On This Day: April 23

Pour yourself something warm. April 23 is one of the most extraordinary dates in the calendar.

1564 and 1616 — The man who arrived and left on the same day

By historians’ best reckoning, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564 – and died, conclusively, on April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old. In a million words written over twenty years, he captured the full range of human emotion with a precision that remains sharp today. He gave us Hamlet’s indecision, Juliet’s passion, Lear’s grief and Falstaff’s magnificent, shameless appetite for life. He invented over 1,700 words still used today — including “break the ice”, “wild goose chase”, “heart of gold” and “in a pickle”. Not a bad contribution for a man who never went to university and whose exact birth date we can’t even confirm. UNESCO now marks April 23 as World Book Day in his honour — and in honour of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, who also died on this date in 1616. Two of the greatest writers in the Western canon, gone on the same day. The calendar has a sense of drama.

1985 — The greatest marketing blunder in history

On April 23, 1985, The Coca-Cola Company announced it was changing its signature drink’s formula for the first time in 99 years, introducing “New Coke.” Based on extensive blind taste tests, consumers generally preferred the sweeter new formula over Pepsi and the original Coke. The boardroom was delighted. The public was furious. Loyal customers stockpiled cases of the original. Protest groups formed. The company was flooded with up to 8,000 calls a day from dissatisfied consumers and received some 40,000 complaint letters — including one addressed to “Chief Dodo, The Coca-Cola Company.” Just 79 days later, the original formula returned as Coca-Cola Classic. New Coke was eventually discontinued in 2002. The lesson, which every marketing student has studied since: people don’t just buy a product. They buy the feeling the product carries. You cannot taste-test your way to loyalty.

2005 — Eighteen seconds that changed everything

On April 23, 2005, the first YouTube video — titled “Me at the zoo” — was uploaded by company co-founder Jawed Karim, launching a new era of digital media and online video sharing that would transform global communication. The video is eighteen seconds long. Karim stands in front of the elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo and says, with extraordinary prescience for a man who had no idea what he was starting: “Alright, so here we are in front of the, uh, elephants.” That was it. That was the beginning. Today, more than 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and more than two billion people use the platform each month. One young man. Eighteen seconds. The elephants had no idea.

Also on this day…

Roy Orbison — the velvet-voiced American singer behind Oh, Pretty Woman and Crying — was born on April 23, 1936. And in 1971, hundreds of American Vietnam War veterans gathered outside the US Capitol and threw their medals and ribbons over the fence in protest — one of the most powerful acts of dissent in modern history.

Some days carry the whole of human experience in them. April 23 is one.