- Apr 1 10th Tony Awards: Diary of Anne Frank & Damn Yankees win
- Apr 1 KPIC TV channel 4 in Roseburg, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 1 Violent clashes in Algeria, kills at least 380
- Apr 2 Peter Ustinovs' "Romanoff & Juliet" premieres in Manchester
- Apr 2 Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premiere on TV
- Apr 3 Bulgarian vice premier Traitsjo Kostov rehabilitated
- Apr 3 German war criminals Hinrichsen, Ruhl, Siebens and Viebahn freed
- Apr 3 Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado
- Apr 4 Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden" premieres in London
- Apr 5 Ceylon's Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), led by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike wins the general elections in a landslide
- Apr 6 Polish communist Gomulka freed from prison
- Apr 7 10th NBA Championship: Philadelphia Warriors beat Ft Wayne Pistons, 4 games to 1
- Apr 7 Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco
- Apr 8 20th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Burke Jr. wins his first major title, 1 stroke ahead of amateur Ken Venturi; final Masters played without a 36-hole cut
- Apr 8 6 marine recruits drown during exercise at Paradise Island, South Carolina
- Apr 10 Philips broadcasts 1st Dutch color TV programs
Event of Interest
Apr 10 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Jean Beliveau has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 for a 4-1 series win
Jean Beliveau
- Apr 11 French government decides to send 200,000 reservists to Algeria
- Apr 11 Singer Nat Cole attacked on stage of Birmingham theater in racial incident
- Apr 12 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's government takes office in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
- Apr 13 KETA TV channel 13 in Oklahoma City, OK (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 14 "Silk Stockings" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 461 performances
- Apr 14 "Plain & Fancy" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 476 performances
- Apr 14 Ampex Corp demonstrates 1st commercial videotape recorder
- Apr 16 1st solar powered radios go on sale
- Apr 16 60th Boston Marathon won by Antti Viskari of Finland in race record 2:14:14
- Apr 17 Bulgaria premier Tchervenkov resigns
- Apr 17 Premium Savings Bonds introduced in Great Britain
- Apr 17 USSR's Cominform (Parliament) dissolves
- Apr 17 Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
- Apr 18 Egypt & Israel agree to a cease fire
- Apr 19 1st ML baseball game in NJ, Dodgers beat Phils in Roosevelt Stadium
#1 in the Charts
Apr 21 Elvis Presley's 1st hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel", becomes #1
Elvis Presley
- Apr 24 AL umpire Frank Umont is 1st to wear glasses in a regular season game
- Apr 25 Noel Coward's musical "South Sea Bubble" premieres in London
- Apr 26 First modern container ship, the Ideal X, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas
- Apr 27 Burma Premier U Nu's Volksliga voor Vrijheid loses election
Event of Interest
Apr 27 Heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated from boxing
Rocky Marciano
- Apr 28 Last French troops leave Vietnam
- Apr 28 Reds Frank Robinson hits his 1st of 586 HRs
- Apr 29 WLUC TV channel 6 in Marquette, MI (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 29 WSPA TV channel 7 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 29 WWBT TV channel 12 in Richmond, VA (NBC) begins broadcasting