Monday, 6th April 2026 in Lisbon

Welcome to your daily snapshot of Lissabon! Explore 61 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Lissabon. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in Lissabon brings drizzly with temperatures between 13°C and 23°C. Tonight's moon is in its waxing crescent phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Aries. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Monday, 6th April in Lissabon, PT.

Lisbon
Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL – CC BY-SA 2.0Wikimedia Commons

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, sits on the Tagus estuary on the country's western coast and is known for its historic neighbourhoods and strategic Atlantic location. On Monday, 6 April 2026, the city experiences drizzly weather. Astrologically, this date falls under Aries, the fire sign associated with initiative and determination. The moon is in its waxing crescent phase, a period traditionally linked to new beginnings and growth.

On this day

On 6 April 2009, a devastating earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more than 66,000 homeless. The same day also saw mass protests begin across Moldova against the results of the parliamentary election, reflecting broader political tensions in Eastern Europe during that period.

Nearly two decades earlier, on 6 April 1941, the Luftwaffe began Operation Retribution, bombing the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade in retaliation for a coup d'état that had overthrown the government that signed the Tripartite Pact. This attack marked a critical escalation in the Second World War's expansion into south-eastern Europe.

DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying current weather conditions, significant historical events, and notable births and deaths to give users a complete picture of what makes each day distinctive.

Find out what's happening today in Lissabon.

What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 6th April 2026

Drizzle

Sunrise 07:13
Sunset 20:04
Sunshine duration 07:13 hours
Daylight duration 12:50 hours

Maximum temperature 23.3°C
Minimum temperature 13.5°C

Wind speed 27km/h from SSE
Precipitation 3.1mm

Embers outlast the flame—endurance whispers where force shouts.

Fortune of the Day

6th April in the Stars – Star Sign Aries

Today, the zodiac sign Aries celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on April 6th embody pure Aries spirit: impulsive, passionate, and brimming with drive. They charge headfirst into new adventures and question consequences later. This directness makes them captivating yet occasionally exhausting companions to those around them.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their greatest asset is unbounded energy and pioneering courage—they dare what others won't attempt. The flip side: impatience and reactivity create hasty decisions. Strategic thinking isn't natural to them; emotional impulses often override logic and planning.

Love In relationships, these individuals are passionate and brutally honest. They seek partners who tolerate their intensity and respect their independence. Romance feels too slow to them; they crave immediate intensity and authentic connection above all else.

Caree & Finance Careers in dynamic, competitive fields appeal to them: entrepreneurship, sports, military, sales. They lead from the front and inspire through action. Financially, impulsive spending can derail goals; strategic planning channels their formidable energy productively.

Health These natives require intense physical activity to process excess energy effectively. Headaches and elevated blood pressure stem from constant inner agitation. Meditation and regular exercise aren't optional but essential for maintaining their physical and mental equilibrium.


That night, the moon was in its waxing crescent phase.


Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 6th April

Name Days in Your Language: Celesta, Celeste, Celestina, Celestine, Tyra


Someone born on this day would be just 58 days old today — roughly 1,413 hours, 84,788 minutes, or 5,087,290 seconds spent on Earth so far.


It's the 96. day of the year. In 2026, 6th April falls on a Monday.


There are 269 days still to come.


We’re currently in Week 15 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 6th April

On this day, 264 notable people were born on 6th April — spanning from 1135 to 2009. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

06/04/2009

Shaylee Mansfield, deaf American actress and YouTuber

Shaylee Ava Mansfield is an American actress. Mansfield, who is deaf, first gained recognition by making YouTube videos in which she told Christmas stories in American Sign Language. Mansfield appeared in an "Unforgettable Stories" video advertisement by Disney Parks, in which she met Minnie Mouse, who was learning sign language at Walt Disney World. The video quickly went viral and became one of Disney's most-watched advertisements.


Valentina Tronel, French child singer

Valentina Tronel, known mononymously as Valentina, is a French singer. She rose to prominence after she won Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020, becoming the first French entrant to win the contest. Previously, in 2017, she took part in the French version of The Voice Kids. Between 2018 and 2021, she was part of the child pop group Kids United Nouvelle Génération.


06/04/2002

Andrea Botez, Canadian-American chess player, commentator, Twitch streamer and YouTuber

Andrea Cecilia Cristina Botez is a Canadian chess player, commentator, DJ and internet personality. She is mostly known as part of the BotezLive Twitch channel with her sister Alexandra Botez. She is also credited as one of the creators who popularized chess on Twitch.


Leyre Romero Gormaz, Spanish tennis player

Leyre Romero Gormaz is a Spanish tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of No. 124 by the WTA, achieved on 7 April 2025, and a best doubles ranking of world No. 130, reached on 25 November 2024.


06/04/2001

Oscar Piastri, Australian racing driver

Oscar Jack Piastri is an Australian racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Piastri has won nine Formula One Grands Prix across four seasons.


Moritz Seider, German ice hockey player

Moritz Seider is a German professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman and alternate captain for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted sixth overall by the Red Wings in the 2019 NHL entry draft.


06/04/2000

Shaheen Afridi, Pakistani cricketer

Shaheen Shah Afridi is a Pakistani international cricketer who plays for the Pakistan national team. He is the captain of the national ODI team and previously captained the T20I team. A left-arm fast bowler, he made his international debut in 2018 and was named the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year in 2021, becoming the first Pakistani to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. He led Lahore Qalandars to Pakistan Super League titles in 2022, 2023, and 2025, becoming the first captain to win three championships.


Maxence Lacroix, French footballer

Maxence Guy Lacroix is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the France national team.


06/04/1998

Nicolás González, Argentine footballer

Nicolás Iván González is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Atlético Madrid, on loan from Serie A club Juventus, and the Argentina national team.


Peyton List, American actress and model

Peyton Roi List is an American actress. She began her career as a child model, and transitioned to acting with a minor role in the film 27 Dresses (2008) at the age of nine. She appeared in the films Remember Me and Bereavement, and achieved her breakout role as Holly Hills in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series (2011–2012). She gained further attention for portraying Emma Ross on the Disney Channel sitcom Jessie (2011–2015) and its spinoff Bunk'd.


Spencer List, American actor

Spencer W. List is an American actor. List is best known from the Fox show Fringe. He has played Carter in The Fosters and its spin-off Good Trouble. He has also been on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Jack Ketchum's Offspring.


Nahuel Molina, Argentine footballer

Nahuel Molina Lucero is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a right-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Argentina national team.


06/04/1997

Mingyu, South Korean singer and rapper

Kim Min-gyu, known mononymously as Mingyu (민규), is a South Korean rapper and singer. Managed by Pledis Entertainment, he is a member of the South Korean boy band Seventeen and its hip hop team, and in 2025, debuted in a sub-unit with S.Coups as CxM.


06/04/1996

Al-Musrati, Libyan footballer

Al-Mu'attasim Billah Ali Mohamed Al-Musrati, known simply as Al-Musrati, is a Libyan professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Serie A club Hellas Verona, on loan from Beşiktaş.


06/04/1995

Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player

Darya Vyacheslavovna Lebesheva is a Belarusian tennis player.


06/04/1994

Adrián Alonso, Mexican actor

Adrián Alonso Barona is a Mexican actor. As a child actor, he was best known for the movie The Legend of Zorro.


06/04/1992

Ken, South Korean singer

Lee Jae-hwan, known professionally as Ken (Korean: 켄), is a South Korean singer and actor, formerly signed under Jellyfish Entertainment. He is one of the members of the South Korean boy group VIXX, and has been widely praised for his unique, soulful, and husky vocal tone. Ken began his acting career in 2014 in MBC Every 1's comedy drama Boarding House No. 24 as Lee Jae-hwan.


Julie Ertz, American soccer player

Julie Beth Ertz is an American former professional soccer player. From 2014 to 2021, she played for National Women's Soccer League club Chicago Red Stars, and in 2023 she played for Angel City FC. A member of the United States women's national team from 2013 to 2023, she first appeared for the United States national team during an international friendly against Scotland on February 9, 2013, eventually making 123 total appearances for the team.


Huh Chan-mi, South Korean singer

Huh Chan-mi, also known mononymously as Chanmi, is a South Korean singer. Chanmi made her debut in 2010 as a member of a South Korean co-ed group Coed School and its female unit F-ve Dolls from 2011 until her departure from the group in February 2012. Chanmi briefly returned to training and appeared on the survival shows Produce 101 (2016) and Mix Nine (2017). Chanmi later signed FirstOne Entertainment in 2020 prior to release her debut solo single album, Highlight, later that year.


06/04/1990

Lachlan Coote, Australian rugby league player

Lachlan Coote is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League.


Charlie McDermott, American actor

Charles Joseph McDermott Jr. is an American actor and musician. After making his film debut in The Village (2004), McDermott had his breakout with a starring role in the crime drama film Frozen River (2008), earning him a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.


Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer

Andrei Veis is an Estonian retired international footballer who played as a defender and a midfielder.


06/04/1988

Jucilei, Brazilian footballer

Jucilei da Silva, known simply as Jucilei, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a central or defensive midfielder.


Leigh Adams, Australian footballer

Leigh Adams is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).


Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer

Daniele Gasparetto is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for ASD Sant'Agostino.


Carlton Mitchell, American football player

Carlton Lorange Mitchell is an American former professional football wide receiver. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played college football at South Florida.


Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer

Fabrice Ndala Muamba is a Congolese-born English former professional footballer who played for Arsenal, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers as a central midfielder. Born in Zaire, Muamba moved to England at the age of 11 and subsequently played for England up to under-21 level.


Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rican model and television host, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008

Ivonne Marie Orsini López is a Puerto Rican actress, model, tv host and beauty pageant titleholder. Her career began in the pageantry industry, but she has moved into other media. Orsini was one of the hosts of WAPA-TV show ¡Viva la tarde!. Currently, she is now the co-host of the Puerto Rican version of Hoy Día on Telemundo station WKAQ-TV.


06/04/1987

Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer

Benjamin Corgnet is a French former professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.


Heidi Mount, American model

Heidi Mount is an American fashion model, modeling for fashion houses such as Michael Kors, Bottega Veneta, Sonia Rykiel, Versace, and Valentino. She has appeared in campaigns for Chanel, Prada, and Bally.


Levi Porter, English footballer

Levi Roger Porter is an English footballer who most recently played for Melton Town.


Hilary Rhoda, American model

Hilary Rhoda Hollis is an American model. She is perhaps best known for her work with the brand Estée Lauder and her 2009, 2010 and 2011 appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.


06/04/1986

Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer

Nikolas Asprogenous is a Cypriot former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.


Aaron Curry, American football player

Aaron Curry is an American professional football coach and former linebacker who most recently served as the linebackers coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). Curry was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round in the 2009 NFL draft out of Wake Forest. Curry also played for the Oakland Raiders in 2011 and 2012.


Goeido Gotaro, Japanese sumo wrestler

Gōeidō Gōtarō is a former sumo wrestler from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in January 2005 and reached the top makuuchi division in September 2007. Long regarded as one of the most promising Japanese wrestlers in sumo, Gōeidō holds the modern record for the most consecutive appearances at sumo's third highest rank of sekiwake, at 14 tournaments. He was finally promoted to the rank of ōzeki following the July 2014 tournament, after scores of twelve wins against three losses in two of the previous three tournaments. However, he only managed to win ten or more bouts in a tournament as an ōzeki on six occasions, and was kadoban, or in danger of demotion, eight times. He won his only top division tournament in September 2016 with a perfect 15–0 record and was a runner-up seven times in his career. He retired in January 2020 after two consecutive losing records that would have seen him demoted, to become an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name of Takekuma.


Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer

Ryota Moriwaki is a Japanese football player who plays for Ehime FC.


06/04/1985

Fatau Dauda, Ghanaian footballer

Abdul Fatawu Dauda, known as Fatau Dauda, is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.


Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player

Clarke MacArthur is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was a left winger in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Atlanta Thrashers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was originally selected by Buffalo in the third round, 74th overall, at the 2003 NHL entry draft.


Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer

Franck Olivier Ongfiang is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.


Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor

Sinqua Walls is an American actor known for appearing in Friday Night Lights, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, American Soul, and White Men Can't Jump.


06/04/1984

Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter

Maxim Adam Bemis is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of the rock band Say Anything. He sang alongside Chris Conley in the supergroup Two Tongues. He plays alongside his former wife Sherri DuPree under the name Perma, and is a comic book writer, chiefly for Marvel Comics, creating X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever and Foolkiller: Psycho Therapy.


Michaël Ciani, French footballer

Michaël Henry Ciani is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre back.


Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer

Siboniso "Pa" Gaxa is a former South African football defender who played for Ajax Cape Town, Kaizer Chiefs F.C., Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. and the South African national team.


Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player

Diana Beverly Matheson is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played for the Canada national team from 2003 to 2020 and multiple professional women's teams over the course of her career. She is best known for scoring the bronze medal-winning goal for Canada in the 92nd minute against France at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games with the senior national team. Matheson was inducted to the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2025.


06/04/1983

Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer

Mehdi Ballouchy is a retired Moroccan professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently one of the coaching staff for New York City FC.


Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player

Jerome Kaino is a former New Zealand rugby union player.


Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer

Mitsuru Nagata is a Japanese retired football player. He played for Japan national team.


Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress

Remi Nicole Wilson, better known as Remi Nicole, is a British singer-songwriter and actress who was born in North London, but now resides in Los Angeles. She is best known for her single "Go Mr Sunshine", which was released in 2007. Her debut album, My Conscience and I, was released later that year and her second, Cupid Shoot Me, on 31 August 2009. As an actress she is credited as Remi Wilson.


James Wade, English darts player

James Martin Wade is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is ranked world number six; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2010. Widely regarded as one of the greatest ever darts players to have never won a world championship and the greatest left-hander in the history of the sport, Wade is a four-time PDC World Championship semi-finalist and eleven-time PDC major winner, placing him fourth in the all-time list behind Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler.


Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player

Katherine Marie "Katie" Weatherston is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and head coach of the Lebanese women’s national ice hockey team. As a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team, she won Olympic gold in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and medalled at two IIHF Women's World Championships.


06/04/1982

Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player

Travis Shawn Moen is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. He was selected in the fifth round, 155th overall, by the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2000 NHL entry draft and previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2007, San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens, and Dallas Stars.


Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor

Miguel Ángel Silvestre Rambla is a Spanish actor. He rose to prominence with his performance as El Duque in Sin tetas no hay paraíso.


06/04/1981

Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer

Robert Earnshaw is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, and for his country in an international match.


Jeff Faine, American football player

Jeffrey Kalei Faine is an American former professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cleveland Browns 21st overall in the 2003 NFL draft. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.


Lucas Licht, Argentine footballer

Lucas Matías Licht is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a left-back but also as a left winger.


Alex Suarez, American bass player

Cobra Starship is an American dance-rock band formed in New York City, New York, in 2005 by Gabe Saporta. He recorded the first album as a solo project, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. Saporta later enlisted guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist Alex Suarez, drummer Nate Novarro, and keytarist Victoria Asher, all of whom provide backing vocals.


06/04/1980

Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper

Jaakko Tommi Kristian Evilä is a Finnish former long jumper. He gained fame following his surprise bronze in the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, which was Finland's only medal in the championships.


Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier

Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.


06/04/1979

Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier

Lord Frederick Michael George David Louis Windsor is a member of the British royal family. He is the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and is 54th in the line of succession to the British throne. He is married to British actress Sophie Winkleman and is a financial analyst by profession. As a great-grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary, he is a second cousin of King Charles III.


Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster

Richard Clay Travis is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst, and the founder of OutKick.


06/04/1978

Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist

Imani Francesca Coppola is an American singer-songwriter and violinist. Her debut single "Legend of a Cowgirl" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in 1997. Her debut album, Chupacabra, released by Columbia Records, was praised by critics and appeared on the US Heatseekers Albums chart. In 2001, Coppola appeared as a guest artist on the Baha Men single "You All Dat", which broke the top 10 in Australia and gave Coppola her second entry on the Billboard Hot 100 to date.


Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer

Robert Andre Glasper is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger. His music embodies numerous musical genres, primarily centered around jazz. Glasper has won five Grammy Awards from 11 nominations.


Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster

Timothy Thomas Hasselbeck is an American sports journalist and former professional football player who is an analyst for ESPN. He played as a quarterback for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and Arizona Cardinals as well as the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe. He played college football for the Boston College Eagles. He is the younger brother of former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.


Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model

Myleene Angela Klass is a British musician, singer, television presenter, model, writer and designer. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released a solo classical crossover album in 2003, followed by additional "lullaby" albums from 2022 onward. Klass then went into television and radio presenting, hosting series including Popstar to Operastar (2010–2011) and BBQ Champ (2015) on ITV and The One Show (2007) on BBC One. She was a regular panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women in 2014 and again from 2024 onwards. In 2006, Klass was runner-up on the sixth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and returned in 2023 for the "all-stars" series I'm a Celebrity... South Africa, which she won.


Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter

Martín Méndez is a Uruguayan Swedish musician. He migrated to Sweden when he was 17 years old. He is the bassist of the progressive metal band Opeth and the second-longest-serving member of the band, behind frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. He founded the band White Stones in Barcelona in 2019.


Blaine Neal, American baseball player

Blaine Neal is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. Neal played with the Florida Marlins (2001–2003), San Diego Padres (2004), Boston Red Sox (2005), and Colorado Rockies (2005) of Major League Baseball (MLB). He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.


Igor Semshov, Russian footballer

Igor Petrovich Semshov is a Russian professional football coach and a former player.


06/04/1977

Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player

Ville Juhani Nieminen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward who played over 400 games in the National Hockey League.


Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach

George Andrew Phillips is an American baseball coach and former infielder. He played college baseball at Alabama for coach Jim Wells from 1996 to 1999 and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Cincinnati Reds. Phillips was raised in Demopolis, Alabama, where he played baseball for the Demopolis Academy Generals. Phillips was an All-American for the Tide.


06/04/1976

Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist

Candace Helaine Cameron Bure is an American actress, author and former talk show panelist best known as D.J. Tanner in Full House and Fuller House, Summer van Horne in Make It or Break It, and many Hallmark Channel original films—including the title character in their adaptations of the Aurora Teagarden novel series.


James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

James Richard Mullett, known professionally as James Fox, is a Welsh pop singer and musician. He represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul. In 2008, he wrote and recorded the Cardiff City F.C. FA Cup Final song, "Bluebirds Flying High".


Chris Hoke, American football player

Christopher L. Hoke is an American former professional football player. Hoke was a nose tackle for his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the BYU Cougars.


Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player

Georg "Goggi" Hólm is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to him being the most fluent English speaker in the band.


Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator

Hirotada Ototake is a Japanese writer from Tokyo, who has written in the memoir, fiction and sports journalism genres.


06/04/1975

Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Zachary Israel Braff is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as John Michael "J.D." Dorian on the NBC/ABC television series Scrubs, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005 as well as for three Golden Globe Awards from 2005 to 2007. He starred in The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000), The Last Kiss (2006), The Ex (2006), and In Dubious Battle (2016). He has done voice-work for Chicken Little (2005) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).


Hal Gill, American ice hockey player

Harold Priestley Gill III is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 NHL seasons with six different teams, winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.


06/04/1973

Donnie Edwards, American football player

Donnie Lewis Edwards Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, earning third-team All-American honors in 1994. He was selected by the Chiefs in the fourth round of the 1996 NFL draft.


Randall Godfrey, American football player

Randall Euralentris Godfrey is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). Godfrey played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs football and was selected in the 1996 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys with the 49th overall pick. He then played for the Tennessee Titans and the Seattle Seahawks.


Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress

Rie Miyazawa is a Japanese actress and former idol singer. She is regarded as one of Japan's top actresses, and her accolades include six Japan Academy Film Prizes and three Kinema Junpo Awards.


Sun Wen, Chinese footballer

Sun Wen is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a forward. She previously captained the China national team and the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA).


06/04/1972

Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter

Anders Thomas Jensen is a Danish screenwriter and film director. His film Election Night won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.


Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster

LuBara Dixon "Dickey" Simpkins is an American former professional basketball player best known for his tenure with the Chicago Bulls in the late 1990s. He is currently a commentator for Fox Sports.


06/04/1970

Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach

Olaf Kölzig is a South African-born German professional ice hockey goaltender and current goaltender coach and player development coach for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). With the exception of eight games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he played his entire 14-year NHL career with the Capitals.


Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer

Roy Mayorga is an American musician, best known as the drummer of heavy metal bands Soulfly, Hellyeah and Stone Sour and is currently the drummer for the industrial metal band Ministry.


Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer

Huang Xiaomin is a Chinese former breaststroke swimmer, whose best performance during her career was winning the silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She was born in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang. She admitted to have used doping substances during her active career and is now publicly opposed to it.


06/04/1969

Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager

Bret Robert Boone is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins. During his career, Boone was a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner. He is a third-generation professional athlete. His brother is Aaron Boone, manager of the New York Yankees.


Bison Dele, American basketball player (died 2002)

Bison Dele was an American professional basketball player who played center for the NBA's Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. Dele played college basketball for the Maryland Terrapins during 1987–1988 and for the Arizona Wildcats during 1988–1991 before being selected by the Magic with the 10th overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft. He won a championship with the Bulls in 1997.


Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver

Philipp Peter is a race car driver from Austria.


Paul Rudd, American actor

Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor. Rudd studied theatre at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his acting debut in 1991. He was included on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2019, and was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2021. The accolades he has received include a Critics' Choice Television Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.


Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist

Rush Spencer Wells is an American geneticist, anthropologist, author and entrepreneur. He co-hosts The Insight podcast with Razib Khan. Wells led The Genographic Project from 2005 to 2015, as an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society.


06/04/1968

Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic

Archon Fung is the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Democracy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and co-founder of the Transparency Policy Project. Fung served as an assistant professor of public policy at the Kennedy School from July 1999–June 2004, then as an associate professor of public policy at the Kennedy School from July 2004–October 2007, and finally as a professor of public policy from October 2007–March 2009 before being named as the Ford Foundation Chair of Democracy and Citizenship in March 2009. In 2015, he was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board.


Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver

Affonso Giaffone Neto is a Brazilian former racing driver. He is one of several racing drivers in his family; he is a cousin of Felipe Giaffone, and a cousin-in-law of Rubens Barrichello. His father Affonso Giaffone Jr. was also a racing driver.


06/04/1967

Julian Anderson, English composer and educator

Julian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.


Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer

Kathleen Barr is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for the voices of Marie Kanker and Kevin in Ed, Edd n Eddy, Dot Matrix in ReBoot, and Trixie Lulamoon and Queen Chrysalis in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She also voiced Henri Richard Maurice Dutoit LeFevbre in Liberty's Kids, Kaiko Nekton in The Deep, Wheezie in Dragon Tales, and Gelorum in Hot Wheels: World Race and its 4-film sequel AcceleRacers.


Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic

Tanya Byron is a British psychologist, writer, and media personality, best known for her work as a child therapist on television shows Little Angels and The House of Tiny Tearaways. She also co-created the BBC Two sitcom The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle with Jennifer Saunders, and still contributes articles to various newspapers.


Jonathan Firth, English actor

Jonathan Stephen Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in such British television productions as Middlemarch, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Victoria & Albert.


06/04/1966

Vince Flynn, American author (died 2013)

Vincent Joseph Flynn was an American author of political thriller novels featuring the fictional assassin Mitch Rapp. He was a story consultant for the fifth season of the television series 24. He died of prostate cancer on June 19, 2013.


Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer

Young Man Kang is a South Korean filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Kang directed and produced The Last Eve (2005), Soap Girl (2002), Cupid's Mistake (2001) and Kimchi Warrior (2009). He is the director and founder of Seoul Webfest.


06/04/1965

Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, known professionally as Black Francis and formerly Frank Black, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who is the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career releasing fifteen albums and forming his band, the Catholics. Pixies regrouped in 2004, and he declared his solo career to be over in 2013.


Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster

Sterling Sharpe is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, and played in the NFL from 1988 to 1994 with the Packers in a career shortened by a neck injury. He became an analyst for the NFL Network. He is the older brother of Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe. In 2025, Sterling Sharpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


06/04/1964

Tim Walz, American politician, Governor of Minnesota & vice presidential candidate

Timothy James Walz is an American politician, former educator, and Army National Guard veteran serving since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), which affiliates with the national Democratic Party, and was the party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.


06/04/1963

Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the UNASUR. Since 2017, he has been living with his family in Belgium.


06/04/1962

Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic

Iris Haeussler is a conceptual and installation art artist of German origin. She lives in Toronto, Canada. Many of Iris Haeussler's works are detailed, hyperrealistic installations that visitors can decode as narrative stories. Recurring topics in her work include historic, cultural, social and geographic origins; family ties, relationships, memory, history, trauma and obsession.


Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager

Marco Schällibaum is a Swiss football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Swiss Super League side Grasshopper Club Zürich, whom he saved from relegation.


06/04/1961

Rory Bremner, Scottish impressionist and comedian

Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner, is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political satire and impressions of British public figures. He is best known for co-starring with John Bird and John Fortune in the comedy sketch shows Rory Bremner...Who Else? and Bremner, Bird and Fortune, as well as being a team captain on the first two series of comedy panel show Mock the Week.


Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager

Peter Allan Jackson is a football manager and former player. He has previously had two spells as Huddersfield Town manager, whom he helped win the Division Three play-off in 2004, and he has also managed Lincoln City, before taking charge at his former playing club Bradford City in 2011.


06/04/1960

Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Warren Haynes is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey Betts Band. Haynes is also known for his associations with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, including touring with Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead. In addition, Haynes founded and manages Evil Teen Records.


Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player

Richard Wyllie Loe is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He won 49 international caps for New Zealand, the All Blacks, as a prop forward. He is a sports broadcaster on BSport, Radio Live and SKY Sport.


John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

John Paul Pizzarelli Jr. is an American jazz guitarist and vocalist. He has recorded over twenty solo albums and has appeared on more than forty albums by other recording artists, including Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Rosemary Clooney; his father, jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli; and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey.


06/04/1959

Gail Shea, Canadian politician

Anne Marie Gail Shea was a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Egmont from 2008 to 2015. She had previously been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 2000 to 2007, representing the electoral district of Tignish-DeBlois as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.


06/04/1958

Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator

Graeme Rowland Base is a British-Australian author and artist of picture books. He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.


