Back in Time – This Day in History – April 6

2019: Mars

By Mick Ferris, Press Association, AP, UPI, calendar.songfacts.com, classicbands.com and thisdayinmusic.com

46BC: Julius Ceasar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato in the Battle of Thapsus.

1199: Death of Richard I.

1320: Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

1483: Birth of painter Raphael in Urbino, Italy.

1520: Painter Raphael dies on his 37th birthday.

1652: Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, is established by the Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck.

1671: Birth of French playwright/poet Jean-Baptiste Rousseau.

1672: France declares war on The Netherlands.

1722: Tsar Peter The Great of Russia ends tax on men with beards.

1757: George II dismisses William Pitt the Elder, Secretary of State for the Southern Department.

1843: William Wordsworth is appointed Poet Laureate by Queen Victoria.

1851: Portland, Oregon, was founded.

1862: The Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day.

1889: George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film.

1893: Andy Bowen and Jack Burke box for 7hrs 19mins to no decision over 111 rounds.

1896: The first modern Olympics formally opened in Athens, Greece. The Olympics had last been staged 1,500 years earlier.

1900: James J Jeffries KOs Jack Finnegan in Round 1 for the heavyweight boxing title.

1909: Explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reached the North Pole. It would be November of the same year before the National Geographic Society confirmed the accomplishment.

1916: German parliament approves unrestricted submarine warfare.

1917: The United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

1919: Bavaria proclaims itself a soviet republic.

1938: DuPont researchers Roy Plunkett and Jack Rebok stumbled upon the chemical compound that was later marketed as Teflon.

1941: Italian forces holding Addis Ababa surrender to British & Ethiopian forces.

1945: During World War II, the Japanese warship Yamato and nine other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the U.S. fleet off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day.

1945: Nazis begin evacuating prisoners from Buchenwald concentration camp. On the same day, the Dutch city of Coevorden is freed from German occupation by Canadian forces.

1947: The first Tony Awards, honoring distinguished work in the theater, were presented in New York City.

1952: Sam Snead wins his second green jacket at the US Masters in Augusta.

1954: Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”

1958: Golfer Arnold Palmer wins his first of four US Masters titles.

1963: With his contract with Imperial Records expiring, Fats Domino signs with ABC-Paramount and begins recording in Nashville.

1965: The United States launched Intelsat I, also known as the “Early Bird” communications satellite, into geosynchronous orbit.

1966: The first session of what would become The Beatles album Revolver started at EMI studios, Abbey Road, with the recording of the basic track of a new John Lennon song ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’

1967: The first master tape of The Beatles new album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was made. The song order on side one is different from the final product at this point, the last five songs on that side being initially ordered as follows: ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’, ‘Fixing a Hole’, ‘Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘Getting Better’, and ‘She's Leaving Home’. The Beatles had specified that there were to be no gaps between songs - a unique idea at the time.

1968: 41 people were killed by two consecutive natural gas explosions at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.

1968: Cliff Richard sang 'Congratulations' the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest held at the Royal Albert Hall London, winning second place behind the entry from Spain.

1968: Pink Floyd announced founder Syd Barrett had officially left the group. Barrett was suffering from psychiatric disorders compounded by drug use.

1968: Simon And Garfunkel went to No.1 on the US album chart with the soundtrack of Mike Nichols' movie The Graduate. The film boosted the profile of the folk-rock duo and on the strength of the hit single 'Mrs. Robinson', the soundtrack album rose to the top of the charts.

1971: Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky, 88, died in New York City.

1972: Egypt ceases diplomatic relations with Jordan. On the same day, The Scarman Tribunal Report, an inquiry into the causes of violence during the summer of 1969 in N Ireland, is published, finding that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been seriously at fault.

1973: Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became Major League Baseball’s first designated hitter as he faced pitcher Luis Tiant of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway. (Blomberg was walked with the bases loaded; Boston won the game, 15-5.)

1974: 200,000 attend rock concert “California Jam” in Ontario, featuring Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and ELP. On the same day, ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with “Waterloo”.

