April 11 in Pop Culture History

April 11 History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

April 11 History Highlights

  • 1945 – American forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp.
  • 1965 – Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people.
  • 1970 – Apollo 13 launched.
  • If you were born on April 11th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… July 19th (prior year)

April 11, 1954 – The Most Boring Day ever?

A search engine known as True Knowledge, compiled the data and was able to determine that the most boring day in history occurred on April 11, 1954. They analyzed more than 300 million historical facts and discovered that April 11, 1954 was the most uneventful news day of the 20th century. No typical newsworthy events occurred at all, of course now the day has become a bit more newsworthy, because we can talk about that very boring day.

Baseball Season hadn’t started yet – but the day before, on April 10th, Japan Won the WORLD Table Tennis Title over Sweden at Wembley Stadium in London, and that was the biggest news in that morning’s headlines.

April 11 is…

Barbershop Quartet Day
Cheese Fondue Day
Farm Animals Day
Golfer’s Day
Hug Your Dog Day
Louie Louie Day
Pet Day
Siblings Day
Submarine Day

April 11 Birthday Quotes

“A lot of people thought of me as a threat to Western civilization.”
– John Milius

“Being smarter than you look is better than looking smarter than you are.”
– Jeremy Clarkson

“For anyone to achieve something, he will have to show a little courage. You’re only on this earth once. You must give it all you’ve got.”
– Ethel Kennedy

“We all know that small cars are good for us. But so is cod liver oil. And jogging.”
– Jeremy Clarkson

“If I could be a doctor and save lives I would, but I can’t so I sing songs.”
– Joss Stone

“Writing requires a great deal of skill, just like painting does. People don’t want to learn those skills.”
– John Milius

April 11 Birthdays

1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon and paleontologist (died in 1824)
1907 – Paul Douglas, American actor (died in 1959)
1928 – Ethel Kennedy, American philanthropist
1928 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (died in 2013)
1932 – Joel Grey, American actor, singer, and dancer
1933 – Tony Brown, American journalist and academic
1935 – Richard Berry, American singer-songwriter, wrote ‘Louie Louie’ (died in 1997)
1939 – Louise Lasser, American actress
1943 – Harley Race, American wrestler and trainer (died in 2019)
1944 – John Milius, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter
1961 – Vincent Gallo, American actor, director and producer
1966 – Lisa Stansfield, English singer-songwriter
1972 – Jennifer Esposito, American actress
1981 – Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
1984 – Kelli Garner, American actress
1987 – Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter
1987 – Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter

April 11 History

1876
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

1876
The stenotype was patented (#175,892) by John C. Zachos of New York City

1909
Tel Aviv was founded.

1919
The International Labor Organization(IOL) was founded.

1945
The American Third Army liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.

1957
The Ryan X-13 Vertijet became the first jet to take off and land vertically at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

1963
Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) – the first encyclical addressed to all instead of to Catholics alone.

1964
(Tornado) Bhabanipur, Bangladesh

1970
#1 Hit April 11, 1970 – April 24, 1970: The Beatles – Let It Be

1970
Apollo 13 (April 11-17, 1970) Crew: James Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise

1976
The Apple Computer 1 (Apple I) was created. They were initially all hand-built by Steve Wozniak.

1979
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was deposed.

1981
#1 Hit April 11, 1981 – May 1, 1981: Daryl Hall and John Oates – Kiss on My List

 Van Halen’s lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen married One Day at a Time actress Valerie Bertinelli

1988
Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian) won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 1987’s Moonstruck.

1989
The Philadelphia Flyers’ Ron Hextall becomes the first goaltender in NHL history to score a goal in the playoffs.

1991
Broadway Show – Miss Saigon (Musical) April 11, 1991

1997
Anaconda and Grosse Point Blank were released in theaters.

2001
Joe Dirt, Kingdom Come, and Josie and the Pussycats debuted in theaters.

2006
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium.

2009
#1 Hit April 11, 2009April 17, 2009: Lady Gaga – Poker Face

2013
Broadway Show – Matilda the Musical (Musical) April 11, 2013

2014
Rio 2, Draft Day, and Oculus were released in theaters.

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

Pound cake got its name from its original recipe, which called for a pound each of butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.

Viewed from the scale of the entire universe, the speed of light is incredibly slow. So slow that, from that perspective, everything in existence is essentially motionless.

The Garfield comic strip debuted on June 19, 1978.

My father couldn’t control himself around an open bag of chips. I can’t control myself around an open bottle of vodka. My family’s weakness is potatoes.

The Capital of Trinidad and Tobago is Port-of-Spain

Olivia Wilde – Real Name: Olivia Jane Cockburn

Car alarms are no longer effective. Instead of assuming someone is breaking into a car I naturally assume some idiot accidentally clicked his button.

My total at Seven-Eleven today was $7.11. I feel like I should have won a prize or something. #noprize?

New Warrior Squirrel Girl is actually one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe, defeating both Doctor Doom and Thanos.

There are no Sour Patch Adults because we eat them all when they’re kids.

One galactic year (our solar system around the Milky way) is 250 million Earth years. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Earth is only 18 galactic years old!

Little round donuts are called “donut holes” even though that’s pretty much the opposite of what they are.

More Pop Culture History Resources