On this day in History - May 6

• 0680 - Muawiyah I dies (b. 0602). Umayyad caliph.
• 1397 - Sejong the Great of Joseon was born (d. 1450). Ruler of Korea.
• 1447 - D. Afonso V, King of Portugal, and D. Isabel de Aviz wedding.
• 1501 - Pope Marcellus II was born (d. 1555) .
• 1502 - James Tyrrell, who was supposed to have confessed to murdering the Princes in the Tower, was executed (b. c. 1450).
• 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
• 1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church.
• 1540 - Juan Luis Vives dies in Valencia (b. 6 Mar 1540). Spanish philosopher.
• 1542 - Francis Xavier reached Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
• 1555 - Pope Marcellus II dies (b. 1501).
• 1574 - Pope Innocent X was born (d. 1655).
• 1596 - Giaches de Wert dies (b. 1535). Flemish composer.
• 1604 - Leon VII Spanish poet's first poem is published: La Cocina.
• 1620 - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital dies (b. 1543). Palestinian-born Kabbalist.
• 1631 - Robert Bruce Cotton dies. English politician.
• 1638 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell was born (d. 1696). First Lord of the British Admiralty.
• 1638 - Cornelius Jansen dies (b. 1585). French bishop and religious reformer.
• 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
• 1708 - François de Laval dies (b. 1623). First bishop of New France.
• 1713 - Charles Batteux was born (d. 1780). French philosopher.
• 1719 - Paulino António Cabral de Vasconcelos [Abade de Jazente] was born in Reguengo, Amarante (d. 20 Nov. 1789). Portuguese poet and religious.
• 1757 - Battle of Prague - A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
• 1757 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne dies (b. 1705). Austrian field marshal.
• 1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton dies (b. 1683). British politician.
• 1757 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin dies (b. 1684). Prussian field marshal.
• 1758 - André Masséna was born (d. 1794). French soldier.
• 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre was born (d. 1794). French Revolutionary.
• 1769 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette was born (d. 1834). French mathematician.
• 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was born (d. 1824).
• 1797 - Joseph Brackett was born (d. 1882). American religious leader and composer.
• 1800 - Roman Sanguszko was born (dm 1881). Polish aristocrat and general.
• 1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.
• 1828 - Estácio da Veiga was born. Portuguese archeologist.
• 1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
• 1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp is issued in Great Britain, went into circulation as the first prepaid postage stamp in history.
• 1840 - Francisco de Paula Santander dies (b. 1792). Colombian president and independence leader.
• 1851 - A U.S. patent was issued to John Gorrie for his invention of an "Ice-making machine" (No. 8080). This was the first U.S. patent issued for a mechanical refrigerator.
• 1856 - Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia, Austrian Empire (now Príbor, Czech Republic).(d. 1939). Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis, best known for such works as Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and the New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933).
• 1856 - Robert Peary was born (d. 1920). American explorer.
• 1857 - The British East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose Sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British and is considered to be the First Martyr in the War of India's Independence.
• 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt dies (b. 1769). German naturalist and explorer.
• 1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi's Mille set sail from Genoa to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is declared the new capital of the Confederate States of America.
• 1861 - Motilal Nehru was born (d. 1931). Indian freedom fighter.
• 1862 - Henry David Thoreau dies (b. 1817). American author and philosopher.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was born (d. 1918).
• 1868 - Gaston Leroux was born (d. 1927). French writer.
• 1871 - Christian Morgenstern was born (d. 1914). German author.
• 1871 - (François-Auguste) Victor Grignard was born (d. 13 Dec 1935). French chemist and corecipient (with Paul Sabatier) of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1912, for his development of the Grignard reaction.
• 1872 - Willem de Sitter was born (d. 1934). Dutch scientist.
• 1877 - Realizing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg dies (b. 1804). Finnish poet.
• 1879 - Bedřich Hrozný was born (d. 1952). Czech orientalist and linguist.
• 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born (d. 1938). German painter.
• 1882 - Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed and killed during the Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin.
• 1882 – The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
• 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany was born (d.1951). Heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
• 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
• 1895 - Rudolph Valentino was born (d. 1926). Italian actor.
• 1895 - Júlio César de Mello e Souza was born (d. 1974). Brazilian writer.
• 1895 - Fidél Pálffy was born (d. 1946). Hungarian Nazi.
• 1895 - Malba Tahan was born (d. 1974). Brazilian writer and mathematician.
• 1897 - Paul Alverdes was born (d. 1979). German writer.
• 1899 - Billy Cotton was born (d. 1969). British entertainer.
