APRIL 21872: George B. Brayton patents gasoline powered engine1902: First movie theatre opens in Los Angeles1935: Sir Watson-Watt patents radar1956: Former Pakistani cricketer Farrukh Zaman is born1963: USSR launches Luna 4; misses Moon by 8,500 km1966: Soviet Union’s Luna 10 becomes first spacecraft to orbit Moon1969 Indian film actor Ajay Devgan is born1973: CBS radio begins news 24 hours a day1987: IBM announces its new Personal System1996: Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya blasts a century off 48 balls — a record at the time, against Pakistan in Singapore
APRIL 31753: Samuel Johnson begins work on the second volume of his Dictionary of the English language1829: The coffee mill is patented by James Carrington1888: Cricket’s greatest writer Sir Neville Cardus is born1924: Hollywood actor Marlon Brando is born1961: Hollywood comedian Eddie Murphy is born1963: Pakistani cricketer Zakir Khan is born1965: Pakistan’s first female pop star Nazia Hassan is born1973: The first portable cellphone call is made in New York City1986: IBM unveils their first laptop computer
APRIL 41850: City of Los Angeles is incorporated1960: Ben-Hur wins 11 Academy Awards1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee1973: The ribbon is cut to open the World Trade Center in New York City1975: Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen1979: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed1983: Sally Ride became the first US woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger
APRIL 51894: Start of Adventure of the Empty House short story in which Sherlock Holmes makes his return1916: Hollywood actor Gregory Peck is born1954: Elvis Presley records his debut single, That’s All Right1979: Pioneer 11 launched towards Jupiter1993: Indian actress Divya Bharti dies in an accident
APRIL 61814: Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates and agrees to go into exile on the island of Elba1896: The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens1956: Pakistani cricketer Mudassar Nazar is born1956: Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar is born1980: ‘Post it notes’ are introduced1988: Pakistan wins first Test against the West Indies. Imran Khan takes 11 wickets, Javed Miandad scores a century1992: Microsoft unveils Windows 3.1, the first of many Windows Operating Systems1998: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India
APRIL 71348: Prague University, first university in central Europe, is formed by King Charles IV1770: English romantic poet, William Wordsworth is born1923: First brain tumour operation under local anaesthetic performed in New York1927: Using phone lines, television signal is sent from Washington DC to New York1948: The World Health Organisation, a UN agency, is founded1954: Hollywood actor Jackie Chan is born1964: IBM introduces the IBM System/360 mainframe computer1996: Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya hits fastest ODI fifty off 17 balls against Pakistan
APRIL 8563 BC: Buddhists celebrate birth of Gautama Buddha1879: Milk is sold in glass bottles for the first time in New York1938: Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Farooq is born1946: The League of Nations assembles for the last time1950: India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact1968: 40th Academy Awards are postponed for a week due to death of Martin Luther King Jr.1973: Spanish artist and sculptor Pablo Picasso dies at the age of 911997: Microsoft Corp. releases Internet Explorer 4.02008: The construction of the world’s first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain
— O. A.