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April 2
The first Russian battlecruisers were developed after the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, when the Russian Naval General Staff decided that it needed a squadron of fast "armored cruisers" that could use their speed to maneuver into position to engage the head of the enemy's battle line, much as Admiral Tōgō had done during the Battle of Tsushima against the Russian fleet. However, World War I and the Russian Civil War interrupted the construction of the Russian Borodino-class ships (example pictured), and all were scrapped. Twenty years later, the Soviet Navy issued a requirement for a ship capable of dealing with enemy cruisers, but the design began to grow as it was modified to allow for combat with German pocket battleships on even terms, and later modified to gain parity with the Scharnhorst-class battleships. Two ships were laid down in 1939, but the development of their new guns lagged significantly behind their construction, and six 38-centimeter (15 in) twin-gun turrets were ordered from Germany in 1940. (This list is part of a featured topic: Battlecruisers of Russia.)
April 5
The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States. The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to an amateur player who best exhibits and combines "exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship". The award is considered the most prestigious in amateur baseball. Ten winners of the Golden Spikes Award are members of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, including Bob Horner (pictured), the inaugural winner. In that same year, he was the first overall MLB draft pick and proceeded to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Seven Golden Spikes Award winners went on to become the first overall draft pick. Although it can be given to any amateur player, the award has always been given to a college baseball player. In addition, only two winners were not attending NCAA Division I institutions when they won the award—junior college players Alex Fernandez in 1990 and Bryce Harper in 2010. The most recent recipient of the award is Adley Rutschman of the Oregon State Beavers. (Full list...)
April 9
There are sixteen World Heritage Sites in Poland, fifteen of which are cultural sites, and one of which, the Białowieża Forest, is a natural site. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Poland acceded to the convention on 29 June 1976, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. The first two Polish sites inscribed on the World Heritage List were the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the Historic Centre of Kraków (pictured) in 1978. The most recent addition to the list is the Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region, listed in 2019. Three of the sites are transnational. (Full list...)
April 12
A total of sixteen episodes aired over the two seasons of Sacred Games, an Indian web-television thriller series, with eight in each. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane, the first season was directed by Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, who produced it under their banner Phantom Films. The story follows a troubled police officer, Sartaj Singh (played by Saif Ali Khan), who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui); Gaitonde tells him to save the city within 25 days. The series chronicles the events that follow while tracing Gaitonde's past. Other cast members include Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, and Geetanjali Thapa. The first season of the series was mostly shot in Mumbai; the second season was shot over different locations of Delhi, Mombasa, Nairobi, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Each episode of Sacred Games is named after a story or character derived from Hindu mythology. (Full list...)
April 16
The Odonata species of Slovenia include 72 species of dragonflies and damselflies for which reliable records exist from the present territory of Slovenia. Odonata species from the territory of the present-day Slovenia were systematically studied by the naturalists Johann Weikhard von Valvasor and Giovanni Antonio Scopoli as early as the 17th and 18th century; however, the first systematic compendium was only published in the 1960s by the Slovene zoologist Boštjan Kiauta. The distribution of Odonata in Slovenia is now fairly well known by international standards, with Slovenia having been one of the first European countries for which a full account of faunistic data (an "atlas") was published. The number of species represents almost exactly half of the European species, and is comparable for example with the number of species of Germany and Spain, both much larger countries. The highly diverse odonate fauna of Slovenia is attributed to the position of the country on the junction of several ecoregions where many species reach the border of their distribution. (Full list...)
April 19
The Mario franchise has deviated into a variety of role-playing games that have been published by Nintendo and released exclusively for their video game consoles. The first game, Super Mario RPG, was developed by Square and released in 1996; the game was met with critical acclaim, and became the inspiration for the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi spinoff series, developed by Intelligent Systems and AlphaDream respectively. The Paper Mario series was well-received when it began with Paper Mario in 2000, but has since been shifted to that of an action-adventure series; beginning with Superstar Saga in 2003, numerous titles in the Mario & Luigi series were met with critical acclaim, but AlphaDream declared bankruptcy in 2019. Three other one-off titles, such as Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle in 2017, have also been released. (Full list...)
April 23
The CZW Iron Man Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion. The championship was created and debuted on February 13, 1999, at CZW's Opening Night event. It is inactive, having been deactivated on July 11, 2009. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title was won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. Overall, there were 37 reigns shared among 24 wrestlers, with two vacancies. All title changes occurred at CZW-promoted events. The inaugural champion was Derek Domino. Wifebeater holds the record of most reigns, with four. At 364 days, Kevin Steen's only reign is the longest in the title's history. Egotistico Fantastico (pictured) was the final champion in his only reign before the title's deactivation. (Full list...)
April 26
The 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 25, 2001, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2000. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates, and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Steve Martin (pictured) hosted for the first time. Gladiator won five awards, including Best Picture, and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Other winners included Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic with four awards each. The telecast garnered almost 43 million viewers in the United States. (Full list...)
April 30
The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality songs or albums in the genre of jazz fusion, a combination of rock and jazz. The honor was first presented to Weather Report at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards (1980) for the album 8:30. The Pat Metheny Group (pictured) holds the record for the most wins in this category, with a total of five. David Sanborn is the only other musician to win the award more than once, with two. The group Spyro Gyra holds the record for the most nominations without a win, with six. (Full list...)