April 1 (original) (raw)

April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining.

Events

527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
1789 - In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.
1826 - Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks - In Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.
1867 - Singapore becomes British crown colony.
1873 - The British steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia killing 547.
1918 - The Royal Flying Corps is replaced by the Royal Air Force.
1924 - Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch." However he was only in jail for nine months.
1933 - The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in the series of anti-Semitic acts that will be known as the Holocaust.
1934 - Bonnie and Clyde kill two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas.
1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
1945 - World War II: United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.
1946 - A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands creates a tsunami that strikes the Hawaiian Islands killing 159 (mostly in Hilo, Hawaii).
1948 - Cold War: Berlin Airlift - Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.
1949 - Newfoundland joins Canada
1949 - Chinese Civil War: Communist Party of China held peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting. More than six thousand pro-communist students were protesting in Nanjing and some were killed. The talk was not successful.
1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
1960 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
1967 - The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.
1969 - The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF.
1970 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law banning cigarette advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
1973 - Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.
1976 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
1979 - Iran's government becomes Islamic Republic by a %98 vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
1999 - Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 - An EP-3E United States Navy plane collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, People's Republic of China and is detained. The American crew would later be released on April 11 while the Chinese fighter pilot was lost and presumed dead.
2001 - Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.

Births

1578 - William Harvey, physician, discovered blood circulation
1776 - Sophie Germain, mathematician († 1831)
1875 - Edgar Wallace, writer († 1932)
1815 - Otto von Bismarck, politician († 1898)
1834 - James Fisk, entrepreneur († 1872)
1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, pianist and composer († 1924)
1873 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer, pianist, and conductor († 1943)
1883 - Lon Chaney, actor († 1930)
1885 - Wallace Beery, actor († 1949)
1895 - Alberta Hunter, singer († 1984)
1901 - Whittaker Chambers, spy († 1961)
1908 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist
1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, actor
1920 - Toshir� Mifune, actor († 1997)
1922 - William Manchester, writer
1926 - Anne McCaffrey, science fiction author
1928 - Jane Powell, dancer, actress, singer
1929 - Milan Kundera, author
1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, writer
1932 - Debbie Reynolds, actress
1948 - Jimmy Cliff, musician
1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, musician, composer
1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer, director
1955 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist († 2003)
1971 - Method Man, musician

Deaths

1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II of England
1914 - Rube Waddell, Baseball Hall of Famer
1917 - Scott Joplin, musician, composer
1922 - Emperor Karl of Austria
1930 - Empress Zawditu of Ethiopia
1946 - Noah Beery, actor
1947 - King George II of Greece
1950 - Charles R. Drew, physician
1968 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist
1976 - Max Ernst, artist
1984 - Marvin Gaye, singer
1991 - Martha Graham, dancer, choreographer
1993 - Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR driver, 1992 Winston Cup Champion
2003 - Leslie Cheung, actor
2003 - Hyosuke Kujiraoka, a former vice speaker of the House of Representatives

Holidays and observances

April 1 is known as April Fool's Day in many countries (but compare December 28 in many catholic countries).
Roman Empire - Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus
In most universities, schools and offices in Japan, fiscal years and school years start on April 1. April Fool's Day is not common in Japan yet.
Brielle celebrates victory of 1572 over Spaniards.
In San Marino, two captain regents, elected by parliament, take office for six months

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