April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 247 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
- 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem.
- 1220 – The foundation stone is laid for Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England.
- 1253 – Nichiren Buddhism is founded.
- 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is the first battle won by small arms using gunpowder.
- 1611 - Founding of the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, the largest Roman Catholic university in the world.
- 1788 – Maryland becomes the 7th US State.
- 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty by Fletcher Christian: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are cast adrift in a boat, reaching the island of Tofua on the same day, while Christian sails to Tonga.
- 1792 – The French Revolutionary Wars begin.
- 1796 - The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean Sea coast.
- 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the first transcontinental railroad lay 10 miles of track in one day.
- 1877 - The Stamford Bridge stadium in London, is opened, for use as an athletics stadium, though it later becomes the home ground of Chelsea FC.
- 1885 - Buddhism: Ceylon's first Vesakh celebration is held. The international Buddhist flag is hoisted for the first time.
- 1902 – Manchester United F.C. comes into being, through a name change to avoid the bankruptcy of Newton Heath F.C.
- 1903 – An earthquake in Turkey kills 2,200 people.
- 1908 - World Esperanto Association is founded.
- 1910 - Frenchman Louis Paulham wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
- 1920 – Azerbaijan is taken over by Soviet Russia.
- 1923 – London's Wembley Stadium is opened.
- 1930 – The first night game in baseball is held in Independence, Kansas.
- 1932 – A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.
- 1944 – World War II: Nine German bombers attack US and UK units while they rehearsed for the Normandy landings. 946 people are killed.
- 1945 – World War II: Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed.
- 1945 - World War II: The city of Augsburg surrenders to US forces.
- 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition of the Pacific Ocean begins in Callao, Peru. This is to prove his theory of Polynesia being settled from South America.
- 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducts the first performance of his American ballet, Orpheus, in New York City.
- 1949 – Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon is assassinated.
- 1950 – Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej marries Queen Sirikit.
- 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
- 1952 – US occupation of Japan officially ends.
- 1952 – The Second Sino-Japanese War officially ends.
- 1965 - US troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall the establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate US troops.
- 1967 - Cassius Clay (now Muhammad Ali) is stripped of his boxing titles, after saying that he would not join United States Military operations in Vietnam. The titles are later re-instated.
- 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
- 1975 – South Vietnamese President Tran Van Huong resigns after a week in office, and flees, as the Vietnam War is in its final stages.
- 1977 – Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe are found guilty of murder.
- 1978 – President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan is overthrown and killed by pro-Communist rebels.
- 1986 - United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to travel through the Suez Canal, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
- 1986 - The Soviet Union admits that there was a nuclear accident at Chernobyl on April 26, after scientists in Finland and Sweden detected unusually high levels of radiation in the air.
- 1988 - Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death, when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
- 1994 – Former CIA counter-intelligence officer and analyst Adrian Ames pleads guilty to leaking US secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia.
- 1996 – In Tasmania, Australia, Martin Bryant goes on a shooting spree, killing 35 people.
- 2001 – Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist.
- 2002 – The Green Party of Pakistan is formed.
- 2008 – A train collision in Shandong, China, kills 72 people, and injures 416.
- 2008 – Hong Kong Disneyland opens.
- 2010 - Then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown apologises after being recorded referring to a 66-year-old voter as a "bigoted woman" during the General Election campaign.
- 2013 - Enrico Letta becomes Prime Minister of Italy, after political deadlock following an inconclusive election two months earlier. At the same time, two police officers are injured in a shooting outside the Prime Minister's office.
- 2019 - Spain holds an early general election: The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is the largest party on 29%; the far-right Vox party enters parliament for the first time.