06/04/1957

Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach

Giorgio Damilano is an Italian former race walker.


Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach

Maurizio Damilano is an Italian former race walker. He won 15 individual medals, at senior level, at the International athletics competitions.


Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator

Jaroslava Maxová is a Czech mezzo-soprano opera singer and vocal coach.


Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut

Major Paolo Angelo Nespoli is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2007, he first traveled into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist of STS-120. In December 2010 he again traveled into space aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft as an Expedition 26/27 flight engineer. Nespoli's third spaceflight was on board Soyuz MS-05, which launched in July 2017 for Expedition 52/53. He was also the European Space Agency's oldest active astronaut prior to his retirement in 2019.


06/04/1956

Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician

Michele Marie Bachmann is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 6th congressional district from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for president of the United States in the 2012 election, but dropped out after the Iowa caucuses.


Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (died 2013)

Normand Corbeil was a Canadian composer known for his work on films, video games and television.


Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer

Mudassar Nazar is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer with a career in Test cricket for Pakistan and in league cricket in Pakistan and England. He was an all-rounder and opening batsman who played 76 test and 122 one-day matches for Pakistan. After retiring from professional cricket, he has had a number of administrative positions in the cricketing world, including two stints as coach for Pakistan in 1993 and 2001, for Kenya and for several other teams. He was born in Lahore, Punjab.


Lee Scott, English politician

Lee Scott is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North from 2005 until his defeat at the 2015 general election. Scott is an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel. In the 2021 Essex County Council election he was elected to the ward of Chigwell & Loughton Broadway, and was narrowly re-elected to the successor seat of Chigwell & Buckhurst Hill East in 2026, surviving the Reform UK wave that toppled the 26-year Conservative administration.


Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist

Sebastian Spreng is an Argentine-born American visual artist and music journalist. He is a self-taught artist. He lives in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.


Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach

Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was considered to have a very good drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Indian batting line up in the late 70s and early 80s. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Vengsarkar also led the national side to 1988 Asia Cup victory. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. He went on to play until 1992.


06/04/1955

Rob Epstein, American director and producer

Robert P. Epstein, is an American director, producer, writer, and editor. He is known for directing numerous documentaries, several of them focusing on the LGBTQ community and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.


Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer

Michael Rooker is an American actor. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), and is best known for starring as Merle Dixon in the AMC series The Walking Dead (2010–2013) and as Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and its sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). He is a recurring collaborator of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume No.2 director and co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn, appearing in all of his films to date including Slither (2006), Super (2010) and The Suicide Squad (2021), along with the TV series Peacemaker.


Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer

Catherine Frederica "Cathy" Jones is a Canadian actress, comedian and writer. She is known for her work for 28 years on the Canadian television series This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Jones left the show in 2021.


06/04/1953

Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer

Patrick Doyle is a Scottish composer and occasional actor best known for his film scores. During his 50-year career in film, television and theatre, he has composed the scores for over 60 feature films. A longtime collaborator of actor-director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work on films such as Henry V, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Carlito's Way, Quest for Camelot, and Gosford Park, as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Thor, Brave, Cinderella, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.


Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter

Christopher Franke is a German film composer and electronic musician, as well as a former member of the electronic music band Tangerine Dream.


06/04/1952

Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter

Udo Dirkschneider is a German singer who first rose to fame with the heavy metal band Accept. After leaving the band in 1987, he formed the band U.D.O., in which he has also enjoyed commercial success.


Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author

Marilu Henner is an American actress, singer, and author. She began her career appearing in the original production of the musical Grease in 1971, before making her screen debut in the 1977 comedy-drama film Between the Lines. In 1978, Henner was cast in her breakthrough role as Elaine O'Connor Nardo in the ABC/NBC sitcom Taxi, a role she played until 1983 and for which she received five Golden Globe Award nominations.


Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (died 1992)

Michel Raymond "Bunny" Larocque was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League. He was a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens.


06/04/1951

Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster

Rik Aalbert Blyleven is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher and color commentator. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins, and from 1996 to 2020 was a color commentator for Minnesota Twins television broadcasts. Blyleven recorded 3,701 career strikeouts, the fifth-most in MLB history. He won 287 games, 27th-most all-time, and pitched 4,970 innings, 14th-most all-time. A renowned curveball pitcher, Blyleven was a two-time All-Star and World Series champion. In 2011, Blyleven was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (died 1990)

Jean-Marc Boivin was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, film maker and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paragliding, the creator of numerous first ascents and first ski descents in the Alps, a member of the team that broke the record for a sub-glacial dive and the first person to paraglide from the summit of Mount Everest, Boivin was a pioneer of extreme sports. He died from injuries incurred after BASE jumping off Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world.


Pascal Rogé, French pianist

Pascal Rogé is a French pianist.


06/04/1950

Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (died 2007)

Claire Morissette was a Canadian cycling advocate who fought for equal cyclists' rights in Montreal since 1976. She was a member of the group Le Monde à Bicyclette. Notable were the stunts they organized to raise consciousness of automobile transportation's negative impact on cities and their inhabitants, such as bringing snow skis and toboggans on subways to protest the exclusion of bicycles and a die-in on the corner of St. Catherine and University streets in which 100 people lay in the street adorned with fake blood and surrounded with wrecked bikes.


Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (died 2001)

Cleo Odzer was an American author and anthropologist known for her works exploring subcultures, including prostitution in Thailand, the hippie culture of Goa, and the emerging phenomenon of cybersex. Her works provided unique perspectives on subcultures often marginalized or misunderstood, blending personal experience with anthropological insight.


06/04/1949

Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (died 2016)

Alyson Judith Kirtley Bailes CMG was a British diplomat, political scientist, academic and polymath.


Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter

Patrick Pierre Hernandez is a French singer who had a worldwide hit with "Born to Be Alive" in 1979.


Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat

Ng Ser Miang is a Singaporean entrepreneur, diplomat, retired sailor, and sports administrator. He founded Trans-Island Bus Services in 1982 and is a board member of Singapore Press Holdings. Ng has been the vice-president of the Singapore National Olympic Council since 1990, and served as the president of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics organising committee. From 2009 to 2013, and again from 2020 to 2024, he served as a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee. In 2013, he was a candidate for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee, but lost to Thomas Bach. Domestically, Ng was a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) from 2002 to 2005, and served Singapore as the Ambassador to Norway and Hungary under prime ministers Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong.


Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Horst Ludwig Störmer is a German physicist, Nobel laureate and emeritus professor at Columbia University. He was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Daniel Tsui and Robert Laughlin "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations". He and Tsui were working at Bell Labs at the time of the experiment cited by the Nobel committee.


06/04/1947

John Ratzenberger, American actor and director

John Ratzenberger is an American actor, widely known for his role as Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers (1982-1993), for which he earned two Primetime Emmy nominations. Ratzenberger reprised the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis, an episode of Wings, as well as in an episode of Frasier. He has voiced various characters in several Pixar animated feature films including Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, Yeti the Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. franchise, The Underminer in The Incredibles franchise, Mack in the Cars franchise, Fritz in the Inside Out franchise, and many others.


André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter

André Weinfeld is a French and American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer, photographer, and journalist.


Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist

Michael Worboys is a British mathematician, computer scientist and composer.


06/04/1946

Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician

Sir Alexander Paul Beresford is a British–New Zealander politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Mole Valley in Surrey from 1997 to 2024. He previously served as MP for Croydon Central from 1992 to 1997.


06/04/1945

Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (died 2017)

Rodney Kevan Bickerstaffe was a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Public Employees (1982–1993) and UNISON (1996–2001), Britain's largest trade union at the time. He later became president of the UK National Pensioners Convention (2001–2005).


Peter Hill, English journalist

Peter Hill is a British journalist and a former editor of the Daily Express.


06/04/1944

Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano

Dame Felicity Joan Palmer,, is an English mezzo-soprano and music professor. She sang soprano roles until 1983.


Charles Sobhraj, French serial killer

Charles Sobhraj is a French serial killer, fraudster, and thief whose victims were mainly Western tourists travelling on the hippie trail of South Asia during the 1970s. He is of Sindhi and Vietnamese origin. He was known as the Bikini Killer because of the attire of several of his victims, as well as the Splitting Killer and the Serpent for "his snake-like ability to avoid detection by authorities".


06/04/1943

Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (died 2017)

Maxwell Frank Clifford was an English publicist and convicted sex offender who was particularly associated with promoting "kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers.


Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic

Roger Cook is a New Zealand-born British investigative journalist and television broadcaster. In 1997, he won a British Academy of Film & Television Arts special award "for 25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting", for his show The Cook Report.


Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player

Ian Robert MacRae is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth and centre, MacRae represented West Coast, Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1963 to 1970. He played 28 matches for the All Blacks—three as captain—including 17 internationals.


Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (died 2013)

Mitchell Wesley Melton was a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was the founder, organizer and original spokesman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, founded in 1969.


06/04/1942

Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Barry Lee Levinson is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). His other best-known works are Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.


Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (died 2017)

Anita Pallenberg was an Italian-German film actress, artist, and model. A style icon and "It girl" of the 1960s and 1970s, Pallenberg was credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones: she was the romantic partner of the Stones multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and later, from 1967 to 1980, the partner of Stones guitarist Keith Richards, with whom she had three children.


06/04/1941

Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic

Christopher Allsopp was a British economist. He was Director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies from 2006 to 2013, was emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, and a Reader in Economic Policy at the University of Oxford.


Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (died 2015)

Philip Baine Austin was an American comedian and writer, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre.


Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer

Hans W. Geißendörfer is a German film director and producer.


Angeliki Laiou, Greek-American Byzantinist and politician (died 2008)

Angeliki E. Laiou was a Greek-American Byzantinist and politician. She taught at the University of Louisiana, Harvard University, Brandeis University, and Rutgers University. She was the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Studies at Harvard University from 1981 until her death. From 2000 to 2002, she was also a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK): she served as Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs for six months in 2000.


Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager

Donald Ray Prudhomme, nicknamed "the Snake", is an American drag racer. He won the NHRA FC championship four times across a 35-year career.


Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer

Gheorghe Zamfir is a Romanian nai musician.


06/04/1940

Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet

Homero Aridjis is a Mexican poet, novelist, environmental activist, journalist, and former ambassador and ex-president of PEN International.


Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (died 2011)

Pedro Armendáriz Bohr was a Mexican actor. The son of actor Pedro Armendáriz, he had an extensive career in both Mexican and American films, appearing in over 200 productions between the 1960s and the 2010s. He was a two-time Ariel Award winner, Best Actor for Mina, Wind of Freedom (1977) and Best Supporting Actor for Herod's Law (1999).


06/04/1939

André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

André Ouellet, is a former longtime Liberal federal politician and cabinet member in Canada. Following his political career, he served as chairman of Canada Post.


John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive

John Sculley III is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and investor in high-tech startups. Sculley was vice-president (1970–1977) and president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), until he became chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc. in April 1983, a position he held until October 1993. In 1987, Sculley was named Silicon Valley's top-paid executive, with an annual salary of US$10.2 million.


06/04/1938

Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (died 2016)

Newton Edward Daniels, known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.


Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor

Roy Thinnes is an American former television and film actor best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the ABC 1967–68 television series The Invaders.


06/04/1937

Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2016)

Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield sound. With a career spanning over five decades, Haggard had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart.


Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician

Thomas Robert Veivers is an Australian former cricketer, teacher, politician and public administrator who played in 21 cricket Test matches between 1963 and 1967. He is the great-uncle of Jack Wildermuth.


Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer

William December Williams Jr. is an American actor, novelist and painter. He has appeared in over 100 films and television roles over six decades. He is best known for portraying Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise and has also appeared in critically acclaimed and popular titles such as Mahogany (1975), Scott Joplin (1977), and Nighthawks (1981), as Harvey Dent in Batman (1989) and The Lego Batman Movie (2017), The Last Angry Man (1959), Carter's Army (1969), The Out-of-Towners (1970), The Final Comedown and Lady Sings the Blues, Hit! (1973), Fear City and Terror in the Aisles, Alien Intruder (1993) and The Visit (2000).


06/04/1936

Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator

Helen Berman is a Dutch-Israeli visual artist. She was a textile designer in the 1960s and has been a painter and occasionally an art educator since the 1970s. She is well known in Israel and has exhibited also in Germany and the Netherlands. She created modern and postmodern art and has engaged in realistic impressionism and lyrical abstract expressionism.


Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic

Jean-Pierre Changeux is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins, to the early development of the nervous system up to cognitive functions. Although being famous in biological sciences for the MWC model, the identification and purification of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, the theory of epigenesis by synapse selection and the global neuronal workspace theory for conscious processing are also notable scientific achievements. Changeux is known by the non-scientific public for his ideas regarding the connection between mind and physical brain. As put forth in his book, Conversations on Mind, Matter and Mathematics, Changeux strongly supports the view that the nervous system functions in a projective rather than reactive style and that interaction with the environment, rather than being instructive, results in the selection amongst a diversity of preexisting internal representations.


06/04/1935

Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (died 2007)

Douglas Arthur Hill was a Canadian science fiction author, editor and reviewer. He was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of a railroad engineer, and was raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. An avid science fiction reader from an early age, he studied English at the University of Saskatchewan and at the University of Toronto. He married fellow writer and U. of S. alumna Gail Robinson in 1958; they moved to Britain in 1959, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor for Aldus Books. In 1967–1968 he served as assistant editor of the controversial New Worlds science fiction magazine under Michael Moorcock.


