May 6th

May 6 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 229 days remaining until the end of time.

1659 English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.

1733 1st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beats Tito di Carni

1794 Haiti, under Toussaint L'Ouverture, revolts against France

1851 Dr. John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine" But, where do the ices cubes come from?

1851 Linus Yale patents Yale-lock for purely prurient interests

1860 San Francisco Olympic Club, 1st U.S. athletic club forms 36 years before the Olympics. I guess they wanted to perfect their synchronized swimming routines.

1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

 

1937 “Oh, the humanity”:  Dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey YT:  Hindenburg disaster

1941 Joseph Stalin becomes premier of Russia on the weight of his good looks and charming personality

1954 Roger Bannister of Britain breaks 4 minute mile (3:59:4)

1987 PTL's Jim Bakker and Rich Dortch are dismissed from Assemblies of God after being led away in handcuffs by the Law

1994 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate Chunnel gay marriage of England and France

1994 Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sets fire to the couch on Tonight Show

1856 Sigmund Freud, German neurologist/founder of psychoanalytic school of psychiatry 

1895 Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor/taxi dancer/horseman/sheik

1937 Hurricane Carter, US boxer/wrongly incarcerated 

1961 George Clooney, US actor/writer/producer/director/UN Messenger of Peace/2-time Sexiest Man Alive 

1970 Tristan Ulloa, French actor 

1971 Marshall Hilliard, US actor 

1971 Chris Shiflett, US musician/Foo Fighters 

1982 Kyle Shewfelt, Canadian gymnast 

1983 Anton Antipov, Belarusian model 

1862 Henry David Thoreau, U.S. writer/pacifist (Walden Pond), rejects civil disobedience for natural obedience. I’m sure he was a nice person and all, but jeez, he is as fugly as homemade sin.

1963 [Edgar Montillion] Monty Wooley, US actor who happened to be gay (Pied Piper, Man Who Came to Dinner), finds nothing sacred

1992 [Marie Magdalene] Marlene Dietrich, German-US actress (Blue Angel), finds no highway in the sky

2002 Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician who happened to be gay, goes the way of Harvey Milk–except for the progressive politics part.

2006 Lorne Saxberg, Canadian television journalist who happened to be gay, gets scooped on this story