Sports History
Apr 3 Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend it, title awarded to Russian Anatoly Karpov
- Apr 4 138 killed as a USAF plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes on approach during an emergency landing at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base in South Vietnam
- Apr 4 British sitcom "The Good Life" starring Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith debuts on BBC One
Founding of Microsoft
Apr 4 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
Music History
Apr 4 Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes
- Apr 5 129th Grand National: Irish combination of jockey Tommy Carberry aboard L'Escargot wins by 15 lengths from 7/2 favourite and 1973-74 winner Red Rum
Sports History
Apr 5 American tennis #1 Chris Evert wins her 3rd WTA Tour Championship at the Los Angeles Sports Arena; beats Martina Navratilova 6-4, 6-2
- Apr 5 Robert Wilson and Alan Lloyd's musical theatre work "A Letter for Queen Victoria" closes at ANTA Theater, NYC, after 18 performances
- Apr 5 Soyuz 18A launch aborted short of orbit; cosmonauts return safely
- Apr 6 "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 45 performances
- Apr 6 Bundy victim Denise Oliverson disappears from Grand Junction, Colorado
- Apr 6 Fastest hat trick by a Wash Cap 3 mins 26 secs (Stan Gilbertson)
- Apr 6 Harry Chapin's musical revue "The Night That Made America Famous" closes at Barrymore Theatre, NYC, after 75 performances
- Apr 7 Preliminary meeting in Paris on world economic crisis between oil-exporting, oil-importing, and non-oil Third World countries
Academy Awards
Apr 8 47th Academy Awards: "The Godfather Part II", Ellen Burstyn & Art Carney win
Sports History
Apr 8 Frank Robinson debuts as 1st African American baseball manager (Cleveland Indians beat New York Yankees, 5-3)
Baseball Trade
Apr 11 Hank Aaron returns to County Stadium as a Milwaukee player after his off-season trade from the Atlanta Braves; Brewers beat Cleveland Indians, 6-2
- Apr 11 J. P. Parisé scores an 11 sec OT goal, to see the NY Islanders eliminate the NY Rangers in their ever 1st playoff advance
- Apr 12 Six Catholic civilians are killed in a Ulster Volunteer Force gun and grenade attack on Strand Bar in Belfast, North Ireland
US Masters Golf
Apr 13 39th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus wins his 5th Masters title, 1 stroke ahead of Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf; Lee Elder, first African-American to compete in the tournament
- Apr 13 Chad military coup by General Odingar
- Apr 13 Christian Falange kills 27 Palestinians, begins Lebanese civil war
- Apr 15 1st appearance of San Diego Chicken
- Apr 15 Gabon amends constitution
- Apr 16 Cambodian Red Khmer occupy Phnom Penh
- Apr 17 The Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, Cambodia marking the end of the Cambodian Civil war (Kampuchea National Day)
Music Concert
Apr 18 John Lennon gives what becomes his final public performance at a gala salute to British media mogul Lew Grade at the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, NYC; he performed 3 songs - Little Richard’s “Slippin’ and Slidin’”, Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”, and closed with his own “Imagine”
Boston Marathon
Apr 21 79th Boston Marathon: American Bill Rodgers wins men's section in race record 2:09:55; Liane Winter of West Germany women's champion in 2:42:24 (female world record)
Event of Interest
Apr 21 Last South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigns after 10 years in power
No Man's Land
Apr 23 Harold Pinter's play "No Man's Land" premieres in London
Free Election in Portugal
Apr 25 Mário Soares' Socialist Party wins Portugal's first free election since 1925 following the Carnation Revolution of 1974
- Apr 25 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Apr 25 West German embassy blown up in Stockholm, Sweden
Baseball Record
Apr 26 MLB Philadelphia Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt's 2 home runs in 7-3 win over Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh ties NL record of 11 HRs in April
- Apr 27 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
TV Show Appearance
Apr 28 Ringo Starr appears on "The Smothers Brothers Show", singing Hoyt Axton's "No No Song", and John Lennon is the guest on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" program, in what turns out to be his final television interview; both on NBC-TV
- Apr 28 South-Vietnam Gen Duong Van Minh sworn in as president till April 30
- Apr 29 Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge are the last two United States servicemen killed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War
- Apr 29 Ethiopia nationalizes all land
The Fall of Saigon
Apr 29 Vietnam War: US begins to evacuate its citizens from Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind in response to advancing North Vietnamese forces, bringing an end to US involvement in the war
- Apr 30 North Vietnamese troops capture Saigon, ending the Vietnam War
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists