Psalm 67:6It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings which God gives us, but it is stranger still how little use we make of God himself. Though he is “our own God,” we apply ourselves but little to him, and ask but little of him. How seldom do we ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often do we go about our business, without seeking his guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord, that he may sustain us! This is not because we may not, for the Lord seems to say, “I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst freely come to my store, and the oftener the more welcome.” It is our own fault if we make not free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast such a friend, and he invites thee, draw from him daily. Never want whilst thou hast a God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help thee; go to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest–there is all that thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making God all things to thee. He can supply thee with all, or, better still, he can be to thee instead of all. Let me urge thee, then, to make use of thy God. Make use of him in prayer. Go to him often, because he is thy God. O, wilt thou fail to use so great a privilege? Fly to him, tell him all thy wants. Use him constantly by faith at all times. If some dark providence has beclouded thee, use thy God as a “sun;” if some strong enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a “shield,” for he is a sun and shield to his people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use him as a “guide,” for he will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and wherever thou art, remember God is just what thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and that he can do all thou wantest.
EVENING
“The Lord is King forever and ever.”
Psalm 10:16Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine right, but he is really and truly the Lord’s anointed! “It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” God hath given to him all power and all authority. As the Son of man, he is now head over all things to his church, and he reigns over heaven, and earth, and hell, with the keys of life and death at his girdle. Certain princes have delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is such in his church. If it could be put to the vote whether he should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown him. O that we could crown him more gloriously than we do! We would count no expense to be wasted that could glorify Christ. Suffering would be pleasure, and loss would be gain, if thereby we could surround his brow with brighter crowns, and make him more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, he shall reign. Long live the King! All hail to thee, King Jesus! Go forth, ye virgin souls who love your Lord, bow at his feet, strew his way with the lilies of your love, and the roses of your gratitude: “Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all.” Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right of conquest: he has taken and carried by storm the hearts of his people, and has slain their enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the Red Sea of his own blood, our Redeemer has drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall he not be King in Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the iron yoke and heavy curse of the law: shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are his portion, whom he has taken out of the hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow: who shall snatch his conquest from his hand? All hail, King Jesus! we gladly own thy gentle sway! Rule in our hearts forever, thou lovely Prince of Peace.
