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April 6April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (97th in leap years). There are 269 days remaining. 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 in the church of St. Claire 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'tat.
- 1804 - The first scientifically recorded meteor lands in Possil, in north Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1808 - John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.
- 1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette Township, 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.
- 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 after 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
- 1893 - Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
- 1903 - The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) began, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the west.
- 1909 - Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole.
- 1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany (see Wilson's address to Congress (Wikisource)).
- 1926 - Walter Varney Airlines makes first commercial flight from Pasco, WA to Elko, NV. Varney is the root company of United Airlines.
- 1930 - Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he started 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.
- 1941 - World War II: Operation Castigo begins - Germany invades Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.
- 1968 - In London, United Kingdom, Massiel wins the thirteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Spain singing "La, la, la".
- 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".
- 1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard takes the middleweight boxing title from Marvin Hagler.
- 1993 - Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7.
- 1994 - The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvnal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by extremists.
- 1998 - Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
Births - 1483 - Rafael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
- 1815 - Robert Volkmann, composer (d. 1883)
- 1823 - Joseph Medill, mayor of Chicago, IL (d. 1899)
- 1866 - Butch Cassidy, outlaw (d. 1909)
- 1878 - Erich Mhsam, German author (d. 1934)
- 1884 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor (d. 1950)
- 1890 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch designer of aircraft (d. 1939)
- 1892 - Donald Wills Douglas, American industrialist (d. 1981)
- 1892 - Lowell Thomas, travel writer (d. 1981)
- 1903 - Mickey Cochrane, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1962)
- 1926 - Gil Kane, cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Ian Paisley, United Kingdom politician
- 1926 - Sergio Franchi, singer, actor (d. 1990)
- 1927 - Gerry Mulligan, musician (d. 1996)
- 1928 - James D. Watson, geneticist
- 1929 - Andr Previn, composer, conductor
- 1933 - Roy Goode, legal academic
- 1937 - Merle Haggard, country musician
- 1937 - Billy Dee Williams, actor
- 1938 - Paul Daniels, magician
- 1941 - Phil Austin, comedian
- 1941 - Hans W. Geissendrfer, German film director
- 1942 - Barry Levinson, producer, director
- 1944 - Felicity Palmer, English soprano
- 1947 - John Ratzenberger, actor (Cheers)
- 1951 - Bert Blyleven, baseball pitcher
- 1952 - Marilu Henner, actress
- 1955 - Michael Rooker, actor
- 1965 - Frank Black, a.k.a Charles Thompson, singer, songwriter (Pixies)
- 1969 - Bret Boone, Major League Baseball All-Star
- 1969 - Ari Meyers, actress
- 1970 - Olaf Klzig, NHL goalie
- 1976 - Candace Cameron, actress
Deaths - 1199 - King Richard I of England (b. 1157)
- 1520 - Rafael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
- 1528 - Albrecht Drer, artist (b. 1471)
- 1883 - Benjamin Raymond, mayor of Chicago, IL (b. 1801)
- 1906 - Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author
- 1935 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning poet (b. 1869)
- 1961 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist
- 1963 - Otto Struve, astronomer, (b. 1897)
- 1971 - Igor Stravinsky, composer (b. 1882)
- 1992 - Isaac Asimov, author, (b. 1920)
- 1992 - Molly Picon, actress
- 1994 - Juvnal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
- 1994 - Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (b. 1956)
- 1996 - Greer Garson, actress (b. 1904)
- 1998 - Tammy Wynette, country musician (b. 1942)
- 2000 - Habib Bourguiba, president of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- 2003 - David Bloom, NBC reporter in Iraq War (pulmonary embolism)
- 2003 - Babatunde Olatunji, jazz musician (b. 1927)
Holidays and observances External links
April 5 - April 7 - March 6 - May 6 -- listing of all days
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