Today in History for 5th April 2024

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Historical Events

1609 - Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa
1847 - Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, opens in Birkenhead, England, designed by Joseph Paxton
1908 - British Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns
1941 - San Francisco Castro and Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses
1976 - Harold Wilson resigns as James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1991 - Detroit Pistons Joe Dumaars ends NBA free throw streak of 62 games

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Famous Birthdays

1472 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, born in Pavia, Italy (d. 1510)
1698 - Georg Gottfried Wagner, German composer, born in Mühlberg, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1756)
1899 - William Hornby Steer, Conservative Party politician and barrister (d. 1993)
1908 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian independence activist and politician, born in Chandwa, Bhojpur, Bihar, British India (d. 1986)
1937 - Stuart May, senior partner (Theodore Goddard)
1944 - Peter T. King, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New York, born in Manhattan, New York

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Famous Deaths

1717 - Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
1943 - Aleš Hrdlička, Austro-Hungarian anthropologist and curator (US National Museum), dies at 74
1973 - John Coleman, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
1994 - Kurt Cobain, American grunge rocker (Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), commits suicide at 27 by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun
2005 - Dale Messick [Dalia Messick], American comic strip artist (Brenda Starr, Reporter), dies at 98
2012 - Ferdinand A. Porsche, German car designer (Porsche 911), dies at 76

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