133 Fun Facts About April

How many days does April have?

It is one of four 30-day months, alongside June, September and November.

Which position does April hold in the modern calendar year?

April is the fourth month of the modern Gregorian calendar, following January, February and March.

One theory says April's Latin name, Aprilis, comes from the verb aperire. What does aperire mean?

The idea is that buds and blossoms 'open' in April; a rival theory ties the name to Aphrodite, goddess of love.

In the earliest Roman calendar, what number month was April?

April was the second month, because the earliest Roman calendar began in March; January and February were added around 700 BC, later pushing April to fourth.

What is April's birthstone?

Diamond is April's birthstone; its name comes from the Greek adamas, 'unbreakable', and it is the hardest known natural material.

Which two blooms serve as April's birth flower?

April's birth flowers are the daisy and the sweet pea; the common daisy, Bellis perennis, belongs to the aster family.

The flower name 'daisy' is thought to be a corruption of which Old English phrase?

Day's eye fits because the flower head shuts at night and reopens with the sun.

Someone born on 10 April falls under which zodiac sign?

Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, covers late March and most of April, so 10 April falls under Aries rather than Taurus.

Aries, the zodiac sign covering most of April, is represented by which animal?

It is the first sign of the zodiac and is ruled by Mars; the ram is the golden-fleeced Chrysomallus of Greek myth.

What did the Anglo-Saxons call the month we know as April?

Ēastre-monaþ, 'Easter month', was the Anglo-Saxon name for April, linked to the goddess Ēostre whose name also gave English the word Easter.

Earth Day is celebrated every year on which date?

Earth Day falls on 22 April; the first, in 1970, drew about 20 million Americans, and on 22 April 2016 representatives of 175 nations signed the Paris climate agreement.

Which US senator founded the first Earth Day in 1970?

Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson conceived Earth Day as a nationwide environmental teach-in; adman Julian Koenig supplied the name and Denis Hayes coordinated the 1970 events.

The first American Arbor Day, on 10 April 1872, took place in which state?

Nebraska held the first Arbor Day on 10 April 1872, championed by journalist J. Sterling Morton; an estimated one million trees were planted across the state that day.

Roughly how many people died when the Titanic sank in April 1912?

About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 people aboard died; the Carpathia reached the scene around 4 am and picked up only about 710 survivors.

Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865. What play was he watching?

It was Good Friday, five days after Lee's surrender; Lincoln died the next morning in the Petersen House across the street.

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant on 9 April 1865 in which Virginia village?

Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, in Wilmer McLean's parlour; Grant let the Confederates keep their horses and sent rations to the hungry army.

The Civil War began on 12 April 1861 with a bombardment of which federal fort in Charleston Harbor?

Fort Sumter's 34-hour bombardment killed nobody; the first deaths, including Private Daniel Hough, came from an accidental explosion during the surrender salute on 14 April.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on 19 April of which year?

The fighting on 19 April 1775 opened the Revolutionary War; Emerson's Concord Hymn later called the militia's first volley 'the shot heard round the world'.

The Boston Marathon is run each April on Patriots' Day, which falls on which day of the week?

Patriots' Day is Massachusetts's third-Monday-of-April holiday, so the Boston Marathon is run on a Monday; it is the world's oldest annual marathon.

Golf's Masters Tournament, played in the first full week of April, is always held at which club?

Augusta National's winner has been handed a green jacket since 1949; Jack Nicklaus won a record six.

Which US president started the tradition of throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, in 1910?

William Howard Taft threw out the first ball on 14 April 1910 at Washington's National Park, after which Walter Johnson pitched a one-hitter against Philadelphia.

Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on 12 April of which year?

Gagarin orbited Earth once aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961, a 108-minute flight; Russia marks the date as Cosmonautics Day.

Exactly 20 years after Gagarin's flight, on 12 April 1981, which spacecraft made its first launch?

Space Shuttle Columbia's anniversary launch was a coincidence: a computer glitch had pushed it back two days. John Young and Robert Crippen flew STS-1.

Apollo 13, launched 11 April 1970, was crippled two days later when what exploded?

An oxygen tank in the service module burst after damaged heater wiring shorted; the crew used the lunar module Aquarius as a lifeboat and splashed down safely on 17 April.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990 aboard which Space Shuttle?