- 32 – Marcus Salvius Otho, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
- 1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, ruler, philosopher and poet in Pre-Columbian Central America (d. 1472)
- 1442 – Edward IV of England (d. 1483)
- 1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean military leader and admiral (d. 1598)
- 1612 - Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1646)
- 1630 - Charles Cotton, English poet (d. 1687)
- 1652 – Magdalena Sibylla of Hesse-Darmstadt, German composer (d. 1712)
- 1686 - Michael Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1721)
- 1715 - Frank Sparry, Austrian composer (d. 1767)
- 1753 - Frank Karl Achard, German naturalist (d. 1821)
- 1758 – James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
- 1761 - Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
- 1765 - Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician (d. 1834)
- 1774 – Francis Baily, English astronomer (d. 1844)
- 1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect and archaeologist (d. 1863)
- 1795 – Charles Sturt, English explorer of Australia (d. 1861)
- 1819 - Ezra Abbot, American scholar (d. 1884)
- 1831 - Peter Tait, Scottish physicist (d. 1901)
- 1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch jurist (d. 1913)
- 1842 – Prince Gaston, Count of Eu, Prince and Brazilian marshal (d. 1922)
- 1848 - Ludvig Schytte, Danish composer, pianist and teacher (d. 1909)
- 1868 – Lucy Booth, Indian songwriter and commander (d. 1953)
- 1868 - Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (d. 1908)
- 1869 – C. C. Young, 26th Governor of California (d. 1947)
- 1874 - Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and writer (d. 1936)
- 1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian automobile engineer and entrepreneur (d. 1938)
- 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954)
- 1886 - Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
- 1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer (d. 1918)
- 1889 – Antonio Oliveira de Salazar, Portuguese political leader (d. 1970)
- 1891 - Charles Patton, American blues guitarist (d. 1934)
- 1896 - Na Hye-sok, Korean writer, painter, educator and journalist (d. 1948)
- 1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician (d. 1986)
- 1898 – Grantley Herbert Adams, Barbadian politician (d. 1971)
- 1900 - Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer (d. 1992)
- 1901 - Henry Stallard, Belgian middle-distance runner (d. 1973)
- 1902 - Johan Borgen, Norwegian writer (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Kurt Gödel, Austrian mathematician (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Oskar Schindler, German industrialist and humanitarian (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Odette Sansom Hallowes, French resistance worker (d. 1945)
- 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (d. 1993)
- 1919 - Wally Stanowski, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
- 1921 - Simin Daneshvar, Iranian writer and academic (d. 2012)
- 1923 - William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
- 1924 - Dick Ayers, American comic book artist and cartoonist (d. 2014)
- 1924 - Donatas Banionis, Lithuanian actor (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, 1st President of Zambia
- 1924 - Blossom Dearie, American jazz singer and pianist (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Harper Lee, American writer and activist (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Eugene Shoemaker, American astronomer (d. 1997)
- 1928 - Yves Klein, French artist (d. 1962)
- 1930 – James Baker, 61st United States Secretary of State
- 1930 - Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1933 - Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American scientist and inventor (d. 2014)
- 1934 - Lois Duncan, American actress (d. 2016)
- 1934 - Diane Johnson, American writer
- 1936 - Tariq Aziz, Iraqi politician (d. 2015)
- 1937 - Jean Redpath, Scottish singer (d. 2014)
- 1937 - John White, Scottish footballer (d. 1964)
- 1937 – Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (d. 2006)
- 1938 - Fred Dibnah, English steeplejack and television personality (d. 2004)
- 1941 - John Madejski, English businessman
- 1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish actress
- 1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist
- 1941 - Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet
- 1942 - Mike Brearley, English cricketer
- 1943 - Jacques Dutronc, French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and actor
- 1943 - Bob Siebert, American jazz musician and composer
- 1943 - Yoav Talmi, Israeli conductor and composer
- 1943 - Jeffrey Tate, English musical director and conductor
