April 6^th is

Army Day *

Twinkie Day *

New Beers Eve *

National Tartan Day *

National Teflon Day *

National Student Athlete Day *

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

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MORE! Raphael, Celestina Cordero and Hal Holbrook, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Hinduism – Ugadi/Ugaadi/Yugadi/Gudi Padwa/Chetti Chand – the new year for some sects of Hindus, is celebrated in many parts of India and in Mauritius

Burundi – President Ntaryamira Day
(assassination anniversary)

Cocos Islands – Act of Self Determination Day

Cyprus – Limassol:
International Bridge Festival (through April 9)

Hungary – Budapest:
Budapest Spring Festival (through April 23)

Indonesia – National Fisherman Day

Thailand – King Rama I Memorial and
Chakri Day (founding of Chakri dynasty)

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On This Day in HISTORY

46 BC – When his refusal of a senatorial order to disband his army results in civil war, Julius Caesar defeats the Republican forces against him, including Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the Battle of Thapsus (in today’s Tunisia) on this day

1199 – Richard I of England, the “Lionheart,” dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder while campaigning to reclaim Normandy

Portrait of King Richard I/his Coat of Arms inverted to symbolize his death,
from Chronica Majoraby Matthew Paris (13th century)

1320 – The Declaration of Arbroath, is signed by at least 8 earls and 31 barons (11 more may have signed but the only extant copy shows only 39); it is a letter in Latin to Pope John XXII, intended to confirm Scotland’s status as a sovereign nation, and defending Scotland’s right to use military force when unjustly attacked. Scotland’s leader Robert the Bruce is excommunicated for the murder of John Comyn before the altar in Greyfrairs Abbey, and the Pope recognizes Edward I of England’s claim of overlordship of Scotland

1483 – Raphael born, Italian High Renaissance painter and architect

Two Cherubs (detail of the Sistine Madonna) by Rafael

1652 – Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay and establishes a settlement at the Cape, South Africa, for the Dutch East India Company

Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay in April 1652, by Charles Bell

1660 – Johann Kuhnau born, German composer and music theorist

1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau born, French playwright and poet

1712 –New York City Slave Revolt starts when 23 enslaved Africans kill 9 white people and injure 6 other whites. 70 Black people are arrested and jailed, of which 27 are tried, with 21 convictions and executions; new laws are passed prohibiting Africans to gather in groups of more than three; free black people were not allowed to own property (property ownership being a key requirement for voting eligibility, this effectively bans blacks from voting), and a black person committing a crime ranging from rape to conspiracy to property damage, would now face the death penalty

1773 – James Mill born, Scottish philosopher, historian and economist

1787 – Celestina Cordero born, a free black Puerto Rican whose parents taught all the children in their family to read and write; founder of the first school for girls in Puerto Rico (1820), where she taught students regardless of their race or social standing; she also became a public speaker advocating public education for women, and after several years of struggle, the Spanish government acknowledged her as a teacher and accredited her school; while her contributions have been largely overlooked until recently, her brother Raphael is recognized as “The Father of Public Education” in Puerto Rico

1814 – At Fountainebleau, the French government grants Napoleon Bonaparte sovereignty over the island of Elba, a government pension, and lets him keep the title of emperor in exchange for his abdication and exile

1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje born, notable Norwegian poet and journalist; best known for his poetry, including his poem Våren (The Last Spring), and his travel accounts, such as Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860 (Remembrance of a Journey in the Summer 1860)

1823 – Joseph Medill born in Canada, American editor-publisher of Chicago Tribune

1830 – Relations between Texans and Mexico reach a new low when Mexico bans further emigration to Texas by U.S. settlers

1859 – Massachusetts authorizes the first Inspector of Milk position in the U.S.