06/04/1934

Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (died 1996)

Enrique Álvarez Félix was a Mexican actor.


Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (died 2010)

Antonius Johannes Geesink was a Dutch 10th dan judoka. He was the first non-Japanese judoka to win gold at the World Judo Championships, a feat he accomplished in 1961 and 1965. He was also an Olympic Champion, having won gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Japan, and won a record 21 European Judo Championships during his career.


Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (died 2008)

Guy Peellaert was a Belgian artist, painter, illustrator, comic artist and photographer, most famous for the book Rock Dreams, and his album covers for rock artists like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones. He also designed film posters for films like Taxi Driver (1976), Paris, Texas (1984), and Short Cuts (1993). The band Frankie Goes to Hollywood took their name from Peellaert's painting, titled Frank Sinatra, which featured the headline "Frankie Goes Hollywood".


06/04/1933

Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic

Sir Royston Miles "Roy" Goode is an academic commercial lawyer in the United Kingdom. He founded the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. He was awarded the OBE in 1972 followed by the CBE in 1994 before being knighted for services to academic law in 2000.


Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium (died 2024)

Tom Chris Korologos was an American lobbyist, political advisor, and diplomat who served as the United States ambassador to Belgium.


Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (died 2007)

Eduardo Enabore Malapit was an American Democratic politician who served as Mayor of Kauaʻi, Hawaii. Elected for four consecutive two-year terms as mayor of Kauaʻi beginning in 1974, he was the first Filipino American mayor of any United States municipality. He was widely respected in Kauaʻi and throughout Hawaii for his belief in community service, and was known as "Mala" by friends and constituents.


06/04/1932

Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2013)

Thomas Connell Broden was a Canadian ice hockey forward. Broden is the only player to have won the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Championships and the Stanley Cup in the same year (1958).


Helmut Griem, German actor and director (died 2004)

Helmut Griem was a German film, television and stage actor, and director.


06/04/1931

Ram Dass, American author and educator (died 2019)

Ram Dass, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book Be Here Now, which has been described by multiple reviewers as "seminal", helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).


Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (died 2008)

Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III was an American actor, director, and producer best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, and for his starring roles in the 1964 independent drama Nothing But a Man and the 1967 television film The Final War of Olly Winter. In addition, he directed many episodes of television series.


06/04/1930

Qiu Dahong, Chinese coastal and offshore engineer, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (died 2025)

Qiu Dahong was a Chinese coastal and offshore engineer. He served as chief engineer of the Dalian Fishing Port, the New Dalian Port, the Qinhuangdao Petroleum Port, and many other projects. He was a professor of the Dalian University of Technology and directed the State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.


06/04/1929

Willis Hall, English playwright and author (died 2005)

Willis Edward Hall was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with his life-long friend Keith Waterhouse producing over 250 works. He wrote plays such as Billy Liar, The Long and the Short and the Tall, and Celebration; the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain; and television programmes including Budgie, Worzel Gummidge and Minder. His passion for musical theatre led to a string of hits, including Wind in the Willows, The Card, and George Stiles' and Anthony Drewe's Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure.


Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (died 1972)

Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies, as well as a prominent role in the famous opening "tracking shot" in Orson Welles' 1958 crime drama Touch of Evil.


André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2019)

André George Previn was a German and American conductor, composer, and pianist. His career had three facets: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved success, and the latter two were part of his life until the end. In movies, he arranged and composed music. In jazz, he was a celebrated pianist, accompanist to singers, and interpreter of songs from the "Great American Songbook". In classical music, he also performed as a pianist but gained television fame as a conductor, and during his last thirty years created his legacy as a composer.


Christos Sartzetakis, Greek jurist, supreme justice and President of Greece (died 2022)

Christos Sartzetakis was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990.


06/04/1928

James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2025)

James Dewey Watson was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he and Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, building on research by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".


06/04/1927

Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (died 1996)

Gerald Joseph Mulligan, also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. His piano-less quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the best cool jazz ensembles. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Several of his compositions, including "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers", have become standards.


06/04/1926

Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (died 1990)

Sergio Franchi was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Victor signed him to a seven-year contract and in October of that year Franchi appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed at Carnegie Hall. Sol Hurok managed Franchi's initial American concert tour.


Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (died 2000)

Gil Kane was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.


Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (died 2014)

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008.


Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (died 2018)

Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.


06/04/1923

Herb Thomas, American race car driver (died 2000)

Herbert Watson Thomas was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion.


06/04/1922

Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (died 1999)

Gordon Maitland Chater AM was an English Australian comedian and actor, and recipient of the Gold Logie, he appeared in revue, theatre, radio, television and film, with a career spanning almost 50 years.


06/04/1921

Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (died 2013)

Wilbur Marvin "Moose" Thompson was an American shot putter who won a gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics, leading an American sweep of the medals.


06/04/1920

Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (died 2009)

John Higson Cover Jr. was an American aerospace scientist who invented the taser stun gun.


Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021)

Edmond Henri Fischer was a Swiss-American biochemist. He and his collaborator Edwin G. Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various cellular processes. From 2007 until 2014, he was the Honorary President of the World Cultural Council. At the time of his death at age 101 in 2021, he was the oldest living Nobel Prize laureate.


06/04/1919

Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (died 1998)

Georgios Mylonas was a Greek Center Union politician and government minister. He was a close aide to Greek statesman and premier Georgios Papandreou, and was repeatedly elected deputy for the Ioannina seat with the Center Union. Mylonas had served as an undersecretary to the premier's office and education undersecretary from 1963 to 1965. He assumed the transport ministry in the first post-junta government in 1974 and was Minister for Culture from 1989 to 1990. Mylonas was the author of the book Escape From Amorgos, detailing his escape from the island, where he was exiled during the 1967-1974 military dictatorship. The escape was organized by his then, son-in-law Elias B.M. Kulukundis and his daughter Eleni Mylonas with the help of Maria Becket.


06/04/1918

Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (died 1982)

Alfredo Ovando Candia was a Bolivian military officer and political leader who served as the 48th president of Bolivia from 1965 to 1966 and 1969 to 1970. During his first term, he shared power with René Barrientos as co-president of a military junta.


06/04/1916

Phil Leeds, American actor (died 1998)

Phil Leeds was an American character actor. He appeared in many movies and television series, including guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Maude, The Monkees, Friends, Barney Miller, The Golden Girls, Everybody Loves Raymond, Boy Meets World and more.


Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (died 1987)

Vincent Ellis McKelvey was an American geologist and earth scientist. Recognized as an international authority on deep-sea mineral deposits, he spent 46 years with the United States Geological Survey. From 1968 to 1982, he served as scientific adviser and senior deputy to the United States delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference of the United Nations, where fellow delegates often depended on his ability to render complex scientific issues into plain English.


06/04/1915

Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (died 1990)

Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of Witkacy Prize – Critics' Circle Award (1989).


06/04/1913

Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (died 1993)

Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune was an American geographer who was the civil administrator of the Ryukyu Islands from 1962 to 1964, the first civilian to hold that office. He was president of the University of Vermont from 1964 to 1966.


06/04/1911

Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979)

Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen was a German biochemist. In 1964, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Konrad Bloch for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism while he was director of the Max-Planck Institute for Cellular Chemistry in Munich.


06/04/1910

Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (died 2018)

Barys Kit was a Belarusian-American rocket scientist.


06/04/1909

William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (died 1965)

William Marrion Branham was an American Christian minister and faith healer who initiated the post-World War II healing revival, and claimed to be a prophet with the anointing of Elijah, who had come to prelude Christ's second coming; He is credited as "a principal architect of restorationist thought" for charismatics by some Christian historians, and has been called the "leading individual in the second wave of Pentecostalism." He made a lasting influence on televangelism and the modern charismatic movement, and his "stage presence remains a legend unparalleled in the history of the Charismatic movement". At the time they were held, Branham's inter-denominational meetings were the largest religious meetings ever held in some American cities. Branham was the first American deliverance minister to successfully campaign in Europe; his ministry reached global audiences with major campaigns held in North America, Europe, Africa, and India.


Hermann Lang, German race car driver (died 1987)

Hermann Albert Lang was a German racing driver who raced motorcycles, Grand Prix cars, and sports cars.


06/04/1908

Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (died 1994)

Marcel-Marie Desmarais,, was a Quebec writer, preacher and broadcaster. A member of the Roman Catholic Dominican Order, he became a personality through his popular books and radio and TV programs in Quebec. He was also sent as missionary to Brazil during the 1940s.


Ernie Lombardi, American baseball player (died 1977)

Ernesto Natali Lombardi was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Brooklyn Robins, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, and New York Giants during a career that spanned 17 years, from 1931 through 1947. He had several nicknames, including "Schnozz", "Lumbago", "Bocci", "the Cyrano of the Iron Mask", and "Lom". He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.


06/04/1906

Virginia Hall, American who was a spy in France for the UK and US during WWII (died 1982)

Virginia Hall Goillot DSC, Croix de Guerre,, code name Bookworm, was an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II.


06/04/1904

Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (died 1988)

Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician and lawyer who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became chancellor, he served as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966 and as President of the Bundesrat from 1962 to 1963. He was chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1967 to 1971.


Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (died 1966)

Erwin Komenda was an Austrian automobile designer and Porsche employee, and a lead contributor to the design of the bodies for the VW Beetle and various Porsche sports cars.


06/04/1903

Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (died 1962)

Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane, nicknamed "Black Mike", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his first season as manager, he led the Tigers to 101 wins, which was the most for a rookie manager for 27 years.


Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (died 1990)

Harold Eugene Edgerton, also known as Papa Flash, was an American scientist and researcher, a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep-sea photography, and his equipment was used in collaboration with Jacques Cousteau in searches for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness Monster.


06/04/1902

Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1933)

Julien Torma was credited as a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the Dadaist movement.


06/04/1901

Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (died 1925)

Pier Giorgio Frassati was an Italian Catholic activist and a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. He was dedicated to social justice issues and joined several charitable organizations, including Catholic Action and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, to better aid the poor and less fortunate living in his hometown of Turin.


06/04/1900

Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (died 1984)

Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938, and with Jule Styne on "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend".


06/04/1898

Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (died 1920)

Jeanne Hébuterne was a French painter and art model best known as the frequent subject and common-law wife of the artist Amedeo Modigliani. She died by suicide two days after Modigliani's death, and is now buried beside him.


06/04/1895

Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1960)

Dudley Nichols was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1938.


06/04/1892

Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (died 1981)

Donald Wills Douglas Sr. was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.


Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (died 1981)

Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and documentary filmmaker, known as a world traveler. He authored more than fifty non-fiction books, mostly travel narratives and popular biographies of explorers and military men. Between 1930 and the mid-1970s, Thomas appeared regularly on radio and occasionally on television as a travel and news commentator. Until the 1950s, he was a narrator of Movietone newsreels shown in cinemas.


06/04/1890

Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (died 1939)

Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Dr.1 triplane and the D.VII biplane.


06/04/1888

Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (died 1976)

Hans Johannes Siegfried Richter was a German Dada painter, graphic artist, avant-garde film producer, and art historian. In 1965 he authored the book Dadaism about the history of the Dada movement. He was born in Berlin into a well-to-do family and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland.


Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (died 1967)

Gerhard Georg Bernhard Ritter was a German historian who served as a professor of history at the University of Freiburg from 1925 to 1956. He studied under Professor Hermann Oncken. A Lutheran, he first became well known for his 1925 biography of Martin Luther and hagiographic portrayal of Prussia. A member of the German People's Party during the Weimar Republic, he was a lifelong monarchist and remained sympathetic to the political system of the defunct German Empire.


06/04/1886

Athenagoras I of Constantinople (died 1972)

Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, born Aristocles Matthaiou Spyrou, was the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from November 1948, until his death in July 1972, serving as the primus inter pares and spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christianity worldwide.


Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (died 1946)

Walter Edward Dandy was an American neurosurgeon and scientist. He is considered one of the founding fathers of neurosurgery, along with Victor Horsley and Harvey Cushing. Dandy is credited with numerous neurosurgical discoveries and innovations, including the description of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, surgical treatment of hydrocephalus, the invention of air ventriculography and pneumoencephalography, the description of brain endoscopy, the establishment of the first intensive care unit, and the first clipping of an intracranial aneurysm, which marked the birth of cerebrovascular neurosurgery.


Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (died 1967)

Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was the last Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and ruled the State of Hyderabad until 1948, when the Indian Union annexed it. He was styled as His Exalted Highness (H.E.H) the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was widely considered one of the world's wealthiest people of all time. With some estimates placing his wealth at 2% of U.S. GDP, his portrait was on the cover of Time magazine in 1937. As a semi-autonomous monarch, he had his mint, printing his currency, the Hyderabadi rupee, and had a private treasury that was said to contain £100 million in gold and silver bullion, and a further £400 million of jewels. The major source of his wealth was the Golconda mines, the only supplier of diamonds in the world at that time. Among them was the Jacob Diamond, valued at some £50 million, and used by the Nizam as a paperweight.


06/04/1884

J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (died 1927)

John Godfrey Parry Thomas was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record.


06/04/1881

Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (died 1953)

Karl Gustaf Vilhelm Staaf was a Swedish track and field athlete and tug of war competitor who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Stockholm and died in Motala.


06/04/1878

Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (died 1934)

Erich Mühsam was a German antimilitarist anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic, for which he served five years in prison.


06/04/1869

Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (died 1951)

Levon Shant was an Armenian playwright, novelist, poet and founder of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society.


06/04/1866

Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (died 1931)

Félix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927.


06/04/1864

William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (died 1934)

Sir William Bate Hardy, FRS was a British biologist and food scientist. The William Bate Hardy Prize is named in his honour.


06/04/1861

Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (died 1897)

Stanislas de Guaita was a French poet based in Paris, an expert on esotericism and European mysticism, and an active member of the Rosicrucian Order. He was very celebrated and successful in his time. He had many disputes with other people who were involved with occultism and magic. Occultism and magic were part of his novels.


06/04/1860

René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (died 1945)

René Jules Lalique was a French jeweller, medallist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments.


06/04/1857

Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (died 1922)

Arthur Wesley Dow was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator.


06/04/1855

Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (died 1930)

Charles Édouard Masson Huot was a French-Canadian painter and illustrator based in Quebec City.


06/04/1852

Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (died 1921)

William Crooks was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London, and a member of the Fabian Society. He is particularly remembered for his campaigning work against poverty and inequality.


06/04/1851

Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (died 1932)

Camille Guillaume Bigourdan was a French astronomer.


06/04/1844

William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (died 1913)

Sir William John Lyne KCMG was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best known as the subject of the so called "Hopetoun Blunder", unexpectedly being asked to serve as the first Prime Minister of Australia but proving unable to form a government.


06/04/1826

Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (died 1898)

Gustave Moreau was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence". He was an influential forerunner of symbolism in the visual arts in the 1860s, and at the height of the symbolist movement in the 1890s, he was among the most significant painters. Art historian Robert Delevoy wrote that Moreau "brought symbolist polyvalence to its highest point in Jupiter and Semele." He was a prolific artist who produced over 15,000 paintings, watercolors, and drawings. Moreau painted allegories and traditional biblical and mythological subjects favored by the fine art academies. J. K. Huysmans wrote, "Gustave Moreau has given new freshness to dreary old subjects by a talent both subtle and ample: he has taken myths worn out by the repetitions of centuries and expressed them in a language that is persuasive and lofty, mysterious and new." The female characters from the Bible and mythology that he so frequently depicted came to be regarded by many as the archetypical symbolist woman. His art fell from favor and received little attention in the early 20th century but, beginning in the 1960s and 70s, he has come to be considered among the most paramount of symbolist painters.


06/04/1824

George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1906)

George Marsden Waterhouse was a Premier of South Australia from 8 October 1861 until 3 July 1863 and the seventh premier of New Zealand from 11 October 1872 to 3 March 1873.


06/04/1823

Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (died 1899)

Joseph Medill was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and he was Mayor of Chicago from after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 until 1873.


06/04/1820

Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (died 1910)

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known by the pseudonym Nadar or Félix Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist who was a proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs. Photographic portraits by Nadar are held by many of the great national collections of photographs. His son, Paul Nadar, continued the studio after his death.


06/04/1818

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (died 1870)

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje was a Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål.


06/04/1815

Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (died 1883)

Friedrich Robert Volkmann was a German composer.


06/04/1812

Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (died 1870)

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism. With his writings, many composed while exiled in London, he attempted to influence the situation in Russia, contributing to a political climate that led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. He published the important social novel Who is to Blame? (1845–46). His autobiography, My Past and Thoughts, is often considered one of the best examples of that genre in Russian literature.


06/04/1810

Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (died 1888)

Philip Henry Gosse, known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, prolific author, "Father of the Aquarium", scientific illustrator, lecturer, entrepreneur, and pioneer in the study of marine biology and ornithology. Gosse created and stocked the world's first public marine aquarium at London Zoo in 1853, and coined the term "aquarium". His 1854 work The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea was the catalyst for the aquarium craze in mid-Victorian England. Over thirty years later, Gosse co-authored a three-volume work on Rotifera considered at the time "the most complete and exhaustive history of the Rotifera in any language", with drawings of "extreme minuteness, accuracy, and beauty".


06/04/1787

Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (died 1862)

Celestina Cordero, was an educator who in 1802 founded a school for girls "escuela de amigas" in San Juan, Puerto Rico.


06/04/1773

James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (died 1836)

James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote The History of British India (1817) and was one of the prominent historians to take a colonial approach. He was the first writer to divide Indian history into three parts: Hindu, Muslim and British, a classification which has proved surpassingly influential in the field of Indian historical studies.


06/04/1766

Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (died 1853)

Wilhelm von Kobell was a German painter, printmaker and teacher.


06/04/1741

Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (died 1794)

Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort, was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's sister Madame Élisabeth, and of the Jacobin club.


06/04/1726

Gerard Majella, Italian saint (died 1755)

Gerard Majella was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.


06/04/1725

Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (died 1807)

Filippo Antonio Pasquale de' Paoli was a Corsican patriot, statesman, and military leader who was at the forefront of resistance movements against the Genoese and later French rule over the island. He became the President of the Executive Council of the General Diet of the People of Corsica and wrote the Constitution of the state.


06/04/1708

Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (died 1772)

Johann Adam Joseph Karl Georg Reutter, during his life known as Georg Reutter the Younger was an Austrian composer. According to David Wyn Jones, in his prime he was "the single most influential musician in Vienna".


06/04/1706

Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (died 1759)

Louis de Cahusac was an 18th-century French playwright, librettist, and Freemason. He is most famous for his work with the composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. He provided the libretti for several of Rameau's operas, namely Les fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour (1747), Zaïs (1748), Naïs (1749), Zoroastre, La naissance d'Osiris (1754), and Anacréon. He is also credited with writing the libretto of Rameau's final work, Les Boréades. Cahusac contributed to the Encyclopédie and was the lover of Marie Fel.


06/04/1672

André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (died 1749)

André Cardinal Destouches was a French composer best known for the opéra-ballet Les élémens.


06/04/1671

Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (died 1741)

Jean-Baptiste Rousseau was a French playwright and poet, particularly noted for his cynical epigrams.


06/04/1664

Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (died 1742)

Count Arvid Bernhard Horn af Ekebyholm was a Swedish general, diplomat and politician, a member of the noble Horn family. He served twice as president of the privy council chancellery and was one of the leading figures of the Swedish Age of Liberty.


06/04/1660

Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (died 1722)

Johann Kuhnau was a German polymath, known primarily as a composer today. He was also active as a novelist, translator, lawyer, and music theorist, and was able to combine these activities with his duties in his official post as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which he occupied for 21 years. Much of his music, including operas, masses, and other large-scale vocal works, is lost. His reputation today rests on his Biblical Sonatas, a set of programmatic keyboard sonatas published in 1700, in which each sonata depicted in detail a particular story from the Bible. After his death, Kuhnau was succeeded as Thomaskantor by Johann Sebastian Bach.


06/04/1651

André Dacier, French scholar and academic (died 1722)

André Dacier was a French classical scholar and editor of texts. He began his career with an edition and commentary of Festus's De verborum significatione, and was the first to produce a "readable" text of the 20-book work. His wife was the influential classical scholar and translator, Anne Dacier.


06/04/1632

Maria Leopoldine of Austria (died 1649)

Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Tyrol was by birth Archduchess of Austria and member of the Tyrolese branch of the House of Habsburg and by marriage the second spouse of her first cousin, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. As such, she was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, German queen and queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia. She died in childbirth, aged 17.


06/04/1573

Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (died 1643)

Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was a German member of the House of Welf and the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg by marriage.


06/04/1342

Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa

Maria of Portugal was a Portuguese infanta (princess) member of the House of Burgundy and by marriage marchioness of Tortosa and lady of Albarracín.


06/04/1135

Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, died 1204)

Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi who is widely acknowledged as one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.


Lives Remembered on 6th April

On 6th April, 119 remarkable people passed away — from 861 to 2026. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

06/04/2026

Nick Pope, British UFO writer (born 1965)

Nicholas George Pope, was an English UFO investigator, author, media commentator and civil servant. He was a regular guest on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens, and while employed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was responsible for investigating UFO phenomena. He has been called the real-life Fox Mulder of The X-Files.


06/04/2025

Clem Burke, American drummer (born 1954)

Clement Anthony Burke was an American musician best known as the drummer for the band Blondie. He joined the band shortly after its formation in 1975 and remained with Blondie throughout the band's entire career until his death in 2025. He appeared on all of the band's albums with two of the founding members, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. He was drummer for the Ramones for a brief time in 1987 under the name Elvis Ramone, and played on albums by other artists, including Eurythmics, Bob Dylan and Iggy Pop. He was a member of the Romantics from 1990 until 2004.


Jay North, American actor (born 1951)

Jay Waverly North Jr. was an American actor and later a corrections officer after retiring from acting. His career as a child actor began in the late 1950s, and he went on to appear in eight TV series, two variety shows, and three feature films. At age seven, he became a household name for his role as the good-natured but mischievous Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace (1959–1963), based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham.


06/04/2024

Joseph E. Brennan, American politician, 70th Governor of Maine (born 1934)

Joseph Edward Brennan was an American lawyer and politician from Maine. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 70th governor of Maine from 1979 to 1987 and in the United States House of Representatives for Maine's 1st congressional district from 1987 to 1991. Brennan was a commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission during the Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations.


06/04/2022

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian and Soviet politician (born 1946)

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky was a Russian right-wing populist politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) from its creation in 1992 until his death in 2022.


Jill Knight, British politician (born 1923)

Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1966 to 1997. She was created a life peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire, in 1997 after she had stood down at that year's general election, and retired from the House of Lords in 2016.


06/04/2021

Hans Küng, Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author (born 1928)

Hans Küng was a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author. He was a leading and often controversial figure in modern Catholic thought, known for his critique of papal infallibility and his advocacy of a re-examination of Catholic doctrine. He served as a theological adviser (''peritus'') at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and was Professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Tübingen from 1960 until his retirement in 1996.


Alcee Hastings, American politician (born 1936)

Alcee Lamar Hastings was an American politician and judge from the state of Florida.


06/04/2020

Al Kaline, American baseball player, broadcaster and executive (born 1934)

Albert William Kaline, nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played his entire 22-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kaline played in the outfield, mainly as a right fielder where he won ten Gold Glove Awards and was known for his strong throwing arm. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games, including selections each year between 1955 and 1967. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 in his first year of eligibility.


06/04/2019

Michael O'Donnell, British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster (born 1928)

Michael O'Donnell was a British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster.


06/04/2017

Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (born 1926)

Donald Jay Rickles was an American actor and stand-up comedian known primarily for his insult comedy. His film roles include Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), Enter Laughing (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), and Casino (1995). From 1976 to 1978, Rickles had a two-season starring role in the NBC television sitcom C.P.O. Sharkey, having previously starred in two eponymous half-hour programs, an ABC variety series titled The Don Rickles Show (1968) and a CBS sitcom identically titled The Don Rickles Show (1972). A veteran headline performer at Las Vegas hotel-casinos and peripheral member of the Rat Pack via friendship with Frank Sinatra, Rickles received widespread exposure as a frequent guest on talk and variety shows, including The Dean Martin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Late Show with David Letterman, and voiced Mr. Potato Head in the first three films of the Toy Story franchise (1995–2010), with archive recordings used for Toy Story 4 (2019). He won a Primetime Emmy Award for the 2006 documentary film titled Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. In 2014, he was honored by fellow comedians in a show at the Apollo Theater, which was taped and released on Spike TV titled Don Rickles: One Night Only.


06/04/2016

Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1937)

Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield sound. With a career spanning over five decades, Haggard had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart.


06/04/2015

Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician (born 1924)

Giovanni Berlinguer was an Italian politician, humanist, and professor of social medicine.


James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1926)

Jewel Franklin Guy, known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. During a career that spanned more than 60 years, Best, who was known for his high-pitched, exasperated voice, performed not only in feature films, but also in scores of television series.


Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (born 1918)

Ray Charles was an American musician, singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and conductor who was best known as organizer and leader of the Ray Charles Singers, who accompanied Perry Como on his records and television shows for 35 years and were also known for a series of 30 choral record albums produced in the 1950s and 1960s for the MGM, Essex, Decca and Command labels.


Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1929)

Joseph Dollard Herve St. Laurent was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman.


06/04/2014

Mary Anderson, American actress (born 1918)

Mary Bebe Anderson was an American actress, who appeared in 31 films and 22 television productions between 1939 and 1965. She was best known for her small supporting role in the film Gone With the Wind as well as one of the main characters in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 film Lifeboat.


Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (born 1926)

Jacques Castérède was a French composer and pianist.


Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (born 1922)

Liv Dommersnes was a Norwegian actress and reciter of poetry. She was a member of group that founded Studioteatret in 1945.


Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (born 1920)

Mickey Rooney was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era. He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career ultimately marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized the mainstream United States self-image.


Chuck Stone, American soldier, journalist, and academic (born 1924)

Charles Sumner "Chuck" Stone, Jr. was an American pilot, newspaper editor, journalism professor, and author. He was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and was the first president of the National Association of Black Journalists, serving in office from 1975 to 1977. Passionate about racial issues and supportive of many liberal causes, he refused to follow any party line, "but called the issues as he saw them."


Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (born 1943)

Massimo Tamburini was an Italian motorcycle designer for Cagiva, Ducati, and MV Agusta, and one of the founders of Bimota. Tamburini's designs are iconic in their field, with one critic calling him the "Michelangelo of motorbike design". His Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4 were included in the Guggenheim Museum's The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit of 1998–1999.


06/04/2013

Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian physician and politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (born 1921)

Dame Hilda Louisa Bynoe, DBE was the Governor of Grenada between 1968 and 1974.


Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (born 1931)

William Henry Guttridge was an English professional football player and manager.


Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (born 1946)

José Juan Bigas Luna was a Spanish film director, designer and artist. His films are typically characterised by a strong emphasis on the erotic, often related to food, something for which he admitted a strong passion. His work often explores and parodies clichés of Spanish identity, but he had an international career and made films in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French and English.


Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (born 1946)

Ottmar Schreiner was a German lawyer and left-wing politician. He was known as one of the leading leftists in his party, SPD.


06/04/2012

Roland Guilbault, American admiral (born 1934)

Roland George "Gil" Guilbault was an American U.S. Navy rear admiral who commanded the USS Ticonderoga, the first Aegis cruiser. In 1987, he served as a battle force commander aboard the USS Eisenhower. He retired as a rear admiral in 1994.


Thomas Kinkade, American painter and illustrator (born 1958)

William Thomas Kinkade III was an American painter of popular realistic, pastoral, and idyllic subjects. He is notable for achieving success during his lifetime with the mass marketing of his work as printed reproductions and other licensed products by means of the Thomas Kinkade Company. According to Kinkade's company, at one point one in every 20 American homes owned a copy of one of his paintings.


Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist and academic (born 1936)

Fang Lizhi was a Chinese astrophysicist, vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and activist whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986–87 and, finally, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Fang was considered as one of the leaders of the New Enlightenment in the 1980s. Because of his activism, he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in January 1987. For his work, Fang was a recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1989, given each year. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980, but his position was revoked after 1989.


Sheila Scotter, Australian fashion designer and journalist (born 1920)

Sheila Winifred Gordon Scotter, AM, MBE was an Australian businesswoman. She was a fashion designer and third editor of the Vogue Australia magazine. She also founded the Vogue Living magazine. She was famous for always wearing black and white clothing and leaving her hair silver. This earned her the nickname, the Silver Duchess. She was honoured for her journalism and her fundraising for opera.


Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (born 1919)

Edward Reed Whittemore Jr. was an American poet, biographer, critic, literary journalist and college professor. He was appointed the sixteenth and later the twenty-eighth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1964, and in 1984.


06/04/2011

Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (born 1931)

Gerald Perry Finnerman was an American cinematographer who worked on TV series such as Moonlighting and the original Star Trek. He served as vice president of the American Society of Cinematographers, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography in Entertainment Programming for a Special.


06/04/2010

Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (born 1945)

Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Indigenous Americans. After high school, she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s, she was employed as a social worker, focusing mainly on children's issues.


Corin Redgrave, English actor (born 1939)

Corin William Redgrave was an English actor. He was also a left-wing activist, co-founding the Marxist Party with his sister Vanessa Redgrave.


06/04/2009

J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (born 1919)

James Maurice Stockford Careless was a Canadian historian. He taught history at the University of Toronto for 39 years, from 1945 until his retirement in 1984, and served as Chairman of the History Department from 1959 to 1967. He was known for his work in Canadian history, particularly his elaboration of the metropolitan-hinterland thesis and his studies on urban history. He twice won the Governor General's Awards for English-language non-fiction books for Canada: A Story of Challenge (1953) and his biography Brown of the Globe (1963).


Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player and coach (born 1982)

Shawn Mackay was an Australian rugby union player with the Canberra based Brumbies in the Super 14 competition. He was the son of former Eastern Suburbs rugby league player John Mackay.


06/04/2007

Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (born 1916)

Luigi Comencini was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre.


06/04/2006

Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (born 1977)

Margaret Mary Dixon was an American collegiate women's basketball coach.


Francis L. Kellogg, American soldier and diplomat (born 1917)

Francis Leonard Kellogg was an American diplomat, a special assistant to the Secretary of State during the Nixon and Ford Administrations and a prominent socialite in New York City.


Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor and director (born 1926)

Stefanos Stratigos was a Greek actor in film and television.


06/04/2005

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (born 1923)

Rainier III was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years.


Anthony F. DePalma, American orthopedic surgeon and professor (born 1904)

Anthony F. DePalma was an American orthopedic surgeon and professor at Thomas Jefferson University, as well as the founder of the orthopedic department at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. DePalma was a commander in the US Navy during World War II, an author of numerous medical manuscripts and textbooks, and the creator and first editor-in-chief of the medical journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.


06/04/2004

Lou Berberet, American baseball player (born 1929)

Louis Joseph Berberet was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers between 1954 and 1960. He was born in Long Beach, California.


Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (born 1929)

Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz was a dissident in the Soviet Union.


06/04/2003

David Bloom, American journalist (born 1963)

David Jerome Bloom was an American television journalist until his sudden death in 2003 after a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) became a pulmonary embolism at the age of 39.


Anita Borg, American computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (born 1949)

Anita Borg was an American computer scientist celebrated for advocating for women’s representation and professional advancement in technology. She founded the Institute for Women and Technology and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.


Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (born 1912)

Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter was a Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toronto from 1978 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979.


Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (born 1927)

Michael Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.


Dino Yannopoulos, Greek stage director of the Metropolitan Opera (born 1919)

Konstantinos "Dino" Yannopoulos was the principal stage director of the Metropolitan Opera between 1945 and 1977. One of his major works was a production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca with Maria Callas on the title role. He founded the Athens Music Festival.


06/04/2001

Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (born 1963)

Charles & Eddie was an American soul music duo composed of Charles Pettigrew and Eddie Chacon. Their single "Would I Lie to You?", taken from their 1992 debut album, Duophonic, won Ivor Novello Awards in 1993 in the Best Contemporary Song, Best-Selling Song and International Hit of the Year categories. From 1992 to 1995 they hit the top 40 three more times in the UK.


06/04/2000

Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (born 1903)

Habib Bourguiba was a Tunisian politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia from 1956 to 1957, and then as the first president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987. Prior to his presidency, he led the nation to independence from France, ending the 75-year-old protectorate and earning the title of "Supreme Combatant".


06/04/1999

Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (born 1908)

Red Norvo was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse", "Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole in the Wall".


06/04/1998

Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (born 1958)

Norbert "Nobbi" Christian Schmitz was a German footballer who made a total of 89 2. Bundesliga appearances for Tennis Borussia Berlin and SC Fortuna Köln during his professional career.


Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (born 1942)

Tammy Wynette was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a woman's perspective to the male-dominated country music field that helped other women find representation in the genre. Her characteristic vocal delivery has been acclaimed by critics, journalists and writers for conveying unique emotion. Twenty of her singles topped the US country chart during her career. Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of women's loyalty to their husbands.


06/04/1996

Greer Garson, English-American actress (born 1904)

Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was a British and American actress and singer. Known for playing graceful, noble, and dignified women in period and war dramas, she quickly rose to popularity during the Golden Age of Hollywood. A top star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM), Garson was among the most popular stars of the 1940s, becoming one of the highest-paid actresses in the United States and Britain. From 1942 to 1946, Garson was consistently ranked by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America’s top box-office draws.


06/04/1995

Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (born 1912)

Ioannis Alevras, sometimes spelled Yannis Alevras, was a Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement politician and Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, who served as acting President of Greece in March 1985.


06/04/1994

Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (born 1937)

Juvénal Habyarimana was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until his assassination in 1994. He was nicknamed Kinani, a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".


Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (born 1955)

Cyprien Ntaryamira was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his assassination two months later in the context of the Burundian Civil War.


06/04/1992

Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (born 1920)

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. He wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction, including guides to the Bible and Shakespeare.


06/04/1983

Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (born 1908)

General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri was an Indian army general who served as the 5th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. After his retirement from the Indian Army, he served as the Indian High Commissioner to Canada from 19 July 1966 until August 1969.


06/04/1979

Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (born 1893)

Ivan Vasilyov was a Bulgarian architect, born in 1893, deceased in 1979.


06/04/1977

Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (born 1889)

Marquess Kōichi Kido was a Japanese statesman who served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan from 1940 to 1945, and was the closest advisor to emperor Hirohito throughout World War II. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment, of which he served 6 years before being released in 1953.


06/04/1974

Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (born 1884)

Willem Marinus Dudok was a famous Dutch modernist architect. He was born in Amsterdam. He became City Architect for the town of Hilversum in 1928 where he was best known for the brick Hilversum Town Hall, completed in 1931. Not only did he design the building, but also the interior including the carpets, furniture and even the mayor's meeting hammer. He also designed and built about 75 houses, public buildings and entire neighborhoods.


Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (born 1895)

Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh was an Australian aviator and businessman. A founder of the Australian airline company Qantas, Fysh was born in Launceston, Tasmania. Serving in the Battle of Gallipoli and Palestine Campaign as a lieutenant of the Australian Light Horse Brigade, Fysh later became an observer and gunner to Paul McGinness in the AFC. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross during the aftermath of the war for his services to aerial warfare.


06/04/1971

Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1882)

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer and conductor with French and American citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music.


06/04/1970

Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (born 1933)

Maurice Stokes was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Cincinnati/Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1955 to 1958. Stokes was a three-time NBA All-Star, a three-time All-NBA Second Team member and the 1956 NBA Rookie of the Year. His career – and later his life – was cut short by a debilitating brain injury and paralysis.


06/04/1963

Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (born 1897)

Otto Lyudvigovich Struve was a Russian-American astronomer of Baltic German origin. Otto was the descendant of famous astronomers of the Struve family; he was the son of Ludwig Struve, grandson of Otto Wilhelm von Struve and great-grandson of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve. He was also the nephew of Karl Hermann Struve.


06/04/1961

Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1870)

Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet was a Belgian immunologist and microbiologist. The bacterial genus Bordetella is named after him. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to him in 1919 for his discoveries relating to immunity.


06/04/1959

Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (born 1895)

Leo Aryeh Mayer OBE, was an Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.


06/04/1953

Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (born 1905)

Idris Davies was a Welsh poet. Born in Rhymney, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, he became a poet, originally writing in Welsh, but later writing exclusively in English.


06/04/1950

Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (born 1882)

Louis Gary Wilkins was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the pole vault where he won the bronze medal.


06/04/1947

Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (born 1896)

Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe was a German politician and SS-Obergruppenführer who served as State Secretary and Reichsminister in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture. He was a doctrinaire racial ideologue, a long-time associate of Richard Walther Darré and a personal friend of Reinhard Heydrich. He developed and implemented the Hunger Plan that envisioned death by starvation of tens of millions of Slavic and Jewish "useless eaters" following Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.


06/04/1944

Rose O'Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (born 1874)

Rose Cecil O'Neill was an American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer. She rose to fame for her creation of the popular comic strip characters, Kewpies, in 1909, and was also the first published female cartoonist in the United States.


06/04/1935

Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (born 1869)

Edwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times.


06/04/1927

Florence Earle Coates, American poet (born 1850)

Florence Van Leer Nicholson Coates was an American poet whose prolific output was published in dozens of literary magazines, some of it set to music. She was mentored by the English poet Matthew Arnold, with whom she maintained a lasting friendship. She was famous for her many nature poems, inspired by the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks, where she and her husband Edward Hornor Coates maintained a summer camp. She was elected poet laureate by the State Federation of Women's Clubs (Pennsylvania) in 1915.


06/04/1913

Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (born 1835)

Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore,, styled as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1868 to 1872.


06/04/1906

Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician, 6th County Governor of Møre og Romsdal (born 1849)

Alexander Lange Kielland was a Norwegian realist writer of the 19th century. He is considered one of "the Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Jonas Lie.


06/04/1899

Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (born 1809)

Alvan Wentworth Chapman was an American physician and pioneering botanist in the study of flora of the American Southeast. He wrote Flora of the Southern United States, the first comprehensive description of U.S. plants in any region beyond the northeastern states.


06/04/1886

William Edward Forster, English businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (born 1818)

William Edward Forster, PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman. As a minister in Gladstone's government, he steered through the Elementary Education Act 1870 which was the foundation of compulsory national free education for children in the UK. However his reputation was later greatly tarnished by his coercive policies as Chief Secretary for Ireland during the Land War. His purported advocacy of the Irish Constabulary's use of lethal force against the National Land League earned him the nickname Buckshot Forster from Irish nationalists.


06/04/1883

Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (born 1801)

Benjamin Wright Raymond was an American politician who twice served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois for the Whig Party.


06/04/1862

Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (born 1803)

General Albert Sidney Johnston was a U.S. military officer who served as a general officer in three different armies: the Texas Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, fighting actions in the Black Hawk War, the Texas-Indian Wars, the U.S.-Mexican War, the Utah War, and the American Civil War, where he died on the battlefield.


06/04/1860

James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (born 1778)

James Kirke Paulding was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (1812). He wrote numerous long poems and serious histories. Among his novels are Konigsmarke, the Long Finne (1823) and The Dutchman's Fireside (1831). He is best known for creating the inimitable Nimrod Wildfire, the "half horse, half alligator" in The Lion of the West (1831), and as collaborator with William Irving and Washington Irving in Salmagundi. (1807–08). Paulding was also, by the mid-1830s, an ardent and outspoken defender of slavery who later endorsed southern secession from the United States.


