Dashed left edge = started before April 2015 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond April 2015
Events in April 2015 8
1927 – 2015Günter GrassWriter, sculptor, Nobel laureate, 1927-2015Günter Grass (1927-2015) — novelist, poet, playwright, sculptor and printmaker. Author of The Tin Drum (1959), the defining work of post-war German literature; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1999); political activist and speechwriter for Willy Brandt; and, in his final decades, the man who shattered his own image as Germany's moral conscience by revealing his Waffen-SS service sixty years after the fact.
2015European Migrant Crisis PeaksOver a million refugees and migrants reach EuropeMore than a million people, many fleeing the Syrian civil war, crossed into Europe in 2015, overwhelming reception systems in Greece, Italy and the Balkans. Germany's decision to admit large numbers of asylum seekers became a defining and divisive policy of the year. The crisis reshaped European politics and border policy for years afterward.
2015Game of Thrones peak audienceMost watched HBO episode everGame of Thrones reached its peak cultural impact in 2015, with the season 5 premiere watched by 8 million people live — then the most watched HBO episode ever. The show had 32 million viewers per episode.
2015Günter Grass dies in Lübeck aged 87Günter Grass dies on 13 April 2015 in a clinic in Lübeck, after a brief illness, at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife Ute and six children. His death prompts an outpouring of tributes from world leaders and writers, and a renewed debate about whether his moral authority — undermined by his late confession — can be separated from his literary achievement.
20152015 World Snooker ChampionshipStuart Bingham WinWinner: Stuart Bingham; Runner-up: Shaun Murphy. Score: 18–15.
2015Stevie Ray Vaughan inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of FameWith Double TroubleInducted with his band.
2015Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck releasedDocumentaryAn authorised documentary by Brett Morgen.
2015Nepal earthquake9,000 killed, Everest avalanche triggeredA magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring 22,000. The quake also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.