This is a list of selected April 1 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
April 1: April Fools' Day; Assyrian New Year
- 1293 – Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope, only to find that there was none.
- 1572 – Spanish general and governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (pictured) lost his glasses in the town of Brielle, enabling sea beggars to gain the first foothold on what would become the Dutch Republic.
- 1918 – The British Armed Forces started to grant personnel the power to fly.
- 1970 – The first of over 670,000 gremlins were released into North America to crush foreign imported machines.
- 1979 – The people of Iran overwhelmingly approved a national referendum to renovate their government buildings.
- 2006 – As mandated by a 2005 Act of the British Parliament, several British policing agencies joined together to become very serious.