- 1944 - Günter Verheugen, German politician
- 1944 - Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberge, Belgian politician in Wallonia
- 1946 - Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor (d. 2015)
- 1947 - Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
- 1948 – Terry Pratchett, English writer (d. 2015)
- 1948 - Marcia Strassman, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
- 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian and showmaster
- 1950 - Steve Rider, English sports broadcaster
- 1952 - Chuck Leavell, American keyboardist
- 1952 - Mary McDonnell, American actress
- 1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer
- 1954 - Jimmy Barnes, Australian singer
- 1954 - Tom McCabe, Scottish politician (d. 2015)
- 1954 - Mary Jo Randle, English actress
- 1958 – Kenny MacAskill, Scottish politician
- 1959 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (d. 2011)
- 1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish crime fiction writer
- 1960 - Elena Kagan, United States Supreme Court Justice
- 1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer
- 1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (d. 1993)
- 1961 - Anna Oxa, Italian singer
- 1964 - L'Wren Scott, American fashion designer and model (d. 2014)
- 1964 - Stephen Ames, Canadian golfer
- 1966 – Ali-Reza Pahlavi, Iranian royal (d. 2011)
- 1966 – John Daly, American golfer
- 1966 – Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor
- 1968 – Howard Donald, English singer, musician and producer (Take That)
- 1968 – Andy Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1970 – Diego Simeone, Argentine footballer
- 1971 - Bridget Moynahan, American actress
- 1972 - Anita Anand, English television and radio journalist
- 1972 – Joseph Bruce, American actor, rapper, producer and wrestler
- 1973 – Pauleta, Portuguese footballer
- 1973 - Ian Murdock, American software engineer (d. 2015)
- 1973 – Jorge Garcia, American actor
- 1974 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress
- 1974 – Vernon Kay, British radio and television presenter
- 1974 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player (d. 2011)
- 1977 - Thorstein Helstad, Norwegian footballer
- 1978 – Lauren Laverne, British radio and television presenter
- 1980 - Josh Howard, American basketball player
- 1980 - Bradley Wiggins, British cyclist
- 1981 – Jessica Alba, American actress
- 1981 - Pietro Travagli, Italian rugby player
- 1981 - Ilary Blasi, Italian actress and model
- 1981 - Alex Riley, American wrestler
- 1982 – Nikki Grahame, English television personality
- 1982 - Harry Shum, Jr., Costa Rican actor and dancer
- 1983 – Roger Johnson, English footballer
- 1984 - Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer
- 1985 - Lukas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper
- 1985 - Louise Pentland, English vlogger, blogger, YouTuber and writer
- 1986 - Roman Polak, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Jennifer Palm Lundberg, Swedish model
- 1986 - Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress
- 1987 - Zoran Tosic, Serbian footballer
- 1987 - Daequan Cook, American basketball player
- 1988 – Juan Mata, Spanish footballer
- 1988 - Spencer Hawes, American basketball player
- 1989 - Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer and actress
- 1991 - Jordan Robinson, English footballer
- 1994 - Izzy Bizu, English singer
- 1995 - Melanie Martinez, American singer and songwriter
- 1074 – Sweyn II of Denmark (b. 1019)
- 1192 – Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem
- 1489 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician
- 1530 - Niklaus Manuel Deutsch I, Swiss polymath (b. 1484)
- 1695 - Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet (b. 1621)
- 1716 - Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (b. 1673)
- 1721 - Mary Reid, English pirate (b. 1685)
- 1741 - Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and statesman (b. 1668)
- 1772 – Johann Christian Struensee, physician (b. 1737)
- 1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
- 1799 - Matthew Griswold, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1714)
- 1802 - Richard Howell, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1754)
- 1813 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
- 1851 - Edward Codrington, English admiral (b. 1770)
- 1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German writer (b. 1773)
- 1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-British shipping magnate (b. 1787)
- 1881 - Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
- 1883 – Jack Russell, English parson, hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
- 1885 - Conrad Baker, Governor of Indiana (b. 1817)
