April 6 Events

648 BC - Earliest solar eclipse recorded by the Ancient Greeks.
402 - Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1320 - The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 - The poet Petrarch first saw his idealized love Laura (person) in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
1652 - Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope, which will eventually develop into Cape Town.
1782 - Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Thailand, who was overthrown in a coup d'état.
1808 - John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.
1814 - Napoleon abdicates. He is then exiled to Elba.
1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette, New York.
1832 - Indian Wars: Black Hawk War begins - The Sauk warrior Black Hawk enters into war with the United States.
1841 - John Tyler is inaugurated as the 10th President of the United States.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh begins - In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Sayler's Creek - Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
1869 - Celluloid is patented.
1886 - Vancouver, British Columbia is incorporated as a city.
1893 - Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
1895 - Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry.
1896 - In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
1903 - The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and The West.
1909 - Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole.
1911 - Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, Leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after Gjergj Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany (see Wilson's address to Congress).
1926 - Walter Varney Airlines makes first commercial flight from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada. Varney is the root company of United Airlines.
1930 - Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he starts Salt Satyagraha.
1930 - Hostess Twinkies are invented.
1930 - Will Rogers starts broadcasting The Will Rogers Program on radio.
1931 - Little Orphan Annie debuts on the Blue Network of NBC.
1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
1938 - Teflon is discovered.
1941 - World War II: Operation Castigo begins; Germany invades Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.
1965 - Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in synchronous orbit, is launched.
1968 - In London, United Kingdom, Massiel wins the thirteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Spain singing "La, la, la."
1970 - Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers die in one of the worst cop killings in the CHP's history.
1972 - Vietnam War: Easter Offensive - The first day of clear weather in three days allows American forces to start sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
1973 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1974 - The California Jam Rock concert begins.
1974 - In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the nineteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Waterloo."
1984 - Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard from country's northern region attack various government buildings in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard takes the middleweight boxing title from Marvin Hagler.
1994 - The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by extremists.
1998 - Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
1998 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 49.82 to close at 9,033.23 -- its first-ever close above 9,000.
2001 - Miller Park opens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2004 - Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.

April 6 Births

1483 - Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
1651 - André Dacier, French classical scholar (d. 1722)
1664 - Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (d. 1742)
1671 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
1725 - Pasquale Paoli, Corsican patriot and military leader (d. 1807)
1812 - Alexander Herzen, Russian writer (d. 1870)
1815 - Robert Volkmann, German composer (d. 1883)
1818 - Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet (d. 1870)
1820 - Nadar, French photographer (d. 1910)
1823 - Joseph Medill, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
1826 - Gustave Moreau, French painter (d. 1898)
1849 - John William Waterhouse, British painter (d. 1917)
1878 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
1884 - Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (d. 1950)
1890 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch designer of aircraft (d. 1939)
1892 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American industrialist (d. 1981)
1892 - Lowell Thomas, American travel writer (d. 1981)
1901 - Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian Catholic (d. 1925)
1902 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (d. 1989)
1903 - Mickey Cochrane, baseball player (d. 1962)
1903 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (d. 1990)
1911 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)
1920 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1926 - Sergio Franchi, Italian-born singer and actor (d. 1990)
1926 - Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)
1926 - Ian Paisley, Northern Irish politician
1927 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (d. 1996)
1928 - James D. Watson, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1929 - André Previn, German-born composer and conductor
1931 - Ivan Dixon, American actor and director
1933 - Roy Goode, British lawyer
1934 - Anton Geesink, Dutch judoka
1937 - Merle Haggard, American musician
1937 - Billy Dee Williams, American actor
1938 - Paul Daniels, English magician
1938 - Roy Thinnes, American actor
1941 - Phil Austin, American comedian
1941 - Zamfir, Romanian musician
1942 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
1944 - Felicity Palmer, English soprano
1947 - John Ratzenberger, American actor
1949 - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1951 - Bert Blyleven, Dutch Major League Baseball player
1952 - Udo Dirkschneider, German singer (Accept and U.D.O.)
1952 - Marilu Henner, American actress
1954 - Thom Bray, American actor
1955 - Michael Rooker, American actor
1965 - Frank Black, American singer and songwriter (Pixies)
1969 - Bison Dele, American basketball player (disappeared 2002)
1969 - Ari Meyers, Puerto Rican-born American actress
1970 - Olaf Kölzig, South African hockey player
1973 - Donnie Edwards, American football player
1973 - Rie Miyazawa, Japanese actress and singer
1975 - Zach Braff, American actor
1976 - Candace Cameron, American actress
1985 - Garrett Zablocki, American guitarist (Senses Fail)

April 6 Deaths

1199 - King Richard I of England (killed in battle) (b. 1157)
1362 - James I, Count of La Marche, French soldier (b. 1319)
1490 - King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
1520 - Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
1528 - Albrecht Dürer, German artist (b. 1471)
1551 - Joachim Vadian, Swiss humanist (b. 1484)
1571 - John Hamilton, Scottish prelate and politician
1590 - Francis Walsingham, English spymaster
1605 - John Stow, English historian
1655 - David Blondel, French protestant clergyman (b. 1591)
1686 - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English royalist statesman (b. 1614)
1707 - Willem van de Velde, the younger, Dutch painter (b. 1633)
1755 - Richard Rawlinson, English minister and antiquarian (b. 1690)
1829 - Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1802)
1838 - José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman and geologist (b. 1763)
1862 - Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (b. 1803)
1883 - Benjamin Raymond, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
1906 - Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
1935 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (b. 1869)
1961 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)
1963 - Otto Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1897)
1970 - Sam Sheppard, American accused murderer (b. 1923)
1971 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (b. 1882)
1974 - Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
1992 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (b. 1920)
1994 - Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
1994 - Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (b. 1956)
1996 - Greer Garson, Irish actress (b. 1904)
1998 - Wendy O. Williams, American musician (Plasmatics) (b. 1949)
1998 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (b. 1942)
2000 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
2003 - David Bloom, American reporter (pulmonary embolism) (b. 1963)
2003 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (b. 1927)
2004 - Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
2004 - Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Wife of LDS Prophet (b. 1911)
2005 - Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
2006 - Maggie Dixon, Women's basketball coach (b. 1976)

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