May 6

Historic Events

2023

The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London. ›

2023

Eight people are killed and seven injured in a mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The perpetrator is killed by a police officer. ›

2013

Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. ›

2010

In just 36 minutes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges nearly 1,000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash. ›

2004

The final episode of the television sitcom Friends is aired. ›

2002

Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum. ›

2001

During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque. ›

1999

The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held. ›

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 fifth career start. ›

1998

Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac. ›

1997

The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history. ›

1996

The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared. ›

1994

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel. ›

1988

All thirty-six passengers and crew are killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashes into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy. ›

1984

One hundred and three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul. ›

1983

The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts. ›

1976

The 6.5 Mw Friuli earthquake affects Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured. ›

1975

During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide. ›

1972

Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order. ›

1966

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England. ›

1960

More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey. ›

1954

Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes. ›

1949

EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation. ›

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. ›

1942

World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese. ›

1941

At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show. ›

1941

The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. ›

1940

John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. ›

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. ›

1935

New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration. ›

1933

The Deutsche Studentenschaft attack Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books. ›

1916

Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha. ›

1916

Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island. ›

1915

Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run. ›

1915

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: The SY Aurora breaks loose from its anchorage during a gale, beginning a 312-day ordeal. ›

1910

George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII. ›

1906

The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar). ›

1901

The first issue of Gorkhapatra, the oldest still running state-owned Nepali newspaper, is published. ›

1889

The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris. ›

1882

Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin. ›

1882

The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act. ›

1877

Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska. ›

1863

American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with a major defeat of the Union's Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee. ›

1861

American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union. ›

1857

The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence. ›

1840

The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ›

1835

James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald. ›

1801

Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo. ›

1782

Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke. ›

1757

Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War. ›

1757

The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757). ›

1757

English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums. ›

1682

Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles. ›

1659

English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament. ›

1594

The Dutch city of Coevorden, held by the Spanish, falls to a Dutch and English force. ›

1542

Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time. ›

1541

King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose. ›

1536

The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish. ›

1527

Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. ›

1104

King Baldwin I of Jerusalem begins the siege of Acre, then held by the Fatimids. ›