On This Day - 26th April
1607
Captain John Smith landed at Cape Henry, in Virginia with the first group
of colonists who established a permanent English settlement in America.
1886John Tiller created the Tiller Girls' Dancing Troupe.
1895The start of the trial of playwright Oscar Wide who was charged
with homosexuality.
1914The birth of Charlie Chester, comedian, TV and radio presenter who broadcast almost continuously from the 1940s to the 1990s.
19152nd Lt. Rhodes-Moorhouse of the Special Reserve Flying Corps became the
first airman to win the Victoria Cross.
1923The marriage of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later 'the Queen Mother')
to the Duke of York (later King George VI) at Westminster Abbey in London.
It was the first royal wedding at the abbey since 1383. The newly formed British Broadcasting Company wanted to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Abbey Chapter vetoed the idea.
1926The birth, in Alderley Edge, Cheshire of David Coleman, former sports commentator and TV presenter who worked for the BBC for almost fifty years. In 2000, he was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest honour of the Olympic movement.
1962In a joint USA British venture, the first international satellite was
launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
1965A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario was shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
1975Labour Party members voted by almost 2-1 to leave the EEC, underlining
the deep divisions over the issue of Europe. But on 6th June in the same year
British voters backed the UK's continued membership by a large majority in
the country's first nationwide referendum.
1976The death of Sid James, British based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films.
1984 The re-opening of the reconstructed Cavern Club in Liverpool (see 
picture) It is located next to the original Club. In the early 1960s the Cavern Club became the most publicised pop music venue in the world, with regular performances from the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer, Cilla Black and many more 60s groups and solo singers..
1988Mick Jagger was cleared of pirating a song by an unknown reggae musician
and recording it as ‘Just Another Night’. The judgement came after
a two-day hearing in the United States.
1989Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland held their first annual pig race watched
by over 7,000 people. One punter won £200 on the favourite, Porky’s
Revenge, and the bookies handed the remainder of their money to the charity
People in Need.
2000The government announced a £10m aid package for firms hit by the
sale of car giant Rover as a report detailed the wider effects of redundancies.
2000The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, witnessed nine people being caught attempting
to illegally enter the UK as he inspected immigration procedures in Dover.
2014Documents showed that Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One tycoon, had received £300m from his ex-wife Slavica's trust fund following the pair's divorce in 2009.
2014The only surviving letter thought to have been written on the ill-fated Titanic, was sold at auction for £119,000.
2016 The jury of 9 in the Hillsborough Inquest reached a decision on all 14 questions relating to the 15th April 1989 disaster during the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final in which 96 people died. The crucial question number six related to 'unlawful killing'. When asked "Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?" the foreman confirmed "Yes". The verdict represented a vindication for the bereaved families who had fought for 27 years against South Yorkshire police claims that misbehaving supporters caused the disaster, as well as against the 1991 verdict of accidental death. The inquest started on 31st March 2014 and was the longest in British legal history.