May 6
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May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). There are 239 days remaining.
Contents |
Events
- 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V during the Sack of Rome in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape.
- 1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church.
- 1542 - Francis Xavier reached Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
- 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
- 1757 - Battle of Prague - A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
- 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.
- 1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp is valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1882 - The Congress of the U.S.A. pass the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- 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).
- 1945 - World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
- 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.
- 1976 - An earthquake strikes Friuli, causing 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages.
- 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
- 1988 - An airplane going from Namsos to Brønnøysund in Norway crashes into the side of the Torghatten mountain, killing all 36 passengers and crew.
- 1994 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
- 1996 - The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
- 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed by a Muslim extremist.
- 2004 - US TV series Friends ends after 10 seasons
Births
- 1397 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1450)
- 1501 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)
- 1574 - Pope Innocent X (d. 1655)
- 1638 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1696)
- 1713 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (d. 1780)
- 1758 - André Masséna, French marshal (d. 1817)
- 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary (d. 1794)
- 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
- 1769 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (d. 1834)
- 1797 - Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
- 1800 - Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat and general (d. 1881)
- 1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
- 1856 - Robert Peary, American explorer (d. 1920)
- 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author (d. 1941)
- 1861 - Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
- 1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
- 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1871 - Victor Grignard, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1871 - Christian Morgenstern, German author (d. 1914)
- 1872 - Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (d. 1934)
- 1879 - Bedrich Hrozny, Czech orientalist (d. 1952)
- 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
- 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany (d. 1951)
- 1895 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
- 1895 - Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian writer (d. 1974)
- 1895 - Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian Nazi, (d. 1946)
- 1899 - Billy Cotton, British entertainer (d. 1969)
- 1902 - Harry Golden, American journalist (d. 1981)
- 1902 - Max Ophüls, German-born director (d. 1957)
- 1903 - Toots Shor, New York restaurateur (d. 1977)
- 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984)
- 1904 - Harry Martinson, Nobel laureate (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (d. 2005)
- 1915 - Orson Welles, American director (d. 1985)
- 1915 - Theodore White, American writer (d. 1986)
- 1916 - Robert H. Dicke, American physicist (d. 1997)
- 1920 - Kamisese Mara, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Erich Fried, German author (d. 1988)
- 1924 - Denny Wright, British guitarist (d. 1992)
- 1924 - Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American socialite (d. 2006)
- 1929 - Paul Lauterbur, Nobel laureate
- 1931 - Willie Mays, American baseball player
- 1937 - Rubin Carter, American boxer
- 1942 - Rin Kaiho, professional Go player
- 1944 - Anton Furst, American production designer (d. 1991)
- 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
- 1945 - Bob Seger, American singer
- 1947 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
- 1948 - Mary MacGregor, American singer
- 1952 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
- 1952 - Christian Clavier, French actor
- 1953 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1953 - Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer/manager
- 1955 - Tom Bergeron, American game show host
- 1960 - Roma Downey, Northern Irish actress
- 1960 - John Flansburgh, American musician
- 1961 - George Clooney, American actor
- 1964 - Dana Hill, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1969 - Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
- 1972 - Martin Brodeur, Canadian hockey player
- 1977 - David Connolly, England-born Irish footballer
- 1978 - John Abraham, American football player
- 1980 - Taebin, Korean singer (1TYM)
- 1980 - Scott Colton, American professional wrestler
- 1982 - Chaylon Brewster, Music Producer
- 1985 - Chris Paul, American basketball player
- 1987 - Moon Geun-young, South Korean actress
Deaths
- 680 - Muawiyah I, caliph (b. 602)
- 1502 - James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (executed)
- 1596 - Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
- 1620 - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)
- 1631 - Robert Bruce Cotton, English poltician
- 1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
- 1708 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
- 1757 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (b. 1683)
- 1757 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
- 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)
- 1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (b. 1804)
- 1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
- 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
- 1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
- 1939 - Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)
- 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1951 - Élie Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1869)
- 1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
- 1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1963 - Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1881)
- 1967 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (b. 1885)
- 1970 - Aleksandr Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)
- 1984 - Bonner Pink, Conservative Party Politician
- 1987 - William Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1913)
- 1989 - Earl Blaik, Former American football coach. (b. 1897)
- 1990 - Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
- 1995 - Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)
- 1995 - Hilda Toledano (b. 1907)
- 2002 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
- 2003 - Art Houtteman, baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher (b. 1912)
- 2006 - Lillian Asplund, last American RMS Titanic survivor. (b. 1906)
- 2006 - Lorne Saxberg, Canadian television journalist (b. 1958)
- 2006 - Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist. (b. 1926)
- 2006 - Grant McLennan, co-founder of Australian band The Go-Betweens (b. 1958)
Holidays and observances
Feast days in the Roman Catholic Church
- Saint Justus
- Saint Lucius
- Saint Dominic Savio, patron saint of studying youth
- Saint Benedicta of Rome
- Blessed Prudentia
St George's Day — Đurđevdan (Serbian), Gergyovden (Bulgarian), Giorgoba (Georgian) the most famous Serbian slava, the most celebrated namesday in Bulgaria, and one of the two Giorgoba holidays in GeorgiaCommemoration of the following Orthodox Christian saints:
- Barbaros the Robber in Thessaly
- Barbarus the soldier, with Bacchus, Callimachus and Dionysios
- Righteous Job the Long-suffering (OT)
- New Martyr Elias Ardunis
- New Martyr Demetrios of the Peloponnesus (d. 1803)
- Micah of Radonezh
- Sinaites of Serbia
- Seraphim the Struggler of Mt. Domvu
External links
May 5 – May 7 – April 6 – June 6 – listing of all days
Categories
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