April 1 Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
April 1 History Highlights |
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April Fools Day |
| Nobody’s sure when the whole April Fools Day thing started. April Fools’ Day has been celebrated for centuries, but the origin of this day is still shrouded in mystery. Some historians believe it dates back to 1582 when France changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Those who forgot or refused to accept the new calendar system were considered “fools” and sent on “errands,” such as visiting nonexistent locations with playful imitation scrolls and other paper novelty items that declared them April Fools. Other scholars contend that April Fools’ Day began around 536 AD when Pope Gregory III designated April 1st as a day of celebration called “All Fool’s Day.” This allowed people to laugh and make jokes instead of observing religious holidays during this time. In 1392, in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, there was a reference to March 32, which could be APRIL 1st. On April Fools’ Day 1957, on a BBC show called Panorama – they showed a family in Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family “spaghetti tree” at a SWISS HARVEST FESTIVAL, documentary style. At the time, spaghetti wasn’t really a thing in England, and people many people thought it was true. But not all hoaxes are limited to April 1st, one of the earliest documented purposeful hoaxes was in 1835, when The New York Sun Newspaper ran stories for six days about life on the moon – goats, unicorns, walking beavers, and bat-like winged humanoids. It increased sales, but they never printed a retraction. |
April 1 is… |
| April Fools’ Day Fun at Work Day Sourdough Bread Day |
April 1 Birthday Quotes |
“My whole career has been devoted to keeping people from knowing me.” “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” “I’m learning how to live in the present and be grateful for what’s working rather than looking for the ‘what’s not working’ piece.” “I can’t change the world. I have to fix me.” “The First Amendment, I think, is the jewel of our Constitution.” |
April 1 Birthdays |
| 1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (died in 1898) 1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died in 1930) 1929 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, and dancer 1939 – Ali MacGraw, American actress 1948 – Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer and musician 1949 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and author (died in 2011) 1950 – Samuel Alito, American lawyer and Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court 1952 – Annette O’Toole, American actress 1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer 1966 – Chris Evans, English radio and television host 1973 – Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author 1980 – Bijou Phillips, American actress and model 1995 – Logan Paul, American Youtuber |
April 1 History |
33 – Estimated date of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper 1789 – Pennsylvania Representative Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg was elected as the first US Speaker of the House of Representatives. 1853 – The first professional, full-time US fire department with salaried firemen was established in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1875 – Sir Francis Galton published the first newspaper weather map, in The Times in London, England 1877 – Edward Schieffelin founded Tombstone, Arizona, best known as the place where Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers had their shoot-out with the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral in 1881 1934 – Bonnie and Clyde kill two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas. 1938 – The first panda to live in captivity outside China, Su Lin, died after a twig lodged in his throat at the Brookfield Zoo, Chicago. 1957 – The BBC broadcast the ‘spaghetti-tree hoax’ on its current affairs program Panorama, showing spaghetti being harvested from trees. 1960 – The first weather observation satellite, Tiros I, was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, and made the first television picture from space. 1960 – Dr. Martens released its first boots, the model 1460. 1963 – ABC premiered General Hospital, the daytime drama that eventually became the network’s longest-running (soap opera) serial program produced in Hollywood. On the same day, NBC debuted The Doctors. 1965 – On April 1, 1965, Michael O’Mahony claimed on BBC TV to have invented Smell-O-Vision. Numerous viewers called in and reported having experienced coffee and onion aromas through their TV sets. #dontbeleiveanythingaprilfirst 1970 – President Richard Nixon signed legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. 1976 – Apple Computer Company was formed by Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. 1977 (Tornado) Madaripur and Shibchar, Bangladesh April 1, 1977 – The Apple II was released. April 1, 1978 Birthday (fictional) Fred and George Weasley, Harry Potter 1979 – Nickelodeon kid’s cable channel was launched. April 1, 1979, 19** Birthday (fictional) Bart Simpson, The Simpsons, TV 1983 – Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and Screwballs were released in theaters. 1984 – Singer Marvin Gaye was shot three times and killed by his father during a domestic dispute. 1988 – Beetlejuice, The Seventh Sign, and Bright Lights, Big City debuted in theaters. 1989 – #1 Hit April 1, 1989 – April 7, 1989: The Bangles – Eternal Flame April 1 19** The Joker and Dr. Harlees Quinzel escaped the asylum, DC Comics 1993 – Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is founded in Los Angeles, California, USA. 1994 – Major League II and Thumbelina were released in theaters. 1997 – As part of a crossover April Fools joke, Pat Sajak hosted Jeopardy and Alex Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune. 2001 – Same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country allowing it. 2004 – Gmail was launched on April 1 and was widely assumed to be an April Fools’ Day prank. They offered 1GB free storage in 2004 while other webmail services typically provided between 5MB – 50MB. 2005 – Sin City debuted in theaters. 2006 – #1 Hit April 1, 2006 – April 7, 2006: Sean Paul – Temperature 2007 – Google sent an email to all of its employees warning that a python was loose inside of their New York office. It was not a joke. |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
| “Cogito ergo est. I think, therefore you is.” – The King of the Moon #moviequotes “U + Me = Us (Calculus)” #songlyrics I see the Google logo every day, but I don’t know which letter is in which color. Notice the big letter on the face of the dollar bill? Each letter represents which Federal Reserve Bank printed it! “A” is for Boston Useless Pronunciation: E as in entirely The biggest film of 1936: How to Become a Detective earned ~ $6,000,000 “Ask not what your country can do for you …” – John F. Kennedy “As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no “I” in team, but there is an “I” in pie. And there’s an “I” in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team… I don’t know what he’s talking about.” – Shaun The only answer to the question, “Is today opposite day?” is “No”. TV Quotes… “Mom always liked you best” (Tommy Smothers) on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” A group of Monkeys is called a Troop or Barrel or Carload or Cartload or Tribe. When going to the casino take out the money you are comfortable losing and then keep your credit cards and debit cards locked in your vehicle. Bonus points if you park far away as well. #LifeProTip “If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.” – James Thurber |
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