Timeline April 1988

Events in April 1988 6

• 1903 – 1988 Alan Paton (1903-1988) Died 12 April 1988, aged 85 Alan Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist best known for his 1948 novel Cry, the Beloved Country. He co-founded the Liberal Party of South Africa to oppose apartheid legislation. He remained a prominent moral voice against racial segregation until his death.
• 1988 Stephen Hawking publishes A Brief History of Time Bestselling book brings cosmology to a mass audience Physicist Stephen Hawking published A Brief History of Time, explaining cosmology and the nature of the universe for a general readership. The book became an unexpected international bestseller, remaining on bestseller lists for years. It made Hawking one of the most recognized scientists in the world.
• 1988 k.d. lang releases Shadowland Owen Bradley Produced by Patsy Cline's producer Owen Bradley.
• 1988 1988 World Snooker Championship Steve Davis Title 5 Winner: Steve Davis; Runner-up: Terry Griffiths. Score: 18–11.
• 1988 – present David Pocock From Zimbabwean Farm to Wallabies Great to Australian Senator David Pocock is a Zimbabwean-born Australian who built two separate public careers: one as one of the finest openside flankers in rugby history, and a second as an independent Australian senator. After his family fled violence linked to Zimbabwe's land reform program in 2002, Pocock grew up in Brisbane, rose through Super Rugby with the Western Force and Brumbies, and won more than 80 Wallabies caps across four Rugby World Cups. Throughout his rugby career he was equally known for environmental activism, including a widely publicized arrest at a coal mine protest, and for a public stance on marriage equality. In 2022 he was elected to the Australian Senate for the Australian Capital Territory as an independent, becoming one of the most closely watched crossbench voices on climate and integrity legislation, and was re-elected in 2025.
• 1988 David Pocock born in Gweru, Rhodesia A Childhood on a Family Farm David Pocock was born on 23 April 1988 in Gweru, in what was then still commonly referred to by its colonial name Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). He grew up on his family's farm, developing an early love of the outdoors and of rugby, a passion shared widely across white Zimbabwean farming communities at the time. His childhood in Zimbabwe would later inform his environmental convictions and his outsider perspective on Australian public life.