This Week In History
APRIL 24
1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1986 – American divorcee Wallis Simpson, whom King Edward VIII abdicated his throne to marry, dies aged 89. Edward died on May 28, 1972.
1992 – Rock star David Bowie, 45, weds supermodel Iman, 37, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
2007 – Singer Whitney Houston, 43, and rapper Bobby Brown, 38, divorce after 14 years of marriage.
APRIL 25
1719 – Writer Daniel Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe, which some people regard as the first English novel.
1915 – Thousands of New Zealand and Australian soldiers land on Gallipoli Peninsula during World War I (right).
1916 – Anzac Day is first observed in New Zealand.
1953 – A scientific breakthrough is announced when Francis Crick and James Watson publish their findings about the structure of DNA and genetic information.
1995 – US actress and dancer Ginger Rogers dies aged 83.
APRIL 26
1982 – Argentina surrenders to Great Britain on South Georgia Island, near the Falkland Islands.
1986 – In the world’s worst-known nuclear disaster, the fourth reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR explodes, killing 31 people and spreading radioactive contamination across much of Western Europe.
1989 – American actress and comedian Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy), pictured with her husband Desi Arnaz (left), dies of a heart attack. She was 78.
1992 – Comedy series Who’s The Boss? and Growing Pains screen their final episodes on ABC in the US.
APRIL 27
1981 – Beatle Ringo Starr and actress
Barbara Bach marry at Marylebone Town Hall, London. The pair, who are still married, met the previous year on the set of the film Caveman.
1986 – Actors Sean Penn, 35, and Robin Wright, 30, are married in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
1997 – New Zealand golfer Frank Nobilo wins the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic at Forest Oaks, North Carolina. It was to be his only win on the US PGA tour.
2014 – Late-night talk show Last Week Tonight With John Oliver premieres on HBO.
APRIL 28
1966 – At the 38th Academy Awards, The Sound Of Music wins Best Picture.
1996 – In Australia’s worst modern massacre by death toll, Martin Bryant shoots and kills 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
2019 – In the TV series Game Of Thrones, The Long Night episode screens which is the longest battle aired on mainstream TV (at nearly 80 minutes).
APRIL 29
1967 – The single Respect by Aretha Franklin is released and becomes Billboard’s Song Of The Year.
1980 – English film director Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, dies of renal failure. He was 80.
1988 – Actors Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson marry in a big celebrity wedding in Florida.
2011 – Prince William and Kate Middleton are married in a ceremony held at Westminster Abbey, London.
2018 – Animated series The Simpsons (below) surpasses Gunsmoke (on 635 episodes) to have the most episodes of any US primetime TV series.
APRIL 30
1917 – William Sanders wins the Victoria Cross for bravery during a German U-boat attack on his ship. He was the first and only New Zealander to win the award in naval action.
1938 – The FA Cup is televised for the first time as Preston North End beats Huddersfield Town 1-0 at Wembley.
1945 – Adolf Hitler, 56, and his new wife Eva Braun, 33, kill themselves in Berlin as the city is captured by the Red Army.
1989 – The World Wide Web is launched in the public domain by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee.