138 Fun Facts About April

How many days does April have?

It is one of four 30-day months, alongside June, September and November.

Which position does April hold in the modern calendar year?

In the earliest Roman calendar, which started in March, it was the second month.

One theory says April's Latin name, Aprilis, comes from the verb aperire. What does aperire mean?

The idea is that buds and blossoms 'open' in April; a rival theory ties the name to Aphrodite, goddess of love.

In the earliest Roman calendar, which began the year in March, what number month was April?

January and February were tacked on around 700 BC, pushing April to fourth place by about 450 BC.

What is April's birthstone?

Its name comes from the Greek adamas, 'unbreakable', and it is the hardest natural material known.

Which two blooms serve as April's birth flower?

The word daisy is thought to be a worn-down 'day's eye', because the flower closes at night and opens each morning.

The flower name 'daisy' is thought to be a corruption of which Old English phrase?

The flower head shuts at night and reopens with the sun, so the name fits.

Someone born on 10 April falls under which zodiac sign?

Aries, the ram, runs until about 19 April; Taurus, the bull, takes over from the 20th.

Aries, the zodiac sign covering most of April, is represented by which animal?

It is the first sign of the zodiac and is ruled by Mars; the ram is the golden-fleeced Chrysomallus of Greek myth.

What did the Anglo-Saxons call the month we know as April?

The name is linked to Ēostre, the goddess (or festival) that also gave English the word Easter.

Earth Day is celebrated every year on which date?

The first one, in 1970, drew about 20 million Americans; on Earth Day 2016 leaders of 175 nations signed the Paris climate agreement.

Which US senator founded the first Earth Day in 1970?

Ad man Julian Koenig came up with the name; the organisers had been calling it a 'teach-in'.

The first American Arbor Day, on 10 April 1872, took place in which state?

An estimated one million trees went in the ground that day; the US now marks National Arbor Day on the last Friday of April.

On what date in April 1912 did the Titanic sink, having struck the iceberg late on the 14th?

She went under at 2:20 am, two hours and forty minutes after the collision, with lifeboats for barely half the people aboard.

Roughly how many people died when the Titanic sank in April 1912?

About 710 survivors were picked up by the Carpathia around 90 minutes after the ship went down.

Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865. What play was he watching?

It was Good Friday, five days after Lee's surrender; Lincoln died the next morning in the Petersen House across the street.

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant on 9 April 1865 in which Virginia village?

The meeting was in Wilmer McLean's parlour; Grant let the Confederates keep their horses and sent them food.

The Civil War began on 12 April 1861 with a bombardment of which federal fort in Charleston Harbor?

Remarkably, the 34-hour bombardment killed nobody; the first two deaths came from an accidental explosion during the surrender salute.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on 19 April of which year?

Paul Revere and William Dawes had ridden out the night before; Emerson later called Concord's first volley 'the shot heard round the world'.

The Boston Marathon is run each April on Patriots' Day, which falls on which day of the week?

First run in 1897, it is the world's oldest annual marathon; Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to finish with an official number in 1967.

Golf's Masters Tournament, played in the first full week of April, is always held at which club?

The winner has been handed a green jacket since 1949; Jack Nicklaus won a record six.

Which US president started the tradition of throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, in 1910?

The Cincinnati Reds are the only club scheduled to open every season at home.

Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on 12 April of which year?

Vostok 1 made one orbit in 108 minutes; 12 April is now Cosmonautics Day in Russia and 'Yuri's Night' worldwide.

Exactly 20 years after Gagarin's flight, on 12 April 1981, which spacecraft made its first launch?

The anniversary was a coincidence: a computer glitch had pushed the launch back two days.

Apollo 13, launched 11 April 1970, was crippled two days later when what exploded?

The crew rode the lunar module home as a lifeboat and splashed down safely on 17 April.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990 aboard which Space Shuttle?

Its main mirror turned out to be ground slightly wrong; astronauts fitted corrective optics in 1993.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened on 26 April 1986 in which Soviet republic?

Reactor No. 4 exploded near the town of Pripyat; an exclusion zone was set up within 36 hours and later widened to 30 km.

The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history peaked on 10 April 1815. Which volcano?

Its ash chilled the whole planet, and 1816 became known as the Year Without a Summer.

The great San Francisco earthquake struck at 5:12 am on 18 April of which year?

Fires burned for four days and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city; it remains the deadliest earthquake in US history.

Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated on 23 April, the feast day of which patron saint of England?

Nobody knows the true date: he was baptised on 26 April 1564, and he died on 23 April 1616.

On 23 April, the Diada de Sant Jordi, people in Catalonia traditionally exchange which two gifts?

About 1.5 million books were sold on the day in 2015; UNESCO's World Book Day shares the date because Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on it.

Songkran, the mid-April water-throwing festival, marks which country's traditional New Year?

The name is Sanskrit for 'astrological passage'; UNESCO added the festival to its intangible heritage list in 2023.

Vaisakhi commemorates the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 by which Sikh Guru?

It doubles as the Punjabi harvest festival; Vancouver's parade is the city's biggest single-day event.

ANZAC Day, 25 April, marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on which peninsula?

Dawn services start at 4:28 am, the time of the landing, and two-up is legally played in most Australian states only on this day.

The Netherlands turns orange on 27 April for King's Day, the birthday of which monarch?

It is the one day the Dutch may sell on the street without a permit, so the whole country becomes a flea market.

On which mountain do witches gather on Walpurgis Night in German folklore?

Finland calls it Vappu and celebrates with student caps and sima mead; Czechs burn witch effigies.

Easter is fixed as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after what?

That rule, from the Council of Nicaea in 325, means Easter can land anywhere from 22 March to 25 April.

What is the latest date on which Easter Sunday can fall in the Western calendar?

The earliest possible date is 22 March; the last 25 April Easter was in 1943 and the next is in 2038.

The Jewish festival of Passover, which often falls in April, commemorates what event?

Families eat matzah for the week because the Israelites left in too much of a hurry for their bread to rise.

Since 1955, US federal income tax returns have normally been due on which day of the month?

The original 1913 deadline was 1 March; when the date falls on DC's Emancipation Day holiday, filers get an extra day or two.

DC marks Emancipation Day on 16 April because in 1862 Lincoln signed an act freeing enslaved people where?

About 3,100 people were freed and, uniquely, their former owners were paid compensation by the federal government.

Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21 April 1926, but her 'official' birthday was celebrated in which month?

The Trooping the Colour parade marks it, on the theory that June weather is kinder for a parade.

The 7 April observance called World Health Day marks the 1948 founding of which body?

The first World Health Day was held in 1950 and each year carries a different theme.

Which organisation launched National Poetry Month in April 1996?

Canada joined in 1998; the UK does things differently with a single National Poetry Day in October.

Jazz Appreciation Month, held every April, was created in 2001 by which US institution?

It ends with International Jazz Day on 30 April, a UNESCO day championed by pianist Herbie Hancock.

Which jazz pianist devised UNESCO's International Jazz Day, held every 30 April since 2012?

Nearly 200 countries take part, and each year ends with an all-star concert in a different host city.

Washington DC's cherry blossom festival celebrates a 1912 gift of trees from which city?

A first shipment of 2,000 trees in 1910 arrived riddled with insects and had to be burned.

Coachella takes place at a polo club in which California city?

The first edition, in October 1999, came about after a 1993 Pearl Jam concert proved the site could handle a crowd.

Complete the proverb: 'April showers bring...'

The short version dates to a 1610 poem; Chaucer had already opened The Canterbury Tales with April's sweet showers two centuries earlier.

Why does Britain get so many showers in April, according to meteorologists?

The shift lets Atlantic depressions sweep in, so a single day can swing from sunshine to snow.

The day for pranks and hoaxes falls on which date of the month?

Its origins are disputed; some point to a 1561 Flemish poem, others to the calendar change that moved New Year from late March.

April is the seasonal equivalent of which Northern Hemisphere month south of the equator?

It is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

April was sacred to which Roman goddess, whose Veneralia fell on the 1st?

Some argue Aprilis derives from her Greek counterpart Aphrodite.

Which Roman king added January and February, making April the fourth month?

That happened around 700 BC.

Whose calendar reform restored April's 30th day in the mid-40s BC?

Numa had earlier cut it to 29 days.

Which Anglo-Saxon scholar said the month-name ēastre is the root of the word Easter?

He wrote it in The Reckoning of Time, naming a goddess Eostre.

What does the Finnish name for April, huhtikuu, mean?

It refers to felling trees for burn-clearing farmland.

Which Roman grain festival was held for seven days in mid-to-late April?

Floralia began on 27 or 28 April and ran into May.

Which meteor shower peaks around 22 April each year?

The Eta Aquariids also begin in April, peaking in early May.

On which day of the month does the zodiac sign switch from Aries to Taurus?

Aries covers April up to the 19th.

Which neurological condition has its US awareness observance throughout April?

Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month is also April.

Which food does a US month-long April observance celebrate on a griddle?

April is also National Pecan and Soft Pretzel Month.

What kind of institution does a US observance celebrate in the first full week of April?

National Bookmobile Day is its Wednesday.

On which day is Arbor Day observed nationally in the United States?

Nebraska held the first one on 10 April 1872.

Which Chaucer story about a cock and a fox is disputedly linked to 1 April?

Chauntecleer the cock is tricked by a fox '32 days since March began'.

What does the French April Fools' term 'poisson d'avril' literally mean?

Pranksters try to pin a paper fish to a victim's back.

What did the traditional Irish April Fools' letter say when finally opened?

Each recipient passed the 'important letter' on to someone else.

What did Scots originally call April Fools' Day?

'Gowk' is Scots for cuckoo or fool; the next day was 'tailie day' for pinning paper tails.

Which Ukrainian city celebrates April Fools' Day as 'Humorina', with a parade?

Its logo is a cheerful sailor in a lifebelt.

By what time of day must UK April Fools' pranks traditionally stop?

Anyone pranking after midday becomes the April fool themselves.

Which BBC programme aired the 1957 'Swiss spaghetti harvest' hoax?

Viewers phoned in asking how to buy a spaghetti plant.

Which real Google product launch on 1 April 2004 was widely mistaken for a prank?

Its 1-gigabyte inbox dwarfed rivals' 4 megabytes.

Which company was founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak?

Comet Hale–Bopp reached perihelion on the same date in 1997.

In which city was Microsoft founded on 4 April 1975?

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were the founding partners.

Which Nazi organisation was founded on 4 April 1925?

The Schutzstaffel began as Hitler's bodyguard.

Where in Memphis was Martin Luther King Jr. shot on 4 April 1968?

James Earl Ray was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport that June.

The first modern Olympic Games opened on 6 April 1896 in which city?

Roman emperor Theodosius I had banned the ancient games 1,500 years earlier.

Whose plane being shot down on 6 April 1994 triggered the Rwandan genocide?

Burundi's president Cyprien Ntaryamira died on the same aircraft.

Roughly how many days did the Rwandan genocide last from 7 April 1994?

It ended on 19 July 1994.

Which volcano erupted on 7 April 1906 and devastated Naples?

Booker T. Washington became the first African American on a US stamp on the same date in 1940.

Which country did Mussolini declare an Italian protectorate over on 7 April 1939?

King Zog I was forced into exile.

Which singer sang at the Lincoln Memorial on 9 April 1939 after being barred from a hall?

The Daughters of the American Revolution had refused her the hall.

Whose polio vaccine was declared safe and effective on 12 April 1955?

Gagarin's flight came on the same date six years later.

Which Grand Prix was first run on 14 April 1929?

William Grover-Williams won in a Bugatti.

'Black Sunday', 14 April 1935, was one of the worst storms of which US disaster?

It swept the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

Which cathedral caught fire on 15 April 2019?

Its wooden spire and most of the roof were destroyed.

Which Renaissance polymath was born on 15 April 1452?

Bergen-Belsen was liberated on the same date in 1945.

Which concentration camp was liberated on 15 April 1945?

British troops found tens of thousands of dying prisoners.

Jackie Robinson broke baseball's colour line on 15 April 1947 for which team?

MLB now retires his number 42 league-wide every 15 April.

Which 1746 battle, fought on 16 April, ended the Jacobite rising?

The Duke of Cumberland led the Hanoverian forces.

Who became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, on 16 April 1912?

Her feat was overshadowed by the Titanic news the same week.

Which 18 April 1942 operation saw US bombers strike Tokyo for the first time?

Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya were also hit.

Which country came into being on 18 April 1980 with Canaan Banana as its first president?

It had formerly been Rhodesia.

Which physicist died on 18 April 1955?

The San Francisco earthquake struck on the same date in 1906.

Which act of Jewish resistance began in occupied Poland on 19 April 1943?

Sierra Leone became a republic on the same date in 1971.

How long was the FBI siege at Waco that ended on 19 April 1993?

Seventy-six Branch Davidians died in the fire.

Which Colorado high school was the site of a massacre on 20 April 1999?

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people before dying by suicide.

Which oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010?

The spill lasted six months and became the largest in industry history.

Which US-backed invasion of Cuba failed on 20 April 1961?

Cuban exiles landed at Playa Girón.

Which dictator was born on 20 April 1889?

He died by suicide on 30 April 1945, ten days after his 56th birthday.

Which two thinkers share a 22 April birthday, in 1724 and 1870?

Earth Day shares the date, first held in 1970.

Which Spanish author died on 22 April 1616, a day before Shakespeare?

Their near-simultaneous deaths inspired World Book Day on 23 April.

Which Bavarian beer purity law took effect on 23 April 1516?

It limited beer to water, barley and hops.

