Historical Events on May 6

878 Battle of Edington: Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeat Viking army of Guthrum the Old [earliest possible date]

1529 Battle at Gogra: Mughal Emperor Babur beats Afghans and Bengals

1541 King Henry VIII orders a bible in English be placed in every church in England

1682 Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles

1794 Haiti, under Toussaint Louverture, revolts against France

1835 James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald (price 1 cent).

1837 US blacksmith John Deere creates the first steel plough in Grand Detour, Illinois

1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's Mille sets sail from Genoa to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

1864 Battle of Wilderness, fought in Virginia, Confederate General James Longstreet seriously injured (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)

1864 Union Army General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta Georgia during the Atlanta Campaign (US Civil War)

1882 Epping Forest, England, dedicated by Queen Victoria

1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch

1906 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia claims right to legislate by decree and restricts the power of the Duma (Russian Parliament)

1915 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth hits his first MLB home run; pitches 12 frames in Boston Red Sox 4-3 extra innings loss to New York Yankees

1925 Ty Cobb hits his 5th HR in 2 games tying Cap Ansons record of 1884

1935 British King George V & Queen Mary celebrate silver jubilee

1940 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck for "The Grapes of Wrath"

1941 Joseph Stalin becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, replacing his foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov

1941 At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show

1954 Roger Bannister of the UK becomes the 1st person to run a 4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road, Oxford

1957 Pulitzer prize awarded to John F. Kennedy (Profiles in Courage)

1960 US President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1960

1966 The Rolling Stones release "Paint it Black" in the US

1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark announces an amnesty for all offences associated with demonstrations since 5 October 1968, resulting in the release of, among others, Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting

1974 West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns amidst controversy over his aide Günter Guillaume's ties with the Stasi (East German secret service)

1984 Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr hits for cycle

1987 Mario Andretti sets one-lap speed record at Indy at 218.204 MPH

1987 American televangelist Jim Bakker and Rich Dortch dismissed from Assemblies of God after revelations of an alleged rape of a church secretary

1990 Former president P. W. Botha quits South Africa's ruling National Party

1990 Tom Cruise is ticketed for careless operation of a vehicle in South Carolina

1994 Lennox Lewis TKOs Phil Jackson in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

1994 Nelson Mandela and the ANC, finally confirmed winners in South Africa's first post apartheid election

1997 Michael Jackson & Bee Gees inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

1998 Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his 5th career start.

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

2002 Entrepreneur Elon Musk founds SpaceX

2004 TV sitcom "Friends" airs season finale in 10th and final season in US (52.5 million viewers)

2007 "Shrek the Third" directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui with voices by Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy premieres in Westwood Ca.

2012 François Hollande elected 24th President of France