April 1

Events
Up to 1900
286 - Roman Emperor Diocletian makes his general Maximian co-emperor.
325 - Emperor Cheng of Jin, at the age of 4 years, becomes Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in China, succeeding his father, Emperor Ming of Jin.
527 - Byzantine Empire: Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler.
1318 - Scotland takes control of Berwick-upon-Tweed from England.
1545 - The Bolivian city of Potosi is founded after the discovery of major silver deposits in the area.
1605 - Alessandro Ottaviano de Medici is elected Pope, and becomes Pope Leo XI.
1789 - Frederick Muhlenberg is elected as the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
1790 - William Herschel discovers the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3079.
1814 - The first gas lighting is used in London's streets.
1826 - Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks.
1867 - Singapore becomes a British Crown colony.
1873 - The RMS Atlantic sinks near Nova Scotia, killing 545 people.
1887 - Bombay's Fire Brigade is founded.
1888 - The Dutch football team Sparta Rotterdam is founded.
1891 - The painter Paul Gauguin leaves Marseille for Tahiti.
1891 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.
1893 - The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is created.
1893 - Germany officially adopts "Central European Time", one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
1897 - The Japanese city of Nagano is founded.
1899 - Germany takes of control of present-day Papua New Guinea, calling it German New Guinea.
1901 2000
1908 - Territorial Force, which is later renamed the Territorial Army, is as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 - The Royal Air Force is founded.
1919 - The Bauhaus school is founded in Germany by the architect Walter Gropius.
1921 - Adrienne Bolland becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Andes, from Mendoza in Argentina to Santiago, Chile.
1924 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
1924 - Adolf Hitler is sent to five years in prison for his part in the Beer Hall Putsch, he only spends nine months there, writing Mein Kampf.
1933 - England cricketer Wally Hammond sets a record for the highest individual test innings of 336 against New Zealand.
1935 - India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, is founded.
1936 - Orissa becomes a state of India.
1937 - Aden becomes a British Crown colony.
1939 - The Spanish Civil War ends, as the last Republicans surrender.
1941 - Fantana Alba massacre: Between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
1944 - World War II: Navigation errors lead to a mistaken US air raid on Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
1945 - World War II: As part of Operation Iceberg, US troops land on Okinawa.
1946 - The Malayan Union is formed.
1946 - An earthquake in Alaska leads to a tsunami which destroys the town of Hilo, Hawaii.
1948 - The Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
1949 - The Irish Free State becomes the Republic of Ireland.
1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds successful talks with the Kuomintang.
1949 - Canada's government ends Japanese internment (imprisonment) after seven years.
1954 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
1957 - The BBC current affairs programme Panorama plays an April Fools' Day joke, about a spaghetti harvest in Switzerland.
1960 - The first Dr. Martens boots go on sale.
1967 - The United States Department of Transportation begins its operations.
1969 - Lin Biao is chosen as future successor to Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China.
1973 - Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is introduced in India.
1974 - Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan counties are created in the United Kingdom.
1976 - Apple Inc. is founded.
1979 - The Islamic Republic of Iran is founded.
1989 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduces the Community Charge (poll tax) in Scotland.
1992 - Start of the war in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing perihelion.
1999 - Nunavut becomes a territory of Canada, after being part of the Northwest Territories.
2000 - In the UK the wartime coding machine, used to crack the Enigma code, is stolen. It is found the following October.
From 2001
2001 - Slobodan Milosevic is arrested, to be placed on trial for war crimes.
2001 - Same-sex marriage is legalised in the Netherlands, the first country to do so.
2002 - New euthanasia laws come into force in the Netherlands.
2004 - Google announces the creation of Gmail to the public.
2006 - The Serious Organised Crime Agency is created in the United Kingdom.
2009 - Albania and Croatia join NATO.
2009 - Protests occur at the G-20 summit in London.
2009 - A Super Puma helicopter crashes in the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland, killing all 18 people on board.
2012 - Aung San Suu Kyi wins a seat in the Burmese parliament.
2017 - A landslide in Mocoa, Colombia, kills at least 254 people.
2018 - Mokgweetsi Masisi becomes President of Botswana.
2018 - Carlos Alvarado Quesada is elected President of Costa Rica, defeating Fabricio Alvarado Munoz.
2018 - The People's Republic of China's Tiangong-1 space station breaks up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere and lands in the Southern Pacific Ocean near Tahiti.
2019 - It is revealed that "Reiwa" will be the name of Japan's new imperial era when Emperor Akihito abdicates at the end of the month in favour of his son Naruhito.
Births
Up to 1800
1220 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
1282 - Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1347)
1578 - William Harvey, English physician (d. 1657)
1624 - Maria Miloslavskaya, Empress of Russia (d. 1669)
1629 - Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, French harpsichordist and organist (d. 1691)
1640 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)
1647 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet (d. 1680)
1697 - Antoine Francois Prevost, French writer and novelist (d. 1763)
1730 - Salomon Gessner, Swiss poet and artist (d. 1788)
1732 - Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
1753 - Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher, writer, lawyer and diplomat (d. 1821)
1755 - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French writer, philosopher and gastronome (d. 1826)
1757 - Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Swedish-Finnish statesman, military and diplomat (d. 1814)
1776 - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)
1801 1900
1809 - Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (d. 1852)
1815 - Otto von Bismarck, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1898)
1815 - Edward Clark, 8th Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
1815 - Henry B. Anthony, 21st Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1884)
1823 - Simon Bolivar Buckner, 30th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1891)
1825 - Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria (d. 1864)
1834 - James Fisk, entrepreneur (d. 1872)
1837 - Jorge Isaacs, Colombian writer (d. 1895)
1848 - Commodore Nutt, American entertainer (d. 1881)
1851 - Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 1928)
1865 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1866 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1924)
1873 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1943)
1873 - Bibb Graves, Governor of Alabama (d. 1942)
1874 - Prince Karl of Bavaria (d. 1927)
1875 - Edgar Wallace, English writer (d. 1932)
1883 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (d. 1930)
1885 - Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill (d. 1977)
1885 - Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
1888 - Jean Alavoine, French cyclist (d. 1943)
1889 - K. B. Hedgewar, Indian physician and advocate of Hindu nationalism (d. 1940)
1895 - Alexander Aitken, New Zealand mathematician (d. 1967)
1895 - Alberta Hunter, American singer (d. 1984)
1899 - Gustavs Celmins, politician (d. 1968)
1901 1925
1901 - Whittaker Chambers, American writer and Alger Hiss case witness (d. 1961)
1901 - William Anderson, English ice hockey player (d. 1983)
1902 - Maria Polydouri, Greek poet (d. 1930)
1905 - Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1988)
1905 - Paul Hasluck, 17th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1993)
1906 - Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer and airplane designer (d. 1989)
1907 - Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Japanese-American Rinzai Zen teacher and centenarian (d. 2014)
1908 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
1911 - Fauja Singh, Indian-British marathon runner
1915 - Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrian actor (d. 2004)
1917 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
1917 - Sydney Newman, Canadian television producer (d. 1997)
1919 - Joseph Murray, American surgeon and Nobel Prize winner (d. 2012)
1920 - Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
1920 - Harry Lewis, American actor (d. 2013)
1921 - Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American composer and producer (d. 2014)
1922 - William Manchester, writer (d. 2004)
1922 - Alan Perlis, American computer scientist (d. 1990)
1923 - Don Butterfield, American tuba player (d. 2006)
1923 - Leora Dana, American actress (d. 1983)
1924 - Brendan Byrne, former Governor of New Jersey (d. 2018)
1926 1950
1926 - Charles Bressler, American tenor
1926 - Anne McCaffrey, American writer (d. 2011)
1927 - Ferenc Puskas, Hungarian footballer (d. 2006)
1927 - Walter Bahr, American soccer player and coach (d. 2018)
1928 - Kiyonori Kikutake, Japanese architect (d. 2011)
1929 - Jane Powell, American dancer, actress and singer
1929 - Jonathan Haze, American actor
1929 - Milan Kundera, Czech writer
1929 - Bo Schembechler, American football coach (d. 2006)
1930 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (d. 2015)
1931 - Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
1932 - Gordon Jump, American television actor (d. 2003)
1932 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1933 - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist
1934 - Rod Kanehl, Major League Baseball player (d. 2004)
1934 - Jim Ed Brown, American country music singer (d. 2015)
1934 - Don Hastings, American actor
1935 - Larry McDonald, American politician (d. 1983)
1936 - Tarun Gogoi, Indian politician
1936 - Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Swiss politician (d. 1998)
1936 - Dhiraj Choudhury, Indian painter (d. 2018)
1938 - Akihito Kondo, Japanese baseball player (d. 2019)
