1990 Strangeways Prison riot April, and 40 prisoners held a prison officer hostage for twenty-four hours after taking over a hall at HM Prison Shotts on 10 April. On 12 April, two teenage remand prisoners at HM Prison Swansea barricaded themselves into their cell for seventeen hours, and on 22 April between 80 and 100 remand prisoners staged an eighteen-hour rooftop protest at HM Prison Ashfield in Pucklechurch. On 2 April newspapers reported a weekend of "anti-authority violence", as in addition to the Strangeways riot the Poll Tax Riot had occurred in London on 31 March. Reports of the violence at Strangeways included kangaroo
World Book Day (UK and Ireland) observed on 23 April - it was changed in the UK to avoid clashes with Easter school holidays and with St George's Day. Conversely, a separate event World Book Night organized by independent charity The Reading Agency is held on 23 April. The United Kingdom's own version of World Book Day began in 1998, launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Globe Theatre in London. Several million schoolchildren in the UK were given a special £1 World Book Day Book Token (€1.50 in Ireland) which could be redeemed against any book in any UK bookshop. A specially created WBD