From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 Western world for being April Fools' Day.

Events

• 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
• 1293 – Robert Winchelsey leaves England for Rome, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 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 RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
• 1887 – Mumbai Fire Brigade is established.
• 1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
• 1912 – The Greek athlete Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breaks the world record in the standing long jump jumping 3.47 meters.
• 1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of 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 – 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.
• 1937 – The power granted to the National Socialist government of Germany by the Enabling Act of 1933 officially expires, and is subsequently renewed by the Reichstag.
• 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 the German navy is instituted.
• 1944 – Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
• 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: The Communist Party of China holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
• 1949 – The Canadian government repeals Japanese Canadian internment after seven years.
• 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 British Empire starts in Cyprus, with the goal of obtaining the desired unification ("enosis") with Greece.
• 1957 – BBC Spaghetti tree hoax broadcast on current affairs programme Panorama.
• 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.
• 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 – The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
• 1979 – Iran 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.
• 1992 – Start of the Bosnian war.
• 1996 – The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia is created.
• 1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing over perihelion.
• 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 surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 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 Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
• 2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, 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 skepticism on account of the launch date.
• 2006 – The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the 'British FBI', is created in the United Kingdom.
• 2009 – Croatia and Albania joined NATO

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)
• 1809 – Nikolai Gogol, Ukrainian-born Russian writer (d. 1852)
• 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 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)
• 1874 – Ernest William Barnes, English mathematician and theologian (d. 1953)
• 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)
• 1884 – Laurette Taylor, American stage actress (d. 1946)
• 1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
• 1889 – Keshava Baliram Hedgewar, Indian patriot and founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (d. June 21, 1940)
• 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)
• 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)
• 1911 – Fauja Singh, Indian athlete.
• 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 (d. 2008)
• 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 – Peter Cundall, Australian horticulturist and television presenter
• 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 – Nikitas Kaklamanis, Greek politician, Mayor of Athens
• 1946 – Ronnie Lane, English musician (d. 1997)
• 1946 – Arrigo Sacchi, Italian football coach
• 1947 – Alain Connes, French mathematician
• 1947 – Robin Scott, English singer
• 1947 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player (d. 2009)
• 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 – Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani statesman
• 1957 – David Gower, English cricketer
• 1957 – Denise Nickerson, American actress
• 1958 – D. Boon, American musician (d. 1985)
• 1960 – Michael Praed, British actor
• 1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer and Britain's Got Talent contestant
• 1962 – Dave Ulliott, English poker player
• 1962 – Samboy Lim, Filipino basketball player
• 1964 – Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
• 1964 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (d. 2008)
• 1964 – Scott Stevens, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Tomas Alfredson, Swedish film director
• 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 – Traci Lind, American actress
• 1968 – Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer
• 1969 – Fadl Shaker, Lebanese singer
• 1969 – Dean Windass, English football player
• 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 – Beatriz Batarda, Portuguese actress
• 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
• 1976 – Clarence Seedorf, Dutch footballer
• 1977 – Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
• 1977 – Jon Gosselin, TV personality, known for Jon & Kate+8
• 1978 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (d. 2009)
• 1978 – Jean-Pierre Dumont, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1978 – Anamaria Marinca, Romanian actress
• 1978 – Etan Thomas, American basketball 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 – Asli Bayram, Turkish German model and actress
• 1981 – Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
• 1981 – Hannah Spearritt, British singer, actor and member of S Club
• 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 – Lance Hohaia, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1983 – Matt Lanter, American actor and model
• 1983 – Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
• 1983 – Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
• 1983 – Sergey Lazarev, Russian singer
• 1984 – Gilberto Macena, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Daniel Murphy, American baseball player
• 1985 – Josh Zuckerman, American actor
• 1986 – Shunichi Miyamoto, Japanese musician
• 1986 – Ireen Wüst, Dutch speed skater
• 1987 – Ding Junhui, Chinese snooker player
• 1987 – Li Ting, Chinese diver
• 1988 – Courtney McCool, American gymnast
• 1988 – Brook Lopez, American basketball player
• 1988 – Robin Lopez, American basketball player
• 1989 – Jan Blokhuijsen, Dutch speed skater
• 1989 – David N'Gog, French footballer
• 1989 – Vietoris Krisztián, German racing driver
• 1993 – Keito Okamoto, Japanese Singer
• 1997 – Asa Butterfield, English actor

