1 April - Definition and Overview

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.
• 1891 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
• 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.
• 1928 - KCR British Section was no longer run.
• 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: Battle of Okinawa - 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 becomes the tenth Province of Canada
• 1949 - Chinese Civil War: Communist Party of China held unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
• 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.
• 1970 - American Motors introduces the Gremlin.
• 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.
• 1985 - David Lee Roth announces his departure from Van Halen.
• 1996 - University of Kentucky team wins NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
• 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.
• 2001 - Former president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
• 2001 - The first legal same-sex marriage in the Netherlands is celebrated.
• 2002 - The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the only nation in the world to do so.
• 2003 - In Sturgis, Michigan, seven men place signs around town reading "All your base are belong to us," based on the popular mistranslation from the Japanese video game Zero Wing.
• 2004 - George W. Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which makes an attack that leads to the death of a mother and her unborn child two criminal charges.
• 2004 - The first legal same-sex marriage in the Canadian province of Quebec is celebrated; Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf wed in Montreal.

Births

• 1578 - William Harvey, physician, discovered blood circulation (d. 1657)
• 1776 - Sophie Germain, mathematician (d. 1831)
• 1815 - Otto von Bismarck, politician (d. 1898)
• 1815 - Edward Clark, governor of Texas (d. 1880)
• 1834 - James Fisk, entrepreneur (d. 1872)
• 1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, pianist and composer (d. 1924)
• 1873 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)
• 1875 - Edgar Wallace, writer (d. 1932)
• 1883 - Lon Chaney, actor (d. 1930)
• 1885 - Wallace Beery, actor (d. 1949)
• 1895 - Alberta Hunter, singer (d. 1984)
• 1899 - Gustavs Celmins, politician (d. 1968)
• 1901 - Whittaker Chambers, Hiss case witness (d. 1961)
• 1908 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist (d. 1970)
• 1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, actor
• 1920 - Toshirô Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
• 1922 - William Manchester, writer
• 1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor
• 1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American science fiction author
• 1928 - Jane Powell, dancer, actress, singer
• 1929 - Milan Kundera, author
• 1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, writer
• 1932 - Gordon Jump, actor, "Maytag Repairman" (d. 2003)
• 1932 - Debbie Reynolds, actress
• 1934 - Rod Kanehl, Major League Baseball player (d. 2004)
• 1940 - Wangari Maathai, environmentalist
• 1948 - Jimmy Cliff, musician
• 1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, musician, composer
• 1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer, director
• 1955 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist (d. 2003)
• 1970 - Sung Hi Lee, model
• 1971 - Method Man, musician
• 1980 - Randy Orton, professional wrestler

Deaths

• 1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II of England (b. c. 1122)
• 1637 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyo and retainer (b. 1571)
• 1872 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)
• 1914 - Rube Waddell, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1917 - Scott Joplin, musician, composer (b. 1868)
• 1922 - Emperor Karl of Austria (b. 1887)
• 1930 - Empress Zawditu of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
• 1946 - Noah Beery, actor
• 1947 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
• 1950 - Charles R. Drew, physician (b. 1904)
• 1966 - Flann O'Brien, humorist (b. 1911)
• 1968 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist (b. 1908)
• 1976 - Max Ernst, artist (b. 1891)
• 1984 - Marvin Gaye, singer (b. 1939)
• 1988 - Joe Besser, actor, comedian; member of the Three Stooges
• 1991 - Martha Graham, dancer, choreographer (b. 1894)
• 1993 - Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR driver, 1992 Winston Cup Champion (b. 1954)
• 2003 - Leslie Cheung, actor (b. 1956)
• 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
• Roman Empire - Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus
• In most universities, schools and offices in Japan, fiscal years and school years start on April 1. Also start of Indian financial year.
• Brielle celebrates victory of 1572 over Spaniards.
• In San Marino, two Captains Regent, elected by Parliament, take office for six months
• Date that bobhouses, used for ice-fishing, must be taken off frozen lakes in New Hampshire.

March 31 - April 2 - March 1 - May 1 -- listing of all days