Which soft drink debuted to a hostile reception on 23 April 1985?

The old formula was back within three months.

Which two scientists published the double-helix structure of DNA on 25 April 1953?

The first guillotine execution took place on the same date in 1792.

Which Portuguese regime fell in the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974?

Portugal's African colonies won independence soon after.

Which Basque town was bombed by the Condor Legion on 26 April 1937?

Picasso's painting of the atrocity followed that year.

Which record of Shakespeare's is dated 26 April 1564?

His actual birth date is unknown; 23 April is traditional.

Where did George Washington take the presidential oath on 30 April 1789?

The Louisiana Purchase was completed on the same date in 1803.

How much did the US pay France for the Louisiana Territory on 30 April 1803?

It more than doubled the size of the nation.

Which city fell to communist forces on 30 April 1975, ending the Vietnam War?

Queen Beatrix was inaugurated in the Netherlands on the same date in 1980.

Which 1922 poem opens with the phrase 'April is the cruellest month'?

T. S. Eliot's 434-line poem is a modernist landmark.

Which Middle English poem's General Prologue is set in April and praises its rains?

The pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark.

Which event founded in 2008 inspired by Free Comic Book Day is held each April?

Special pressings go only to participating independent shops.

Which two athletes founded the London Marathon in 1981?

It starts in Blackheath and finishes on The Mall.

Which runner broke the two-hour barrier at the 2026 London Marathon?

Khalid Khannouchi had set a men's record there in 2002.

How many fences do horses jump in the Grand National at Aintree each April?

Becher's Brook and The Chair are the most famous.

Which Boston-area town is the starting point of the Boston Marathon?

It finishes on Boylston Street near Copley Square.

In what year was the Boston Marathon first held?

It was inspired by the 1896 Athens Olympic marathon.

Which Tokyo mayor gave Washington DC its cherry trees in 1912?

Eliza Scidmore had lobbied for cherry trees since 1885.

What is the Japanese custom of viewing cherry blossoms called?

Night viewing is called yozakura.

Which UN body added Songkran to its intangible cultural heritage list in 2024?

The water fights symbolise ritual cleansing.

Which chemical element makes up April's birthstone, the diamond?

Lavoisier proved it in 1772 by burning a diamond into carbon dioxide.

Where is the sweet pea, an April birth flower, native to?

The monk Francesco Cupani first described it in 1696.

Which fire signs share the element with Aries?

Aries is a cardinal sign beginning at the March equinox.

Which planet rules Taurus, the sign that begins in late April?

Its opposite sign is Scorpio.

Which actress plays deadpan April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation?

April starts as an intern before becoming Ron Swanson's assistant.

Which Northern Ireland peace deal, also known by a Belfast name, was signed on 10 April 1998?

It ended most of the violence of the Troubles, the conflict that had gripped Northern Ireland since the late 1960s.

Who led the mutiny that seized HMS Bounty from Lieutenant William Bligh on 28 April 1789?

The acting lieutenant and his disaffected crewmen took the ship in the Pacific; Bligh was set adrift with loyalists in a small boat.

Who rode alongside Paul Revere to spread the alarm on the night of April 18, 1775?

Both were Sons of Liberty; sexton Robert Newman hung the lantern signal in Boston's Old North Church to start the alert.

For which company was Martin Cooper working when he made the first handheld cell phone call on April 3, 1973?

He made the call from a Manhattan sidewalk to his rival at Bell Labs; Cooper holds eleven patents in radio spectrum management.

Which grunge band's frontman, Kurt Cobain, died around April 5, 1994?

Cobain was its lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and a founding member; his angsty songwriting widened rock's mainstream audience.

Where did Prince William marry Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011?

William was second in line to the throne at the time; the wedding fell on a Friday and was declared a public holiday.

Which ancient Roman festival on 21 April came to be celebrated as the anniversary of Rome's founding?

The officially sanctioned founding year was 753 BC in the Varronian chronology, used for Claudius's Secular Games and Hadrian's Romaea.

Which comic actor and filmmaker was born in London on 16 April 1889?

He died on Christmas Day 1977; Stan Laurel, his one-time understudy, was born just two months later in June 1890.

At which Virginia plantation was Thomas Jefferson born on April 13, 1743?

In the Old Style Julian calendar the date was April 2; Monticello was the home he later designed and built himself.

The Los Angeles riots began on April 29, 1992 after a jury acquitted four officers in whose beating?

Bystander George Holliday had videotaped the arrest; the unrest spread from South Central LA and lasted until May 3.

From which English port did the Titanic begin her maiden voyage in April 1912?

She was bound for New York City with 2,208 passengers and crew aboard when she struck the iceberg.