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 (b. 1122)
• 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)
• 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)
• 1890 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian aeronautical pioneer (b. 1825)
• 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)
• 1991 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean politician (b. 1946)
• 1992 – Michael Havers, British barrister and politician (b. 1923)
• 1992 – Nigel Preston, English drummer (b. 1959)
• 1993 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
• 1994 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
• 1995 – Lucy Rie, American potter (b. 1902)
• 1995 – H. Adams Carter, American Alpine Club President, 10th Mountain Division trainer (b. 1914)
• 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)
• 2002 – Gavin Pfuhl, South African cricketer (b. 1947)
• 2003 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer (b. 1956)
• 2004 – Aaron Bank, American Office of Strategic Services officer and founder of the US Army Special Forces (b. 1902)
• 2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1946)
• 2004 – Nilo Soruco, Bolivian songwriter (b. 1927)
• 2005 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and ambassador (b 1925)
• 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.
• Orissa, India – residents in the state of Orissa celebrate their independence.
• Last day of the Assyrian New Year Celebration.
• Roman Empire – Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus.
• Brielle celebrates the victory of 1572 over the Spaniards.
• Užupis – Residents celebrate their independence on Užupis Day.
• Fossil Fools Day
• Edible Book Day

Roman Catholic Church calendar:

• Saint Hugh of Grenoble
• Saint Theodora
• Saint Waleric

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

From Wikiquote

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

Years ago my mother used to say to me... "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh-so-smart, or oh-so-pleasant." Well, for years I was smart — I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. ~ Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in the film Harvey

• selected by Kalki

2005

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth. ~ Otto von Bismarck (born 1 April 1815, and All Fools Day)

• selected by Kalki

2006

The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. ~ Mark Twain (All Fool's Day/April Fool's Day)

• selected by Kalki

2007

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. ~ Alexander Pope

• proposed by Kalki

2008

What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual "I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered. ~ Milan Kundera (born 1 April 1929)

• proposed by InvisibleSun

2009

Very many maintain that all we know is still infinitely less than all that still remains unknown; nor do philosophers pin their faith to others' precepts in such wise that they lose their liberty, and cease to give credence to the conclusions of their proper senses. Neither do they swear such fealty to their mistress Antiquity that they openly, and in sight of all, deny and desert their friend Truth. ~ William Harvey (born 1 April 1578)

• proposed by InvisibleSun

2010

Quotes by people born this day already used as QOTD:

• I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me. All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai
  • used 11 October 2004, selected by Kalki

Suggestions

Were I, who to my Cost already am
One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man,
A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share,
What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas’d to wear,
I’d be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear,
Or any thing, but that vain Animal,
Who is so proud of being Rational.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (born April 1, 1647)

• 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain,
Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain,
Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down
Into Doubt’s boundless Sea, where like to drown,
Books bear him up a-while, and make him try
To swim with Bladders of Philosophy.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

• 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

For Wits are treated just like Common Whores;
First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of Doors.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

• 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The light that radiates from the great novels time can never dim, for human existence is perpetually being forgotten by man and thus the novelists' discoveries, however old they may be, will never cease to astonish. ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC) I have a strong tendency to prefer strong links to "All Fool's Day" on this date, but lean toward a 4 for this one despite this.
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. They are fighting for access to the laboratories where photographs are retouched and biographies and histories rewritten. ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

There's not a thing on earth that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

It is a good world to live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in;
But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own,
It is the very worst world that ever was known.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies?

Is, or is not, the Two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Man differs more from Man, than Man from Beast. ~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 because this is one of my alltime favorites. The man and beast comparison is an excellent one, one of sheer brilliance. Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

No great movement designed to change the world can bear to be laughed at or belittled. Mockery is a rust that corrodes all it touches. ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Is not an event in fact more significant and noteworthy the greater the number of fortuities necessary to bring it about? ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Chance and chance alone has a message for us... Only chance can speak to us. ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Love is our freedom. ~ Milan Kundera

• 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I avow myself the partisan of truth alone. ~ William Harvey

• 3 Kalki 20:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
• 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I've been to Sugartown/I shook the Sugar down/Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door. ~ Bob Dylan

—This unsigned comment is by 24.125.163.3 (talk • contribs) .

• 0 Zarbon 23:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
• 0. What is the relevance to this date? - InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — but by iron and blood. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, but an ellipsis should be used rather than a dash.
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The wolf cannot help it that he was created by God the way he is, but one shoots him yet, if one can. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 2 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to deal with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC) (for this or one of the other variant translations of this)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• 1 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

As art is a habit with reference to things to be done, so is science a habit in respect to things to be known. ~ William Harvey

• 3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 19:31, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Politics is not an exact science. ~ Otto von Bismarck

• 3 Kalki 01:04, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. ~ Abraham Maslow

• 3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Education is learning to grow, learning what to grow toward, learning what is good and bad, learning what is desirable and undesirable, learning what to choose and what not to choose. ~ Abraham Maslow