06/04/1838

José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (born 1763)

José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva was a Brazilian statesman, naturalist, mineralist, professor and poet, born in Santos, São Paulo, then part of the Portuguese Empire.


06/04/1833

Adamantios Korais, Greek philosopher and scholar (born 1748)

Adamantios Korais or Koraïs was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War of Independence and the emergence of a purified form of the Greek language, known as Katharevousa. Encyclopædia Britannica asserts that "his influence on the modern Greek language and culture has been compared to that of Dante on Italian and Martin Luther on German".


06/04/1829

Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (born 1802)

Niels Henrik Abel was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation in radicals. This question was one of the outstanding open problems of his day, and had been unresolved for over 250 years. He was also an innovator in the field of elliptic functions and the discoverer of Abelian functions. He made his discoveries while living in poverty and died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis.


06/04/1827

Nikolis Apostolis, Greek naval commander during the Greek War of Independence (born 1770)

Nikolis Apostolis was a Greek naval commander, leader of the Psarian fleet during the Greek War of Independence.


06/04/1825

Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter and educator (born 1757)

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky was a Russian artist of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He served at the court of Catherine the Great and dominated portraiture in Russia at the turn of the 19th century.


06/04/1790

Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (born 1719)

Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt was Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.


06/04/1755

Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (born 1690)

Richard Rawlinson FRS was an English clergyman and antiquarian collector of books and manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford.


06/04/1707

Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch-English painter (born 1633)

Willem van de Velde the Younger was a Dutch painter who specialised in marine art. He was the son of Willem van de Velde the Elder, who also specialised in marine art. His brother, Adriaen van de Velde, was a landscape painter.


06/04/1686

Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (born 1614)

Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, PC was an Anglo-Irish royalist statesman. After short periods as President of the Council of State and Treasurer of the Navy, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1673 and 1682 for Charles II. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Valentia in 1660, and he was created Earl of Anglesey in 1661.


06/04/1676

John Winthrop the Younger, English politician, 1st Governor of Connecticut (born 1606)

John Winthrop the Younger, FRS, was an English-born physician, colonial administrator, and alchemist. He was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony who played a large role in the unification of numerous settlements and obtaining a royal charter for the unified colony.


06/04/1670

Leonora Baroni, Italian composer (born 1611)

Leonora Baroni was an Italian singer, theorbist, lutenist, viol player, and composer of the Baroque period.


06/04/1655

David Blondel, French minister, historian, and scholar (born 1591)

David Blondel was a French Protestant clergyman, historian and classical scholar.


06/04/1641

Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (born 1581)

Domenico Zampieri, known by the diminutive Domenichino after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.


06/04/1621

Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (born 1539)

Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Baron Beauchamp, KG, of Wulfhall and Totnam Lodge in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and of Hertford House, Cannon Row in Westminster, is most noted for incurring the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth I by taking part in more than one clandestine marriage.


06/04/1605

John Stow, English historian and author (born 1525)

John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles, The Chronicles of England, and The Annales of England; and also A Survey of London. A. L. Rowse has described him as "one of the best historians of that age; indefatigable in the trouble he took, thorough and conscientious, accurate – above all things devoted to truth".


06/04/1593

Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (born 1550)

Henry Barrow was an English Separatist Puritan, or Brownist, who was executed for his views. He led the London underground church from 1587 to 1593; spent most of that time in prison; and wrote numerous works of Brownist apologetics, most notably A Brief Discoverie of the False Church.


06/04/1590

Francis Walsingham, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (born 1532)

Sir Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".


06/04/1571

John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop and academic (born 1512)

John Hamilton, Scottish prelate and politician, was an illegitimate son of The 1st Earl of Arran.


06/04/1551

Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (born 1484)

Joachim Vadian, born as Joachim von Watt, was a humanist, scholar, mayor and reformer in the free city of St. Gallen.


06/04/1528

Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (born 1471)

Albrecht Dürer, sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 was patronized by Emperor Maximilian I.


06/04/1523

Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (born 1479)

Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire was an English peer.


06/04/1520

Raphael, Italian painter and architect (born 1483)

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, now generally known in English as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.


06/04/1490

Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490 (born 1443)

Matthias Corvinus was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and adopted the title Duke of Austria in 1487. He was the son of John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary, who died in 1456. In 1457, Matthias was imprisoned along with his older brother, Ladislaus Hunyadi, on the orders of King Ladislaus the Posthumous. Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed, causing a rebellion that forced King Ladislaus to flee Hungary. After the King died unexpectedly, Matthias's uncle Michael Szilágyi persuaded the Estates to unanimously proclaim the 14-year-old Matthias as king on 24 January 1458. He began his rule under his uncle's guardianship, but he took effective control of government within two weeks.


06/04/1376

Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (born 1310)

Przecław of Pogorzela was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Wrocław and Duke of Nysa from 1342–1376.


06/04/1362

James I, count of La Marche (born 1319)

James I of Bourbon, was a French prince du sang, and the son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon and Mary of Avesnes. He was Count of Ponthieu from 1351 to 1360, and Count of La Marche from 1341 to his death.


06/04/1340

Basil, emperor of Trebizond (Turkey)

Basil Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from August 1332 until his death in 1340. Although Basil's reign was a period of stability during the civil war that dominated the pocket empire during the second quarter of the 14th century, some of that conflict had its origins in his marital actions.


06/04/1252

Peter of Verona, Italian priest and saint (born 1206)

Peter of Verona, also known as Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Peter of Verona, was a 13th-century Italian Catholic priest. He was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher. He served as Inquisitor in Lombardy, was killed by an assassin, and was canonised as a Catholic saint 11 months after his death — the fastest canonisation in history.


06/04/1250

Guillaume de Sonnac, Grand Master of the Knights Templar

Guillaume de Sonnac was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1247 to 1250.


06/04/1231

William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke was a medieval English nobleman and one of the sureties of Magna Carta. He fought during the First Barons' War and was present at the Battle of Lincoln (1217) alongside his father William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who led the English troops. He commissioned the first biography of a medieval knight to be written, called L'Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal, in honour of his father.


06/04/1199

Richard I, king of England (born 1157)

Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father.


06/04/1174

Umara al-Yamani, Yemeni poet and historian (born 1121)

Najm al-Dīn Umāra al-Ḥakamī al-Yamanī was a Sunni historian, jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. He was executed by order of Saladin at Cairo on April 6, 1174 for his part in a conspiracy to restore Fatimid rule. His Tarikh al-Yaman is the earliest, and in respects the most important, history of Yemen from the Islamic era.


06/04/1147

Frederick II, duke of Swabia (born 1090)

Frederick II, called the One-Eyed, was Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His younger brother Conrad was elected King of the Romans in 1138.


06/04/0943

Liu Churang, Chinese general and chief of staff (born 881)

Liu Churang, courtesy name Deqian (德謙), was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period states Later Tang and Later Jin, serving as a chief of staff (Shumishi) during the reign of Later Jin's founding emperor Shi Jingtang.


Nasr II, ruler (amir) of the Samanid Empire (born 906)

Nasr ibn Ahmad or Nasr II, nicknamed "the Fortunate", was the ruler (amir) of Transoxiana and Khurasan as the head of the Samanid dynasty from 914 to 943. His reign marked the high point of the Samanid dynasty's fortunes. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Isma’il.


06/04/0887

Pei Che, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty

Pei Che (裴澈), courtesy name Shenyuan (深源), was an official of the late Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Xizong and the pretender to the throne Li Yun. After Li Yun was defeated and executed, Pei was also executed for his service under Li Yun.


06/04/0885

Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary and saint (born 815)

Cyril and Methodius were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Early Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".


06/04/0861

Prudentius, bishop of Troyes

Prudentius was bishop of Troyes, a chronicler and an opponent of Hincmar of Reims in the controversy on predestination.


Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 6th April

Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty. (Thailand)

Public holidays in Thailand are regulated by the government, and most are observed by both the public and private sectors. There are usually nineteen public holidays in a year, but more may be declared by the cabinet. Other observances, both official and non-official, local and international, are observed to varying degrees throughout the country.


Christian feast day: Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach (Lutheran Church).

Albrecht Dürer, sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 was patronized by Emperor Maximilian I.


Christian feast day: Brychan

Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in Mid Wales.


Christian feast day: Eutychius of Constantinople

Eutychius of Constantinople, considered a saint in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, was the patriarch of Constantinople from 552 to 565 and from 577 to 582. His feast is kept by the Orthodox Church on 6 April, and he is mentioned in the Catholic Church's "Corpus Juris". His terms of office, occurring during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, were marked by controversies with both imperial and papal authority.


Christian feast day: Galla of Rome

Galla of Rome was a 6th-century Roman widow known for her generosity. She is considered a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.


Christian feast day: Marcellinus of Carthage

Marcellinus of Carthage was a Christian martyr and saint who died in 413. He was secretary of state of the Western Roman Empire under Roman emperor Honorius and a close friend of Augustine of Hippo, as well as a correspondent of Saint Jerome. Saint Augustine dedicated the first books of his landmark The City of God to Marcellinus in 413.


Christian feast day: Notker the Stammerer

Notker the Stammerer, Notker Balbulus, or simply Notker, was a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall active as a composer, poet and scholar. Described as "a significant figure in the Western Church", Notker made substantial contributions to both the music and literature of his time. He is usually credited with two major works of the Carolingian period: the Liber Hymnorum, which includes an important collection of early musical sequences, and an early biography of Charlemagne, the Gesta Karoli Magni. His other works include a biography of Saint Gall known as the Vita Sancti Galli and a martyrology, among others.


Christian feast day: Blessed Pierina Morosini

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".


Christian feast day: Pope Sixtus I

Pope Sixtus I, also spelled Xystus, a Roman of Greek descent, was the bishop of Rome from c. 117 or 119 to his death c. 126 or 128. He succeeded Alexander I and was in turn succeeded by Telesphorus. His feast is celebrated on 6 April.


Christian feast day: April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

April 5 — Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar — April 7


International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), held annually on 6 April, is a celebration of the power of sport to drive social change, community development and to foster peace and understanding. It was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 23 August 2013, and has been supported by the International Olympic Committee since 6 April 2014.


National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)

The following table indicates declared Indonesian government national holidays. Cultural variants also provide opportunity for holidays tied to local events. Beside official holidays, there are the so-called "libur bersama" or "cuti bersama", or joint leave(s) declared nationwide by the government. In total there are 20 public holidays every year.


New Beer's Eve (United States)

National Beer Day is celebrated in the United States every year on April 7, marking the day that the Cullen–Harrison Act came into force after having been signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. April 6, the day before, is known as New Beer's Eve. The 18th Amendment was later repealed by the ratification of the 21st Amendment on December 5 that year, officially ending Prohibition.


Tartan Day (United States & Canada)

Tartan Day is a celebration of Scottish heritage and the cultural contributions of Scottish and Scottish-diaspora figures of history. The name refers to tartan, a patterned woollen cloth associated with Scotland. The event originated in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1987. It spread to other communities of the Scottish diaspora, such as Australia, the United States and New Zealand, and to Scotland itself, in the 1990s to 2000s. Tartan Day is held on April 6, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320. It is celebrated in Canada, the United States, and Argentina.


Waltzing Matilda Day (Australia)

"Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".


International Asexuality Day

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity. It may be considered a sexual orientation, or the lack thereof. It may also be categorized more widely to include a broad spectrum of asexual sub-identities.


What Happened on 6th April?

61 significant events took place on Thursday, 6th April — stretching from -46 to 2018. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

06/04/2018

A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.

The Humboldt Broncos are a Canadian junior "A" ice hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan. Established in 1970, the Broncos play in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Broncos have won the SJHL ten times while winning the ANAVET Cup seven times to advance to the Centennial Cup, which they have won on two occasions in 2003 and 2008.


06/04/2017

U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.

On the morning of 7 April 2017, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Airbase controlled by the Syrian government. The strike was executed on the authorization of U.S. president Donald Trump, as a direct response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack that occurred on 4 April.


06/04/2012

Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.

Azawad, officially known as the Independent State of Azawad, was a short-lived unrecognised state lasting from 2012–2013. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) unilaterally declared independence in 2012, after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Armed Forces away from the region.


06/04/2011

In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.

San Fernando is a city located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas; it serves as the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name. It is about 85 miles (137 km) away from Brownsville, Texas, United States. The municipality has a population of 57,220, while the city itself has a population of 29,665.


06/04/2010

Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.

The April 2010 Dantewada Maoist attack was an 6 April 2010 ambush by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) near Chintalnar village in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, India, leading to the killing of 76 CRPF policemen and 8 Maoists — the deadliest attack by the Maoists on Indian security forces.


06/04/2009

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.

An earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy, at 03:32 CEST on 6 April 2009. It was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered the most damage. There were several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude greater than 3.5.


06/04/2008

The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.

The 2008 Egyptian general strike was a strike which occurred on 6 April 2008, by Egyptian workers, primarily in the state-run textile industry, in response to low wages and rising food costs. Strikes are illegal in Egypt and authorities have been given orders to break demonstrations forcefully in the past. The strike took place just two days before key municipal elections.


06/04/2005

Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.

Jalal Talabani was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the 6th president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq.


06/04/2004

Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.

