Named at first for its flora and rays
Later known as a place where crime pays
But the crim’nal resort
Turned to world-leading port
One of planet Earth’s most famous bays

Event: James Cook lands at Botany Bay
Year: 1770
Learn more: Botany Bay
James Cook’s First Voyage

Work or play, Jack will never be dull
Batt’ling Batman, there’s nary a lull
As a Chinatown sleuth
He could handle the truth
‘Til they took out a chunk of his skull

Event: Birth of Jack Nicholson, holder of the record for most nominations for a male actor in the history of the Oscars, with 12
Year: 1937
Learn more: Jack Nicholson

How could anyone stay even-keeled
‘Gainst the vile abuses they’d wield?
Faced with hatred prolonged
Jackie proved he belonged
On the basepaths at old Ebbets Field

Event: Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play Major League Baseball in over fifty years
Year: 1947
Learn more: Jackie Robinson

From some angles she sets off alarms
But that’s really just one of her charms
So to Paris she came
To achieve worldwide fame
Not too bad for a girl without arms

Event: The Venus de Milo (also known as Aphrodite of Milos) is discovered on the island of Milos
Year: 1820
Learn more: Venus de Milo

So you think this day’s all about jokes?
Not so funny to those who sell smokes
Was Jobs kidding around
When he did Apple found?
Even Gmail was no kind of hoax

Events: Numerous TOTALLY SERIOUS and NOT AT ALL MADE-UP events occurred, including but not limited to:

(1970) Nixon signs into law the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which requires the surgeon general’s warning on cigarette packs and bans cigarette ads from TV and radio
(1976) Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne found Apple
(2004) Google announces Gmail
(1976) Astronomer Patrick Moore announces the Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect, in which the alignment of Jupiter and Pluto would alter Earth’s gravity, allowing those who jumped into the air at precisely the right moment to hover . . . wait a second . . .

Learn more: The Real Truth about April Fool’s Day