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To many South Africans, April represents a glorious string of public holidays - or the most frustratingly unproductive month of the year. But if we look back into the history books, it’s way more than that. For example, the first modern Olympic Games were held in April 1896 after the ancient Olympians took a bit of a break... 1500 years, to be precise. 280 athletes - all male - were in attendance, representing 12 countries. When it was all over, the United States topped the medal table with 11 golds. Apollo 13 was launched on 11 April 1970, launching with it the catchphrase to be quoted by everyone forever: “Houston, we have a problem.” We also have a blockbuster with Tom Hanks at his most heroic, but that only came in 1995. Another less than successful voyage, the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. Again, the movie took decades to reach us. And like the unstoppable “Houston” catchphrase, once it arrived there was no getting rid of it. Also on the space front, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on 12 April 1961. His Space Race victory was followed by America’s first man in space less than a month later - and JFK’s declaration that a man would walk on the moon before the end of the decade. (But did it happen? That’s another debate for another time...) Speaking of the U.S., the first dictionary of “American-style English” was published by Webster in April 1828. Almost two centuries later, we look at words like “deplaned” and “acclimated” and wonder whether the North American dialect still qualifies as English at all. As much a pioneer as Webster’s dictionary, Wilbur Wright was born in this month in 1867. His first successful flight together with his brother would follow 36 years later. The in-flight option of beef or chicken would follow sometime after that (together with those tiny yet much appreciated packets of peanuts). The month of April brought us two of the greatest creative geniuses (genii?) of all time. Charlie Chaplin was an April baby, and so was William Shakespeare. Shakespeare also died in April, allegedly on his birthday. Iconic inventors Marconi and Morse were born in April too, forever changing the face of communication. The first cellular phone call was made in April, in 1973. Contrary to what we might assume, it wasn’t an insurance sales call. This single leap in technology also changed the face of human communication. Whatever would we do today if we couldn’t ignore the people we love by mindlessly scrolling through cat videos and pictures of other people’s lunches? But innovation is nothing new for the month of April. Bananas were sold for the first time in England back in April 1633. Only problem was people in England had no idea what they were. Bananas later became a British institution not unlike the Beatles, who achieved an impossible feat in April 1964. The Fab Four occupied all top 5 spots on the US Singles Charts with “Please Please Me”, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, “She Loves You”, “Twist and Shout”, and “Can’t Buy Me Love”. So many firsts and memorable moments in this fourth month of the year. Inspiring, isn’t it? So, let’s see what April 2025 can add to the list. And speaking of love songs, there were 36 mentioned in February’s article (including the title). |