• 1899 - José Campos de Figueiredo was born in Coimbra (d. 29 Nov. 1965). Portuguese poet.
• 1900 - Auto de Carvalho was born. Brazilian painter and writer.
• 1902 - Max Ophüls was born (d. 1957). German-born director.
• 1902 - Harry Golden was born (d. 1981). American journalist.
• 1902 - Bret Harte dies (b. 1839). American author.
• 1903 - Toots Shor was born (d. 1977). New York restaurateur.
• 1904 - Harry Martinson was born (d. 1978). Swedish writer and poet, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974.
• 1904 - Raymond Bailey was born (d. 1980). American actor.
• 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais was born (d. 1984). Ikrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method.
• 1906 - Enrique Laguerre was born (d. 2005). Puerto Rican writer.
• 1906 - André Weil was born in Paris (d. 6 Aug 1998). French mathematician.
• 1908 - Em Portugal, D. Manuel II subiu ao trono.
• 1909 - Loyd Sigmon was born (d. 2004). American amateur ("ham") radio broadcastor.
• 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom dies (b. 1841).
• 1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
• 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom dies (b. 1841).
• 1913 - Stewart Granger was born (d. 1993). English film actor.
• 1913 - Carmen Cavallaro was born (d. 1989). American pianist.
• 1915 - Orson Welles was born (d. 1985). Americam director.
• 1915 - Theodore H. White was born (d. 1986). American writer.
• 1916 - Robert H. Dicke was born (d. 1997). American physicist.
• 1917 - Kal Mann was born (d. 2001). American lyricist.
• 1919 - L. Frank Baum dies (b. 1856). American writer.
• 1920 – Martha Beck was born (d. 1951). American convicted murderer.
• 1920 - Ross Hunter was born (d. 1996). American film producer.
• 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was born (d. 2004). First Prime Minister and later President of Fiji.
• 1921 - Erich Fried was born (d. 1988). German author.
• 1922 - Camille Laurin was born (d. 1999). Quebec psychiatrist and politician.
• 1923 - Vladimir Etush was born. Russian actor.
• 1924 - Denny Wright was born (d. 1992). British guitarist.
• 1924 - Patricia Kennedy Lawford was born (d. 2006). American socialite.
• 1925 - Hanns Dieter Hüsch was born. Cabaretist.
• 1926 - Gilles Grégoire was born (d. 2006). Quebec politician, co-founder of the Parti Québécois.
• 1928 - Robert Poujade was born. French politician.
• 1929 - Paul Lauterbur was born (d. 2007). American chemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 with Peter Mansfield for his work which made the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) possible.
• 1931 - Willie Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama. Baseball Hall of Famer.
• 1934 - Richard Shelby was born. American politician.
• 1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
• 1935 – The first flight of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk.
• 1936 - Bernard Lemaire was born. French Canadian businessman (Cascades).
• 1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty six people are killed.
• 1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter was born. Americam boxer.
• 1938 - Larry Gogan was born. Irish radio personality.
• 1938 - Jean Garon was born. Quebec economist and politician.
• 1939 - Konstantin Somov dies (b. 1869). Russian writer.
• 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
• 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1941 – The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
• 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1942 - Rin Kaiho was born. Professional Go player.
• 1943 - Almeida Faria was born in Montemor-O-Novo. Portuguese writer.
• 1943 - Andreas Baader was born (d. 1977). Leader of the German organization Red Army Faction.
• 1944 - Anton Furst was born (d. 1991). American production designer.
• 1944 - Masanori Murakami was born. First Japanese baseball player in major leagues.
• 1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
• 1945 - World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
• 1945 - Bob Seger was born. American rock music singer.
• 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore was born. American musician, country singer, songwriter.
• 1946 - Luiz Mott was born. Brazilian anthropologist.
• 1947 - Alan Dale was born. New Zealand actor.
• 1947 - Martha Nussbaum was born. American philosopher.
• 1948 - Mary MacGregor was born. American singer.
• 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck dies (b. 1862). Belgian poet, playwright, essayist (Nobel Prize 1911).
• 1949 - Johannes Andreas Brinkman dies. Dutch architect.
• 1951 - Samuel Doe was born (d. 1990). President of Liberia.
• 1951 - Élie Cartan dies (b. 1869). French mathematician.
• 1952 – Christian Clavier was born. French actor.
• 1952 – Gregg Henry was born. American actor and country musician.
• 1952 - Michael O'Hare was born. French actor.
• 1952 - Maria Montessori dies (b. 1870). Italian educator.
