Events Date 1953 April | History by KabAstro

Apr 1 J van Bale appointed governor of New Guinea
Apr 1 KXMC TV channel 13 in Minot, ND (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting

Three West Indian Centuries

Apr 1 West Indian cricket batsmen Frank Worrell (237), Clyde Walcott (118) and Everton Weekes (109) all make centuries in 1st innings of drawn 5th Test v India in Kingston, Jamaica

Apr 2 Raab forms his 1st government in Austria

TV Guide

Apr 3 American magazine "TV Guide" publishes 1st issue; cover features photo of Lucille Ball's new born baby boy, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (later professionally known as Desi Arnaz, Jr.)

Apr 4 KFDA TV channel 10 in Amarillo, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
Apr 5 WEYI TV channel 25 in Saginaw, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting
Apr 7 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight

Election of Interest

Apr 7 UN General Assembly begins session that will elect Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden as Secretary-General

Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld

Jomo Kenyatta

Apr 8 Jomo Kenyatta convicted of involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion and sentenced to 7 years jail in Kenya

Apr 10 "House of Wax" 1st color 3-D movie, premieres in New York
Apr 10 Dag Hammarskjöld becomes the 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations
Apr 10 NBA Championship Finals, Minneapolis Auditorium, Minnesota, MN: Minneapolis Lakers beat NY Knicks, 91-84 for a 4-1 series victory; Lakers' 5th title in 6 years
Apr 11 Oveta Culp Hobby becomes 1st at Health, Education, & Welfare
Apr 11 US Department of Health, Education and Welfare created

Apr 12 17th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Ben Hogan shatters the Masters scoring record by 5 strokes with a 274 (−14) to finish 5 strokes ahead of runner-up Ed Oliver; Hogan's second Masters

Apr 12 Keizo Yamada runs fastest marathon to date, at Boston
Apr 12 KFDX TV channel 3 in Wichita Falls, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting

British Expedition to Mount Everest

Apr 12 Leading icefall party of the British expedition to climb Mount Everest reaches Base Camp at 17,900 ft (5455 m)

Tenzing Norgay brandishes his ice axe on the summit of Mount Everest

Apr 13 1st game of Milwaukee Braves, they beat Cincinnati Reds 2-0
Apr 14 Viet-Minh offensive in Laos
Apr 14 WHYN (now WGGB) TV channel 40 in Springfield-Holyoke, MA (ABC) begins
Apr 15 Malans National Party wins South African elections
Apr 15 WHP TV channel 21 in Harrisburg, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting

Event of Interest

Apr 16 British royal yacht Britannia launched by Queen Elizabeth II

Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II

Apr 16 Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Connie Ryan bats 6 from 6 in a 14-12 defeat against the Pirates at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh
Apr 16 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 1-0 for a 4-1 series win
Apr 16 WAND TV channel 17 in Decatur, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting

Sports History

Apr 17 Mickey Mantle hits a 565' (172 m) HR in Washington, D.C.'s Griffith Stadium

Pal Joey

Apr 18 Revival of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical "Pal Joey", starring Harold Lang and Vivienne Segal, closes at Broadhurst Theater, NYC, after 540 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards

Apr 19 WAFB TV channel 9 in Baton Rouge, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
Apr 20 57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in 2:18:51
Apr 23 "Shane", directed by George Stevens and based on the 1949 novel by Jack Schaefer, starring Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur premieres
Apr 23 USAF General Charles P. Cabell becomes deputy director of CIA, serves until 1962
Apr 23 WCOV TV channel 20 in Montgomery, Alabama (IND/CBS) begins broadcasting

Winston Churchill Knighted

Apr 24 Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Structure of DNA Published

Apr 25 Francis Crick and James Watson's discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is published in "Nature" magazine

Apr 27 1st general elections in British Guiana, won by the People's Progressive Party with Cheddi Jagan first person of Indian descent to be elected head of government outside South Asia
Apr 27 Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins term "Pencil neck geek"
Apr 29 6th Cannes Film Festival: "The Wages of Fear" directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
Apr 29 Milwaukee Braves' Joe Adcock is 1st to homer into Polo Grounds center field bleachers
Apr 29 The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV