| April 1 | 1980 The nudists' beach in Brighton opened 1973 Value Added Tax came into force in the UK |
| April 2 | 1967 Adrian Mole - secret diarist - was born |
April 3
|  1882 Jesse James was shot in the back by a member of his own gang
1721 Horace Walpole became Britain's first Prime Minister |
April 4
 | 1984 Winston Smith begin his diary with the words "Down with Big Brother" repeated again and again 1981 Oxford won the University Boat Race with the first woman cox - Susan Brown |
| April 5 | 1794 The French revolutionary Georges Danton was guillotined 1614 Pocahontas - daughter of the Native American chief Powhatan - married John Rolfe, an English settler |
| April 6 | 1896 The Olympic games were revived by Pierre de Coubertin |
| April 7 | 1739 The highwayman Dick Turpin was hanged for murder |
| April 8 | 1986 Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, California |
| April 9 | 1961 King Zog of Albania died in exile |
| April 10 | 2000 Peter Jones - the voice of the Book in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' - died 1849 The safety pin was patented |
| April 11 | 1939 Darts was banned in Glasgow pubs as too dangerous |
| April 12 |  1961 Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space
1861 The American Civil War began 1709 The Tatler was first published |
| April 13 | 1741 The Royal Military Academy was established at Woolwich though it later moved to Sandhurst |
| April 14 | 1937 The three penny bit went into circulation |
April 15
|  1986 Playing for the West Indies against England in Antigua Viv Richards scored 100 off 56 balls
1955 The MacDonald's hamburger chain was founded 1942 Malta was awarded the George Cross recognising the islanders' heroism in the face of constant German attack |
| April 16 |  1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel
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| April 17 |  1980 Rhodesia became fully independent as Zimbabwe - nearthecoast was an undergraduate at North London Poly at the time and the next day we all shook hands with Zac, the new Zimbabwean of the class
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| April 18 | 1909 Joan of Arc was beatified 1951 The first Miss World beauty contest was held |
| April 19 | 1933 Cricket umpire 'Dickie' Bird was born |
April 20
|  1981 Steve Davis won the world professional snooker championship for the first time
1959 At the age of 13 Dolly Parton released her first record, Puppy Love 1940 The electron microscope was first demonstrated |
| April 21 |  1980 Sony (UK) became the first Japanese owned firm to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement
1770 James Cook reached Australia |
| April 22 | 1884 The East Anglian earthquake, estimated at 5.2 on the Richter scale, is thought to have killed 4 people |
| April 23 | 1965 The Pennine Way long-distance footpath was opened |
| April 24 |  1961 Bob Dylan made his recording debut playing harmonica on the title track of Harry Belafonte's album 'Midnight Special'
1558 Mary, Queen of Scots married the Dauphine of France |
| April 25 | 1792 Nicolas Pelletier, found guilty of robbery with violence, became the first Frenchman to be executed by the guillotine |
| April 26 | 1564 William Shakespeare was baptised |
| April 27 |  1749 Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks was first performed - only a few fireworks went off because of rain but the stand still burnt down!
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| April 28 | 1789 Fletcher Christian led the mutiny on the Bounty |
| April 29 | 1933 The first FA Cup Final took place with the players wearing numbers, 1-11 for Everton and 12-22 for Manchester City 1884 A statute admitted women to examinations at Oxford University |
| April 30 | 1980 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicated in favour of her daughter Beatrix |
