April 1

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April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 274 days remaining until the end of the year. April 1 is most notable in the English speaking world for being April Fools' Day.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

Events

527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
1318 - Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by the Scottish from the English.
1340 - Niels Ebbesen kills Gerhard III of Holstein in his bedroom, ending the 1332-1340 interregnum in Denmark.
1572 - In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Spaniards, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
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.
1854 - Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens magazine, Household Words.
1857 - Herman Melville publishes The Confidence-Man.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks - In Siege of Petersburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.
1867 - Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
1873 - The British steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
1891 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1912 - The Greek athlete Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breaks the world record -in standing long jump jumping 3.47 meters.
1918 - The Royal Air Force is created by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1924 - Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch". However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes the book Mein Kampf.
1924 - First revenue flight for Belgium's Sabena Airlines
1924 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
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 gradually, yet ultimately lead to the Holocaust.
1936 - Orissa Formerly known as Kalinga or Utkal became a state in India.
1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
1939 - Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1941 - The Blockade Runner Badge for German navy is instituted.
1944 - Accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen. The bombers were lost.
1945 - World War II: Operation Iceberg - United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.
1946 - Aleutian Island earthquake: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands creates a tsunami that strikes the Hawaiian Islands killing 159 (mostly in Hilo, Hawaii).
1946 - Formation of the Malayan Union.
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.
1948 - Faroe Islands receive autonomy from Denmark.
1949 - Chinese Civil War: Communist Party of China holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
1949 - The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.
1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
1955 - The EOKA rebellion against The Brtish Empire starts in Cyprus, with the goal of obtaining the desired unification ("enosis") with Greece.
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, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
1970 - The AMC Gremlin is introduced.
1973 - Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.
1974 - In the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties come into being.
1976 - Apple Computer is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
1976 - Conrail takes over operations from six bankrupt railroads in the northeastern U.S..
1976 - Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by the astronomer Patrick Moore.
1978 - Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
1979 - Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1980 - New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 begins a strike lasting 11 days.
1981 - Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR.
1989 - Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the 'poll tax'), is introduced in Scotland.
1996 - The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia is created.
1999 - Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of 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. See Hainan Island incident.
2001 - Former president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
2001 - Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, which is the first country to allow it.
2002 - The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
2004 - Google introduces its Gmail product to the public. The launch is met with scepticism on account of the launch date.
2006 - The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the 'British FBI', is created in the United Kingdom.

Births

1220 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
1543 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (d. 1626)
1578 - William Harvey, English physician (d. 1657)
1610 - Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier (d. 1703)
1640 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)
1647 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet (d. 1680)
1697 - Antoine François Prévost, French author and novelist (d. 1763)
1753 - Joseph de Maistre, French diplomat and writer (d. 1821)
1765 - Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver (d. 1810)
1776 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)
1815 - Otto von Bismarck, 1st Chancellor of Germany (d. 1898)
1815 - Edward Clark, Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
1834 - Big Jim Fisk, American entrepreneur (d. 1872)
1854 - Bill Traylor, American artist (d. 1949)
1856 - Acacio Gabriel Viegas, Indian physician (d. 1933)
1865 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)
1868 - Edmond Rostand, French dramatist (d. 1918)
1873 (N.S.) - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)
1875 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
1880 - Agha Petros, Assyrian general (d. 1932)
1882 - Paul Anspach, Belgian Olympic champion fencer (d. 1991)
1883 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (d. 1930)
1885 - Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
1893 - Cicely Courtneidge, English actress and comedian (d. 1980)
1895 - Alberta Hunter, American singer (d. 1984)
1897 - Nita Naldi, American actress (d. 1961)
1898 - William James Sidis, American genius (d. 1944)
1899 - Gustavs Celmins, Latvian politician (d. 1968)
1900 - Robert McDowell, Mayor of Maryborough, Queensland (d. 1988)
1901 - Whittaker Chambers, American writer, editor, and defector (d. 1961)
1902 - Maria Polydouri, Greek poet (d. 1930)
1906 - Aleksandr Yakovlev, Russian engineer and aeroplane designer (d. 1989)
1908 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
1909 - Eddy Duchin, American popular pianist & bandleader (d. 1951)
1914 - Lor Tok, Thai comedian and actor (d. 2002)
1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrian actor (d. 2004)
1917 - Melville Shavelson, American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1919 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon, Nobel laureate
1920 - Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
1921 - Ken Reardon, Canadian ice hockey player
1922 - William Manchester, American historian (d. 2004)
1924 - Brendan Byrne, Governor of New Jersey
1924 - Miodrag Petrović, Serbian actor (d. 2003)
1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor
1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American author
1927 - Amos Milburn, American pianist (d. 1980)
1928 - George Grizzard, American actor (d. 2007)
1929 - Milan Kundera, Czech-born writer
1929 - Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator
1929 - Jane Powell, American dancer, actress, and singer
1929 - Bo Schembechler, American football coach (d. 2006)
1930 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress
1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
1931 - Ita Ever, Estonian actress
1932 - Gordon Jump, American actor (d. 2003)
1932 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress
1933 - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist, Nobel laureate
1933 - Dan Flavin, American artist (d. 1996)
1934 - Don Hastings, American actor
1934 - Rod Kanehl, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1934 - Vladimir Posner, Russian journalist
1935 - Larry McDonald, American politician (d. 1983)
1936 - Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Swiss politician, president of the Confederation in 1989 and 1996 (d. 1998)
1938 - Ali MacGraw, American actress
1938 - John Quade, American actor
1939 - Phil Niekro, American baseball player
1939 - Rudolph Isley, American singer
1940 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1942 - Samuel R. Delany, American author
1942 - Annie Nightingale, British disc jockey
1944 - Rusty Staub, American baseball player
1945 - John Barbata, American drummer
1946 - Ronnie Lane, English musician (d. 1997)
1946 - Arrigo Sacchi, Italian football coach
1947 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
1947 - M, English singer
1947 - Norm Van Lier, American basketball player
1948 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
1949 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
1949 - Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer
1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer
1950 - Samuel Alito, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1951 - John Philip Abizaid, U.S. Army General, former CENTCOM commander
1952 - Annette O'Toole, American actress
1952 - Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher
1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer and director
1954 - Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (d. 1992)
1955 - Gregg Jarrett, American television anchor
1955 - Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani statesman
1957 - David Gower, English cricketer
1958 - D. Boon, American musician d. (1985)
1960 - Michael Praed, British actor
1962 - Dave Ulliott, English poker player
1962 - Samboy Lim, Filipino basketball player
1964 - Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
1964 - Scott Stevens, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 - Mark Jackson, American basketball player
1965 - Robert Steadman, English composer
1966 - Chris Evans, English disc jockey
1967 - Phil Demmel, American musician
1968 - Andreas Schnaas, German horror film director
1968 - Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer
1969 - Fadl Shaker, Lebanese singer
1970 - Sung Hi Lee, Korean-born model
1971 - Method Man, American rapper
1971 - Jessica Collins, American actress
1971 - Lachy Hulme, Australian actor and screenwriter
1971 - Shinji Nakano, Japanese race car driver
1972 - Allen and Albert Hughes, American film directors
1972 - Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 - Jesse Tobias, American musician
1973 - Christian Finnegan, American comedian
1973 - Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer
1973 - Rachel Maddow, American radio personality and political analyst
1973 - Joe Francis, American adult video producer
1974 - Richard Christy, American drummer
1974 - Hugo Benjamín Ibarra, Argentine footballer
1974 - Sandra Völker, German swimmer
1975 - George Bastl, Swiss tennis player
1975 - John Butler, Australian singer and musician
1976 - David Oyelowo, English-Nigerian actor
1977 - Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
1978 - Jean-Pierre Dumont, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 - Miroslava Vavrinec, Swiss tennis player
1979 - Ivano Balić, Croatian handballer
1980 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
1980 - Bijou Phillips, American actress
1980 - Yūko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
1981 - Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
1981 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer
1981 - Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist
1981 - Aimee Chan, Miss Hong Kong 2006
1981 - Bjoern Einar Romoeren, Norwegian skijumper
1982 - Sam Huntington, American actor
1982 - Gemma Hunt, British children's television presenter
1982 - Taran Killam, American comedian and actor
1983 - Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
1983 - Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
1983 - Matt Lanter, American actor and model
1984 - Gilberto Macena, Brazilian footballer
1984 - Olga Rei, Russian television personality
1985 - Josh Zuckerman, American actor
1986 - Ireen Wüst, Dutch speed skater
1987 - Ding Junhui, Chinese snooker player
1987 - Li Ting, Chinese diver
1988 - Courtney McCool, American gymnast
1989 - Vietoris Krisztián, German racecar driver