• 3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone. ~ Nikolai Gogol

• 3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever? ~ Daniel Daly

• 2 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 0 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1. Frederick II of Prussia had already said something quite similar. - InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

What I look for in a friend is someone who's different from me. The more different the person is, the more I'll learn from him. The more he'll come up with surprising takes on ideas and things and situations. ~ Samuel R. Delany

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind. ~ Samuel R. Delany

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Business is globalizing so fast that it has led to the often quoted ‘clash of civilizations’. People simply have not had time to get to know and understand people of other cultures sufficiently to live and work in harmony. ~ Begum Aga Khan

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

It is at night that faith in light is admirable. ~ Edmond Rostand

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

What say you? It is useless? Ay, I know
But who fights ever hoping for success?
I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!
You there, who are you! — You are thousands! Ah!
I know you now, old enemies of mine!
Falsehood!
Have at you! Ha! and Compromise!
Prejudice, Treachery! ...
Surrender, I?
Parley? No, never! You too, Folly, — you?
I know that you will lay me low at last;
Let be! Yet I fall fighting, fighting still!
~ Edmond Rostand

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

You strip from me the laurel and the rose!
Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing
I hold against you all, and when, tonight,
I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed,
Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue,
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch,
I bear away despite you ... My panache.
~ Edmond Rostand

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Instinct is the direct connection with truth. ~ Laurette Taylor

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Personality is more important than beauty, but imagination is more important than both of them. ~ Laurette Taylor

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Twas Beauty that killed the beast! ~ Edgar Wallace

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I present you with a Key. ~ Roger Williams

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The God of Peace, the God of Truth will shortly seal this truth, and confirm this witness, and make it evident to the whole world, that the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience, is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace. ~ Roger Williams

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I have read ... the last will and testament of the Lord Jesus over many times, and yet I cannot find by one tittle of that testament that if He had been pleased to have accepted of a temporal crown and government that ever He would have put forth the least finger of temporal or civil power in the matters of His spiritual affairs and Kingdom. ~ Roger Williams

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will. ~ Roger Williams

• 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Only the foolish learn from experience - the wise learn from the experience of others. ~ Rolf Hochhuth

• 3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry. ~ Nikolai Gogol

• 3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own. ~ Wangari Maathai

• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. It must be this voice that is telling me to do something, and I am sure it's the same voice that is speaking to everybody on this planet — at least everybody who seems to be concerned about the fate of the world, the fate of this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai

• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC) Though part of this was already used.
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The people are starving. They need food; they need medicine; they need education. They do not need a skyscraper to house the ruling party and a 24-hour TV station. ~ Wangari Maathai

• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking. ~ Wangari Maathai

• 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

To joke in the face of danger is the supreme politeness, a delicate refusal to cast oneself as a tragic hero. ~ Edmond Rostand

• 4 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC) I would probably rank this a 3, or even a 4 eventually, but have a much stronger inclination to use "I avow myself the partisan of truth alone." by William Harvey for this year.
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. ~ Abraham Maslow

• 3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Articles detailing events that are related to April 1. This may include the release of games or systems, the founding of a video game related company or some other important event.

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

Also known as April Fool's Day.

Game releases

• 2008
  • Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis for PlayStation 2 in North America
• 2007
  • World of Padman
• 2005
  • Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean for Nintendo GameCube in Europe
  • Project Snowblind for PC in Europe
• 2004
  • Aries PureDream
  • Gaddeemu & Judeemu
• 1999
  • Team Fortress Classic for PC
  • NBA In The Zone '99 in Japan
• 1998
  • 1080° Snowboarding for Nintendo 64 in North America

Other releases

• 2003
  • Halo: The Flood (novel)

Events

• 2005
  • Konami merged its development studios into one entity
• 2003
  • Squaresoft merged with Enix, forming Square Enix
• 2001
  • Last day of the Spring TGS 2001

From Familypedia

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 Western world for being April Fools' Day.

