Events in History
- Apr 1 1st British ombudsman Sir Edward Compton begins work
- Apr 1 The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.
- Apr 3 113 East Europeans attending World Amateur hockey championships in Vienna, ask for political asylum
- Apr 4 Amsterdam Marines chase "Nozems" or rebellious youth out of Central Station
- Apr 4 Dutch De Young government forms
- Apr 5 ATS II launched but fails to reach orbit
Event of Interest
Apr 6 Premier Georges Pompidou forms new French government
Georges Pompidou
Theater Premiere
Apr 11 Tom Stoppard's play "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead" debuts in London at the Old Vic
Tom Stoppard
Event of Interest
Apr 14 General Gnassingbé Eyadéma becomes President of Togo
Gnassingbé Eyadéma
- Apr 14 Yankee Stadium, Elston Howard singles on a 3-2 pitch
- Apr 16 Yankees beat Boston 7-6 in 18 innings
- Apr 17 Shortwave Radio NY Worldwide goes back on the air after a week off
- Apr 17 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20
- Apr 19 Yugoslav author Mihaljo Mihaljov sentenced 4½ years
- Apr 20 French author Régis Debray caught in Bolivia
- Apr 20 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
- Apr 20 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Apr 20 A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
- Apr 21 Evangelical Broadcasting begins in Netherlands
- Apr 21 Military coup in Greece, Konstantinos Kollias becomes premier
- Apr 21 Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin's daughter defects to the US in NYC
- Apr 22 Martial Law goes into effect in Greece
- Apr 23 Soyuz 1 launched; Vladimir Komarov becomes 1st in-flight casualty
Event of Interest
Apr 24 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
William Westmoreland
Agreement of Interest
Apr 28 The Douglas Aircraft Company behind schedule with deliveries of the DC-8 and DC-9 and close to bankruptcy agrees to merge with the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to form McDonnell Douglas
Donald Wills Douglas
Ostankino Tower
Apr 30 Ostankino Tower, the then highest free-standing structure in the world at 540m is finished in Moscow, Russia
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Birthdays in History
- Apr 5 Gary Gait, Canadian lacrosse player
- Apr 9 Alex Kahn, American visual and performance artist and co-founder of the arts ensemble Processional Arts Workshop
- Apr 11 Stefan Johnstown, Norwegian speed walker (world record 20 km)
- Apr 15 Frankie Poullain [Francis Poullain-Patterson], British bass player (The Darkness), born in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Apr 17 Birgitta Jonsdottir, Icelandic politician, Head of the Pirate Party, born in Reykjavík
- Apr 19 Steven H. Silver, American sci-fi editor, born in Hinsdale, Illinois
Willem-Alexander
Apr 27 Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands (2013-present), born in Utrecht, Netherlands
Willem-Alexander
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Apr 28 Media proprietor Rupert Murdoch (36) weds journalist Anna Torv (22)
Rupert Murdoch
Deaths in History
- Apr 5 Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1890)
- Apr 11 Donald Sangster, Jamaican prime-minister (b. 1911)
- Apr 13 Luis Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (1956-63), dies at 44
- Apr 16 Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist who helped identify the Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome, dies at 86
Konrad Adenauer
Apr 19 Konrad Adenauer, West Germany chancellor (1949-63), dies at 91
Konrad Adenauer