1860 – René Lalique born, French jeweler, and Art Nouveau movement leader

Rene Lalique designs: Pansies brooch, glass vase, winged female brooch

1867 – Kate Campbell Hurd-Mead born in Canada, American feminist, author and obstetrician, one of the founders of the Middlesex County Hospital in Connecticut, president of the American Medical Women’s Association, author of A History of Women in Medicine: From the Earliest of Times to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

1869 – John Wesley Hyatt patents celluloid, the first synthetic plastic

1870 –  Clarence E. McClung born, American zoologist; study of heredity leads to his 1901 hypothesis that an extra chromosome determines sex

1875 – Alexander Graham Bell patents the multiple telegraph, which can send two signals at the same time

1878 – Abastenia St. Leger Eberle born, American sculptor, decorative work for fountains and work combining realism with the flow of movement, best known for her controversial piece The White Slave which represents child prostitution

1882 – Rose Scheiderman, born in what is now Poland, American labor union leader and organizer, feminist and suffragist, active in the Women’s Trade Union League, participant in the Uprising of 20,000

1890 – Anthony Fokker born, Dutch airman and pioneer in aircraft manufacturer

1892 – Donald Douglas born, American aircraft designer; founder Douglas Aircraft

1896 – The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece

1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne born, French artist, and frequent model for painter Amedeo Modigliani

Jeanne Hébuterne: Self-Portrait, Photograph, and in The Necklace, painted by Modigliani

1903 – French Army Nationalists are revealed to have forged documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dryfus

1909 – Americans Robert Peary claims he and Matthew Henson are the first men to reach the North Pole

1916 – Charlie Chaplin at age 26 becomes the highest-paid film star in the world when he signs a contract with Mutual Film Corporation for $675,000 a year

1917 – Leonora Carrington born in Britain, Mexican Surrealist painter and author; founding member of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Mexico during the 1970s, designing a poster Mujeres conciencia (1973) to bring attention to the movement; received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art in 1986

work by Leonora Carrington, no title listed

1917 – U.S. Congress approves declaring war on Germany, enters WWI on Allied side

1925 – Eddie Cantor records “If You Knew Susie”

1927 – William P. MacCracken, Jr. is issued license number ‘1’ the first aviator’s license from the U.S. Department of Commerce

1927 – Gerry Mulligan born, American baritone saxophonist, arranger and composer

1930 – Twinkie Day *- Hostess Twinkies go on sale for the first time

1931 – Little Orphan Annie debuts on the radio

1933 – New Beers Eve * the night before the sale of beer becomes legal again in the U.S. the Cullen-Harrison Act goes into effect, redefining what an “intoxicating beverage” is to exclude beer from Prohibition – full repeal of Prohibition didn’t happen until the December 5, 1933 ratification of the 21 Amendment, repealing the 18^th Amendment

1936 – Helen Berman born in the Netherlands, Dutch-Israeli modernist visual artist and textile designer

Helen Berman – Street Scene

1938 – National Teflon Day * honors the accidental invention of Teflon by Dr. Roy Plunkett while searching for a substance to coat his scientific hand tools

1941 – German forces invade Greece and Yugoslavia

1942 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaims April 6 as the first Army Day * calling for civilian support of America’s armed forces: “. . . Our Army is a mighty arm of the tree of liberty. It is a living part of the American tradition, a tradition that goes back to Israel Putnam, who left his plow in a New England furrow to take up a gun and fight at Bunker Hill. In this tradition American men of many ages have always left the pacific round of their usual occupations to fight in causes that were worth their lives – from Lexington to the Argonne . . .”

1949 – Alyson J. K. Bailes born, British political scientist and diplomat; her varied career in the UK Foreign Service was greatly helped by her extensive knowledge of languages: she spoke and read French, Hungarian, German, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish, with some understanding of Danish, Icelandic, Faroese and Dutch; her first international posting was as Desk Officer at the British Embassy in Budapest; served as Second Secretary in the UK Delegation to NATO (1974-1976); Bailes was frequently given special assignments within the service’s London office, and “loaned out” to other branches in need of her expertise; UK Ambassador to Finland (2000-2002); after retiring, she took a post at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2002-2007)

1950 – Cleo Odzer born, American writer and nonfiction author; became a rock’n’roll groupie at age 14; spent the 1970s as a hippie in Goa, India; returned to the U.S., went through drug rehab and entered college; Odzer next researched prostitution in Thailand as the subject of her thesis for a Ph.D. in anthropology (New School of Social Research, 1990), which was published as Patpong Sisters: An American Woman’s View of the Bangkok Sex World, followed by Goa Freaks: My Hippie Years in India, and Virtual Spaces: sex and the cyber citizen. She died in Goa in 2001

