What are the important events that happened on May 6? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 6: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 6 is the 127th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 239 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 23, 2024 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,714,953,600 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaicosaheptagon’ day.
Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 268 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,154 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 6 Historical Events
- 1536 –King Henry VIII orders English language Bibles be placed in every church.
- 1757 –English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
- 1840 –The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1844 –The Glaciarium, the world’s first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens.
- 1861 –American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
- 1863 –American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by Confederate troops.
- 1889 –The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
- 1910 –George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
- 1942 –World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- 1966 –Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
Who were born on May 6?
- 1758 –André Masséna, French marshal (d. 1817)
- 1880 –Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
- 1906 –Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (d. 2005)
- 1921 –Erich Fried, German author (d. 1988)
- 1953 –Lynn Whitfield, American actress
- 1953 –Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997–2007
- 1964 –Tony Scalzo, American musician (Fastball)
- 1978 –Aleksandr Fyodorov, Russian bodybuilder
- 1980 –Kelly van der Veer, Dutch reality TV star
- 1983 –Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
Who died on May 6?
- 1596 –Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
- 1631 –Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, English politician (b. 1570)
- 1757 –Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1859 –Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)
- 1902 –Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
- 1939 –Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)
- 1963 –Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1881)
- 1967 –Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (b. 1885)
- 1989 –Earl Blaik, former American football coach (b. 1897)
- 1992 –Gaston Reiff, Belgian athlete (b. 1921)
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