May 6
May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). There are 239 days remaining. Events1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr publishes the first issue of the New York Herald. 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.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. 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).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. 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. 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941). 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.1989 - In Lausanne, Switzerland, Riva win the thirty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Yugoslavia singing "Rock me".1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurate the opening of the Chunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age. 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.2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.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.2005 - The film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is released in UK theaters.
Births1501 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)1574 - Pope Innocent X (d. 1655)1758 - Maximilien Robespierre, revolutionary (d. 1794) 1758 - André Masséna, French soldier (d. 1817)1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)1856 - Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis (d. 1939) 1856 - Robert Peary, explorer (d. 1920)1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, author (d. 1941)1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918) 1868 - Gaston Leroux, writer (d. 1927)1871 - Christian Morgenstern, author (d. 1914)1879 - Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, painter (d. 1938)1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II (d. 1951)1895 - Rudolph Valentino, actor (d. 1926)1902 - Max Ophüls, director (d. 1957) 1902 - Harry Golden, U.S journalist (d. 1981)1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984) 1915 - Orson Welles, director (d. 1985) 1915 - Theodore H. White, writer (d. 1986)1920 - Ross Hunter, producer (d. 1996) 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister and later President of Fiji (d. 2004)1921 - Erich Fried, author (d. 1988)1925 - Hanns Dieter Hüsch, cabaretist1931 - Willie Mays, Baseball Hall of Famer1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, boxer1945 - Bob Seger, rock music singer1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, musician1947 - Martha Nussbaum, philosopher1953 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom1955 - Tom Bergeron, game show host1961 - George Clooney, actor1964 - Dana Hill, actress1970 - George Rivas, Texas 7 ringleader1972 - Martin Brodeur, hockey player
Deaths680 - Muawiyah I, Umayyad caliph (b. 602)1502 - James Tyrrell, executed; alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (b. c. 1450)1555 - Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)1862 - Henry David Thoreau, author and philosopher (b. 1817)1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1839)1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)1911 - George Maledon, hangman of 60 men1919 - L. Frank Baum, writer (b. 1856)1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, poet, playwright, essayist (b. 1862)1952 - Maria Montessori, educator (b. 1870)1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, philosopher (b. 1895) 1987 - William Casey, head of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1913)1992 - Marlene Dietrich, actress (b. 1901)
External links BBC: On This Day
May 5 – May 7 – April 6 – June 6 – listing of all days
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