YEAR

DAY

EVENT

885

Apr 6

Methodius, Greek apostle to the Slavs, archbishop of Sirmium, died.

1199

Apr 6

Richard I “the Lion-hearted” (41), King of England (1189-99), died. Richard was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.

1453

Apr 6

Ottoman forces under Mehmet II opened fire on Constantinople.

1593

Apr 6

Henry Barrow, English puritan, was hanged.

1663

Apr 6

King Charles II signed the Carolina Charter.

1722

Apr 6

In Russia Peter the Great ended tax on men with beards.

1789

Apr 6

The first US Congress began regular sessions at Federal Hall on Wall Street, NYC.

1841

Apr 6

Cornerstone was laid for 2nd Mormon temple at Nauvoo, Missouri.

1848

Apr 6

Jews of Prussia were granted equality.

1865

Apr 6

At the Battle of Sayler’s Creek, a third of Lee’s army was cut off by Union troops pursuing him to Appomattox. Skirmish at High Bridge, VA, (Appomattox).

1889

Apr 6

George Eastman placed the Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time.

1893

Apr 6

Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City was dedicated.

1906

Apr 6

1st animated cartoon was copyrighted.

1930

Apr 6

Hostess Twinkies were invented by bakery executive James Dewar.

1934

Apr 6

418 Lutheran ministers were arrested in Germany.

1939

Apr 6

Great Britain and Poland signed a military pact.

1943

Apr 6

British and American armies linked up in Africa.

1947

Apr 6

The first Tony awards were presented at a dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria on Easter Sunday. They were named in honor of Antoinette Perry (1888-1946), chairman of the board and secretary of the American Theatre Wing throughout World War II.

1956

Apr 6

Polish communist Gomulka was freed from prison.

1957

Apr 6

NYC ended trolley car service.

1968

Apr 6

In Richmond, Indiana, gunpowder stocks at a sporting-goods store exploded and at least 16 people were killed.

1973

Apr 6

Yankee Ron Blomberg (b.1948) became the 1st designated hitter. He walked.

1979

Apr 6

The U.S. cut off aid to Pakistan, because of that country’s covert construction of a uranium enrichment facility.

1980

Apr 6

3-M introduced Post-It Notes. In 2010 inventors, 3M scientists Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver, were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

1988

Apr 6

Black Arctic explorer Matthew Henson (1866-1955) was re-buried next to Robert Peary in Arlington, Va.

1992

Apr 6

The US Supreme Court limited some undercover sting operations as it ruled that a Nebraska farmer had been entrapped by postal agents into buying mail-order child pornography.

1996

Apr 6

US INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) agents pursued a stolen camper with more than 20 suspected illegal immigrants when it plunged off a mountain road in Temecula, Ca. and 8 people were killed.

1998

Apr 6

The British TV program for toddlers, “Teletubbies,” opened in the US.

1999

Apr 6

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji began a 9-day, 6-city US visit in Los Angeles. He planned to gain support for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

2000

Apr 6

The Muslim new year 1421 began with the new moon.

2001

Apr 6

US unemployment was reported to be 4.3%, the highest since July, 1999.

2002

Apr 6

Pres. Bush repeated his call for Israel to “withdraw without delay” from West Bank towns it had occupied since launching an offensive after a string of suicide attacks. Bush also demanded the Palestinians call “an immediate and effective cease-fire.”

2003

Apr 6

In eastern China a fire roared through a food processing plant, killing 21 workers.

2004

Apr 6

The University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team beat Tennessee 70-61 to win a third consecutive NCAA title, a day after UConn also won the men’s championship.

2005

Apr 6

A government official said China plans to build 40 nuclear power plants over the next 15 years, making them the main power source for its booming east coast.

2006

Apr 6

A mortar blast near the main US military base in Afghanistan left a civilian dead.

2007

Apr 6

China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics.

2008

Apr 6

Thousands of anti-China protesters draped in Tibetan flags disrupted the Olympic torch relay through London, billed as a journey of harmony and peace.

2009

Apr 6

The US Federal Reserve said it will supply new lines of credit worth up to $287 billion to the central banks of Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and EU.

2010

Apr 6

Wilma Mankiller (64), the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, died.

2011

Apr 6

The Australian military was hit by another scandal after a young army recruit allegedly filmed himself having sex with a female cadet and broadcast it via Skype to his friends.

2012

Apr 6

A US Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet crashed into the courtyard of a Virginia Beach apartment complex after taking off from US Naval Air Station Oceana. The two pilots ejected safely before impact. There were no deaths in the crash.

2013

Apr 6

Florida state officials said an annual toxic red algae bloom has killed 241 of the state’s roughly 5,000 endangered manatees.

2014

Apr 6

Mickey Rooney (b.1920), American stage and screen star, died in southern California.