Editorial calendar
Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions. Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.
100 years ago: April 1921
• 3 April: Coal was rationed in the UK during the coal strike that began in March.
• Classic German Expressionist silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari had it US premiere with Englishlanguage dialogue cards.
• American mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson – one of the protagonists in 2016 film Hidden Figures – was born.
• Actor, writer and film-maker Peter
Ustinov was born.
80 years ago: April 1941
• Footballer and World Cupwinning England captain Bobby Moore was born.
• Berthold Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children was given its world premiere, in Switzerland.
• Actor Ryan O’Neill was born.
• Radio broadcaster Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart was born.
• Swedish-American actor Ann-Margret was born.
• Australian virtuoso guitarist John
Williams was born.
• British fashion designer Vivienne
Westwood was born.
90 years ago: April 1931
• The first edition of The Highway
Code was published.
• Op artist Bridget Riley was born.
• The pre-Code gangster film The Public Enemy was released, starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow.
• Skiffle star Lonnie
Donegan was born.
75 years ago: April 1946
• Slade guitarist Dave Hill was born.
• Soul singer Al Green was born.
• Cult filmmaker John Waters was born.
• The first postwar FA Cup was won by Derby
County at Wembley Stadium.
70 years ago; April 1951
• The Peak District became the UK’s
first National Park.
• At Seventeen singer Janis Ian was born.
• Actor and fifth Doctor Who Peter
Davison was born.
• Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley was born.
60 years ago: April 1961
• Scottish singer Susan Boyle was born.
• Actor and comedian Eddie Murphy was born.
• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man
in space when the Vostok 1 spacecraft was launched.
50 years ago: April 1971
• Scottish actor and tenth Doctor Who David Tennant
was born.
• The Rolling Stones released the Sticky
Fingers album.
25 years ago: April 1996
• At the BAFTAS, Sense and Sensibility wins Best Film, Father Ted wins best Comedy and Cracker wins Best Drama.
20 years ago: April 2001
• The Netherlands became the first country to make same-sex marriages legal.
10 years ago: April 2011
• Game of Thrones premiered on HBO in the USA
• Scottish actor Robert Carlyle was born.
• Judy Garland played her legendary
comeback concerts at Carnegie hall.
40 years ago: April 1981
• Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest for the
UK with Making Your Mind Up.
• The Brixton Riots – recently revisited in the Alex Wheatley episode of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe – saw protestors clash with police about racial injustice.
• At the age of 23, Steve Davis won the World Snooker Championship for the first of eight times.
• Actor Jessica Alba was born.