TODAY is Friday, April 23, the 113th day of 2010. There are 252 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE

In 1616, English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare, 52, died on what has been traditionally regarded as the anniversary of his birth in 1564.

In 1789, US President-elect George Washington moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.

In 1791, the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

In 1896, the Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was publicly demonstrated in New York City.

In 1940, about 200 people died in the Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi.

In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs, in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)

In 1968, student protesters began occupying buildings on the campus of Columbia University in New York; police put down the protests a week later.

In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)

In 1985, the Coca-Cola Co. announced it was changing the secret flavour formula for Coke (negative public reaction forced the company to resume selling the original version).

In 1998, James Earl Ray, who'd confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and then insisted he'd been framed, died at a Nashville hospital at age 70.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"Don't pay any attention to the critics – don't even ignore them." – Samuel Goldwyn, American movie producer (1879-1974).