1974: US TOP 20: Album chart:

1. John Denver - John Denver's Greatest Hits

2. Paul McCartney And Wings - Band On The Run

3. Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark

4. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

5. Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were

6. MFSB - Love Is The Message

7. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

8. Love Unlimited Orchestra - Rhapsody In White

9. Carly Simon - Hotcakes

10. Soundtrack - The Sting

11. Deep Purple - Burn

12. The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits

13. Soundtrack - American Graffiti

14. Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim

15. Bob Dylan - Planet Waves

16. Seals & Crofts - Unborn Child

17. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

18. Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors

19. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

20. Maria Muldaur - Maria Muldaur

1975: Death of Chinese political and military leader Chiang Kai-shek aged 87.

1979: Rod Stewart married actor George Hamilton’s ex-wife Alana in Beverly Hills, California.

1985: Singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan won a lawsuit against his manager Gordon Mills for unpaid royalties and was awarded $2 million.

1986: UK TOP 20 : Singles chart:

1. Cliff Richard And The Young Ones - Living Doll

2. George Michael - A Different Corner

3. Sam Cooke - Wonderful World {1986}

4. Samantha Fox - Touch Me (I Want Your Body)

5. Falco - Rock Me Amadeus

6. Real Thing - You To Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix 76/86)

7. Queen - A Kind Of Magic

8. Art Of Noise - Peter Gunn ft Duane Eddy

9. A-ha  - Train Of Thought

10. Atlantic Starr - Secret Lovers

11. Big Audio Dynamite - E=MC2

12. Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

13. David Bowie - Absolute Beginners

14. The Style Council - Have You Ever Had It Blue

15. Simple Minds - All The Things She Said

16. Mr Mister - Kyrie

17. Jim Diamond - Hi Ho Silver

18. Big Country - Look Away

19. Stevie Wonder - Overjoyed

20. The Bangles - Manic Monday

1991: Diego Maradona is suspended for 15 months by the Italian football league after testing positive for cocaine.

1992: Russian scientist and sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov dies aged 72.

1994: The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were among those killed when their plane was hit by rockets as it was landing in Kigali, Rwanda. The attack triggered fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups that left hundreds of thousands of people dead in what became known as the Rwandan Genocide.

1996: Actress Greer Garson dies aged 92.

1998: Te Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000 points for the first time, ending the day at 9,033.23. 

1998: American country singer Tammy Wynette died aged 55. She scored 12 hit singles including 'Stand By Your Man', and sold over 30 million records world-wide, married five times and once filed for bankruptcy. Known as the first lady of country music. Wynette had the 1991 hit with The KLF 'Justified and Ancient' which became a No. 1 hit in eighteen countries.

1999: An all star tribute to singer, songwriter Johnny Cash took place in New York City.

2002: France beats Ireland 44-5 at Stade de France, Saint Denis to complete a Grand Slam and win the Six Nations Rugby Championship; their 13th title. On the same day, Jim Culloty wins the Grand National on Bindaree.

2004: The University of Connecticut became the first school to win both the NCAA Division I men's and women's college basketball championships the same year. The UConn teams did it again in 2014.

2004: Guitarist and singer Niki Sullivan, died suddenly of a heart attack, at his home in Independence, Missouri aged 66. Sullivan was one of the three original members of Buddy Holly's backing group, The Crickets. He co-wrote a number of his hit songs and sang back-up vocals on 27 of the 32 songs Buddy recorded over his brief career.

2005: Prince Rainier III of Monaco, one of Europe's longest-reigning monarchs, died from multiple organ failure at the age of 81. He was succeeded by Prince Albert, one of three children of Rainier and his wife, movie star Grace Kelly, who died in a car crash in 1982.

2009: A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy's Abruzzo region, killing 307 people and causing damage throughout the city of L'Aquila.

2009: Michael Jordan, along with former Dream Team teammates David Robinson and John Stockton, were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. 

2012: Model Heidi Klum divorces singer-songwriter Seal.

2013: Bayern Munich win their 23rd German Bundesliga title with six games to spare.

2014: Actor Mickey Rooney dies aged 93.

2016: Country singer/songwriter Merle Haggard died of complications from pneumonia at his home in Palo Cedro, California on his 79th birthday.

2019: For the first time, a tremor was detected on the surface of Mars by the InSight lander's SEIS seismometer. NASA described the phenomenon as a marsquake. More at: mars.nasa.gov/news/8430/nasas-insight-detects-first-likely-quake-on-mars/?site=insight