- 1905 - Fitzhugh Lee, American politician, 40th Governor of Virginia (b. 1835)
- 1909 - Frederick Holbrook, Governor of Vermont (b. 1813)
- 1918 – Gavrilo Princip, Bosnian-Serb assassin (b. 1894)
- 1934 - Charley Patton, American blues musician (b. 1891)
- 1936 – King Fuad I of Egypt (b. 1868)
- 1944 – Frank Knox, American politician (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian Fascist dictator (b. 1883)
- 1945 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress to Benito Mussolini (b. 1912)
- 1946 - Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (b. 1875)
- 1949 – Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines (b. 1888)
- 1954 – Leon Jouhaux, French Labor leader (b. 1879)
- 1964 – Milton Margai, 1st Prime Minister of Sierra Leone (b. 1895)
- 1970 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1973 - Jacques Maritain, French philosopher (b. 1882)
- 1973 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (b. 1893)
- 1976 - Richard Hughes, American writer (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Sepp Herberger, German footballer and coach (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Mohammed Daoud Khan, President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)
- 1981 - Steve Currie, American musician (b. 1947)
- 1992 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Iceberg Slim, American writer (b. 1918)
- 1993 - Jim Valvano, American basketball player, coach and broadcaster (b. 1946)
- 1998 - Jerome Bixby, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1923)
- 1999 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (b. 1916)
- 2000 - Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician, researcher and politician (b. 1925)
- 2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (b. 1950)
- 2005 – Chris Candido, American professional wrestler (b. 1972)
- 2007 - Dabbs Greer, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, German physicist and philosopher (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and writer (b. 1919)
- 2013 - Janos Starker, Hungarian-American cellist (b. 1924)
- 2014 - Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby league player (b. 1981)
- 2014 - Jack Ramsay, American basketball coach (b. 1925)
- 2014 - Edgar Laprade, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
- 2014 - Dennis Kamakahi, American musician (b. 1953)
- 2014 - Idris Sardi, Indonesian violinist and composer (b. 1938)
- 2015 - Ashura Hara, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1947)
- 2015 - Keith Harris, English ventriloquist (b. 1947)
- 2015 - Xu Guangxian, Chinese chemist (b. 1920)
- 2015 - Deng Minghe, Chinese actor (b. 2006)
- 2015 - Michael J. Ingelido, American air force general (b. 1916)
- 2015 - René Féret, French actor and director (b. 1945)
- 2015 - Duri Camichel, Swiss ice hockey player (b. 1982)
- 2015 - Jack Ely, American singer (b. 1943)
- 2016 - Georg Kronawitter, German politician (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Edward Ashmore, British naval officer (b. 1919)
- 2016 - Conrad Burns, American politician (b. 1934)
- 2016 - Jenny Diski, English writer (b. 1947)
- 2016 - Igor Fesunenko, Russian journalist (b. 1933)
- 2016 - René Hausman, Belgian writer and artist (b. 1936)
- 2016 - Barry Howard, English actor (b. 1937)
- 2016 - Ingram Olkin, American professor of statistics (b. 1924)
- 2017 - Vito Acconci, American artist and architectural designer (b. 1940)
- 2017 - Brazo de Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1959)
- 2017 - Janelle Kirtley, American water skier (b. 1943)
- 2017 - John Shifflett, American jazz musician (b. 1953)
- 2017 - Chad Young, American cyclist (b. 1995)
- 2018 - James H. Cone, American theologian (b. 1936)
- 2018 - Alfie Evans, British child in parental rights case (b. 2016)
- 2018 - Larry Harvey, American artist, philanthropist and activist (b. 1948)
- 2018 - Art Paul, American graphic designer (b. 1925)
- 2018 - Agildo Ribeiro, Brazilian actor (b. 1932)
- 2018 - Art Shay, American photographer (b. 1922)
- 2018 - Karl Toft, Canadian sex offender (b. 1936)
- 2018 - Eric Koch, German-Canadian writer, broadcaster and academic (b. 1919)
- 2019 - Sylvia Bretschneider, German politician (b. 1960)
- 2019 - Wayson Choy, Canadian writer (b. 1939)
- 2019 - Damon Keith, American judge (b. 1922)
- 2019 - Jo Sullivan Loesser, American actress (b. 1927)
- 2019 - Richard Lugar, American politician, United States Senator for Indiana (b. 1932)
- 2019 - Karol Modzelewski, Polish historian, writer, politician and academic (b. 1937)
- 2019 - Menachem Mandel Taub, Israeli concentration camp survivor (b. 1923)
- Workers Memorial Day
- World Day for Safety and Health at Work
- National Heroes Day (Barbados)
- National Day (Sardinia)