This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride of all the fascinating things that happened today!
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of history. Now, let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 5th April”.
1955: Winston Churchill retires as Prime Minister
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill retired as prime minister of Great Britain, today. The British leader guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II. In 1953, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. After his retirement as prime minister, he remained in Parliament until 1964, the year before his death.
1984: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks NBA all-time scoring record
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored the 31,420th point of his career, breaking the NBA’s all-time scoring record. The record had been held by Wilt Chamberlain previously. With nine minutes left in the game, the Utah Jazz player was taken out after making 10 of 14 baskets from the field. He had also made two out two from the foul line, five rebounds and three assists. The game stopped as his teammates rushed to congratulate him and the fans gave him an extended standing ovation. The Lakers went on to win the game, 129-115.
1994: Kurt Cobain commits suicide
Today we mourn the loss of modern rock icon Kurt Cobain, who was the lead singer of the band Nirvana. An electrician discovered his body inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days after he had committed suicide at the age of 27. The police concluded that he had died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Despite such indications, some skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death and pinned responsibility on his wife, Courtney Love. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Heart-Shaped Box and Come As You Are are some of the hits he wrote for Nirvana. Cobain was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
2016: Drake releases his hit single One Dance
Billboard Song of the Year 2016, One Dance made Drake the first artist to reach one billion plays on Spotify with a single track. It’s a song from his fourth studio album Views and also features artists Wizkid and Kyla. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It was later named the 2016 Song of the Summer.
2020: British PM Boris Johnson admitted to hospital suffering from COVID-19
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on us. Today last year, the pandemic was in its initial stages. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been admitted to hospital for tests, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. It was a “precautionary step” taken on the advice of his doctor. The prime minister thanked the NHS staff for all of their incredibly hard work. He urged the public to continue to follow the government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.
