May 6

Events
Up to 1900
1191 - King Richard I of England lands in Cyprus during the Third Crusade.
1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome, in what is seen by some to be the end of the Renaissance.
1536 - The Siege of Cuzco starts, in which Incan forces attempt to re-take the city from the Spanish.
1536 - Henry VIII of England orders that English language Bibles should be placed in every church.
1542 - St. Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, capital city of what was then known as Portuguese India.
1659 - English Restoration: A faction of the army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector and re-instates the Rump Parliament.
1682 - King Louis XIV of France moves into the Versailles Palace.
1757 - Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
1782 - Building work begins on the Grand Palace, residence of the Kings of Siam, present-day Thailand, in Bangkok.
1816 - The American Bible Society is founded.
1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1844 - The Glaciarum, the world's first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens.
1861 - Arkansas secedes from the Union.
1861 - Richmond, Virginia is chosen as the capital city of the Confederate States of America.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the Confederates defeating the Army of the Potomac.
1882 - United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
1889 - The Eiffel Tower is opened to the public as the World Exposition in Paris begins.
1901 2000
1902 - British ship Carmorta sinks in a cyclone in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta, killing all 739 people on board.
1910 - Edward VII of the United Kingdom dies. George V succeeds him as king.
1916 - 21 Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Jamal Pasha.
1919 - The Third Anglo-Afghan War begins.
1930 - An earthquake in present-day Iran kills 2,500 people.
1935 - In the US, the Works Progress Administration is created.
1937 - LZ 129 Hindenburg catches on fire while landing in New Jersey, killing 36 people.
1940 - John Steinbeck is given the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
1945 - World War II: In the last part of the war, the Prague Offensive begins.
1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.
1954 - Alfredo Stroessner comes to power in Paraguay, after leading a military coup against Federico Chaves.
1966 - In the UK, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life in prison for the Moors murders.
1976 - An earthquake in Friuli, Italy kills 989 people and destroys entire villages.
1983 - The so-called Hitler diaries are found to be a hoax.
1991 - Time magazine publishes an article in which Scientology is strongly criticized.
1994 - The Euro Tunnel between the UK and France, opens. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and President of France Francois Mitterrand jointly open it.
1996 - CIA director William Colby is found dead on a Maryland riverbank, eight days after his disappearance.
1998 - Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev moves his seat of government from Almaty to Akmola, which is renamed Astana.
1999 - The first elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly are held.
From 2001
2001 - Dennis Tito, the first space tourist, returns to Earth.
2001 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to set foot in a Mosque, in Damascus.
2002 - Marc Ravalomanana becomes President of Madagascar.
2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by an animal rights activist.
2002 - Jacques Chirac announces that Jean-Pierre Raffarin would become Prime Minister of France.
2004 - The series finale of Friends is shown on NBC in the United States, receiving over 52 million viewers.
2007 - Nicolas Sarkozy is elected President of France.
2010 - The United Kingdom general election, 2010 is held. It ends in a hung parliament, where no party has an overall majority. On May 11, the Conservatives under David Cameron and Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg agree to form a coalition government.
2010 - Caroline Lucas becomes the first MP from the Green Party of England and Wales.
2011 - After the previous day's election the Scottish National Party under Alex Salmond wins an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, with 69 out of the 129 seats.
2012 - Francois Hollande is elected President of France, as Nicolas Sarkozy is voted out of office after one term.
2012 - The parliamentary election in Greece ends in an inconclusive result, as both main parties lose votes for supporting austerity measures.
2013 - Ariel Castro kidnappings: Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry (and her child by Castro), and Gina DeJesus are found in Ariel Castro's house in Cleveland, Ohio, where they had been held captive for around ten years.
2023 - The coronation of Charles III is performed at Westminster Abbey.
