Our selection of historic birthdates in April, including William Wordsworth, King Edward IV and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (pictured above).
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| 1 April. | 1578 | William Harvey, English physician and anatomist who explained the circulation of the blood. Physician to James I and Charles I. | |
| 2 April. | 1914 | Sir Alec Guinness, actor who won an Oscar for The Bridge over the River Kwai. | |
| 3 April. | 1367 | King Henry IV, first Lancastrian king of England, responsible for suppressing Glendower‘s rising in Wales and the burning of heretics. | |
| 4 April. | 1823 | Sir William Siemens, German-born English electrical engineer and inventor who constructed many overland and submarine telegraphs. | |
| 5 April. | 1588 | Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher who published Leviathan in 1651. Believed in strong government and the supremacy of the state. | |
| 6 April. | 1906 | Sir John Betjeman, author, broadcaster and English Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in May 1984. | |
| 7 April. | 1770 | William Wordsworth, English poet whose works include Ode on the Intimations of Immortality. | |
| 8 April. | 1889 | Sir Adrian Boult, conductor closely associated with the works of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst. | |
| 9 April. | 1806 | Isambard Kingdom Brunel, most influential engineer of his day whose achievements included the Clifton suspension bridge, the SS Great Britain steamship, the Great Western railway track, etc., etc., etc. | |
| 10 April. | 1512 | King James V of Scotland. Defeated by Henry VIII‘s forces at Solway Moss in 1542, he was succeeded by his daughter, Mary Queen of Scots. | |
| 11 April. | 1770 | George Canning, British Prime Minister for four months during 1827. Following his resignation as foreign secretary in 1809, he fought a duel with the Secretary of War during which Canning was wounded in the thigh. | |
| 12 April. | 1941 | Sir Bobby Moore, footballer and inspirational captain of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team. | |
| 13 April. | 1732 | Fredrick North, Earl of Guilford, British Prime Minister who introduced the Tea Act that led to the Boston Tea Party. | |
| 14 April. | 1904 | Sir John Gielgud, English actor, noted, nay revered, for his Shakespearean and other classical roles. | |
| 15 April. | 1800 | Sir James Clark Ross, Scottish explorer of the Antarctic, who discovered the north magnetic pole in 1831. | |
| 16 April. | 1889 | Charlie Chaplin, English-born Hollywood film actor and director, best remembered for his portrayal of a tramp in baggy trousers and a bowler hat. | |
| 17 April. | 1880 | Sir Leonard Woolley, archaeologist most famous for his excavation work at Ur in southern Iraq. | |
| 18 April. | 1958 | Malcolm Marshall, West Indian fast bowler responsible for the annihilation of many an English cricket team. | |
| 19 April. | 1772 | David Ricardo, London stockbroker and political economist who wrote Principles of Political Economy. | |
| 20 April. | 1889 | Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born housepainter and German fascist dictator, architect of, and runner-up in, World War II. | |
| 21 April. | 1816 | Charlotte Bronte, Yorkshire novelist, eldest of the three Bronte sisters and author of Jane Eyre, Villette and Shirley. | |
| 22 April. | 1707 | Henry Fielding, novelist, playwright and author of Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews and Amelia. | |
| 23 April. | 1564 | William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon-born playwright and poet. Died this day 1616, leaving a wife, Anne, and two daughters, Judith and Susanna. | |
| 24 April. | 1906 | William Joyce, ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, American-born British traitor, who made propaganda broadcasts for Germany during World War II. | |
| 25 April. | 1599 | Oliver (Old Warty) Cromwell, Puritan leader in the English Civil War, Lord Protector of England 1653-8. | |
| 26 April. | 1894 | Rudolf Hess, German Nazi leader who was Hitler’s deputy in the early part of WW II. Was imprisoned by the British after he flew to Scotland on a peace mission. | |
| 27 April. | 1737 | Edward Gibbon, English historian who wrote the bedside table six-volume The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. | |
| 28 April. | 1442 | Edward IV, King of England and Yorkist leader who was crowned after defeating the Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross and Towton in 1461. | |
| 29 April. | 1895 | Sir Malcolm Sargent, English conductor and chief conductor of the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (The Proms) from 1948 until his death in 1957. | |
| 30 April. | 1770 | David Thompson, English-born Canadian explorer who explored vast parts of western Canada. | |
