1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.
1826 – Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
1833 – The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins in San Felipe de Austin
1854 – Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine, Household Words.
1873 – The British steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547.
1887 – Mumbai Fire Brigade is established.
1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1893 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.
1917 – Sydney Newman, Canadian television producer, created Doctor Who (d. 1997) was born.
1921 – Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, American guitarist and songwriter was born.
1922 – Six Irish Catholic civilians are shot and beaten to death by a gang of policemen in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch”. However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf.
1933 – The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
1935 – India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India is formed.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Jaén, Spain is bombed by Nazi forces.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1941 – Fantana Alba massacre: between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Guards.
1941 – The Blockade Runner Badge for the German navy is instituted.
1941 – A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of ‘Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali as Prime Minister.
1944 – Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
1945 – World War II: Operation Iceberg – United States troops land on Okinawa in the last major campaign of the war.
1948 – Cold War: Berlin Airlift — Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.
1949 – The Government of Canada repeals Japanese Canadian internment after seven years.
1949 – The 26 counties of the Irish Free State become Ireland.
1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
1955 – Terry Nichols, American criminal was born.
1957 – The BBC broadcasts the spaghetti tree hoax on its current affairs programme Panorama.
1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
1960 – J. Christopher Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat, 10th United States Ambassador to Libya (d. 2012) was born.
1967 – The United States Department of Transportation begins operation.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General’s warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States, starting on January 1, 1971.
1974 – In the United Kingdom, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties come into being.
1976 – Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1989 – Margaret Thatcher’s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the “poll tax”), is introduced in Scotland.
1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 – An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, People’s Republic of China and is detained.
2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first country to allow it.
2003 – Jessica Lynch is rescued from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, where she had been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed nine days earlier. This story has created a great deal of controversy over the years with conflicting reports of what happened during her time in captivity and her rescue, so only the basic facts are included here she was injured, captured by Iraq Forces and rescued.
2004 – Aaron Bank, American colonel, founded the US Army Special Forces (b. 1902) died.
2006 – The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the “British FBI”, is created in the United Kingdom.
2009 – Croatia and Albania join NATO.
2011 – After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY TO:
1883 - Lon Chaney, CO, man of 1000 faces, actor (High Noon, Phantom of Opera)
1939 - Ali MacGraw, Pound Ridge NY, actress (Love Story, Goodbye Columbus)
1948 - Jimmy Cliff, Reggae singer
1949 - Gill Scott-Heron, US, writer/poet/singer (Whities on the Moon)
1955 - Stan Ridway, rocker (Wall Of Voodoo)
1980 - Bijou Phillips, American actress
(WE only Note the people from “Our World” – here is the rest: http://www.historyorb.com/birthdays/april/1
RIP:
1917 - Scott Joplin, ragtime composer (The Entertainer), dies at 48
1976 - Max Ernst, German/French surrealist painter/sculptor, dies at 85
1984 - Marvin Gaye, singer (Sexual Healing), shot to death by his father Marvin Gaye Sr in LA at 44
1998 - Rozz Williams, American musician (Christian Death) (b. 1963)
MORE here: http://www.historyorb.com/deaths/april/1