From the first modern-era Summer Olympics to the sinking of the Titanic and the death of dictators, over the years April has been witness to many world-altering events.
Keep reading to discover 28 historic events that took place in April.
28 historic events that took place in April
1st April, 1748
The ruins of Pompeii were rediscovered by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre and his team.
The city had been buried under millions of tonnes of volcanic ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
3rd April, 1721
Robert Walpole became Britain’s first ever Prime Minister. In 1735, he received the gift of 10 Downing Street from King George II – making it the permanent residence of the Prime Minister.
Serving from 1721 to 1742, Walpole is the longest serving Prime Minister in British history.
4th April, 1964
English rock band, The Beatles, filled the top five places of the US singles chart with ‘Please Please Me’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Twist and Shout’, and ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’.
Many regard The Beatles as the most influential band of all time due to the integral role they played in the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as a form of art.
4th April, 1968
Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King was shot and killed by a sniper while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
King had championed non-violent protests to bring racial oppression to an end, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
He is best remembered for his speech, I Have a Dream, delivered in 1963 during the Civil Rights March in Washington. His efforts helped deliver the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
6th April, 1199
England’s King Richard I – later known as Richard the Lion Heart – died from an infected wound while besieging Chalus Castle in France.
Richard is famous for his considerable victories in the Third Crusade against Muslim leader, Saladin – although he finalised a peace treaty and ended his campaign without retaking Jerusalem.
Interestingly, despite reigning for 10 years, Richard only spent six months in England.
6th April, 1896
After a 1500 year break, the first modern-era Summer Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, from 6th to 15th April.
With the exception of US athletes, all participants were European, and over 65% were Greek.
7th April, 1739
Travellers across England were relieved to hear that the most notorious of highwaymen, Dick Turpin, was hanged in York.
Turpin was a member of the violent Gregory Gang and became a highwayman when they split up – poaching, burgling, killing, and stealing horses.
7th April, 1948
The World Health Organization (WHO) was formed by the United Nations to connect nations and promote global health.
Its main functions include developing partnerships with other global health initiatives, conducting research, and monitoring health trends around the world.
9th April, 1866
Despite a veto by American President Andrew Johnson, the US Civil Rights Bill was passed by Congress.
This declared all people born in the US to be citizens, “without distinction of race or colour, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude.”
10th April, 1633
England got its first ever glimpse of a new fruit – the banana – when Thomas Johnson displayed a bunch in his shop in Holborn, London.
It’s believed that Johnson’s bananas came from Bermuda – though how they managed to arrive in a state fit for display is not known by historians.
Johnson was a highly esteemed herbalist and physician who later died as a result of his wounds during the English Civil war.
12th April, 1981
The first space shuttle flight occurred when Columbia was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen on board.
Columbia spent 54 hours in space and made 36 orbits before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
14th April, 1983
The first ever cordless telephone went on sale in Britain. It was made by Fidelity and British Telecom and sold for £170.
14th April, 1912
The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Titanic, hit an iceberg at 11:40pm off of Newfoundland and sank in the early hours of 15th April – just four days after she left Southampton on her maiden voyage.
As Titanic sank, the band famously played on. There were around 2,200 passengers on board, but only lifeboats to carry 1,178 people. And tragically, through the panic, most of the lifeboats left the ship with around 400 empty seats.
As a result, there was a loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 people.
17th April, 1969
With the passing of the Representation of the People Act, the voting age in Britain was moved from 21 to 18.
17th April, 2012
Europe’s oldest intact book, the 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, was purchased by the British Library for £9 million.
Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria and the gospel book was removed from his coffin in 1104 during a transfer of the saint’s remains to a new shrine in Durham Cathedral.
21st April, 753 BC
According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus – descendants of Aeneas, sons of goddess Aphrodite, and princes of the dommed Greek city of Troy – founded Rome.
To this day, Rome celebrates its birthday every year on this date.
21st April, 1509
After the death of his father, Henry VIII became King of England. He’s most famous for having six wives and breaking with the Roman Catholic church.
As the second son of King Henry VII, Henry was never destined for the throne, but became first in line after the death of his older brother Arthur in 1502.
22nd April, 1870
Vladimir Lenin was born in Simbirsk, Russia. Lenin led the Russian Revolution of 1917 which turned Russia into a communist country.
The 1917 revolution is linked with various events in history, including the reign of Stalin and the Cold War (1947-1991) between the Western World and the Communist World – led mainly by the Soviet Union.
22nd April, 2016
The Paris Agreement – a legally binding international treaty on climate change – was signed by 195 nations in New York.
The Agreement’s goal was (and remains) to limit global warming and work towards limiting temperature rise to well below 2 degrees, maybe even 1.5 degrees (compared to pre-industrial levels).
23rd April, 1616
Famous playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, died on his 52nd birthday.
Shakespeare left behind his wife Anne, two daughters, Judith and Susanna, as well as a wealth of literary treasures that are still read and studied today – the most famous of which include Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Macbeth.
24th April, 1858
On the second attempt, Big Ben, the largest bell in the world, was finally ready to be hung in the clock tower of Westminster Palace in London.
The bell weighs more than 13 tonnes and each dial is seven metres in diameter.
27th April, 1828
The Zoological Society of London opened a zoo. It was originally intended for scientific study and in the early 1830s animals from the Tower of London’s menagerie (collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition) were transferred to the zoo’s collection.
Doors were opened to the public in 1847 to help with funding. Today, the ZSL London Zoo is home to thousands of different species and one of the largest collections of animals in the UK.
28th April, 1770
English naval explorer James Cook reached the east coast of Australia, where he began proceeding north to Botany Bay in Sydney.
Cook and his crew became the first known Europeans to arrive there.
28th April, 1945
Twenty-three years of Fascist rule ended in Italy when Italian partisans shot former Dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci, as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.
Italian Fascism was rooted in the desire to restore and expand Italian territories and Mussolini had allied with Adolf Hitler during World War II in order to boost his leadership.
29th April, 1884
Oxford University agreed to allow female students to take examinations. However, women were not allowed to be awarded degrees.
In 1878, The University of London became the first UK university to award degrees to women.
30th April, 1945
In his hideaway bunker in Berlin, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler shot himself while Eva Braun, his wife of 48 hours and former mistress, took a cyanide capsule.
In line with Hitler’s instructions, both of their bodies were later burnt.
30th April, 1948
Palestinian Jews declared their independence from British rule and established the new State of Israel – the first Jewish state in 2,000 years.
30th April, 1989
World Wide Web (WWW) was first launched in the public domain by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
The Web was originally created and developed to allow scientists in different universities and institutes around the world to share information.
Final thoughts…
For more history-related content, why not have a browse of the art and culture section of our website? Here you’ll find everything from cultural pit-stop ideas, to must-see history films and book recommendations.