Here are 30 newsworthy and notable anniversaries coming up in April 2020.
We list the anniversaries 6 months in advance so you have time to research and write about them. This list is a short extract from The Date-A-Base Book 2020, which lists hundreds of newsworthy and notable anniversaries for each month. It’s just the thing you need for writing anniversary tie-ins and “on this day in history” features.
Apr 1, 1960 – 60 years ago
Dr. Martens boots went on sale in the UK.
Apr 2 to 13, 1945 – 75 years ago
World War II – the Vienna Offensive (Austria). Soviet victory. The Austrian capital was captured from the Germans after an 11-day siege. The Soviet Red Army then pushed further into Austria.
Apr 3, 1895 – 125 years ago
Oscar Wilde’s libel trial against the Marquess of Queensbury opened in London. The Marquess had accused Wilde of homosexuality. The court found that the Marquess’s claim was justified, and he was acquitted. Wilde was liable for the Marquess’s substantial legal fees, which left him bankrupt. Upon leaving the court, a summons was issued for Wilde’s arrest, as homosexuality was illegal. He was convicted and served two years in prison from May 1895 to May 1897.
Apr 4, 1945 – 75 years ago
World War II: the Soviet Red Army expelled the last German forces from Hungary, and the country was liberated. (This paved the way for the Soviet occupation of Hungary, and it became a communist country and part of the Eastern Bloc until 1989.)
Apr 5, 1920 – 100 years ago
Birth of Arthur Hailey, British-born Canadian novelist (Hotel, Airport, Wheels, The Moneychangers, Overload and more). (Died 2004.)
Apr 6, 1520 – 500 years ago
Death of Raphael, Italian Renaissance artist and architect. (Unknown illness, aged 37.)
Apr 7, 1770 – 250 years ago
Birth of William Wordsworth, British Romantic poet. Poet Laureate (1843–50).
Apr 8, 1820 – 200 years ago
The famous Ancient Greek statue of the Venus de Milo was discovered on the island of Milos in the Aegean. (Some historians claim it was actually discovered in February 1820, by different people, and in a different part of the island.)
Apr 9, 1940 – 80 years ago
Vidkun Quisling declared himself Prime Minister of Norway and established a new Nazi-backed government. By April 15th he had been forced out of power as King Haakon VII refused to recognize him as leader and the Nazis retracted their support. He was branded a traitor. (He became Minister President of Norway in 1942. He was sentenced to death and executed at the end of WWII.)
Apr 10, 1970 – 50 years ago
British rock musician Paul McCartney announced that he had left the Beatles, and said the band would never perform together again.
Apr 11, 1970 – 50 years ago
NASA launched Apollo 13 on an ill‐fated mission to the Moon. An oxygen cylinder exploded on April 13th, crippling the spacecraft and forcing the mission to be abandoned.
Apr 12, 1945 – 75 years ago
Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the USA (1933–45). Succeeded by Vice-President Harry S. Truman who pledged to continue Roosevelt’s WWII policies for war and peace.
Apr 13, 1870 – 150 years ago
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was established in New York City, USA.
Apr 14, 1995 – 25 years ago
Death of Burl Ives, American singer and actor.
Apr 15, 1945 – 75 years ago
Holocaust: Bergen–Belsen concentration camp in Germany was liberated by British and Canadian troops.
Apr 16 to May 2, 1945 – 75 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Berlin, Germany. Soviet victory resulting in the surrender of German forces in the city, Hitler’s suicide, and the end of WWII in Europe on May 8th.
Apr 17, 1960 – 60 years ago
Death of Eddie Cochran, American rock and roll musician. Known for his hit songs C’mon Everybody, Summertime Blues and Three Steps to Heaven. (Car crash, aged 21 .)
Apr 18, 1955 – 65 years ago
Death of Albert Einstein, German-born American theoretical physicist. Considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century. Known for developing the special and general theories of relativity. Winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to physics and his work on the photoelectric effect.
Apr 19, 1995 – 25 years ago
Oklahoma City bombing. A truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was arrested on April 21st, convicted of the bombing, and executed in June 2001. Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were convicted as conspirators and received prison sentences.)
Apr 20, 1940 – 80 years ago
RCA gave the first public demonstration of a scanning electron microscope, in Philadelphia, USA.
Apr 21, 1960 – 60 years ago
Brasilia became the capital of Brazil, replacing Rio do Janeiro.
Apr 22, 1870 – 150 years ago
Birth of Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist politician and revolutionary. Architect and first head of state of the Soviet Union, founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, founder of Comintern (Communist International).
Apr 23, 1895 – 125 years ago
Birth of Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand crime writer and theater director. Best known for her series of 32 novels featuring the police officer Inspector Alleyn.
Apr 24, 1990 – 30 years ago
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched.
Apr 25, 1945 – 75 years ago
World War II: Elbe Day. An important milestone near the end of the war in Europe. U.S. forces advancing from the west and Soviet forces advancing from the east met at the River Elbe, effectively cutting Nazi Germany in two.
Apr 26, 1940 – 80 years ago
Death of Carl Bosch, German industrial chemist and engineer. President of IG Farben. He developed the Haber–Bosch process to synthesize ammonia. Joint winner of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on high-pressure chemistry.
Apr 27, 1950 – 70 years ago
Apartheid in South Africa. The Group Areas Act was passed, formally segregating races and barring people from living, operating businesses or owning land outside the areas designated for their race.
Apr 28, 1945 – 75 years ago
Death of Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister/fascist dictator of Italy (1922–43). (Executed by partisans, along with his mistress, Clara Petacci.)
Apr 29, 1770 – 250 years ago
Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay, Australia. This marked the start of Britain’s interest in Australia, and led to its eventual colonization. (Botany Bay is now in Sydney, New South Wales.)
Apr 30, 1945 – 75 years ago
Death of Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German Nazi Party leader, Chancellor (1933–45) and dictator (1934–45). (Suicide, along with his wife Eva Braun.) He was succeeded as President of Germany by Karl Dönitz (also spelled Doenitz).
More anniversaries:
The above list is a short extract from The Date-A-Base Book 2020. You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for each month in the book. The 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions are currently available in ebook format (PDF) and in print. Find out more at ideas4writers.com