Discovery carried Hubble aloft on mission STS-31; the telescope's main mirror proved slightly misground, and Endeavour's crew fitted corrective optics in December 1993.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened on 26 April 1986 in which Soviet republic?

Reactor No. 4 exploded near the town of Pripyat; an exclusion zone was set up within 36 hours and later widened to 30 km.

The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history peaked on 10 April 1815. Which volcano?

Its ash chilled the whole planet, and 1816 became known as the Year Without a Summer.

The great San Francisco earthquake struck at 5:12 am on 18 April of which year?

The 1906 quake struck at 5:12 am on 18 April; fires burned for three days, destroyed about 80 percent of San Francisco and killed an estimated 3,000 people.

Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated on 23 April, the feast day of which patron saint of England?

George, England's patron saint, has his feast on 23 April; tradition assigns Shakespeare's birthday to the same date, and he died on 23 April 1616.

On 23 April, the Diada de Sant Jordi, people in Catalonia traditionally exchange which two gifts?

Books and roses are the Sant Jordi gifts, a rose for love and a book for culture; Catalonia sold about 1.5 million books on the day in 2015, and UNESCO chose the date for World Book Day.

Songkran, the mid-April water-throwing festival, marks which country's traditional New Year?

Songkran is Thailand's traditional New Year, 13 to 15 April; the name comes from Sanskrit samkranti, 'astrological passage', and UNESCO listed it as intangible heritage in 2023.

Vaisakhi commemorates the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 by which Sikh Guru?

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, founded the Khalsa at Anandpur on Vaisakhi 1699 by initiating the Panj Piare, the five beloved ones; the day doubles as Punjab's harvest festival.

ANZAC Day, 25 April, marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on which peninsula?

Troops landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula at dawn on 25 April 1915; the eight-month campaign against Ottoman forces cost more than 8,000 Australian lives.

On which mountain do witches gather on Walpurgis Night in German folklore?

The Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountains, is where Goethe's Faust sends the witches on Walpurgisnacht, 30 April; Finns mark the night as Vappu with student caps and sima mead.

Easter is fixed as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after what?

The rule, fixed by the Council of Nicaea in 325, counts from the spring equinox, taken as 21 March, with the paschal full moon set by tables rather than observation.

What is the latest date on which Easter Sunday can fall in the Western calendar?

The earliest possible date is 22 March; the last 25 April Easter was in 1943 and the next is in 2038.

The Jewish festival of Passover, which often falls in April, commemorates what event?

The Exodus from Egypt is why families eat matzah all week: the Israelites left in too much of a hurry for their bread to rise.

Which country marks Freedom Day on 27 April, the date of its first democratic election?

South Africa held its first election open to all races on 27 April 1994, which brought Nelson Mandela to the presidency; Freedom Day has been a public holiday since 1995.

Where did an act Lincoln signed on 16 April 1862 free about 3,100 enslaved people?

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act freed about 3,100 people in the capital; uniquely, their former owners were paid up to $300 each by the federal government.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21 April 1926, but her 'official' birthday was celebrated in which month?

The Trooping the Colour parade marks it, on the theory that June weather is kinder for a parade.

The 7 April observance called World Health Day marks the 1948 founding of which body?

The World Health Organization (WHO) came into being when its constitution took effect on 7 April 1948; the first World Health Day followed in 1950, and each year carries a different theme.

Which organisation launched National Poetry Month in April 1996?

The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996; Canada's League of Canadian Poets followed in 1998, while the UK keeps a single National Poetry Day in October.

Jazz Appreciation Month, held every April, was created in 2001 by which US institution?

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History created Jazz Appreciation Month in 2001, choosing April because Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald were both born in that month.

Which jazz pianist devised UNESCO's International Jazz Day, held every 30 April since 2012?

Herbie Hancock, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, proposed International Jazz Day, first held on 30 April 2012; each year a global host city stages an all-star concert.

Washington DC's cherry blossom festival celebrates a 1912 gift of trees from which city?

Tokyo gave 3,020 trees in 1912 after a first shipment of 2,000 in 1910 arrived riddled with insects and disease and had to be burned.

Coachella, held over two April weekends, takes place at a polo club in which California city?

Indio's Empire Polo Club first hosted it in October 1999, after a 1993 Pearl Jam concert proved the site could handle a crowd.

According to the proverb, what do April showers bring?

May flowers: Thomas Tusser's 1557 farming verse has 'Sweet April showers do spring May flowers', and the rhyme has been proverbial in English ever since.

Why does Britain get so many showers in April, according to meteorologists?

As the jet stream shifts north in April, Atlantic depressions sweep across Britain while land warming faster than the sea feeds convective showers, so one day can swing from sunshine to hail.

The day for pranks and hoaxes falls on which date of the month?

Its origins are disputed; some point to a 1561 Flemish poem, others to the calendar change that moved New Year from late March.

April is the seasonal equivalent of which Northern Hemisphere month south of the equator?

October: the seasons are offset by six months across the equator, so April in the Southern Hemisphere, mid-autumn, matches October in the north.

Which Roman king added January and February, making April the fourth month?

Tradition credits Numa Pompilius, Rome's second king, with adding January and February around 700 BC, bringing the calendar to twelve months.

Whose calendar reform restored April's 30th day in the mid-40s BC?

Julius Caesar's reform of 46 BC, the Julian calendar, gave April 30 days again after Numa's calendar had trimmed it to 29.

Which Anglo-Saxon scholar said the month-name ēastre is the root of the word Easter?

Bede, in The Reckoning of Time (725), wrote that Eosturmonath was named for the goddess Eostre, whose feasts had been held in that month.

What does the Finnish name for April, huhtikuu, mean?

Slash-and-burn moon: huhta is a patch of forest felled and burned for farmland, and April was when the trees were cut for that year's burning.

Which Roman grain festival was held for seven days in mid-to-late April?

Cerealia, the games of the grain goddess Ceres, ran from 12 to 19 April; Ovid describes foxes being loosed in the Circus with burning torches tied to their tails.

Which meteor shower peaks around 22 April each year?

The Lyrids, debris from comet Thatcher, peak around 22 April and are among the oldest recorded showers, noted in Chinese records in 687 BC.

On which day of the month does the zodiac sign switch from Aries to Taurus?

The 20th: Aries runs from about 21 March to 19 April, and Taurus takes over on 20 April in most Western zodiac tables.

Which neurological condition has its US awareness observance throughout April?

Autism Acceptance Month, formerly Autism Awareness Month, runs through April, anchored by the UN's World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April; Parkinson's awareness is also marked in April.

Which food gets its own US month-long observance in April?

Grilled cheese: April is National Grilled Cheese Month in the United States, with National Grilled Cheese Day on the 12th, alongside National Pecan Month and National Soft Pretzel Month.

What kind of institution gets a US celebration week each April?

Libraries: the American Library Association has run National Library Week every April since 1958, with National Bookmobile Day falling on its Wednesday.

On which day is Arbor Day observed nationally in the United States?

Nebraska held the first one on 10 April 1872.

Which Chaucer story about a cock and a fox is disputedly linked to 1 April?

The Nun's Priest's Tale has Chauntecleer the cock tricked by a fox 'syn March bigan thritty dayes and two', which some read as 32 March, i.e. 1 April, though most scholars read it as 3 May.

What does the French April Fools' term 'poisson d'avril' literally mean?

Pranksters try to pin a paper fish to a victim's back.

What did the traditional Irish April Fools' letter say when finally opened?

Each recipient passed the 'important letter' on to someone else.

What did Scots originally call April Fools' Day?

Huntigowk Day, 'hunt the gowk', sent the victim on fool's errands; gowk is Scots for cuckoo or fool, and the following day was Tailie Day for pinning paper tails.

Which Ukrainian city celebrates April Fools' Day as 'Humorina', with a parade?

Odesa has held Humorina on 1 April since 1973, the Black Sea port's comic festival, whose emblem is a cheerful sailor in a lifebelt.

By what time of day must UK April Fools' pranks traditionally stop?

Anyone pranking after midday becomes the April fool themselves.

Which BBC programme aired the 1957 'Swiss spaghetti harvest' hoax?

Panorama, narrated by Richard Dimbleby, showed a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees on 1 April 1957; viewers phoned in asking how to grow their own.

Which real Google product launch on 1 April 2004 was widely mistaken for a prank?

Gmail launched on 1 April 2004 with a 1-gigabyte inbox, hundreds of times what Hotmail or Yahoo offered, which made many assume the announcement was a joke.

Which company was founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak?

Apple Computer Company was founded on 1 April 1976 by Jobs, Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, who sold his 10 percent stake back for $800 within days.

In which city was Microsoft founded on 4 April 1975?

Albuquerque, New Mexico, was home to MITS, maker of the Altair 8800 for which Gates and Allen wrote their BASIC; Microsoft moved to the Seattle area in 1979.

Which Nazi organisation was founded on 4 April 1925?

The Schutzstaffel began as Hitler's bodyguard.

Where in Memphis was Martin Luther King Jr. shot on 4 April 1968?

King was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, outside room 306; James Earl Ray was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport that June.

The first modern Olympic Games opened on 6 April 1896 in which city?

Athens hosted the first modern Games, opened by King George I in the restored Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April 1896, some 1,500 years after Theodosius I suppressed the ancient ones.

Whose plane being shot down on 6 April 1994 triggered the Rwandan genocide?

President Juvénal Habyarimana's Falcon 50 jet was shot down on approach to Kigali; Burundi's president Cyprien Ntaryamira died on the same aircraft, and the killings began within hours.

Roughly how many days did the Rwandan genocide last from 7 April 1994?

About 100 days: the killing ran from 7 April until the RPF's victory in mid-July 1994, with an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu dead.

Which volcano erupted on 7 April 1906 and devastated Naples?

Vesuvius's 1906 eruption, its largest of the 20th century, killed more than 100 people and rained ash on Naples; Italy gave up hosting the 1908 Olympics, which went to London.

Which country did Mussolini declare an Italian protectorate over on 7 April 1939?

Albania was invaded on 7 April 1939 and King Zog I fled into exile; within days the Albanian crown was offered to Victor Emmanuel III.

Which singer sang at the Lincoln Memorial on 9 April 1939 after being barred from a hall?

Marian Anderson sang to 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her Constitution Hall; Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest.

Whose polio vaccine was declared safe and effective on 12 April 1955?

Jonas Salk's killed-virus vaccine was pronounced 'safe, effective and potent' at Ann Arbor on 12 April 1955, ten years to the day after Franklin Roosevelt's death.

Which Grand Prix was first run on 14 April 1929?

Monaco's first Grand Prix, on 14 April 1929, was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti Type 35B, racing under the pseudonym 'Williams'.

'Black Sunday', 14 April 1935, was one of the worst storms of which US disaster?

Black Sunday's wall of dust swept the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles; reporter Robert Geiger's dispatch the next day coined the phrase 'Dust Bowl'.

Which cathedral caught fire on 15 April 2019?

Notre-Dame de Paris lost its 19th-century spire and most of its oak roof, the 'forest', in the blaze; the cathedral reopened in December 2024.

Which Renaissance polymath was born on 15 April 1452?

Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452 at Anchiano, near the Tuscan town of Vinci, the illegitimate son of the notary Ser Piero.

Which concentration camp was liberated on 15 April 1945?

Bergen-Belsen was handed to the British 11th Armoured Division on 15 April 1945; they found some 60,000 starving prisoners and about 13,000 unburied dead.

Jackie Robinson broke baseball's colour line on 15 April 1947 for which team?

The Brooklyn Dodgers started Robinson at first base at Ebbets Field on 15 April 1947; MLB retired his number 42 across all teams in 1997, and every player wears it on Jackie Robinson Day.

Which 1746 battle, fought on 16 April, ended the Jacobite rising?

Culloden, on Drummossie Moor near Inverness, saw the Duke of Cumberland's army crush Charles Edward Stuart's Jacobites in under an hour, the last pitched battle on British soil.

Who became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, on 16 April 1912?

Harriet Quimby flew a Blériot monoplane from Dover to Hardelot in about an hour on 16 April 1912; the Titanic sinking the day before buried her story.

Which 18 April 1942 operation saw US bombers strike Tokyo for the first time?

The Doolittle Raid launched sixteen B-25s from the carrier Hornet; led by Jimmy Doolittle, they bombed Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya before flying on toward China.

Which country came into being on 18 April 1980 with Canaan Banana as its first president?

Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, became independent on 18 April 1980 with Canaan Banana as ceremonial president and Robert Mugabe as prime minister.

Which physicist died on 18 April 1955?

Albert Einstein died at Princeton Hospital on 18 April 1955, aged 76, of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, having refused surgery.

Which act of Jewish resistance began in occupied Poland on 19 April 1943?

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, when German troops entered to deport the remaining Jews; the fighters held out until 16 May.

How long was the FBI siege at Waco that ended on 19 April 1993?

The siege ran 51 days, from the ATF raid of 28 February to the FBI assault on 19 April 1993; 76 Branch Davidians, including David Koresh, died in the fire.

Which Colorado high school was the site of a massacre on 20 April 1999?

Columbine High School in Littleton: seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

Which oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010?

Deepwater Horizon, a BP-leased rig, burned and sank, and the Macondo well gushed for 87 days before it was capped, the largest marine oil spill in history.

Which US-backed invasion of Cuba failed on 20 April 1961?

The Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-trained Brigade 2506 landed at Playa Girón on 17 April 1961 and collapsed within three days, with about 1,200 exiles captured.

Which dictator was born on 20 April 1889?

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on 20 April 1889 and died by suicide in his Berlin bunker on 30 April 1945, ten days after his 56th birthday.

Which two thinkers share a 22 April birthday, in 1724 and 1870?

Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg on 22 April 1724 and Vladimir Lenin in Simbirsk on 22 April 1870, which was 10 April in the Julian calendar Russia then used.

Which Spanish author died on 22 April 1616, a day before Shakespeare?

Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, died in Madrid on 22 April 1616 and was buried the next day; UNESCO's World Book Day on 23 April honours him and Shakespeare.

Which Bavarian beer purity law took effect on 23 April 1516?

The Reinheitsgebot, issued at Ingolstadt by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, limited beer to water, barley and hops; yeast was not yet understood.

Which soft drink debuted to a hostile reception on 23 April 1985?

New Coke's sweeter formula provoked such outrage that Coca-Cola Classic returned on 11 July 1985, 79 days later.

Which two scientists published the double-helix structure of DNA on 25 April 1953?

Crick and Watson's one-page Nature paper of 25 April 1953 proposed the double helix; Rosalind Franklin's X-ray Photo 51 had been key, and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel with them.

Which Portuguese regime fell in the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974?

The Estado Novo, founded by Salazar in 1933 and led by Marcelo Caetano since 1968, fell to a near-bloodless military coup; Portugal's African colonies won independence within two years.

Which Basque town was bombed by the Condor Legion on 26 April 1937?

Guernica, the Basques' symbolic town, was bombed on a market day by German and Italian aircraft; Picasso's Guernica was shown at the Paris Exposition that summer.

Which record of Shakespeare's is dated 26 April 1564?

His baptism at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, is recorded on 26 April 1564; the birth date itself is unrecorded, and 23 April is traditional.

Where did George Washington take the presidential oath on 30 April 1789?

Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York, was the first capitol; Washington took the oath on its balcony from Chancellor Robert Livingston on 30 April 1789.

How much did the US pay France for the Louisiana Territory on 30 April 1803?

$15 million, roughly four cents an acre for some 828,000 square miles, more than doubling the size of the nation.

Which city fell to communist forces on 30 April 1975, ending the Vietnam War?

Saigon's fall formally ended the war with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam's president Dương Văn Minh.

Which 1922 poem opens with the phrase 'April is the cruellest month'?

The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot's 434-line modernist landmark of 1922, opens 'April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land'.

Which Middle English poem's General Prologue is set in April and praises its rains?

The Canterbury Tales opens 'Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote', as the pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark before riding to Becket's shrine.

Which event founded in 2008 inspired by Free Comic Book Day is held each April?

Record Store Day, first held on 19 April 2008, was modelled on Free Comic Book Day; special pressings go only to participating independent shops.

Which two athletes founded the London Marathon in 1981?

Chris Brasher, the 1956 Olympic steeplechase champion, and fellow athlete John Disley founded it after Brasher ran the 1979 New York Marathon; the first race was on 29 March 1981.