Births
Up to 1800
973 - Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1024)
1397 - Sejong the Great of Korea (d. 1450)
1405 - Skanderbeg, national hero of Albania (d. 1468)
1501 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)
1562 - Pietro Bernini, Italian sculptor (d. 1629)
1574 - Pope Innocent X (d. 1655)
1606 - Lorenzo Lippi, Italian poet and painter (d. 1665)
1680 - Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Italian-French composer and cellist (d. 1755)
1713 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (d. 1780)
1714 - Anton Raaff, German tenor (d. 1797)
1758 - Maximilien de Robespierre, French revolutionary (d. 1794)
1758 - Andre Massena, French soldier (d. 1817)
1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
1769 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (d. 1834)
1792 - Georg Ohm, German mathematician (d. 1872)
1797 - Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
1800 - Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat and general (d. 1881)
1801 1900
1801 - Jose Joaquin Perez, President of Chile (d. 1889)
1820 - Robert O'Hara Burke, explorer of Australia (d. 1861)
1851 - Arisitide Bruant, French singer and composer (d. 1925)
1853 - Philander C. Knox, American politician (d. 1921)
1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
1856 - Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (d. 1920)
1861 - Motilal Nehru, Indian politician (d. 1931)
1864 - Eugenio Tosi, Archbishop of Milan (d. 1929)
1866 - Joannes Patursson, Faroese poet and politician (d. 1946)
1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918), May 18 in Gregorian calendar
1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
1870 - Walter Rutherford, Scottish golfer (d. 1936)
1871 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
1871 - Christian Morgenstern, German writer (d. 1914)
1872 - Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer (d. 1934)
1872 - Djemal Pasha, Ottoman Empire politician (d. 1922)
1879 - Bedrich Hrozny, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II (d. 1951)
1889 - Lyubov Popova, Russian artist and designer (d. 1924)
1895 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American actor (d. 1926)
1899 - Billy Cotton, English bandleader (d. 1969)
1901 1950
1902 - Max Ophuls, director (d. 1957)
1902 - Harry Golden, American journalist (d. 1981)
1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984)
1904 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer (d. 1978)
1906 - Andre Weil, French mathematician (d. 1998)
1913 - Stewart Granger, British actor (d. 1993)
1915 - Orson Welles, American director (d. 1985)
1915 - Theodore H. White, writer (d. 1986)
1916 - Robert H. Dicke, American physicist (d. 1997)
1917 - Jilly Rizzo, American restaurateur and entertainer (d. 1992)
1919 - Alejandro Finisterre, Spanish inventor of table football (d. 2007)
1919 - Andre Guelfi, French racing driver (d. 2016)
1920 - Ross Hunter, producer (d. 1996)
1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister and later President of Fiji (d. 2004)
1921 - Erich Fried, Austrian writer (d. 1988)
1922 - Vladimir Etush, Russian actor (d. 2019)
1923 - Galyani Vadhana, Thai princess (d. 2008)
1923 - Harry Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
1924 - Patricia Kennedy Lawford, sister of John F. Kennedy (d. 2006)
1924 - Nestor Basterretxea, Basque artist (d. 2014)
1925 - Hanns Dieter Husch, German cabaretist (d. 2005)
1926 - Gilles Gregoire, Canadian politician (d. 2006)
1929 - Paul Lauterbur, American chemist (d. 2007)
1930 - Philippe Beaussant, French musicologist and writer (d. 2016)
1931 - Willie Mays, American Baseball Hall of Famer
1932 - Ahmet Haxhiu, Albanian political activist (d. 1994)
1932 - Fritz Lichtenhahn, Swiss actor (d. 2017)
1934 - Richard Shelby, American politician
1937 - Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, American boxer (d. 2014)
1938 - Jean Garon, Canadian politician, lawyer and academic (d. 2014)
1940 - Angela Carter, English writer (d. 1992)
1941 - Ivica Osim, Bosnian footballer
1943 - Andreas Baader, member of the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
1944 - Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player
1945 - Bob Seger, rock music singer
1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, musician
1946 - Susan Brown, English actress
1947 - Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
1947 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
1951 1975
1951 - Samuel K. Doe, Liberian military officer and politician (d. 1990)
1952 - Gerrit Salm, Dutch politician
1953 - Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1953 - Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer and manager
1953 - Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (d. 1986)
1954 - Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
1955 - Tom Bergeron, American game show host
1955 - John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness, British politician
1958 - Lorita Flores, Spanish singer and actress
1958 - Jan Leyers, Belgian singer-songwriter and television personality
1958 - Randall Stout, American architect (d. 2014)
1959 - Charles Hendry, English politician
1959 - Hiroyuki Sakashita, Japanese footballer
1960 - John Flansburgh, musician
1961 - George Clooney, American actor, movie director and screenwriter
1961 - Tom Hunter, Scottish businessman
1961 - Gina Riley, Australian actress, singer, producer and screenwriter
1963 - Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina
1964 - Dana Hill, American actress (d. 1996)
1965 - Leslie Hope, Canadian actress
1968 - Worku Bikila, Ethiopian long-distance runner
1968 - Shin Hae-chul, South Korean music performer and radio DJ
1968 - Laetitia Sadier, French singer and keyboardist
1969 - Vlad Filat, former Prime minister of Moldova
1970 - George Rivas, Texas 7 ringleader
1971 - Chris Shiflett, American guitarist (Foo Fighters)
1972 - Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 - Naoko Takahashi, Japanese runner
From 1976
