Historical Events
Second Labor Government
Apr 13 Australian General Election: the Commonwealth Liberal Party is defeated by the Australian Labor Party, headed by Andrew Fisher, who is able to form a majority government
- Apr 14 Pan American Union forms
Taft's First Pitch
Apr 14 US President William Howard Taft begins tradition of throwing ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day of baseball season
- Apr 15 William Howard Taft is first US President to throw out the 1st ball at a baseball game
- Apr 18 14th Boston Marathon won by Canadian Fred Cameron in 2:28:52.4
- Apr 19 Halley's comet seen by naked eye 1st time this trip (Curacao)
- Apr 20 Cleveland Naps Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter, beats Chicago, 1-0
- Apr 20 Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
- Apr 21 Cleveland Naps play 1st game at League Park, lose to Detroit Tigers 5-0
- Apr 23 International Exhibition opens in Brussels, Belgium
- Apr 24 German Catholic youth movement Quickborn forms
- Apr 27 Belgian parliament rejects socialist motion for general voting rights
South African Party Established
Apr 27 Louis Botha and J. B. M. Hertzog establish the moderately nationalist South African Party promising equality of Britons and Boers
1st Night Flight
Apr 28 First night air flight by Claude Grahame-White in England
Roosevelt Visits Amsterdam
Apr 29 Ex-US President Theodore Roosevelt visits Amsterdam
- Apr 30 Cleveland Naps Addie Joss limits St.Louis Browns to 8 hits in 2-1 victory
Famous Birthdays
- Apr 1 Harry Carney, American tenor and baritone jazz saxophonist (Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1927-74), born in Boston, Massachussets (d. 1974)
- Apr 2 Arnie Herber, American Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (NFL C'ship 1930, 31, 36, 39; First-team All-Pro 1932, 35, 36; Green Bay Packers, NY Giants), born in Green Bay, Wisconsin (d. 1969)
- Apr 2 Irene Mayer Selznick, American socialite and theatrical producer (Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire"), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1990)
- Apr 2 Paul Triquet, Canadian military officer, born in Cabano, Quebec (d. 1980)
- Apr 3 Homesick James [Williamson], American blues slide guitarist and singer (Elmore James band, 1955-62), born in Somerville, Tennessee (d. 2006) [date of birth variously reported as 1905, 1910, and 1914; surname also disputed]
- Apr 4 Barthélemy Boganda, French-African politician (Central African Republic's 1st President, 1958-59), born in Bobangui, French Colony of Ubangi-Shari (d. 1959)
- Apr 6 Desmond Dreyer, British admiral (battle of the River Plate), born in Cheriton, England (d. 2003) [1]
- Apr 7 Obdulio Morales, Cuban pianist, conductor, composer, ethnomusicologist, and Afro-Cuban bandleader, born in Havana, Cuba (d. 1981)
- Apr 8 George Musso, American NFL guard (Chicago Bears), born in Collinsville, Illinois (d. 2000)
- Apr 9 Abraham Ribicoff, American politician, U.S. Senator from Connecticut, born in New Britain, Connecticut (d. 1998)
- Apr 10 Abu-Bakr Khairat, Egyptian composer, born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1963)
- Apr 10 David Gilroy Bevan, British politician (d. 1996)
- Apr 10 Paul Sweezy, American Marxist economist and editor (Monthly Review), born in New York City (d. 2004)
- Apr 11 António de Spínola, Portuguese general and conservative President of Portugal (1974), born in Estremoz, Portugal (d. 1996)
- Apr 11 Henry William Collins, English artist, born in Colchester, Essex (d. 1994)
- Apr 12 Jürgen Rausch, German philosopher and author (End of the Playboys), born in Bremen, Germany (d. 1995)
- Apr 14 Werner Wolf Glaser, German-Swedish composer, born in Cologne, Germany (d. 2006)
- Apr 15 Ralph Grey, Baron Grey of Naunton, Governor of Northern Ireland (1968-73), born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 1999)
- Apr 17 Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (Man of a Thousand Faces), born in Perth, Australia (d. 1999)
- Apr 18 Jamie Whitten, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi), born in Cascilla, Mississippi (d. 1995)
- Apr 18 Sylvia Fisher, Australian operatic soprano (Albert Herring Opera), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1996)
- Apr 19 Andrew Gilchrist, British ambassador (Ireland, Indonesia, Iceland), born in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1993)
- Apr 20 Robert F. Wagner Jr., Mayor of New York City (Democrat: 1954-65), born in New York City (d. 1991)
- Apr 22 Eric Scowen, English physician and Professor of Medicine (University of London, 1961-75), born in West Ham, London (d. 2001)
- Apr 22 Norman Steenrod, American mathematician (algebraic topology), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 1971)
- Apr 26 Erland von Koch, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm (d. 2009)
- Apr 26 Ernst Tittel, Austrian organist and composer, born in Sternberg, Moravia (d. 1969)
- Apr 26 Johan Hermanus Doorn, Dutch journalist and resistance fighter (Orange Newspaper), born in Amsterdam (d. 1944)
- Apr 26 Ruan Lingyu [Fenggen], Chinese silent film actress (The Goddess), born in Shanghai (d. 1935)
- Apr 26 Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese film producer (Godzilla), born in Ōsaka, Japan (d. 1997)
- Apr 28 Sam Merwin, Jr., American mystery fiction writer, born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 1996)
Famous Deaths
- Apr 1 Andreas Aschenbach, German painter/engraver, dies at 94
- Apr 2 Boyd Alexander, English explorer and ornithologist (Niger to the Nile), murdered in a dispute with locals in Africa at 37
- Apr 2 Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, German theologist (founded institutions, including a bank, to help the poor), dies at 79
- Apr 5 Charles Follis "The Black Cyclone", American football halfback (1st black pro player Shelby Blues 1902-06), dies of pneumonia at 31
- Apr 12 William Graham Sumner, American sociologist (Folkways), dies at 69
- Apr 13 William Orchardson, British painter, dies at 78
- Apr 14 Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (b. 1856)
- Apr 17 Ignacio Mariscal, Mexican lawyer and diplomat (Secretary of Foreign Affairs), dies at 80
- Apr 20 Samuel Gibbs French, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 91
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Apr 21 American author (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), dies at 74
- Apr 26 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author "Pa Guds Veje" and Nobel laureate 1903, dies at 77
