- Apr 1 Delhi beat Haryana by innings & 141 to win Ranji Trophy
- Apr 1 US submarine Nathaniel Green runs aground in Irish Sea
- Apr 1 World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel
- Apr 2 4 US passengers killed by bomb at TWA counter Athens Airport Greece
- Apr 2 George Corley Wallace (Gov-D-Ala) announces retirement plans
- Apr 2 NCAA adopts 3-point basketball rule (19 feet 9 inch distance)
- Apr 2 NYC Mayor Ed Koch signs & brings the Gay Rights Bill into effect
- Apr 3 Maureen O'Boyle (future host of "A Current Affair") is raped
- Apr 3 US national debt hits $2,000,000,000,000
NHL Record
Apr 4 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 213th point of season
Wayne Gretzky
Event of Interest
Apr 6 15th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Pat Bradley
Pat Bradley
Event of Interest
Apr 7 Wrestlemania II at 3 locations, Hulk Hogan beats King Kong Bundy
Hulk Hogan
Election of Interest
Apr 8 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California. Makes his day.
Clint Eastwood
Event of Interest
Apr 10 Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto
- Apr 10 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 11 Canadain 1921 50 cent piece auctioned in New York for $22,000
- Apr 11 Dodge Morgan sailed solo nonstop around world in 150 days
- Apr 11 Halley's Comet makes closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 M km
- Apr 11 KXA-AM in Seattle WA changes call letters to KRPM
- Apr 12 20,000 mine workers protest closing of Hasselt Belgium mines
Golf Major
Apr 13 50th Masters Golf Tournament: Jack Nicklaus wins, shooting a 279
Jack Nicklaus
- Apr 13 Boston Celtics end season with a 40-1 home win record
Meeting of Interest
Apr 13 Pope John Paul II meets Rome's Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff at Rome synagogue
John Paul II
Election of Interest
Apr 14 Desmond Tutu elected Anglican Archbishop of Capetown
Desmond Tutu
- Apr 14 Double-decker ferry sinks in stormy weather in Bangladesh killing 200
- Apr 14 US aircraft attacks 5 terrorist locations in Libya
- Apr 15 US air raids Libya, responding to La Belle disco, Berlin bombing
- Apr 15 Viv Richards century off 56 balls v England in Antigua Test Cricket
- Apr 15 The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
TV Show Appearance
Apr 16 To dispel rumors he's dead, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appears on TV
Muammar Gaddafi
- Apr 16 West Indies complete 5-0 demolition of England
- Apr 17 Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651)
- Apr 17 Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove"
- Apr 18 IBM produces 1st megabit-chip
- Apr 18 Robert M Gates becomes deputy director of CIA
- Apr 18 Titan rocket explodes seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg AFB
Boxing Title Fight
Apr 19 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
Larry Holmes
- Apr 20 "Jerry's Girls" closes at St James Theater NYC after 139 performances
NBA Record
Apr 20 Michael Jordan sets NBA playoff record with 63 points in a game
Michael Jordan
- Apr 20 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 20 Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
- Apr 21 90th Boston Marathon: Rob de Castella of Australia 1st man in 2:07:51 and Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway 1st woman in 2:24:55
- Apr 21 Bob Hering sets Formula One power boat record (165.338 mph, Ariz)
- Apr 21 Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV & finds nothing
- Apr 22 Consumer Price Index drops .04% for 2nd month in a row
- Apr 22 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 23 Grand Floridian Beach Resort groundbreaking
- Apr 23 Madrid-Nelli Cooman runs world record 60m indoor (7 sec)
- Apr 25 ETA bomb attacks Madrid killing 5
- Apr 25 Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
- Apr 26 Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Marshall Holman
- Apr 26 France performs nuclear test
- Apr 26 Game between Angels & Twins delayed for 9 minutes by strong winds
Pripyat: Nuclear Wasteland
Apr 26 World's worst nuclear disaster: 4th reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR explodes, 31 die, radioactive contamination reaches much of Western Europe
More >>
- Apr 27 "Sweet Charity" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 368 performances
- Apr 27 Captain Midnight (John R MacDougall) interrupts HBO
- Apr 27 Soviet authorities order the evacuation of the city of Pripyat (pop. 50,000) 1 day after the Chernobyl nuclear accident
- Apr 28 Soviet TV news program Vremya announces a nuclear accident at Chernobyl nuclear power station, 2 days after the event
- Apr 29 800,000 books destroyed by fire in Los Angeles Central Library
Baseball Record
Apr 29 Boston Red Sox Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners
Roger Clemens