April 1: Eire leaves the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland. - The Tokyo Stock Exchange is founded.

April 4: The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.

April 7: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, opens on Broadway and goes on to become R&H's second longest-running musical. It becomes an instant classic of the musical theatre. The score's biggest hit is the song "Some Enchanted Evening".

April 8: Kathy Fiscus, 3 1/2 years old, dies from falling down an abandoned well in San Marino, California.

April 14: The day the N'Ko alphabet is held to have been completed by Solomana Kante.

April 18: Eire formally becomes the Republic of Ireland.

April 20: The Royal Navy frigate Amethyst goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of Mao's Communist forces. Under heavy fire, she grounds off Rose Island. After an abortive rescue attempt on April 26, she anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the Communists to let the ship leave drag on for weeks.

April 23: Chinese Communist troops take Nanjing.

April 27: British Commonwealth of Nations renamed The Commonwealth.

April 28: India issues the London Declaration, enabling it (and, thereafter, any other nation) to remain in the British Commonwealth despite becoming a republic, creating the position of 'Head of the Commonwealth', and renaming the organisation as the 'Commonwealth of Nations'. - Former Philippine First Lady Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.

April 29: The News Review reveals neither Selhurst College nor its headmaster H. Rochester Sneath exist. (source: Wikipedia)