April 1
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April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining.
Events
- 527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
- 1318 - Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by the Scottish from the English
- 1572 - The Watergeuzen succeeded in capturing Den Briel, effectively sealing off the Meuse River from the Spaniards.
- 1789 - In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.
- 1826 - Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
- 1854 - Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens magazine, Household Words.
- 1857 - Herman Melville publishes The Confidence-Man.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks - In Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.
- 1867 - Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
- 1868 - Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton, Virginia
- 1873 - The British steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
- 1891 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1918 - The Royal Flying Corps is replaced by the Royal Air Force.
- 1924 - Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch." However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes the book Mein Kampf.
- 1924 - First revenue flight for Belgium's Sabena Airlines
- 1933 - The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in the series of anti-Semitic acts that will be known as the Holocaust.
- 1934 - Bonnie and Clyde kill two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas.
- 1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
- 1941 - The Blockade Runner Badge for German navy is instituted.
- 1945 - World War II: Operation Iceberg - United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.
- 1946 - Aleutian Island earthquake: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands creates a tsunami that strikes the Hawaiian Islands killing 159 (mostly in Hilo, Hawaii).
- 1946 - Formation of the Malayan Union.
- 1948 - Cold War: Berlin Airlift - Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.
- 1948 - Faroe Islands receive autonomy from Denmark
- 1949 - Newfoundland becomes the tenth Province of Canada
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: Communist Party of China hold unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
- 1949 - The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.
- 1949 - Founding of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
- 1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
- 1955 - The EOKA rebellion starts in Cyprus, aiming at the island´s independence from Great Britain.
- 1967 - The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.
- 1969 - The Hawker-Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF.
- 1970 - Phil Spector finishes the orchestral overdubs for the upcoming Beatles album, Let It Be, including the songs "Let It Be", "Across the Universe", and "The Long and Winding Road". This causes controversy among Beatles fans who feel that Phil Spector has overproduced the album.
- 1970 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law banning cigarette advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
- 1970 - American Motors introduces the Gremlin.
- 1973 - Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.
- 1974 - In the United Kingdom, new administrative counties come into being.
- 1976 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
- 1976 - The Central Railroad of New Jersey goes bankrupt and Conrail takes over its operations.
- 1979 - Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
- 1980 - New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 goes on strike, which continues for 11 days.
- 1985 - Villanova University defeats Georgetown University 66-64 to win NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
- 1996 - University of Kentucky team wins NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
- 1999 - Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
- 2001 - An EP-3E United States Navy plane collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, People's Republic of China and is detained.
- 2001 - Former president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
- 2001 - The first legal same-sex marriage in the Netherlands is celebrated.
- 2002 - The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the only nation in the world to do so.
- 2004 - George W. Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which makes an attack that leads to the death of a mother and her unborn child two criminal charges.
- 2004 - The first legal same-sex marriage in the Canadian province of Quebec: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf wed in Montreal.
- 2004 - Gmail, an email service from Google launches.
Births
- 1220 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
- 1543 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (d. 1626)
- 1578 - William Harvey, English physician (d. 1657)
- 1610 - Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier (d. 1703)
- 1640 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)
- 1647 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet (d. 1680)
- 1732 - Franz Josef Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
- 1765 - Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver (d. 1810)
- 1776 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)
- 1815 - Otto von Bismarck, German politician (d. 1898)
- 1815 - Edward Clark, Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
- 1834 - Big Jim Fisk, American entrepreneur (d. 1872)
- 1854 - Bill Traylor, American artist (d. 1949)
- 1856 - Acacio Gabriel Viegas, Indian physician (d. 1933)
- 1865 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
- 1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)
- 1873 (N.S.) - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)
- 1875 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
- 1883 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (d. 1930)
- 1885 - Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
- 1895 - Alberta Hunter, American singer (d. 1984)
- 1897 - Nita Naldi, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1898 - William James Sidis, eccentric genius and child prodigy (d. 1944)
- 1899 - Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (d. 1968)
- 1900 - Robert McDowell, Mayor of Maryborough, Queensland (d. 1988)
