- Apr 1 14th Easter Seal Telethon raises $24,600,000
- Apr 1 8 men record longest distance (13 miles) rowed in 24 hours
- Apr 1 3rd NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: USC beats Tennessee 72-61
- Apr 2 46th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship: Georgetown beats Houston 84-75
- Apr 3 Bombay beat Delhi on 1st innings to win Ranji Trophy
- Apr 3 Guinea suspends constitution after coup
- Apr 3 Soyuz T-11 carries 3 cosmonauts (1 Indian-Rakesh Sharma) to Salyut 7
- Apr 4 Michael Frayn's "Benefactors" premieres in London
- Apr 4 Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary
- Apr 5 "Human Comedy" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 13 performances
NBA Record
Apr 5 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
- Apr 6 11th Space Shuttle Mission (41-C)-Challenger 5 is launched
- Apr 6 1st time 11 people in space
- Apr 6 Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
- Apr 7 Detroit Tiger Jack Morris no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0
- Apr 8 13th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Juli Inkster
- Apr 8 4th Golden Raspberry Awards: "Lonely Lady" wins
Film Awards
Apr 9 56th Academy Awards: "Terms of Endearment", Robert Duvall & Shirley MacLaine win
Shirley MacLaine
Robert Duvall
Appointment of Interest
Apr 11 General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko named President of the Soviet Union
Konstantin Chernenko
- Apr 14 Farewell concert of "Doe Maar" in Den Bosch Neth
- Apr 15 "Human Comedy" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 13 performances
- Apr 15 48th Masters Golf Tournament: Ben Crenshaw wins, shooting a 277
- Apr 15 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA J&B Scotch Pro-Am Golf Tournament
- Apr 15 Extremist Sikhs plunder 40 stations in Punjab India
- Apr 15 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Apr 16 88th Boston Marathon: Geoff Smith of Great Britain 1st man in 2:10:34 and Lorraine Moller of New Zealand 1st woman in 2:29:28
- Apr 16 Oakland A's Dave Kingman hits 3 HRs including a grand slam
- Apr 16 Pulitzer prize awarded to Mary Oliver for "American Primitive"
- Apr 17 Braves pitcher Pascual Perez suspended due to cocaine usage
- Apr 17 During Libyan Embassy demonstration in London, British police officer Yvonne Fletcher shot dead
- Apr 18 Space Shuttle Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly Air Force Base
- Apr 18 Joan Benoit runs world record female marathon (2:22:43)
- Apr 19 Nemesis, death star of dinosaurs 1st appears in print (Nature magazine)
- Apr 20 Russian offensive in Panshirvallei Afghanistan
- Apr 21 "Nightline" reverts back from 1 hour to ½ hour
- Apr 21 After 37 weeks "Thriller" is knocked off as top album by "Footloose"
- Apr 21 Centers for Disease Cont says virus discovered in France causes AIDS
- Apr 21 Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 209.8 kph
- Apr 21 Montreal Expo David Palmer no-hits St Louis Cards, 4-0 in a perfect 5 inn game
- Apr 22 Vicki Fergon wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic
Film Premier
Apr 22 CBS premiere of TV film "Pope John Paul II", starring Albert Finney in title role
John Paul II
Event of Interest
Apr 26 President Reagan visits China
Ronald Reagan
- Apr 27 Cleveland Indians beat Detroit Tigers, 8-4, in 19 innings
- Apr 27 Over 70 inches of snow falls on Red Lake Montana
- Apr 28 "La Tragedie de Carmen" closes at Beaumont Theater NYC after 187 performances
- Apr 29 "Oliver!" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 17 performances
- Apr 30 1,700 skiers participate in an alpine event at Are, Sweden
- Apr 30 Strong winds cause a 30 min delay in Toronto Blue Jays game