Rolandas Paksas is a Lithuanian politician who served as the sixth President of Lithuania from 2003 until his impeachment in April 2004. He previously served two terms as the Prime Minister of Lithuania in 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001, and as Mayor of Vilnius from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001. He led Order and Justice from 2004 to 2016 and was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019.


06/04/1998

Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out since 1945. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century.


06/04/1997

In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occur.

The Lillelid murders were a series of killings that took place in Greene County, Tennessee, United States. Three members of the Lillelid family were killed on April 6, 1997. Vidar Lillelid, Delfina Lillelid, their daughter Tabitha, and son Peter were shot on a deserted rural road near Baileyton after a carjacking committed by a group of youths. Vidar and Delfina were found dead at the scene, while Tabitha died after being transported to the hospital. Peter survived, but, as a result of the shooting, was left with disabilities. Six young people from Kentucky, including two minors, were convicted of felony murder for the three deaths. Each received three life sentences, and an additional sentence of 25 years for the attempted murder of Peter.


06/04/1994

The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

The Rwandan genocide, also known as the Tutsi genocide, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were systematically killed by Hutu militias. While the Rwandan Constitution states that over 1 million people were killed, most scholarly estimates suggest between 500,000 and 662,000 Tutsi died, mostly men. The genocide was marked by extreme violence, with victims often murdered by neighbours, and widespread sexual violence, with between 250,000 and 500,000 women raped.


06/04/1992

The Bosnian War begins.

The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incidents, the war is commonly seen as having started on 6 April 1992 when the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was internationally recognized. It ended on 21 November 1995 when the Dayton Accords were initialed. The main belligerents were the forces of the government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and those of the breakaway proto-states of the Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republika Srpska which were led and supplied by Croatia and Serbia, respectively.


06/04/1985

Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.

Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President.


06/04/1984

Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea, and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both geostrategic locations. Cameroon's population of nearly 31 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French. The capital city of the country is Yaoundé.


06/04/1974

In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo", the first of a joint-record seven Swedish wins.

Brighton is a seaside resort in the unitary authority area of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, England, 47 miles (76 km) south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.


The first California Jam festival takes place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The festival set what were then records for the loudest amplification system ever installed, the highest paid attendance, and highest gross in history.

California Jam was a rock music festival co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on April 6, 1974. It was produced by ABC Entertainment, Sandy Feldman and Leonard Stogel. Pacific Presentations, a Los Angeles–based concert company headed by Sepp Donahower and Gary Perkins, coordinated the event, booked all the musical talent and ran the advertising campaign. Don Branker worked for Leonard Stogel and was responsible for concert site facilitation, toilets, fencing and medical. The California Jam attracted 300,000 paying music fans. The festival set what were then records for the loudest amplification system ever installed, the highest paid attendance, and highest gross in history. It was one of the last of the original wave of rock festivals, as well as one of the most well-executed and financially successful, and presaged the era of media consolidation and the corporatization of the rock music industry.


06/04/1973

Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.

Pioneer 11 is a NASA robotic space probe launched on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, the solar wind, and cosmic rays. It was the first probe to encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the asteroid belt, and the second to fly by Jupiter. Later, Pioneer 11 became the second of five artificial objects to achieve an escape velocity allowing it to leave the Solar System. Due to power constraints and the vast distance to the probe, the last routine contact with the spacecraft was on September 30, 1995, and the last good engineering data was received on November 24, 1995.


The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major league status. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season, 25 years after the formation of the National League.


06/04/1972

Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.


06/04/1970

Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.

The Newhall incident, also called the Newhall massacre, was a deadly shootout on April 5–6, 1970, in Valencia, California, United States, between two heavily armed criminals and four officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). In less than 30 minutes, four CHP officers and one of the suspects were killed and another man was pistol-whipped in what was at the time the deadliest day in the history of California law enforcement.


06/04/1968

In the downtown district of Richmond, Indiana, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.

Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana, United States. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,720. It is the principal city of the Richmond micropolitan area. Situated largely within Wayne Township, its area includes a non-contiguous portion in nearby Boston Township, where Richmond Municipal Airport is located.


Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward.

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau was a Canadian politician, lawyer, jurist, academic, author, and journalist who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his non-consecutive terms as prime minister from 1979 to 1980, he served as the Leader of the Opposition.


06/04/1965

Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.

Intelsat I was the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, on April 6, 1965. It was built by the Space and Communications Group of Hughes Aircraft Company for COMSAT, which activated it on June 28, 1965. It was based on the Syncom series of satellites that Hughes had previously built for NASA to demonstrate that communications via synchronous-orbit satellite were feasible. Its booster was a Thrust Augmented Delta. After a series of maneuvers, it reached its geosynchronous orbital position over the Atlantic Ocean at 28° West longitude, where it was put into service.


06/04/1958

Capital Airlines Flight 67 crashes in Tittabawassee Township, Michigan, near Freeland Tri-City Airport, killing 47.

Capital Airlines Flight 67 was a domestic scheduled U.S. passenger flight operated by Capital Airlines which crashed on final approach to Freeland, Michigan, during a severe snowstorm on April 6, 1958, killing all 47 people on board. The flight was en route from Flint-Bishop Airport to the Freeland-Tri City Airport when it crashed. Flight 67 was the first of four fatal crashes in the space of two years involving Capital Airlines Vickers Viscounts; the others were Flight 300, Flight 75, and Flight 20.


06/04/1957

The flag carrier airline of Greece for decades, Olympic Airways, is founded by Aristotle Onassis following the acquisition of "TAE - Greek National Airlines".

Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country of 10 million people on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. With nine regions and thousands of islands, it has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean. The Ionian Sea is west of the mainland, Albania northwest, and North Macedonia and Bulgaria north. Turkey is east both by land and the Aegean Sea. The capital, Athens, is the largest Greek city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras.


06/04/1948

The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.

The Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance of 1948, also known as the YYA Treaty from the Finnish Ystävyys-, yhteistyö- ja avunantosopimus, was the basis for Finno–Soviet relations from 1948 to 1992. It was the main instrument in implementing the Finnish policy called Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine.


06/04/1947

The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Manhattan. The ceremony is usually held in June.


06/04/1945

World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.

Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo Canton, containing the city of Sarajevo and nearby municipalities, is home to 413,593 inhabitants. Located within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans, a region of Southeastern Europe.


World War II: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.

The Battle of Slater's Knoll was fought between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville Island during the Second World War. Part of the Bougainville campaign, the battle occurred as a force of about 3,300 Japanese from the Japanese 6th Division, including artillery and other supporting elements, launched a counterattack against the main Australian offensive which had been pushing south towards Buin, concentrating their attacks on Slater's Knoll near the Puriata River. The Australian troops belonged to the 7th Brigade, with the 25th Infantry Battalion being the most heavily engaged, although the 9th Infantry Battalion and the 61st Infantry Battalion also took part in the fighting.


06/04/1941

World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.


06/04/1936

Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

On April 5–6, 1936, an outbreak of at least fourteen tornadoes struck the Southeastern United States, killing at least 454 people and injuring at least 2,500 others. Over two hundred people died in Georgia alone, making it the deadliest disaster ever recorded in the state.


06/04/1930

At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."

The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march (padayatra) lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. Another reason for this march was that the Civil Disobedience Movement needed a strong inauguration that would inspire more people to follow Gandhi's example. Gandhi started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march spanned 387 kilometres (240 mi), from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time. Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way. When Gandhi broke the British Raj salt laws at 8:30 am on 6 April 1930, it sparked large-scale acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws by millions of Indians.


06/04/1929

Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Huey Pierce Long Jr., nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. He was a left-wing populist member of the Democratic Party and rose to national prominence during the Great Depression for his vocal criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which Long deemed insufficiently radical. As the political leader of Louisiana, he commanded wide networks of supporters and often took forceful action. A controversial figure, Long is celebrated as a populist champion of the poor or, in contrast, denounced as a fascistic demagogue.


06/04/1926

Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).

Varney Air Lines was an American airline company that started service on April 6, 1926, as an airmail carrier. Formed by Walter Varney, the airline was based in Boise, Idaho, United States. The airline is one of the predecessors of United Airlines.


06/04/1918

Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.

The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of recently independent Finland between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. The clashes took place in the context of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The belligerents were the paramilitary Red Guards, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party with backup of the Russian bolsheviks, and the paramilitary White Guards of the senate. General C. G. E. Mannerheim led the White Guards with major assistance by both the Finnish Jäger Battalion trained in Germany and the German Imperial Army, along the German goal to control Fennoscandia and Petrograd of Russia. The Reds, composed of industrial and agrarian working class people, controlled the cities and industrial centres of southern Finland. The Whites, composed of land owners and the middle and upper class, controlled the rural central and northern Finland.


06/04/1917

World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.


06/04/1911

During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).

The Battle of Deçiq was a battle between Albanian tribesmen and Ottoman forces during the Malësori uprising of 1911. It was a turning point for Albania's secession from the Ottoman Empire. Dedë Gjo Luli, the organiser of the Albanian tribal forces, raised the Albanian flag for the first time since 1479 on the mountain of Deçiq after the Albanians had achieved victory over the Ottoman Turks.


06/04/1909

Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary's claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.

Robert Edwin Peary was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was long credited as being the discoverer of the geographic North Pole in April 1909, having led the first expedition to have claimed this achievement, although it is now considered unlikely that he actually reached the Pole.


06/04/1896

In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.

Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the eighth-largest urban area in the European Union (EU). The Municipality of Athens, which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 in 2021, within its official limits, and a land area of 38.96 square kilometres.


06/04/1866

The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, Union Navy, and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and grew to include thousands of "posts" across the North and West. It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson.


06/04/1865

American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.

The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Army of the Potomac, under the overall direction of Union General-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant.


06/04/1862

American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.


06/04/1860

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.

The Community of Christ, known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) from 1872 to 2001, is a US-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church reports approximately 250,000 members in 1,100 congregations in 59 countries. The church traces its origins to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. His eldest son, Joseph Smith III, formally accepted leadership of the church on April 6, 1860, in the aftermath of the 1844 death of Joseph Smith.


06/04/1841

U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become president upon William Henry Harrison's death.

John Tyler was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison, succeeding to the presidency following Harrison's death 31 days after assuming office as president. Tyler was a stalwart supporter and advocate of states' rights, including regarding slavery, and he adopted nationalistic policies as president only when they did not infringe on the states' powers. His unexpected rise to the presidency posed a threat to the presidential ambitions of Senator Henry Clay and other Whig politicians and left Tyler estranged from both major political parties at the time: the Whigs and the Democrats.


06/04/1830

Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.

The Church of Christ was the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. Organized informally in 1829 in upstate New York and then formally on April 6, 1830, it was the first organization to implement the principles found in Smith's newly published Book of Mormon, and thus its establishment represents the formal beginning of the Latter Day Saint movement. Later names for this organization included the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of God, the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.


06/04/1814

Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.

The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814 and 1815. Exiled supporters of the monarchy returned to France, which had been profoundly changed by the French Revolution. Exhausted by the Napoleonic Wars, the kingdom experienced a period of internal and external peace, stable economic prosperity and the preliminaries of industrialisation. The July Revolution of 1830 effectively ended the restoration during the reign of Charles X, brother of the late King Louis XVI, leading to the July Monarchy and eventually the French Second Republic.


06/04/1812

British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the early 19th century, twice serving as Prime Minister. He was one of the British commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore wars by defeating Tipu Sultan in 1799, and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a Coalition victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.


06/04/1808

John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.

John Jacob Astor was a German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting opium into the Chinese Empire, and by investing in real estate in or around New York City during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States.


06/04/1800

The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed on 21 March.)

The Treaty of Constantinople of 2 April [O.S. 21 March] 1800 was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, and heralded the creation of the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.


06/04/1793

During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.

The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.


06/04/1782

King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.

Phutthayotfa Chulalok, posthumously honoured as King Phutthayotfa Chulalok the Great, also known by his regnal name Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first King of Siam from the reigning Chakri dynasty. He ascended the throne in 1782, following the deposition of King Taksin of Thonburi. He was also celebrated as the founder of Rattanakosin as the new capital of the reunited kingdom.


06/04/1776

American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.


06/04/1712

The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.

The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City, in the Province of New York, of 23 Black enslaved people. The population of New York consisted of a low 6,000 -8,000 people in which 1,000 of them were slaves. They killed nine white people and injured another six before they were stopped. More than 70 black people were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 convicted and executed.


06/04/1652

At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.


06/04/1580

One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.

Though severe earthquakes in Britain and northern France are rare, the 1580 Dover Straits earthquake appears to have been one of the largest in the recorded history of England, Flanders or northern France. Its effects started to be felt in London at around six o'clock in the evening of 6 April 1580, being Wednesday in the Easter week.


06/04/1453

Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29 and is renamed Istanbul.

Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.


06/04/1320

The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

The Declaration of Arbroath is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII. It constituted King Robert I's response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, denouncing English attempts to subjugate it.


06/04/0945

Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII crowns his son Romanos II as co-emperor.

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.


06/04/0402

Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.

Stilicho was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. He was partly of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I. He became guardian for the underage Honorius. After years of struggle against barbarian and Roman enemies, political and military disasters finally allowed his enemies in the court of Honorius to remove him from power. His fall culminated in his arrest and execution in 408.


01/01/1970

Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator for life in 44 BC, helping create the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire. For his role in these events, he is regarded as one of history’s most influential figures.