EVENTS
- 48 BC – On orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt, Pompey the Great is assassinated.
- 1066 – The Norman Conquest begins when William the Conqueror invades England.
- 1542 – California was discovered by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo upon his arrival at San Diego Bay.
- 1781 – The siege of Yorktown, Virginia by American forces begins.
- 1820 – To prove that the tomato is safe, Robert Johnson publicly eats a bushel of tomatoes.
- 1924 – First flight around the world. On April 6, 1924, 4 teams of pilots from the United States Army Air Service set out from Seattle, Washington in an attempt to circumnavigate the world. The 4 Douglas World Cruiser planes were named Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans. 175 days later, Chicago and New Orleans touched down in Seattle – Boston and Seattle did not complete the 27,500-mile journey around the world.
- 1961 – Dissolution of the United Arab Republic. A coup in Damascus led to the dissolution of the United Arab Republic, which was a short-lived union between Syria and Egypt.
- 1978 – Pope John Paul I died after only 33 days in office. He was succeeded by John Paul II.
- 1980 – Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos: A Personal Voyage’ makes its debut. The widely popular 13-episode science television documentary series was broadcast on Public Broadcasting Service. It was presented by astronomer Carl Sagan and written by Ann Druyan, Sagan, and Steven Soter. It was, and remains, one of the most watched science-based TV documentaries.
- 1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat signed an accord at the White House establishing Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.
- 2008 – Falcon 1 is launched. Falcon 1, the first privately supported and funded spacecraft, was launched into space on its fourth attempt by SpaceX.
BIRTHDAYS
- 551 BC – Confucius (Chinese Philosopher)
- 1901 – Ed Sullivan (TV show host)
- 1907 – Bhagat Singh (Indian activist)
- 1909 – Al Capp (American cartoonist)
- 1934 – Brigitte Bardot (French actress, singer)
- 1947 – Sheikh Hasina (Bangladeshi politician, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh)
- 1968 – Naomi Watts (Actress)
- 1979 – Bam Margera (Skateboarder)
- 1982 – Emeka Okafor (Basketball Player)
- 1987 – Hilary Duff (Actress)
DEATHS
- 1891 – Herman Melville (American writer)
- 1895 – Louis Pasteur (French chemist, microbiologist)
- 1978 – Pope John Paul I
- 1991 – Miles Davis (American trumpet player, composer, bandleader)
- 2000 – Pierre Trudeau (Canadian politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada)