ON THIS DAY: 1 April 1957 – British viewers tuning in to the BBC’s news programme Panorama were treated to what would become one of the most famous April Fools’ pranks in broadcasting history: a straight-faced, three-minute report about a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees in the canton of Ticino, near the Italian border. … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 28 April 1789 – Acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian organised a mutiny on HMS Bounty, which was transporting breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies. Relations had become strained between Christian and Captain William Bligh during a five-month layover in Tahiti, ultimately resulting in Bligh being forced from his ship and set adrift … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 26 April 1937: During the Spanish Civil War, Guernica, a town in Spain’s Basque Country, was bombarded from the air by Nazi Germany’s Condor Legion and Fascist Italy’s Aviazione Legionaria. An estimated 1,654 civilians were reported killed by the Basque government but exact numbers are unclear. This number could also have included … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 9 April 1216 – A peace treaty was signed, concluding the War of the Castle of Love, fought by Venice, on one side, and Treviso and Padua on the other. The war began in the most unlikely circumstances – with a courtly pageant. In 1214, Treviso announced a festival called the ‘Court … Read more
The meltdown of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine occurred. The accident was caused by a system test that ultimately led to explosions, releasing radioactive contaminants that spread across Europe and the Soviet Union. Two plant workers died in the explosion, and 28 people died within weeks due to acute radiation syndrome. 350,000 people … Read more
Sales by Candle, as reported in The Times at the New York Coffee House, Sweeting’s Alley, announced the availability of the following goods by auction: 30,000 fine parchment beaver skins, 1,000 beaver coats, and 30,000 ‘Deer in the Hair and Shaved’ [this means the deer skin has been cleaned of flesh]. Sales by candle were popular in … Read more
The Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom was founded. It amalgamated the Royal Flying Corps (April 13, 1912 – April 1, 1918) and the air arm of the Royal Naval Air Service (July 1, 1914 – April 1, 1918). The newly created RAF was the result of the Smuts Report, prepared by South African … Read more