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On this day: April 1

April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years), with 274 days left until the end of the year.

 

April 1 in one line

Headline entries for April 1, from Wikipedia: in 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, Inc.; born 1815: Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (died 1898); died 1968: Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908). In 2026 it is a Wednesday, in 2027 a Thursday.

Events on April 1

  • 1234 Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was defeated by knights loyal to King Henry III of England at the Battle of the Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland. Wikipedia
  • 1293 Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, but a papal vacancy delayed the ceremony. Wikipedia
  • 1340 A band of warriors led by Niels Ebbesen killed Count Gerhard III, ending Holstein rule in Denmark. Wikipedia
  • 1346 Hundred Years' War: John, Duke of Normandy, laid siege to the town of Aiguillon. Wikipedia
  • 1833 Mexican Texans met at San Felipe de Austin to begin the Convention of 1833. Wikipedia
  • 1865 American Civil War: The Union Army under Major General Philip Sheridan inflicted more than 2,900 casualties on the Confederates at the Battle of Five Forks. Wikipedia
  • 1871 The Duke of Buckingham opened the first section of the Brill Tramway, a short railway line to transport goods between his lands and the national rail network. Wikipedia
  • 1879 The Inland Customs Line, established by the British for the collection of the salt tax in India, was abandoned. Wikipedia
  • 1918 The United Kingdom established the Royal Air Force, near the end of the First World War. Wikipedia
  • 1922 Under the South Seas Mandate, Japan set up a government in Koror, precipitating large-scale Japanese settlement in Palau. Wikipedia
  • 1933 English cricketer Wally Hammond set a record for the highest individual score in Test cricket of 336 not out during a match against New Zealand. Wikipedia
  • 1941 Soviet border guards opened fire on civilians attempting to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania near Fântâna Albă, killing between 44 and 3,000 people. Wikipedia
  • 1952 Israel enacted a citizenship law, prior to which the country technically had no citizens. Wikipedia
  • 1955 The British Army's Mobile Defence Corps, intended to assist with civil defence after a nuclear attack, was established by royal warrant. Wikipedia
  • 1963 On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the tenth novel of Ian Fleming's James Bond series, was released in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
  • 1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with V/STOL capabilities, entered service with the Royal Air Force. Wikipedia
  • 1970 U.S. president Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring that a prominent warning by the surgeon general be placed on cigarette packages. Wikipedia
  • 1970 The American Motors Corporation introduced its Gremlin, promoted as America's first subcompact car. Wikipedia
  • 1974 A man ignited tires in the crater of Mount Edgecumbe, prompting a false eruption scare later revealed as an April Fools' hoax. Wikipedia
  • 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, Inc.. Wikipedia
  • 1984 Singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in his home in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, California. Wikipedia
  • 1990 The longest prison riot in British penal history began at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, lasting 25 days. Wikipedia
  • 1997 Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion. Wikipedia
  • 2001 Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands was legalized, making it the first country to do so. Wikipedia
  • 2001 An American Lockheed EP-3 and a Chinese Shenyang J-8 collided in mid-air off Hainan, resulting in an international dispute between the two countries. Wikipedia
  • 2026 The Artemis II lunar flyby mission launches, marking the first crewed flight above low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Wikipedia

Born on April 1

  • 1282 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1347) Wikipedia
  • 1578 William Harvey, English physician and academic (died 1657) Wikipedia
  • 1697 Antoine François Prévost, French novelist and translator (died 1763) Wikipedia
  • 1753 Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher, lawyer, and diplomat (died 1821) Wikipedia
  • 1776 Sophie Germain, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (died 1831) Wikipedia
  • 1815 Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (died 1898) Wikipedia
  • 1865 Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1929) Wikipedia
  • 1868 Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (died 1918) Wikipedia
  • 1873 Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1943) Wikipedia
  • 1875 Edgar Wallace, English journalist, author, and playwright (died 1932) Wikipedia
  • 1908 Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (died 1970) Wikipedia
  • 1919 Joseph Murray, American surgeon and soldier, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2012) Wikipedia
  • 1920 Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (died 1997) Wikipedia
  • 1927 Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer and manager (died 2006) Wikipedia
  • 1929 Milan Kundera, Czech-French novelist, poet, and playwright (died 2023) Wikipedia
  • 1932 Debbie Reynolds, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2016) Wikipedia
  • 1933 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Algerian-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
  • 1940 Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011) Wikipedia
  • 1961 Susan Boyle, Scottish singer Wikipedia
  • 1968 Alexander Stubb, Finnish academic and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Finland and 13th President of Finland Wikipedia
  • 1973 Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author Wikipedia
  • 1976 Clarence Seedorf, Dutch-Brazilian footballer and manager Wikipedia

Died on April 1

  • 33 Jesus of Nazareth, (Gregorian Calendar Date) Wikipedia
  • 996 John XV, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
  • 1204 Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen Consort of France and England (born 1122) Wikipedia
  • 1917 Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (born 1868) Wikipedia
  • 1922 Charles I, emperor of Austria (born 1887) Wikipedia
  • 1947 George II, king of Greece (born 1890) Wikipedia
  • 1968 Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908) Wikipedia
  • 1976 Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor (born 1891) Wikipedia
  • 1984 Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (born 1939) Wikipedia
  • 1991 Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (born 1894) Wikipedia
  • 1994 Robert Doisneau, French photographer (born 1912) Wikipedia
  • 2002 Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (born 1905) Wikipedia
  • 2017 Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet and Russian poet and writer (born 1932) Wikipedia
  • 2025 Val Kilmer, American actor (born 1959) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

Sources

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 1” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for April 1 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.

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