April - intermediate reading

In April, the days are longer and the evenings are lighter, partly because the clocks go forward an hour at the end of March. It’s now British Summer Time (BST) rather than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The weather is usually warmer and some years there is quite a lot of rain. People talk about April showers, meaning the rain that falls in this month. Because of the warmer weather and rain, everything starts growing in the garden.

The first day in April is April Fools’ Day. This is a day when people can play jokes or tricks on people. Not that many people actually do this but there is often a story hidden in the newspaper which sounds like a true story at first but then you realise it’s a joke as you read on. In 1957, there was a story on BBC TV about spaghetti trees in Switzerland and a lot of people believed it!

Easter often falls in April but it can be in March too. (I’ll write a separate post about Easter at some point!) The children have two weeks’ holiday from school and the third term of the school year starts in April. The Boat Race usually takes place in April. This is a rowing race between teams from Cambridge and Oxford universities, usually on the River Thames in London.

Other significant dates in April include the 23rd. This is Saint George’s Day but it isn’t a holiday and isn’t celebrated much at all nowadays. Saint George is the patron saint of England. This day is also thought to be the birthday of William Shakespeare, although his date of birth isn’t known for certain. He also died on this day in 1616, aged 52.