1939 - Rudolph Isley, American singer (The Isley Brothers)
1939 - Ali MacGraw, American actress
1939 - Phil Niekro, American baseball pitcher
1939 - Vitali Davydov, Soviet-Russian ice hockey player
1940 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan political and environmental activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner (d. 2011)
1941 - David Childs, American architect
1942 - Max Keeping, Canadian broadcaster (d. 2015)
1942 - Samuel R. Delany, science fiction writer
1942 - Philip Margo, American singer (The Tokens)
1942 - Annie Nightingale, British disc jockey
1943 - Mario Botta, Swiss architect
1943 - Dafydd Wigley, Welsh academic and politician, former leader of Plaid Cymru
1944 - Rusty Staub, American baseball player (d. 2018)
1946 - Ronnie Lane, British musician (The Small Faces, The Faces) (d. 1997)
1946 - Arrigo Sacchi, Italian football manager
1946 - Nikitas Kaklamanis, 77th Mayor of Athens
1947 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
1947 - Ingrid Steeger, German actress
1947 - Norm Van Lier, American basketball player (d. 2009)
1948 - J. J. Williams, Welsh rugby player
1948 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
1949 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer (d. 2011)
1949 - Paul Manafort, American lobbyist, lawyer and political consultant
1950 - Samuel Alito, American jurist
1950 - Paolo Conti, Italian footballer
1951 1975
1951 - Brendan Grace, Irish actor, comedian and singer (d. 2019)
1952 - Annette O'Toole, American actress
1952 - Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher
1952 - Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Libyan intelligence officer (d. 2012)
1953 - Barry Sonnenfeld, American producer and director
1953 - Alberto Zaccheroni, Italian footballer and coach
1954 - Giancarlo Antognoni, Italian footballer
1954 - Jeff Porcaro, American musician (Toto) (d. 1992)
1955 - Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani statesman
1955 - Ronnie Burk, artist and AIDS activist (d. 2003)
1955 - Roberto Pruzzo, Italian footballer
1956 - Libby Riddles, American dogsled racer
1957 - David Gower, English cricketer
1957 - Denise Nickerson, American actress (d. 2019)
1958 - Anton Innauer, Austrian ski jumper
1958 - Tita, Brazilian footballer
1959 - Christian Thielemann, German conductor
1960 - Reijo Ruotsalainen, Finnish ice hockey player
1961 - Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
1962 - Chris Grayling, English politician
1962 - Phillip Schofield, English television presenter
1965 - Jane Adams, American actress
1965 - Simona Ventura, Italian journalist and television presenter
1965 - Mark Jackson, American basketball player
1966 - Chris Evans, English television presenter
1968 - Mike Baird, Australian politician, 44th Premier of New South Wales
1968 - Ingrid Klimke, German equestrian
1968 - Alexander Stubb, former Prime Minister of Finland
1969 - Dean Windass, English footballer and coach
1970 - Sung Hi Lee, model
1971 - Method Man, American musician
1971 - Karen Dunbar, Scottish comedienne
1972 - Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 - Jesse Tobias, American musician
1972 - Allen and Albert Hughes, American movie directors
1973 - Kris Marshall, English actor
1973 - Rachel Maddow, American broadcaster
1975 - Washington Stecanela Cerqueira, Brazilian footballer
From 1976
1976 - Gabor Kiraly, Hungarian footballer
1976 - David Oyelowo, British actor
1976 - Clarence Seedorf, Dutch footballer
1978 - Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (d. 2009)
1978 - Mirka Federer, Swiss tennis player
1979 - Ivano Balic, Croatian handball player
1980 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
1981 - Hannah Spearritt, British actress and singer (S Club 7)
1982 - Robert Vittek, Slovakian footballer
1983 - Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
1983 - Sergey Lazarev, Russian singer
1983 - Amr Zaki, Egyptian footballer
1983 - Franck Ribery, French footballer
1983 - Olafur Ingi Skulason, Icelandic footballer
1984 - Craig Samson, Scottish footballer
1985 - Beth Tweddle, British gymnast
1986 - Haminu Draman, Ghanaian footballer
1986 - Ireen Wust, Dutch speed skater
1986 - Hillary Scott, American singer (Lady Antebellum)
1987 - Ding Junhui, Chinese snooker player
1987 - Li Ting, Chinese diver
1987 - Vitorino Antunes, Portuguese footballer
1987 - Andrew Considine, Scottish footballer
1987 - Jose Ortigoza, Paraguayan footballer
1988 - Fatmire Bajramaj, German footballer
1988 - Robin Lopez, American basketball player
1988 - Brook Lopez, American basketball player
1989 - David N'Gog, French footballer
1990 - Justin Hamilton, American basketball player
1993 - Keito Okamoto, Japanese singer
1994 - Ella Eyre, English singer-songwriter
1995 - Logan Paul, American social media entertainer and actor
1997 - Asa Butterfield, English actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
1085 - Emperor Shenzhong of China (b. 1048)
1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine (b. 1122)
1205 - Amalric II of Jerusalem (b. 1145)
1340 - Gerhard III of Holstein (b. 1292)
1580 - Alonso Mudarra, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1510)
1621 - Cristofori Allori, Italian painter (b. 1577)
1637 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (b. 1571)
1839 - Benjamin Pierce, American politician (b. 1757)
1865 - Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
1868 - Rasoherina, Queen of Madagascar (b. 1814)
1872 - Frederick Denison Maurice, English theologian and academic (b. 1805)
1890 - Alexander F. Mozhayskiy, Russian aviation pioneer (b. 1825)
1890 - David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
1897 - Jandamarra, Indigenous-Australian resistance leader (b. 1873)
1901 2000
1914 - Rube Waddell, American baseball player (b. 1826)
1917 - Scott Joplin, American musician and composer (b. 1868)
1922 - Emperor Karl I of Austria (b. 1887)
1922 - Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist (b. 1884)
1930 - Cosima Wagner, daughter of Franz Liszt and widow of Richard Wagner (b. 1837)
1946 - Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (b. 1882)
1947 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
1950 - Recep Peker, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1889)
1960 - Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, King of Malaysia (b. 1895)
1962 - Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish major (b. 1910)
1966 - Flann O'Brien, Irish humorist (b. 1911)
1967 - Dang Van Ngu, Vietnamese doctor and intellectual (b. 1910)
1968 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist (b. 1908)
1976 - Max Ernst, German painter (b. 1891)
1984 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)
1990 - Carlos Peucelle, Argentine footballer (b. 1908)
1991 - Martha Graham, American choreographer (b. 1894)
1991 - Jaime Guzman, Chilean politician (b. 1946)
1991 - Detlev Rohwedder, German manager and politician (b. 1932)
1992 - Michael Havers, Baron Havers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1923)
1992 - Nigel Preston, English musician (b. 1959)
1993 - Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, Spanish royal (b. 1913)
1994 - Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
1997 - Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1912)
1998 - Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1922)
From 2001
2002 - Simo Hayha, Finnish sniper (b. 1905)
2004 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1946)
2005 - Harald Juhnke, German entertainer (b. 1929)
2006 - In Tam, Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1916)
2007 - Hans Filbinger, German politician (b. 1913)
2009 - Arne Andersson, Swedish middle-distance runner (b. 1917)
2009 - Umberto Betti, Italian cardinal (b. 1922)
2010 - John Forsythe, American actor (b. 1918)
2010 - Ed Roberts, American computer engineer (b. 1941)
2010 - Tzannis Tzannetakis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1927)
2011 - Varkey Vithayathil, Indian cardinal (b. 1927)
2012 - Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian footballer (b. 1947)
2012 - Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and supercentenarian (b. 1898)
2012 - Miguel de la Madrid, 52nd President of Mexico (b. 1934)
2013 - Moses Blah, President of Liberia (b. 1947)
2014 - Jacques Le Goff, French historian (b. 1924)
2014 - Merimeri Penfold, New Zealand academic (b. 1920)
2014 - Anker Buch, Danish violinist (b. 1940)
2014 - Carlos Oneto, Peruvian actor and comic (b. 1929)
2014 - Bill Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
2014 - King Fleming, American jazz pianist (b. 1922)
2015 - Misao Okawa, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1898)
2015 - Cynthia Lennon, first wife of John Lennon and mother of Julian Lennon (b. 1939)
2015 - Eddie LeBaron, American football player (b. 1930)
2015 - Nicolae Rainea, Romanian football referee (b. 1933)
2015 - John Paul Hammerschmidt, American politician (b. 1922)
2016 - Pratyusha Banerjee, Indian actress (b. 1991)
2016 - Emil Keres, Hungarian actor (b. 1925)
2017 - Gary Austin, American theatre writer and director (b. 1941)
2017 - Lonnie Brooks, American blues guitarist and singer (b. 1933)
2017 - Gosta Ekman, Swedish actor (b. 1939)
2017 - Darcus Howe, Trinidadian-born British editor and civil rights activist (b. 1943)
2017 - Antonio Lamela, Spanish architect (b. 1926)
2017 - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet (b. 1932)
2017 - Burton Watson, American translator (b. 1925)
2018 - Bob Beattie, American skiing coach and sports commentator (b. 1933)
2018 - Steven Bochco, American television producer (b. 1943)
2018 - Evert Kroon, Dutch water polo player (b. 1946)
2018 - Avichai Rontzki, Israeli general (b. 1951)
2018 - Michel Senechal, French tenor (b. 1927)
2018 - Efrain Rios Montt, President of Guatemala (b. 1926)
2019 - Dimitar Dobrev, Bulgarian wrestler (b. 1931)
2019 - Francisco Massiani, Venezuelan writer and painter (b. 1944)
2019 - Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (b. 1948)
2019 - Kit Napier, Scottish footballer (b. 1943)
2019 - Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio, Spanish writer (b. 1927)
2019 - Ruth-Margret Putz, German soprano (b. 1930)
Observances
April Fools' Day
Islamic Republic Day in Iran
Orissa Day in Orissa, India
First day of school in Japan
April 01