1977 - Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
1977 - Nozomi Hiroyama, Japanese footballer
1978 - Aleksandr Fyodorov, Russian bodybuilder
1980 - Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek basketball player
1980 - Wolke Hegenbarth, German actress
1980 - Kate Lawler, British Big Brother contestant
1982 - Duri Camichel, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1983 - Daniel Alves, Brazilian footballer
1983 - Adrianne Palicki, American actress
1983 - Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
1983 - Raquel Zimmermann, Brazilian model
1984 - Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1985 - Tanerau Latimer, New Zealand rugby player
1986 - Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
1987 - Moon Geun-young, South Korean actress
1987 - Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
1987 - Meek Mill, American rapper
1989 - Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakian tennis player
1990 - Masato Kudo, Japanese footballer
1990 - Caitlin Yankowskas, American figure skater
1991 - Harriet Lee, British Paralympic swimmer
1992 - Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 - Takashi Usami, Japanese footballer
1993 - Naomi Scott, British actress, singer and musician
1995 - Marko Pjaca, Croatian footballer
1996 - Dominic Scott Kay, American child actor
2002 - Emily Alyn Lind, American child actress
2019 - Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
Deaths
Up to 1900
1471 - Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1438)
1475 - Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter (b. 1415)
1502 - James Tyrrell, English knight (b. 1450)
1596 - Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
1692 - Nathaniel Lee, English playwright (b. 1653)
1757 - Battle of Prague:
Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, English politician (b. 1683)
1840 - Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian President and independence leader (b. 1792)
1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)
1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher (b. 1817)
1872 - George Robert Gray, British zoologist (b. 1808)
1873 - Jose Antonio Baez, President of Venezuela (b. 1790)
1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (b. 1804)
1901 2000
1902 - Bret Harte, American writer (b. 1836)
1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
1913 - Alexandros Schinas, Greek anarchist (b. 1870)
1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
1939 - Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)
1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer (b. 1862)
1951 - Hans Andrias Djurhuus, Faroese poet (b. 1883)
1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
1959 - Ragnar Nurkse, Estonian-American economist and academic (b. 1897)
1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright and philosopher (b. 1895)
1967 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (b. 1885)
1970 - Aleksandr Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1897)
1975 - Jozsef Mindszenty, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1892)
1985 - Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (b. 1968)
1987 - William Casey, American CIA director (b. 1913)
1990 - Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)
1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
1992 - Jilly Rizzo, American restaurateur and entertainer (b. 1917)
1998 - Chatichai Choonhavan, Prime minister of Thailand (b. 1920)
From 2001
2002 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
2002 - Otis Blackwell, American pianist, singer and songwriter (b. 1932)
2003 - Art Houtteman, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2004 - Virginia Capers, American actress (b. 1925)
2006 - Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist (b. 1926)
2006 - Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1906)
2012 - George Lindsey, American actor, comedian, and writer (b. 1928)
2013 - Giulio Andreotti, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1919)
2014 - Cornelius Gurlitt, German art collector (b. 1932)
2014 - Wil Albeda, Dutch politician (b. 1925)
2014 - Farley Mowat, Canadian author and environmentalist (b. 1921)
2014 - Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (b. 1940)
2014 - Bill Dana, American pilot and astronaut (b. 1930)
2015 - Errol Brown, Jamaican-British singer (b. 1943)
2015 - Jim Wright, American politician, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1922)
2015 - Jerome Cooper, American jazz drummer (b. 1946)
2016 - Hannes Bauer, German trombonist (b. 1954)
2016 - Patrick Ekeng, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1990)
2016 - David Hall, American politician, Governor of Oklahoma (b. 1930)
2016 - Margot Honecker, German politician (b. 1927)
2016 - Valeriy Zuyev, Ukrainian footballer (b. 1952)
2016 - Nico de Bree, Dutch footballer (b. 1944)
2016 - Reg Grundy, Australian television producer (b. 1923)
2016 - Candye Kane, American singer-songwriter and pornographic actress (b. 1961)
2016 - Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer (b. 1988)
2017 - Steven Holcomb, American bobsledder (b. 1980)
2017 - Val Jellay, Australian actress (b. 1927)
2017 - Rais Khan, Pakistani sitarist (b. 1939)
2017 - Marshall Julum Shakya, Nepalese politician (b. 1940)
2017 - Min Bahadur Sherchan, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1931)
2018 - Cirilo Bautista, Filipino writer (b. 1941)
2018 - Paolo Ferrari, Italian actor (b. 1929)
2018 - Tarcisio Gitti, Italian politician (b. 1936)
2018 - Khaled Mohieddin, Egyptian army general and politician (b. 1922)
2018 - Charles W. Steger, American academic (b. 1947)
2018 - Ray Szmanda, American radio personality and radio presenter (b. 1926)
2018 - Jamal Naji, Palestinian-Jordanian novelist (b. 1954)
2019 - Max Azria, Tunisian-American fashion designer (b. 1949)
2019 - Gjermund Eggen, Norwegian cross-country skier (b. 1941)
Observances
International No Diet Day
Teacher's Day (Jamaica)
Saint George's Day (Eastern Orthodox Churches)
May 06