- 1901 - Whittaker Chambers, American writer, editor, and defector (d. 1961)
- 1906 - Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer and airplane designer (d. 1989)
- 1908 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
- 1914 - Jerome L. Walton, Canadian author
- 1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrain actor (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1920 - Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
- 1922 - William Manchester, American writer (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Brendan Byrne, Governor of New Jersey
- 1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor
- 1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American author
- 1928 - George Grizzard, American actor
- 1929 - Milan Kundera, Czech writer
- 1929 - Jane Powell, American dancer, actress, and singer
- 1929 - Bo Schembechler, American football coach
- 1930 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress
- 1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
- 1932 - Gordon Jump, American television actor (d. 2003)
- 1932 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress
- 1933 - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 - Don Hastings, American actor
- 1934 - Rod Kanehl, baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1935 - Larry McDonald, American politician (d. 1983)
- 1938 - Ali MacGraw, American actress
- 1938 - John Quade, American actor
- 1939 - Phil Niekro, American baseball pitcher
- 1940 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1942 - Samuel R. Delany, American author
- 1942 - Annie Nightingale, British disc jockey
- 1946 - Ronnie Lane, British musician (The Small Faces and The Faces) (d. 1997)
- 1947 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
- 1948 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
- 1949 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
- 1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer
- 1949 - Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer
- 1950 - Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
- 1952 - Annette O'Toole, American actress
- 1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer and director
- 1964 - Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
- 1964 - Scott Stevens, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965 - Mark Jackson, American basketball player
- 1965 - Robert Steadman, English composer
- 1970 - Sung Hi Lee, Korean-born model
- 1971 - Method Man, American musician
- 1972 - Allen and Albert Hughes, American film directors
- 1973 - Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer
- 1975 - George Bastl, Swiss tennis player
- 1976 - Clarence Seedorf, Surinamese-Dutch footballer player
- 1980 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
- 1980 - Yūko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
- 1981 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)
- 1982 - Sam Huntington, American actor
- 1983 - Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
- 1983 - Sean Taylor, American football player
Deaths
- 1085 - Emperor Shenzong of China (b. 1048)
- 1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of Henry II of England
- 1205 - King Amalric II of Jerusalem (b. 1145)
- 1528 - Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer
- 1580 - Alonso Mudarra, Spanish composer
- 1621 - Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (b. 1577)
- 1637 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (b. 1571)
- 1682 - Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bishop of Strassburg (b. 1625)
- 1684 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (b. 1603)
- 1787 - Floyer Sydenham, English classical scholar (b. 1710)
- 1839 - Benjamin Pierce, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1757)
- 1872 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)
- 1878 - John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (b. 1796)
- 1914 - Rube Waddell, baseball player (b. 1876)
- 1917 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
- 1922 - Emperor Karl I of Austria (b. 1887)
- 1946 - Noah Beery, American actor (b. 1882)
- 1947 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
- 1950 - Charles R. Drew, American physician (b. 1904)
- 1966 - Flann O'Brien, Irish humorist (b. 1911)
- 1968 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- 1976 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
- 1984 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)
- 1986 - Erik Bruhn, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer (b. 1928)
- 1988 - Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
- 1991 - Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
- 1993 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
- 1998 - Rozz Williams, American musician (Christian Death) (b. 1963)
- 1998 - Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2001 - Olivia Barclay, British astrologer (b. 1919)
- 2001 - Trinh Cong Son, Vietnamese composer (b. 1939)
- 2003 - Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer (b. 1956)
- 2004 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Harald Juhnke, German entertainer (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Jack Keller, songwriter (leukemia) (b. 1936)
- 2005 - Robert Coldwell Wood, American university president and political appointee (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
- April 1 is known as April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day in many countries.
- Feast day of Saint Hugh in the Roman Catholic Church calendar
- Roman Empire - Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus
- Japan - The official start of school years in most universities and schools. Also, the official First Day of Work at companies and offices for new university graduates hires, marked by welcoming ceremonies and speeches.
- Canada - Beginning of government's fiscal year
- India - Start of financial year.
- Brielle celebrates victory of 1572 over Spaniards.
- In San Marino, two Captains Regent, elected by Parliament, take office for six months
- Date that bobhouses, used for ice-fishing, must be taken off frozen lakes in New Hampshire.
- International Day of the Birds
- In England and Wales, local government reorganisations traditionally happen on April 1.
External links
March 31 - April 2 - March 1 - May 1 -- listing of all days