April 1940 in History

Events in History

Historic Publication

Apr 1 Filipino President Quezon officially authorizes the printing and publication of the grammar and dictionary prepared by the Institute of the National Language.

2nd President of the Philippines Manuel L. Quezon

Event of Interest

Apr 7 US Post Office issues first postage stamp of African American educator Booker T. Washington

Apr 8 German battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious
Apr 9 German cruiser Blucher torpedoed and capsizes in Oslofjord, 1,000 die
Apr 9 Nazi Germany invades Denmark and Norway, and Denmark surrenders after a six-hour battle

Event of Interest

Apr 10 Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian "national government"

Apr 12 Italy annexes Albania
Apr 13 Second battle of Narvik; 3 German destroyers and one U-boat sunk by the Royal Navy, 5 more German destroyers scuttled
Apr 14 Allied troops land in Norway
Apr 14 RCA demonstrated its new electron microscope in Philadelphia
Apr 15 British troops land at Narvik, Norway
Apr 19 "Lake Shore Ltd" derails speed killing 34 near Little Falls, New York
Apr 19 Dutch prime minister De Geer declares state of siege
Apr 20 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [1]
Apr 22 Rear Admiral Joseph Taussig testifies before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable

Event of Interest

Apr 27 Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Leading Nazi and Reichsführer of the SS Heinrich Himmler

Apr 28 SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) Rudolf Höss (not Hess, different Nazi) becomes commandant of concentration camp Auschwitz
Apr 29 Norwegian King Haakon & government flee to Britain
Apr 29 Robert Sherwood's play "There Shall be No Night" premieres in NYC
Apr 30 Air New Zealand then known as TEAL makes its inaugural flight with a flight from Auckland to Sydney. Later becomes 1st airline in the world to boil hot water in-flight to offer customers hot tea and coffee.

Birthdays in History

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

Apr 1 Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, founder of the Green Belt Movement, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2004) and Indira Gandhi Peace Prize (2006), born in Ihithe village, Kenya

Apr 2 Peter Haining, British writer and editor (Anatomy of Witchcraft), born in Enfield, Middlesex (d. 2007)
Apr 3 Roger Burman, English head of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, born in Birmingham, England
Apr 4 Bijan, Iranian men's apparel designer (Bijan), born in Tehran, Iran (d. 2011)
Apr 4 Vladimir Timofeyevich Isakov, Russian cosmonaut, born in Zilair, Russia
Apr 6 Homero Aridjis, Mexican poet (La Tumba de Filidor)
Apr 9 Vasily Dmitriyevich Shcheglov, Russian cosmonaut, born in Melovashka, Ukraine (d. 1973)
Apr 12 John Hagee, American pastor and televangelist, born in Goose Creek, Texas
Apr 15 Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, English novelist, born in Finsbury, London
Apr 16 Benoît Bouchard, French Canadian public official and former politician, born in Roberval, Quebec

Margrethe II (82 years old)

Apr 16 Queen of Denmark (1972 - present), born in Copenhagen, Denmark

Apr 16 Paul Cox, Dutch-born Australian director (Lonely Hearts), born in Venlo, the Netherlands (d. 2016)
Apr 16 Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, British banker and deputy CEO (Barclays de Zoete Wedd), born in England
Apr 18 Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and physician (Nobel-1985), born in Kingstree, South Carolina
Apr 20 Jan Cremer, Dutch writer (I, John Cremer), born in Enschede, Netherlands
Apr 21 Souleymane Cisse, director (Waati, Yeelen, Finye, Baara)
Apr 23 Michael Copps, Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Apr 23 Richard Monaco, American sci-fi author (Grail War, Final Quest), born in NYC, New York
Apr 24 Sue Grafton, American author of detective novels ("A" Is for Alibi), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 2017)

Weddings in History

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Apr 7 Writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (21) weds Natalya Reshetovskaya

Deaths in History

Apr 18 Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, English historian & politician, dies after being hit by a car during London blackout at 75
Apr 26 Carl Bosch, German chemist (BASF, IG Farben, Nobel 1931), dies at 65