6th July
July 6th is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining.
Events
- 1253 - Mindaugas crowned king of Lithuania.
- 1483 - Richard III crowned king of England.
- 1609 - Bohemia is granted Freedom of religion.
- 1630 - Thirty-Years War: 4,000 Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Germany.
- 1785 - The dollar is unanimously chosen as the money unit for the United States. This is the first time a nation has adopted a decimal currency system.
- 1799 - Ranjit Singh's 25,000 men start march towards Lahore.
- 1801 - Battle of Algeciras: The French fleet beats the British fleet.
- 1854 - In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held.
- 1885 - Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
- 1887 - David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint, at the hands of Americans, to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights.
- 1892 - Dadabhai Naoroji elected as first Indian MP in Britain.
- 1908 - Robert Peary sets sail for the Arctic on the expedition on which he later reaches the North Pole.
- 1917 - Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks.
- 1919 - The British dirigible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.
- 1928 - The ten world's largest hailstone falls in Potter, Nebraska.
- 1939 - Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
- 1944 - The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut.
- 1957 - Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships becoming the first black athlete to do so.
- 1957 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney (The Beatles) first meet.
- 1964 - A Hard Day's Night, the first Beatles film, premieres.
- 1964 - Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1966 - Malawi becomes a republic.
- 1967 - Biafran War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
- 1974 - The radio program A Prairie Home Companion makes its first live broadcast.
- 1975 - The Comoros declare their independence from France.
- 1988 - The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires killing 167 oil workers.
- 1988 - Controversial presidential election held in Mexico.
Births
- 1766 - Alexander Wilson, poet, ornithologist, naturalist, painter (d. 1813)
- 1796 - Nikolai Romanov, future tsar Nikolai I of Russia (d. 1855)
- 1838 - Vatroslav Jagic Croatian slavist (d. 1923)
- 1884 - Harold Vanderbilt, businessman
- 1887 - Walter Flex, writer (d. 1917)
- 1898 - Hanns Eisler, composer (d. 1962)
- 1907 - Frida Kahlo, painter (d. 1954)
- 1915 - LaVerne Andrews, singer (Andrews Sisters)
- 1918 - Sebastian Cabot, actor (d. 1977)
- 1921 - Nancy Reagan, actress, former First Lady
- 1923 - Wojciech Jaruzelski, president of Poland
- 1925 - Merv Griffin, game show developer, TV show host
- 1925 - Bill Haley, singer: Bill Haley and the Comets (d. 1981)
- 1927 - Janet Leigh, actress: Psycho, The Manchurian Candidate, Touch of Evil
- 1927 - Hein Donner, chess player
- 1927 - Dolores Claman, musician, composer
- 1927 - Pat Paulsen, comedian, frequent Presidential candidate (d. 1997)
- 1935 - Tenzin Gyatso, (Lhamo Dhondrup) fourteenth Dalai Lama
- 1937 - Ned Beatty, actor: Deliverance, Nashville
- 1937 - Vladimir Ashkenazy, pianist, conductor
- 1946 - Sylvester Stallone, actor: Rambo, Copland, Cliffhanger
- 1946 - George W. Bush, President of the United States
- 1951 - Geoffrey Rush, actor, Oscar winner
- 1953 - Nanci Griffith, singer-songwriter
- 1956 - Kenny G, American saxophonist
- 1958 - Jennifer Saunders, British actress-comedian
- 1976 - 50 Cent, rapper
Deaths
- 1189 - Henry II of England
- 1249 - Alexander II of Scotland (b. 1198)
- 1415 - Jan Hus, reformer (burned for heresy)
- 1476 - Regiomantus, astronomer and mathematician
- 1535 - Sir Thomas More, writer and philosopher (executed for treason)
- 1553 - Edward VI, king of England
- 1762 - Peter III, tsar of Russia (murdered)
- 1893 - Guy de Maupassant (Henry-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant), author
- 1916 - Odilon Redon, painter
- 1932 - Kenneth Grahame, author (The Wind in the Willows)
- 1962 - William Faulkner, novelist
- 1971 - Louis Armstrong, jazz musician
- 1973 - Otto Klemperer, conductor
- 1989 - Kádár, János, Hungarian political leader
- 1998 - Roy Rogers, cowboy actor, singer
- 1999 - Joaquin Rodrigo, composer
- 2004 - Thomas Klestil, politician, diplomat, Austrian president at time of death
Holidays and observances
July 5 - July 7 - June 6 - August 6 -- listing of all days
