Today in History - History - April 5th

1603New English King James I (James VI of Scotland) departs Edinburgh for London

196537th Academy Awards - "My Fair Lady", Rex Harrison & Julie Andrews win

1976Tom Stoppard's "Dirty Linen" premieres in London

198716th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Betsy King

198110th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Nancy Lopez

1984Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421)

200944th Academy of Country Music Awards: Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley wins

1818In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement - led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín - win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.

1967'76er Wilt Chamberlain sets NBA record of 41 rebounds

1895Oscar Wilde loses libel case against Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices

1947Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines (2001-2010) in San Juan Philippines

1950Agnetha Fältskog [Anna Ulvaeus], Swedish singer (ABBA)

1908(Ruth Elizabeth) Bette Davis, Lowell Mass, US actress (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel)

1923Nguyen Van Thieu, South Vietnam President (1965-75)

1937Colin Powell, Bronx NY, general/asst to president (Nat Sec Affairs)

1588Thomas Hobbes, Westport England, philosopher (Leviathan)

1856Booker Taliaferro Washington, pioneer educator (1st black on US stamp)

1916Gregory Peck, La Jolla California, actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur)

1999Talk show host Wayne Brady (26) weds dancer Mandie Taketa

1955Musician Ray Charles (24) weds Della Beatrice Howard

1997Allen Ginsberg, beat poet, dies at 80

2005Saul Bellow, Canadian born writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)

1992Sam Walton, Billionaire CEO (Wal-Mart), dies of multiple myeloma at 74

1964Douglas MacArthur, US general (Pacific theater-WW II), dies at 84

2008Charlton Heston, American Actor, dies at 84

1994Kurt Cobain, grunge rocker (Nirvana), commits suicide by gun at 27 in Seattle, Washington