1953 – Iranian Premier Mossadegh demands that the Shah’s power be reduced

1954 – C.A. Swanson & Sons introduce the first TV dinner: roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas, selling for 98 cents and came in an aluminum tray, so you could just open the box and heat the dinner in the oven (microwave-safe meals were introduced in 1986)

1955 – Cathy Jones born, Canadian comedian and writer, known for the many characters she has played on the television series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which she helped create with Mary Walsh and Greg Thomey; and her one-woman theatrical shows, Wedding in Texas; and Me, Dad and The Hundred Boyfriends; active member of the Green Party of Canada

1959 – Hal Holbrook opens off-Broadway in his one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight.” His original brief appearance as Twain was in 1954 at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania. Holbrook has dates scheduled to perform the role this year – his 65th year of remarkable performances

1962 – Iris Häussler born in Germany, Canadian conceptual and installation artist

1965 – U.S. President L.B. Johnson authorized using ground troops in combat operations in Vietnam

1981 – A Yugoslav Communist Party official confirms reports of ethnic riots in Kosovo

1982 – National Tartan Day * After an ad hoc event in New York City, Canadians of Scottish descent popularize celebrating Scottish heritage in Canada and the U.S. on the anniversary of the 1320 signing of the Declaration of Arbroath (see 1320 entry above)

New York City Tartan Week parade

1983 – U.S. Interior Secretary James Watt bans the Beach Boys from the 4th of July celebration on the Washington Mall, saying rock ‘n’ roll bands attract the “wrong element.” First Lady Nancy Reagan hired the group to play a private performance at the executive mansion that year, and the Beach Boys were back on the Mall for the 4th of July in 1984 

1983 – The U.S. Veteran’s Administration announces it will give free medical care for conditions traceable to radiation exposure to more than 220,000 veterans who participated in nuclear tests from 1945 to 1962

1985 – William J. Schroeder is the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital

1988 – Mathew Henson was awarded posthumous honors in Arlington National Cemetery, for being with Robert Peary on the expedition in search of the North Pole

1991 – The freeing of political prisoners in South Africa reaches its climax on the anniversary of the execution of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, a member of militant branch of the African National Congress (ANC), Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)

1994 – Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Ntaryamira, both members of the Hutu tribe, were killed when their plane was shot down above Kigali airport in Rwanda, setting off 100 days of slaughter. 800,000 Rwandans, mostly minority Tutsis, are killed. Blaming the Tutsi for the deaths of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira, organised gangs of government soldiers, police and militias hacked their way through the Tutsi population with machetes, or blew them up in churches where they had taken refuge. While a ceasefire was declared in July, some violence on both sides continued. The Tutsi, now in control of the government, have twice invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo to go after Hutu militias which fled to the neighboring country after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of the Tutsis captured the Rwandan capital

Habyarimana (left), Ntaryamira, and the type of plane that was shot down

1998 – Citicorp and Travelers Group announced that they will merge, creating Citigroup, the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world

1998 – Federal researchers in the U.S. announce that daily tamoxifen pills could cut breast cancer risk among high-risk women

1998 – Pakistan successfully tests medium-range missiles capable of attacking neighboring India

2008 – The first official National Student Athlete Day * created by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS)

National Student Athlete Day – UC San Diego 2017 honorees

2012 – Azawad, the name given to northern Mali by Berber Touareg rebels, unilaterally declares its independence from the Republic of Mali, but its declaration is not recognized by any foreign government, and is rejected by the Malian government. The Economic Community of West African States warns it would send troops into the disputed region in support of the Malian claim. By February 2013, a peace deal is patched together which allows the northern region to participate in the Malian presidential elections that same month, but Malian troops and Tuareg rebels are soon clashing again in skirmishes. However, by 2017, some Tuareg rebels are joining the Mali army in an operation against Islamic extremists allied to Al-Queda, who are killing people in repeated attacks, many of them on the multicultural city of Gao in northern Mali

Tuaregs join the Mali Army

2016 – First International Day of Sport for Development and Peace * part of UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, comes into force this day

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