May 6 is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 239 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, die fighting the forces of Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.
• 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English language Bibles be placed in every church.
• 1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
• 1659 – English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.
• 1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.
• 1757 – Battle of Prague – A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
• 1757 – English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
• 1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
• 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 becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1844 – The Glaciarium, the world's first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens.
• 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 Indian Independence.
• 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.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by Confederate troops.
• 1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1935 – The first flight of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk.

Hindenburg disaster

• 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.
• 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.
• 1945 – World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
• 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.
• 1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
• 1962 – St. Martín de Porres is canonized by Pope John XXIII.
• 1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
• 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
• 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.
• 1983 – The Hitler diaries are revealed as a hoax after examination by experts.
• 1984 – 103 Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul
• 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".
• 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 a lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, alleging that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.
• 1996 – The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
• 1997 – The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change 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.
• 2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
• 2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by an animal rights activist.
• 2004 – Aslan Abashidze, leader of Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara resigns after public protests and months of stalemate with the central authorities.
• 2010 – The second largest intraday point swing in Dow Jones Industrial Average history occurs.

Births

• 1405 – George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian hero (d. 1468)
• 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 – Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
• 1868 – Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
• 1871 – Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
• 1871 – Christian Morgenstern, German author (d. 1914)
• 1872 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (d. 1934)
• 1879 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist (d. 1952)
• 1880 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
• 1880 – Winifred Brunton, British-born South African painter (d. 1959)
• 1880 – William J. Simmons, American Ku Klux Klan leader (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany (d. 1951)
• 1895 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian Nazi (d. 1946)
• 1895 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian writer (d. 1974)
• 1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
• 1897 – Paul Alverdes, German writer (d. 1979)
• 1898 – Konrad Henlein, Czechoslovakian politician (d. 1945)
• 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, American restaurateur (d. 1977)
• 1904 – Raymond Bailey, American actor (d. 1980)
• 1904 – Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Harry Martinson, Swedish author and poet Nobel laureate (d. 1978)
• 1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (d. 2005)
• 1906 – André Weil, French mathematician (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Weeb Ewbank, American football coach (d. 1998)
• 1909 – Loyd Sigmon, American amateur radio broadcaster (d. 2004)
• 1911 – Frank Nelson, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1913 – Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Stewart Granger, English film actor (d. 1993)
• 1915 – Orson Welles, American film director and actor (d. 1985)
• 1915 – Theodore White, American writer (d. 1986)
• 1916 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist (d. 1997)
• 1916 – Sif Ruud, Swedish actress
• 1917 – Kal Mann, American lyricist (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Ross Hunter, American film producer (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Fijian statesman (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Martha Beck, American convicted murderer (d. 1951)
• 1921 – Erich Fried, German author (d. 1988)
• 1922 – Camille Laurin, Quebec psychiatrist and politician (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Vladimir Etush, Russian actor
• 1924 – Denny Wright, British guitarist (d. 1992)
• 1924 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American socialite (d. 2006)
• 1926 – Gilles Grégoire, Quebec politician, co-founder of the Parti Québécois (d. 2006)
• 1928 – Robert Poujade, French politician
• 1929 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2007)
• 1931 – Willie Mays, American baseball player
• 1934 – Richard Shelby, American politician
• 1936 – Bernard Lemaire, French Canadian businessman (Cascades)
• 1937 – Rubin Carter, American boxer
• 1938 – Jean Garon, Quebec economist and politician
• 1938 – Larry Gogan, Irish radio personality
• 1942 – Rin Kaiho, professional Go player
• 1943 – Andreas Baader, member of the German terrorist organization Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
• 1944 – Anton Furst, American production designer (d. 1991)
• 1944 – Masanori Murakami, first Japanese baseball player in major leagues
• 1945 – Richard Eyer, American actor
• 1945 – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
• 1945 – Bob Seger, American singer/songwriter
• 1947 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
• 1947 – Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
• 1948 – Mary MacGregor, American singer
• 1949 – Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., Armenian-American voice actor and cartoonist
• 1951 – Samuel Doe, President of Liberia (d. 1990)
• 1952 – Christian Clavier, French actor
• 1952 – Gregg Henry, American actor and country musician
• 1952 – Michael O'Hare, American actor
• 1952 – Gerrit Zalm, Dutch politician and CEO (ABN AMRO)
• 1953 – Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997–2007
• 1953 – Michelle Courchesne, Quebec politician
• 1953 – Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer/manager
• 1953 – Lynn Whitfield, American actress
• 1954 – Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
• 1954 – Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician
• 1955 – Tom Bergeron, American game show host
• 1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos, Greek comedian and scriptwriter
• 1958 – Lolita Flores, Spanish singer and actress
• 1960 – Roma Downey, Northern Irish actress
• 1960 – John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
• 1960 – Anne Parillaud, French actress
• 1960 – Phyllis Treigle, American soprano
• 1961 – George Clooney, American actor
• 1961 – Gina Riley, Australian actress, writer, singer and comedian
• 1962 – Adam Yellin, American record producer
• 1964 – Dana Hill, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1964 – Tony Scalzo, American musician (Fastball)
• 1965 – Leslie Hope, Canadian actress
• 1968 – Lætitia Sadier, French singer (Stereolab)
• 1969 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
• 1970 – Roland Kun, Nauruan politician
• 1970 – Kavan Smith, Canadian actor
• 1970 – Tristán Ulloa, Spanish actor
• 1971 – Chris Shiflett, American guitarist (Foo Fighters)
• 1972 – Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Naoko Takahashi, Japanese long-distance runner
• 1974 – Faruk Namdar, Turkish footballer
• 1977 – Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
• 1977 – Marc Chouinard, French Canadian ice hockey player
• 1977 – Mark Eaton, American ice hockey player
• 1978 – John Abraham, American football player
• 1978 – Fredrick Federley, Swedish politician
• 1978 – Aleksandr Fyodorov, Russian bodybuilder
• 1979 – Kerry Ellis, West End actress / singer
• 1979 – Nikki Hayes, Irish radio personality
• 1979 – Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
• 1979 – Stefanos Kotsolis, Greek footballer
• 1980 – Nicole Brunner, American actress
• 1980 – Mark Ladwig, American figure skater
• 1980 – Scott Colton, American professional wrestler
• 1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek basketball player
• 1980 – Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
• 1980 – Taebin, Korean singer (1TYM)
• 1980 – Kelly van der Veer, Dutch reality TV star
• 1981 – Matt Drake, British vocalist/guitarist (Evile)
• 1981 – Nicholas Setta, American Canadian football player (Hamilton Tiger-Cats)
• 1981 – Edyta Śliwińska, Polish dancer
• 1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
• 1983 – Adrianne Palicki, American actress
• 1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
• 1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious figure, the 17th Karmapa Lama (supported by the Chinese government)
• 1983 – Raquel Zimmermann, Brazilian model
• 1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
• 1985 – Tanerau Latimer, New Zealand All Black rugby player
• 1986 – Tyler Hynes, Canadian actor
• 1986 – Roman Kreuziger, Czech Astana pro cyclist
• 1987 – Moon Geun Young, South Korean actress
• 1989 – Dominika Cibulková, Slovakian tennis player
• 1990 – Caitlin Yankowskas, American figure skater
• 1991 – Valerio Frasca, Italian footballer
• 1991 – Tyler, The Creator, American Rapper
• 1996 – Dominic Scott Kay, American actor

Deaths

• 680 – Muawiyah I, Caliph of Umayyad (b. 602)
• 1475 – Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter (b. c. 1415)
• 1502 – James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of Edward V of England and the Duke of York (b. c. 1450)
• 1596 – Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
• 1620 – Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)
• 1631 – Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, English politician (b. 1570)
• 1638 – Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
• 1708 – François de Laval, French bishop (b. 1623)
• 1757 – Maximilian Ulysses Count 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)
• 1840 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian politician (b. 1792)
• 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)
• 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke, civil servant (b. 1829)
• 1882 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician (b. 1836)
• 1902 – Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
• 1910 – King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
• 1913 – Alexandros Schinas, Greek assassin of King George I (b. 1870)
• 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)
• 1963 – Monty Woolley, American actor (b. 1888)
• 1967 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (b. 1885)
• 1970 – Aleksandr Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)
• 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Turkish political activist (b. 1947)
• 1973 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian orchestra conductor and composer (b. 1893)
• 1975 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian Catholic Cardinal (b. 1892)
• 1983 – Kai Winding, American trombonist and jazz composer (b. 1922)
• 1984 – Bonner Pink, British Conservative Party politician (b. 1912)
• 1984 – Mary Cain, Mississippi newspaper editor and politician (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (b. 1968)
• 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)
• 1991 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
• 1992 – Gaston Reiff, Belgian athlete (b. 1921)
• 1992 – Jilly Rizzo, restaurateur (b. 1917)
• 1993 – Ann Todd, English actress (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)
• 1995 – Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança, Portuguese claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
• 2002 – Otis Blackwell, American pianist, singer and songwriter (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
• 2003 – Art Houtteman, baseball player (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher (b. 1912)
• 2004 – Barney Kessel, American jazz guitarist (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Lillian Asplund, last American RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1906)
• 2006 – Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist (b. 1926)
• 2006 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer, songwriter (The Go-Betweens) (b. 1958)
• 2006 – Lorne Saxberg, Canadian television journalist (b. 1958)
• 2007 – Enéas Carneiro, Brazilian politician (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Curtis Harrington, American film director (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Đorđe Novković, Croatian songwriter (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Kevin Grubb, American NASCAR driver (b. 1978)
• 2010 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • St. John at the Latin Gate
  • Dominic Savio
  • Evodius of Antioch (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Gerard of Lunel
  • Lucius of Cyrene
  • Petronax of Monte Cassino
  • St George's Day related observances (Eastern Orthodox Church):
    • Day of Bravery, also known as Gergyovden (Bulgaria)
    • Đurđevdan (Gorani, Roma)
    • Shën Gjergji (Albania and Kosovo)
    • Giorgoba (Georgian Orthodox Church)
    • Yuri's Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church)
  • May 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest day for Military Spouse Day, while May 12 is the latest, celebrated on the Friday before Mother's Day. (United States)
• International No Diet Day
• Martyrs' Day (Lebanon and Syria)
• The first day of Hıdırellez (Turkey)
• Police Day (Georgia)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada