April Fun Facts

April, the fourth month of the Gregorian calendar, was once the second month of the Roman calendar. April is one of four months that is thirty days long. April is also a popular female name. The birthstone for the month of April is the diamond. The daisy and the sweet pea are the flowers that represent April. Many famous people throughout history have been born in April including William Shakespeare on April 23, Leonardo da Vinci on April 15 and Adolf Hitler on April 20. Some other noteworthy events in history that occurred in April were the re-introduction of the modern Olympic Games, after not being held for 1500 years, on April 6, 1896, the start of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775 and the end of the Vietnam war on April 30, 1975. The first public television broadcast, from the Empire State Building, occurred on April 30, 1939. The explosion and meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986, having widespread and lasting effects. The state of Israel was established on April 30, 1948.

There are also many holidays around the world celebrated in April. Probably the best known and most widespread is April Fools' Day, also known as All Fools' Day, which is celebrated on April 1. It is not certain where this traditional day of practical jokes began but some people think it started in France when the Gregorian calendar was first adopted. The Internet search engine, Google, traditionally plays an April Fools' hoax on its users. There are countless well-known April Fools' pranks but one of the most famous of all time was carried out by a BBC television news show in 1957. They claimed that farmers in Switzerland had an outstanding crop of spaghetti and they showed clips of people pulling spaghetti from trees. Numerous viewers called into the station to find out how to grow a spaghetti tree of their own. There are some more serious April holidays. Buddha's birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 8. The Christian holiday of Easter as well as the Jewish holiday of Passover usually fall sometime in April. ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand is celebrated on April 25. The purpose of this holiday is to honor veterans of World War I who battled in Turkey. South Africa's Freedom Day is celebrated on April 27 to commemorate the date when the first elections after the abolition of apartheid were held. Earth Day, a day of conservation and awareness, is observed annually on April 22.

There are also many historic quotations and sayings about the month of April. Poet T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem “The Wasteland” the verse “April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire”. Perhaps the most well-known saying about April is, “April showers bring May flowers.” In the Northern Hemisphere, April is typically a wet month with moderate temperatures, when plants and animals really start to reemerge from the cold of winter.