October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in Leap years). There are 86 days remaining.

Events

200 BCE-1899

• 105 BCE - Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict a major defeat on the Roman army of Mallius Maximus
• 891 - Formosus becomes Pope
• 1600 - Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence
• 1884 - The Naval War College of the United States Navy was founded in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1889 - Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.

1900-1999

• 1908 - Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1921 - International PEN is founded in London.
• 1927 - Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie
• 1928 - Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China
• 1955 - A United Airlines DC-4 crashes in Medicine Bow Peak, Wyoming, killing 66 people
• 1966 - LSD is declared illegal in the United States
• 1973 - The Yom Kippur War begins
• 1976 - Cubana CUT-1201 crashes due to sabotage, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados
• 1976 - New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and their associates, putting an end to the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China.
• 1978 - Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, members of the Swedish pop group ABBA, are married. Incidentally, this is also the day that their single "Summer Night City" hits No.1 in Sweden.
• 1981 - Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated
• 1995 - 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus, 47.9 light-years away from Earth, was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.
• 1998 - Gay-bashing: Near Laramie, Wyoming, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is viciously attacked by two assailants for being gay (he died on October 12).

2000-2099

• 2000 - Slobodan Milosevic resigns
• 2002 - French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.

Births

1400-1899

• 1459 - Martin Behaim, navigator, geographer (d. c. 1507)
• 1510 - Rowland Taylor, pastor, martyr (d. 1555)
• 1773 - King Louis-Philippe of France (d. 1850)
• 1820 - Jenny Lind, singer (d. 1887)
• 1831 - Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)
• 1846 - George Westinghouse, American engineer, inventor (d. 1914)
• 1868 - George Horace Lorimer, editor of the Saturday Evening Post (d. 1937)
• 1882 - Karol Szymanowski, composer (d. 1937)
• 1886 - Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (d. 1960)
• 1887 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)

1900-1999

• 1905 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (d. 1998)
• 1906 - Janet Gaynor, American actress (d. 1984)
• 1908 - Carole Lombard, American actress (d. 1942)
• 1910 - Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, British Labour politician (d. 2002)
• 1914 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the Kon-Tiki expedition (d. 2002)
• 1917 - Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist
• 1930 - Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (d. 2000)
• 1930 - Richie Benaud, Australian cricket player
• 1935 - Bruno Sammartino, "The Italian Strongman"
• 1946 - Lloyd Doggett, American politician
• 1948 - Gerry Adams, Irish politician
• 1950 - David Brin, science fiction author
• 1951 - Manfred Winkelhock, German auto racing driver (d. 1985)
• 1969 - Troy Shaw, English snooker player
• 1993 - Demi Garcia, young Tejano singer

2000-2999

• 2000 - Rachel Pace, American child actress
• 2000 - Amanda Pace, American child actress

Deaths

Prior to 1800

• 1542 - Thomas Wyatt, English poet

1800-1899

• 1873 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (b. 1797)
• 1892 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, British poet laureate

1900-1999

• 1962 - Tod Browning, American film director
• 1981 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (assassinated)
• 1983 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, tenth bishop (seventh archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York (b. 1921)
• 1985 - Murder of PC Keith Blakelock in the Broadwater Farm Riot, London
• 1985 - Nelson Riddle, bandleader (b. 1921)
• 1988 - Larry Walters, who used 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet in 1982
• 1989 - Bette Davis, American actress
• 1992 - Denholm Elliott, actor
• 1993 - Agnes de Mille, dancer, choreographer

2000-2099

• 2002 - Claus von Amsberg, husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 2003 - Mildred O'Neill, widow of former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill

Holidays and observances

• German-American Day (U.S. observance, since 1987)
• National Day or Victory Day in Egypt; celebrates the results of the October war in 1973

October 5 - October 7 - September 6 - November 6 - more historical anniversaries