Date in year · 1968 · The 1960s

April 20, 1968

On April 20, 1968, english politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech. The year's #1 song was "Hey Jude" by The Beatles. Ashley Judd, Mswati III, Julia Morris would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

1

Deaths

1

Year

1968

1960s

Around 1968

The year in brief

1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1968th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 968th year of the 2nd millennium, the 68th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1960s decade.

Read the full year of 1968 →

What happened

On April 20, 1968

  1. 1968 English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.

    British politician (1912–1998)

    John Enoch Powell was a British politician, scholar and writer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West for the Conservative Party from 1950 to February 1974 and the MP for South Down for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from October 1974 to 1987. He was Minister of Health from 1960 to 1963 in the second Macmillan ministry and was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1965 to 1968 in the Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath.

  2. 1968 South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia), killing 123 people.

    1968 aviation accident

    South African Airways Flight 228 was a scheduled flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to London, England. The Boeing 707-300C operating the flight, which was only six weeks old, flew into the ground soon after take-off after a scheduled stopover in Windhoek, South West Africa on 20 April 1968. Five passengers survived, while 123 people died.

Arrivals

Born on April 20, 1968

Julia Morris 1968– Australian comedian

Farewells

Died on April 20, 1968

Rudolph Dirks American cartoonist

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1968

The class of 1968

Others born in 1968

Ashley Judd 1968– American actress
Mswati III 1968– King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland)
Julia Morris 1968– Australian entertainer
Dana Milbank 1968– American journalist and author
Jack de Gier 1968– Dutch footballer
Karl Wendlinger 1968– Austrian racing driver

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