Deaths

1085 - Emperor Shenzong of China (b. 1048)
1132 - St-Hugues, Bishop of Grenoble (b. 1053)
1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of Richard I of England and John of England
1205 - King Amalric II of Jerusalem (b. 1145)
1528 - Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer
1580 - Alonso Mudarra, Spanish composer
1621 - Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (b. 1577)
1637 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (b. 1571)
1682 - Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bavarian Catholic archbishop (b. 1625)
1787 - Floyer Sydenham, English classical scholar (b. 1710)
1791 - Richard Butler American soldier (b. 1743)
1839 - Benjamin Pierce, American politician (b. 1757)
1865 - Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
1872 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)
1872 - William Frederick Horry, English convicted murderer (b. 1843)
1878 - John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician (b. 1796)
1890 - David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
1914 - Rube Waddell, American baseball player (b. 1876)
1917 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
1922 - Emperor Karl I of Austria (b. 1887)
1930 - Cosima Wagner, daughter of Franz Liszt and wife of Richard Wagner (b. 1837)
1946 - Noah Beery, American actor (b. 1882)
1947 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
1950 - Charles R. Drew, American physician (b. 1904)
1965 - Helena Rubinstein, Polish-born American cosmetics manufacturer (b. 1870)
1966 - Flann O'Brien, Irish humorist (b. 1911)
1968 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1976 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
1979 - Bruno Coquatrix, French music impresario (b. 1910)
1979 - Barbara Luddy, American actress (b. 1908)
1981 - Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (b. 1910)
1984 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)
1985 - Douglass Wallop, American novelist and playwright (b. 1920)
1986 - Erik Bruhn, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer (b. 1928)
1988 - Jim Jordan, American actor (Fibber McGee) (b. 1896)
1991 - Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
1993 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
1994 - Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
1996 - Florence Buchsbaum, French theater director (b. 1926)
1996 - John McSherry, American baseball umpire (b. 1944)
1997 - Norman Carr, British conservationist (b. 1912)
1998 - Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1922)
1998 - Rozz Williams, American musician (Christian Death) (b. 1963)
1999 - Jesse Stone, American record producer (b. 1901)
2000 - Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Baron Mackenzie-Stuart, Scottish jurist (b. 1924)
2001 - Olivia Barclay, British astrologer (b. 1919)
2001 - Jo-Jo Moore, American baseball player (b. 1908)
2001 - Trinh Cong Son, Vietnamese composer (b. 1939)
2002 - Simo Hayha, Finnish marksman (b. 1905)
2003 - Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer (b. 1956)
2004 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1946)
2004 - Nilo Soruco, Bolivian songwriter (b. 1927)
2005 - Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist and composer (b. 1915)
2005 - Harald Juhnke, German entertainer (b. 1929)
2005 - Jack Keller, American songwriter (b. 1936)
2005 - Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1952)
2005 - Robert Coldwell Wood, American educator (b. 1923)
2006 - In Tam, Cambodian politician (b. 1916)
2007 - Herb Carneal, American sports broadcaster (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

April 1 is known as April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day in many countries.
Last day of the Assyrian New Year Celebration.
Roman Empire - Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus.
Brielle celebrates the victory of 1572 over the Spaniards.
In San Marino, two Captains Regent, elected by Parliament, take office for six months.
Užupis - Residents celebrate their independence on Užupis Day.
This date also marks Cheap Trick day in Illinois.
Celebrated as Utkal Divas , The Foundation Day of state of Orissa, a state in Eastern India.