Which runner broke the two-hour barrier at the 2026 London Marathon?

Khalid Khannouchi had set a men's record there in 2002.

Which horse won the Grand National three times, in 1973, 1974 and 1977?

Red Rum, trained by Ginger McCain on Southport beach, won in 1973, 1974 and 1977 and finished second in 1975 and 1976; he is buried beside the Aintree winning post.

Which Boston-area town is the starting point of the Boston Marathon?

Hopkinton, about 26 miles west of the finish, has hosted the start since 1924; the race ends on Boylston Street near Copley Square.

In what year was the Boston Marathon first held?

The first Boston Marathon was run on 19 April 1897 with 15 starters, a year after the Athens Olympic marathon inspired it; John McDermott won.

Which Tokyo mayor gave Washington DC its cherry trees in 1912?

Eliza Scidmore had lobbied for cherry trees since 1885.

What is the Japanese custom of viewing cherry blossoms called?

Hanami, 'flower viewing', means picnicking under the blossoms; night viewing is yozakura, and tsukimi is the autumn moon-viewing custom.

Which chemical element makes up April's birthstone, the diamond?

Lavoisier proved it in 1772 by burning a diamond into carbon dioxide.

Where is the sweet pea, an April birth flower, native to?

The monk Francesco Cupani first described it in 1696.

Which fire signs share the element with Aries?

Leo and Sagittarius join Aries as the three fire signs; the zodiac's twelve signs divide evenly among fire, earth, air and water.

Astrologers assign which classical element to Taurus, the sign that begins in late April?

Earth: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are the three earth signs, Taurus being the 'fixed' sign of the group.

Which actress plays deadpan April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation?

Aubrey Plaza played April Ludgate across all seven seasons, 2009 to 2015; April starts as an intern and becomes Ron Swanson's assistant.

Which Northern Ireland peace deal, also known by a Belfast name, was signed on 10 April 1998?

The Good Friday Agreement, signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998, set up power-sharing at Stormont and was endorsed by referendums on both sides of the border that May.

Who led the mutiny that seized HMS Bounty from Lieutenant William Bligh on 28 April 1789?

Fletcher Christian, Bligh's acting lieutenant, led the mutiny near Tofua; Bligh and 18 loyalists were set adrift in a 23-foot launch and sailed some 3,600 nautical miles to Timor.

For which company was Martin Cooper working when he made the first handheld cell phone call on April 3, 1973?

Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the call on a DynaTAC prototype from a Manhattan sidewalk to Joel Engel, his rival at AT&T's Bell Labs.

Which grunge band's frontman, Kurt Cobain, died around April 5, 1994?

Nirvana's Cobain was lead vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter; his body was found at his Seattle home on 8 April 1994, the death dated to about 5 April.

Where did Prince William marry Catherine Middleton on Friday 29 April 2011, a public holiday?

Westminster Abbey's wedding fell on a Friday that was declared a public holiday; William was second in line to the throne at the time.

Which ancient Roman festival on 21 April came to be celebrated as the anniversary of Rome's founding?

Parilia, the shepherds' festival of Pales, was reinterpreted as Rome's birthday; Varro's chronology fixed the founding at 753 BC, which Claudius marked with Secular Games in AD 47.

Which comic actor and filmmaker was born in London on 16 April 1889?

Charlie Chaplin was born in Walworth, London, on 16 April 1889 and died on Christmas Day 1977 at Vevey, Switzerland; Stan Laurel was once his understudy in Fred Karno's troupe.

At which Virginia plantation was Thomas Jefferson born on April 13, 1743?

Shadwell, his father Peter Jefferson's plantation in what became Albemarle County; in the Old Style Julian calendar the date was 2 April, and Monticello was the home he later designed himself.

The Los Angeles riots began on April 29, 1992 after a jury acquitted four officers in whose beating?

Rodney King's 1991 beating by LAPD officers had been videotaped by bystander George Holliday; the unrest spread from South Central LA over six days and killed more than 60 people.

From which English port did the Titanic begin her maiden voyage in April 1912?

Southampton: Titanic left on 10 April 1912, calling at Cherbourg and Queenstown before heading for New York with about 2,200 people aboard.