• 1953 - Tony Blair was born. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. British Labour Party he became in 1997 the youngest British prime minister since 1812, and in 2005 he led his party to its third successive general election victory.
• 1953 - Graeme Souness was born. Scottish footballer/manager.
• 1953 – Lynn Whitfield was born. American actress.
• 1953 - Michelle Courchesne was born. Quebec politician.
• 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
• 1954 - Dora Bakoyannis was born. Greek politician.
• 1955 - Tom Bergeron was born. American game show host.
• 1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos was born. Greek comedian and script writer.
• 1958 - Lolita Flores was born. Spanish singer and actress.
• 1960 - More than 20 million viewers watch the first ever televised royal wedding service when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
• 1960 – Anne Parillaud was born. French actress.
• 1960 - John Flansburgh was born. American musician.
• 1960 – Phyllis Treigle was born. American soprano.
• 1960 - Roma Downey was born. Northern Irish actress.
• 1961 - George Clooney was born. American actor.
• 1961 - Lucian Blaga dies (b. 1895). Romanian poet, playwright, philosopher.
• 1962 - St. Martín de Porres becomes canonized by Pope John XXIII.
• 1962 - Guillermo León Valencia is elected President of Colombia.
• 1962 - Adam Yellin was born. American Record Producer.
• 1963 - Monty Woolley dies (b. 1888). American actor.
• 1963 - Theodore von Kármán dies (b. 1881). Hungarian-born physicist.
• 1964 - Dana Hill was born (d. 1996). American actress.
• 1965 – Leslie Hope was born. Canadian actress.
• 1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
• 1967 - Zhou Zuoren dies (b. 1885). Chinese writer.
• 1968 – Dave Levine, "Sextoy Dave" was born. American millionaire.
• 1968 - Lætitia Sadier was born. French singer (Stereolab).
• 1969 - Jim Magilton was born. Northern Irish footballer.
• 1970 - George Rivas was born. Texas 7 ringleader.
• 1970 – Kavan Smith was born. Canadian actor.
• 1970 – Roland Kun was born. Nauruan politician.
• 1970 - Aleksandr Rodzyanko dies (b. 1879). Russian general.
• 1971 - Chris Shiflett was born. Guitarist for Foo Fighters.
• 1972 – Martin Brodeur was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1972 – Naoko Takahashi was born. Japanese long-distance runner.
• 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
• 1973 - Ernest MacMillan dies (b. 1893). Canadian orchestra conductor and composer.
• 1974 - Portugal - Popular-Democratic Party (Partido Popular Democrático) is founded.
• 1975 - József Mindszenty dies (b. 1892). Hungarian Catholic Cardinal.
• 1976 - An earthquake strikes Friuli, causing 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages.
• 1976 - José Guerra Vicente dies. Portuguese composer.
• 1976 - Ivan De La Peña was born in Santander. Spanish footballer.
• 1977 – Christophe Brandt was born. Belgian cyclist.
• 1977 - David Connolly was born. England-born Irish footballer.
• 1977 - Marc Chouinard was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1977 – Mark Eaton was born. American ice hockey player.
• 1978 - Alexander Fedorov was born. Russian bodybuilder.
• 1978 - Fredrick Federley was born. Swedish politician.
• 1978 – John Abraham was born. American football player.
• 1979 – Gerd Kanter was born. Estonian discus thrower.
• 1979 – Kerry Ellis was born. West End actress.
• 1979 - Nikki Hayes was born. Irish radio personality.
• 1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis was born. Greek basketball player.
• 1980 – Kelly van der Veer was born. Dutch reality TV star.
• 1980 - Mario Stojić was born. Croatian basketball player.
• 1980 – Ricardo Oliveira was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1980 - Taebin was born. Korean singer (1TYM).
• 1980 - Scott Colton was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
• 1981 – Edyta Sliwinska was born. Polish dancer.
• 1981 - Mark O'Connell was born. American drummer (Taking Back Sunday).
• 1981 – Matthew Leone and Nathan Leone were born. American musicians.
• 1981 – Nathan Leone was born. American lead singer of Madina Lake.
• 1981 – Nicholas Setta was born. American Canadian football player.
• 1983 - The Hitler diaries were revealed as a hoax when experts examined the books and concluded that they were fake.
• 1983 – Adrianne Palicki was born. American actress.
• 1983 – Dani Alves was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1983 - Raquel Zimmermann was born. Brazilian model.
• 1983 - Kai Winding dies (b. 1922). American trombonist and jazz composer.
• 1984 – 103 Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul
• 1984 - The 1984 presidential elections were narrowly won by Leon Febres-Cordero of the Social Christian Party.
• 1984 – Anton Babchuk was born. Ukrainian ice hockey player.
• 1984 - Bonner Pink dies. Conservative Party politician.
• 1984 - Mary Cain dies (b. 1904). Mississippi newspaper editor and politician.
• 1985 - Chris Paul was born. American basketball player.
• 1985 - Julie Vega dies (b. 1968). Filipino child actress and singer.
• 1986 - Cindy Daniel was born. Quebec singer.
• 1986 – Tyler Hynes was born. Canadian actor.
• 1986 - Laura Alves dies in Lisbon (b. 8 Sep 1922). Portuguese actress.
• 1987 - Moon Geun-young was born. South Korean actress.
• 1987 - William Casey dies (b. 1913). American Central Intelligence Agency director.
• 1988 - An airplane going from Namsos to Brønnøysund in Norway crashes into the side of the Torghatten mountain, killing all 36 passengers and crew.
• 1988 - Fergus O'Higgins was born. Irish rugby player.
• 1989 – Cedar Point opens Magnum XL-200, the first roller coaster to break the 200 ft height barrier, therefore spawning what is considered to be the coaster wars.
• 1989 - In Lausanne, Switzerland, Riva win the thirty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Yugoslavia singing "Rock me".
• 1989 – Dominika Cibulkova was born. Slovakian tennis player.
• 1989 - Earl Blaik dies (b. 1897). Former American football coach.
• 1990 - Charles Farrell dies (b. 1901). American actor.
• 1991 - Wilfrid Hyde-White dies (b. 1903). English actor.
• 1992 – Gaston Reiff dies (b. 1921). Belgian athlete.
• 1992 – Jilly Rizzo dies (b. 1917). Restaurateur.
• 1992 - Marlene Dietrich dies (b. 1901). German actress.
• 1993 - Ann Todd dies (b. 1909). English actress.
• 1994 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
• 1994 - Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones files suit against President Bill Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991.
• 1994 – The Channel Tunnel opens, after 7 years of work and enables travel between England and France.
• 1995 – Hilda Toledano dies (b. 1907).
• 1995 - Noel Brotherston dies (b. 1956). Northern Irish footballer.
• 1995 - Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo-Bragança (Hilda Toledano) dies (b. 13 Mar 1907).
• 1996 - The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
• 1996 – Dominic Scott Kay was born. American actor.
• 1997 - The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most radical shake-up in the bank's 300-year history.
• 1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his 5th career start.
• 1999 – First elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly held.
• 1999 - In New York, a parole board votes to release Amy Fisher, in prison for the last 7 years for shooting her lover's wife.
• 2001 - During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
• 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (b. 1948) is shot and killed by a left-wing extremist.
• 2002 - Renúncia do primeiro-ministro francês Lionel Jospin.
• 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.
• 2002 - Otis Blackwell dies (b. 1932). American pianist, singer and songwriter.
• 2002 - Pim Fortuyn dies (b. 1948). Dutch politician.
• 2003 - Art Houtteman dies (b. 1927). Baseball player.
• 2004 - President Bush apologizes for the humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. troops.
• 2004 - The last episode of the popular television sitcom Friends airs.
• 2004 – Barney Kessel dies (b. 1923). American jazz guitarist.
  
• 2004 - Philip Kapleau dies (b. 1912). American Zen teacher.
• 2006 – Grant McLennan dies (b. 1958). Co-founder of Australian band The Go-Betweens.
  
• 2006 - Lillian Asplund dies (b. 1906). Last American RMS Titanic survivor.
• 2006 - Lorne Saxberg dies (b. 1958). Canadian television journalist.
• 2006 - Shigeru Kayano dies (b. 1926). Japanese Ainu activist.
• 2007 - Presidential elections in France: second round (Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal).
• 2007 - Regional elections in Madeira (Portugal).
• 2007 – Curtis Harrington dies (b. 1926). American film director.
  
• 2007 - Đorđe Novković dies (b. 1943). Croatian songwriter.
• 2007 – Enéas Carneiro dies (b. 1938). Brazilian politician.
• 2008 – Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
• 2009 – The last episode of the TV show Scrubs is aired.
• 2009 – Kevin Grubb dies (b. 1978). Former NASCAR driver.
  
• Brazil: Mathematics' Day /Brasil : Dia da Matemática.
• International No Diet Day.
• Bulgaria: Army Day.
• Lebanon, Syria: Martyrs' Day.
• Gorani, Roma: Đurđevdan.
• Turkey: Hıdırellez.
• Eastern Orthodox Church using Julian calendar: Saint George's Day.
• Yuri's Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church).