May 6 in Pop Culture History

May 6 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

May 6 History Highlights

• 1527 – The Sack of Rome was carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was the first adhesive postal stamp.
• 1937 – The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
• 1954 – Roger Bannister broke four-minute mile (3:59.4) at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England.
• If you were born on May 6th,
  You were likely conceived the week of… August 13th (prior year)

Hindenburg Disaster

May 6 is…

May 6 Birthday Quotes

“You learn from the mistakes you make and from the mistakes other people make. The truth is, you don’t learn from success; you learn from failure.”
– George Clooney

“The time to prepare for your next expedition is when you have just returned from a successful trip.”
– Robert Peary

“I’m responsible for what I am and what I want to be. I’m not trying to live by another’s standards.”
– Tom Bergeron

“Don’t give them what you think they want. Give them what they never thought was possible.”
– Orson Welles

“Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”
– Bob Seger

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
– Sigmund Freud

May 6 Birthdays

1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst (died in 1939)
1856 – Robert Peary, American cartographer, discovered the North Pole (died in 1920)
1868 – Gaston Leroux, French author (died in1927)
1888 – Russell Stover, American confectioner (died in 1954)
1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (died in 1926)
1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died in 1985)
1945 – Bob Seger, American singer-songwriter
1955 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
1961 – George Clooney, American actor, director, producer
1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress

May 6 History

1851 – Linus Yale, Jr. was granted a patent (#8,071) for the invention of his “Self-Detaching and Attaching Key-Lock” as “a new and Improved Safety-Lock for Banks, Safes, Vaults, Stores, &c.”

1851 – President Benjamin Harrison had the first electric lights installed in the White House.

1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrendered to United States troops in Nebraska.

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

1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hit his first major league home run.

May 6, 1924 Birthday (fictional) Leo Wyatt, Charmed, TV

1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA)

1937 – The Hindenburg exploded over Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crewmembers.

1940 – John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1956 – Elvis Presley appeared on the Milton Berle Show.

1983 – The Hitler Diaries were revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.

1984 – Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer, collectively called Spinal Tap, performed at CBGB’s in NYC.

1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveiled the first iMac.

2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to enter a mosque.

2010 – The US stock market lost and regained over $1 trillion in value, within about 20 minutes. The Dow swung by over 1,000 points and many stocks declined to one cent per share before rising again. There are many theories but no conclusive reason for the crash.

2013 – Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus were freed after being held for years in the home of Ariel Castro.

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

I wonder if I’ve ever pressed the “8” key on my microwave.

A group of Dogs is called a Kennel. A group of Puppies is called a Litter. A group of Dogs (feral) is called a Pack.

A group of Rumours is a Nest.

A zebra is white with black stripes.

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did- in his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.

The first video to be played twice on MTV was The Who’s You Better, You Bet.

The revolution will not be televised. It will be tweeted.

“All I’m saying is when we split the cheque three ways the steak-eater picks the pocket of the salad-man.” – The Blue Raja #moviequotes

The Internet is mostly made of sand and photons.

“Why are there five syllables in the word ‘monosyllabic’?” – Steven Wright

More Pop Culture History Resources

• Today in History
• Number One Hits
• Award Winners
• Conception Songs