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.
• 1868 - Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton.
• 1873 - The British steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
• 1891 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1893 - The United States Navy rank of Chief Petty Officer is created.
• 1907 - Hurlstone Agricultural High School is founded.
• 1912 - The Greek athlete Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breaks the world record in standing long jump jumping 3.47 meters.
• 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 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 be known as the Holocaust.
• 1934 - Bonnie and Clyde kill two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine.
• 1936 - Orissa Formation of the Indian state orissa(1936), formerly known as UTKAL.
• 1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.
• 1939 - Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announced the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.
• 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).
• 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 hold 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 starts in Cyprus, aiming at the island's independence from the United Kingdom.
• 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 surgeon general's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
• 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..
• 1978 - Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, was converted to Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
• 1979 - Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
• 1979 - Nickelodeon starts
• 1980 - New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 goes on 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'), was introduced in Scotland.
• 1996 - The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia was created.
• 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. 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 comes into force in the Netherlands, which is the first country to allow it.(Timeline of same-sex marriage)
• 2002 - The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
• 2004 - Bank of St. Helena opens, to provide banking services to Saint Helena and its dependencies
• 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, 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, 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, American actor (d. 1930)
• 1885 - Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
• 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 airplane 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)
• 1919 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon, Nobel laureate
• 1920 - Toshiro 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
• 1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor
• 1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American author
• 1928 - George Grizzard, American actor
• 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
• 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 (The Isley Brothers)
• 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 (The Small Faces and The Faces) (d. 1997)
• 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
• 1952 - Annette O'Toole, American actress
• 1952 - Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher
• 1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, producer and director
• 1954 - Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (Toto) (d. 1992)
• 1955 - Humayun Akhtar Khan, the Minister for Commerce of Pakistan(2002-Present).
• 1958 - D. Boon, American musician (Minutemen) (d. 1985)
• 1960 - Michael Praed, British actor
• 1962 - Dave Ulliott, English poker 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 (Vio-lence and Machine Head)
• 1970 - Sung Hi Lee, Korean-born model
• 1971 - Method Man, American rapper
• 1971 - Shinji Nakano, Japanese race car driver
• 1972 - Allen and Albert Hughes, American film directors
• 1972 - Jesse Tobias, American musician
• 1972 - Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 - Christian Finnegan, American comedian
• 1973 - Joe Francis, American adult video producer (founder of Girls Gone Wild)
• 1973 - Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer
• 1974 - Richard Christy, American drummer
• 1974 - Sandra Völker, German swimmer
• 1975 - George Bastl, Swiss tennis player
• 1975 - Jazzy B, Punjabi singer
• 1975 - John Butler, Australian singer and musician
• 1977 - Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
• 1978 - Miroslava Vavrinec, Swiss tennis player
• 1978 - Jean-Pierre Dumont, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 - Ivano Balić, Croatian handballer
• 1980 - Bijou Phillips, American actress
• 1980 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
• 1980 - Yūko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
• 1981 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)
• 1981 - Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
• 1981 - Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist
• 1982 - Sam Huntington, American actor
• 1982 - Gemma Hunt, British children's television presenter (CBBC-Xchange)
• 1982 - Taran Killam, American comedian and actor
• 1983 - Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
• 1983 - Sean Taylor, American football player
• 1984 - Olga Rei, Russian television personality
• 1986 - Ireen Wüst, Dutch speed skater
• 1987 - Ding Junhui, Chinese snooker player
• 1987 - Li Ting, Chinese diver
• 1988 - Courtney McCool, American gymnast

Deaths

• 1085 - Emperor Shenzong of China (b. 1048)
• 1132 - St-Hugues, Bishop of Grenoble (b. 1053)
• 1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II 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, Bishop of Strassburg (b. 1625)
• 1787 - Floyer Sydenham, English classical scholar (b. 1710)
• 1791 - Richard Butler American soldier (b. 1743)
• 1839 - Benjamin Pierce, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1757)
• 1865 - Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
• 1872 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)
• 1872 - William Frederick Horry, executed by William Marwood (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, cosmetic 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)
• 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, theater director and musician (b. 1926)
• 1996 - John McSherry, American baseball umpire (b. 1944)
• 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, president of the European Court of Justice (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)
• 2005 - Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, conductor 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 university president and political appointee (b. 1923)
• 2006 - In Tam, Cambodian politician (b. 1916)
• 2007 - Herb Carneal, Major League Baseball radio broadcaster (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• April 1 is known as April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day in many countries.
• Last day of the Assyrian New Year Celebration.
• Roman Empire - Veneralia celebrated to honor Venus.
• Japan - The official start of school years in most universities and schools. Also, the official first day of work at companies and offices for new university graduates hires, marked by welcoming ceremonies and speeches.
• Canada - Beginning of government's fiscal year.
• India - Start of financial year.
• Orissa - a state in eastern India celebrates "Utkal Divas", its statehood day.
• Brielle celebrates victory of 1572 over Spaniards.
• In San Marino, two Captains Regent, elected by Parliament, take office for six months.
• Former New Year celebration day.
• In England and Wales, local government reorganisations traditionally happen on April 1.
• Some universities in Russia (e.g. Omsk State University) celebrate mathematician day on April 1.
• Užupis - Residents celebrate their independance on Užupis Day.

Liturgical Feast days

In the Roman Catholic Church calendar:

• Saint Hugh of Grenoble
• Saint Waleric

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day

• On This Day in Canada