Holidays
Epiphany
(Twelfth Night in England) Celebrating the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in the manger.
What Happened On
Photo Credit: Tyler Merbler
Photo Credit: Tyler Merbler
Protestors Storm U.S. Capitol
January 6, 2021
Supporters of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Thousands of Trump supporters had gathered at the Capitol on January 5th and 6th amid claims of election fraud after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. During a speech on January 6th, Trump repeated claims that the election was stolen and stated "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country any more". Protestors then began assaulting Capitol Police officers, vandalizing, looting, and occupying buildings. The rioters sought to overturn Trump's election defeat by disrupting that day's count of electoral votes that would formalize then President-elect Biden's victory.
After Vice-President Mike Pence rejected claims by Trump and others that the vice president could overturn the election results, gallows were erected west of the Capitol with rioters chanting "Hang Mike Pence".
Frampton Comes Alive!
January 6, 1976
Peter Frampton's live double album Frampton Comes Alive! is released. It is one of the all-time best-selling live pop albums. It was released following four unsuccessful solo albums by Frampton. The songs "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", and "Do You Feel Like We Do" were released as singles with all three reaching the Top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also popularized the use of the talk-box musical sound effect.
The album featured Peter Frampton (lead vocals, lead guitar, talk box), Bob Mayo (rhythm guitar, piano, Hammond organ, vocals), Stanley Sheldon (bass guitar, vocals), and John Siomos (drums).
Jimmy Carter Sees a UFO
January 6, 1969
Future U.S. President Jimmy Carter sees a UFO. He would file a report of the incident in 1973 stating, "It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. …If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and the scientists."
Pepé Le Pew
January 6, 1945
The Looney Tunes cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew makes his first appearance when the cartoon Odor-able Kitty premieres.
*Spoiler Alert*
In Odor-able Kitty, a cat disguises himself as a skunk to avoid his tormentors. Pepé Le Pew, thinking that he is a female skunk, begins amorously pursuing him. Eventually, Pepé Le Pew's wife catches him in the act and beats him over the head with an umbrella at which time it is revealed that his name is Henri and he was faking his French accent.
Pepé Le Pew was voiced by Mel Blanc from 1945 to 1985. The character Pepé Le Pew was based on the Pepe le Moko character as played by Charles Boyer in the 1938 movie Algiers.
Four Freedoms
January 6, 1941
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his Four Freedoms speech in which he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people everywhere in the world ought to enjoy:
• Freedom of speech.
• Freedom of worship.
• Freedom from want.
• Freedom from fear.
Behind the wedding couple are Martha's two children
Behind the wedding couple are Martha's two children
George and Martha Washington Tie the Knot
January 6, 1759
George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis. Martha was a widower with two children. She brought great wealth to the marriage, enabling Washington to buy land and add 266 slaves to the 30 he already owned. Martha also brought two children to the marriage, ages 4 and 6, whom Washington adopted. The children are pictured in a painting of the wedding ceremony.
Nancy Kerrigan Attacked
January 6, 1994
Nancy Kerrigan, the 1993 U.S. figure skating champion and Olympic bronze medalist, is attacked after a practice by a man who hit her on the knee with a club. Rival skater Tonya Harding would later plead guilty, admitted to meeting with her bodyguard and her ex-husband, four days after the attack to make plans to cover up their involvement.
First Woman to Receive an Electoral Vote
January 6, 1973
Theodora Nathan, vice-presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party.
First Successful Synthesis of a Human Growth Hormone
January 6, 1971
First Successful Synthesis of a Human Growth Hormone is announced by the Univ. of California.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Badges!? We ain't got no badges)
January 6, 1948
The Oscar-winning Humphrey Bogart classic movie is released. "Badges!? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"
First Around-the-World Commercial Flight
January 6, 1942
A Pan American Airways flight that had started from San Francisco on December 12 arrives in New York City. It had covered 31,500 miles.
New Mexico
January 6, 1912
New Mexico becomes the 47th state.
Henry VIII Marries His Fourth Wife
January 6, 1540
Henry VIII takes his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Later, displeased with his new wife, he executed first minister Thomas Cromwell who had arranged the marriage.
Birthdays
Danny Thomas (Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz)
Born January 6, 1912 d. 1991
American actor. TV: Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show (1953-64, daddy).
While a "starving actor", Thomas swore if he found success, he would open a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. With help from Dr. Lemuel Diggs and Anthony Abraham, in 1962 Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
He was the father of actress Marlo Thomas.
Sherlock Holmes (William Sherlock Scott Holmes)
Born January 6, 1854
Fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The books never give a definitive date, but this is the generally accepted date of his birthday as deduced from the stories. In the story His Last Bow (1917), Holmes' age is given as 60 years old in 1914. January 6th is generally accepted as the day, but the books give little clues. Some claim the novel The Valley of Fear (1914) indicates Holmes had been celebrating his birthday on January 6.
First public demonstration
First public demonstration
Co-inventor of the Hot-Air Balloon
Jacques Étienne Montgolfier
Born January 6, 1745 d. 1799
French inventor. He and his brother Joseph Montgolfier invented the hot-air balloon (1782). They made the first sustained flight of a hot-air balloon the following year.
Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc)
Born January 6, 1412 d. 1431
French patriot. Known as "The Maid of Orléans," she led the French armies against the English during the Hundred Years' War.
She was convicted of cross-dressing and condemned by the Church and burned at the stake. Why cross-dressing? For heresy to be a capital crime, it had to be a repeat offense. Her other charges did not qualify. Joan had worn male clothing and armor during her military campaigns. She agreed to the court to wear feminine clothing; however, when returned to prison she was forced to wear men's clothing for protection against rape and because the guards had taken her clothing. Her cross-dressing now being a repeat offense, qualified her for the death penalty. She was canonized in 1920.
Nancy Lopez
Born January 6, 1957
American golfer, 1978 Sportswoman of the Year.
Bonnie Franklin
Born January 6, 1944 d. 2013
American actress. Bonnie Franklin is best known for her role as Ann Romano in TV's One Day at a Time (1975-84). She made her Broadway debut in 1970 in the musical Applause, earning a Tony Award nomination while her recording of the show's title track "Applause" was the most successful Broadway song of the season.
Franklin died of pancreatic cancer at age 69.
Vic Tayback
Born January 6, 1930 d. 1990
American actor. Vic Tayback is best known for playing diner owner Mel Sharples in TVs' Alice (1976-85) and the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974).
He also appeared in the 1968 Star Trek episode A Piece of the Action as 1920s-style gangster-boss Jojo Krako and in 1974 as Archie Bunker's boss in All in the Family.
Photo Credit: Kevin Abato
Photo Credit: Kevin Abato
John DeLorean
Born January 6, 1925 d. 2005
American auto executive. In 1982 he was arrested for possession of 59 pounds of cocaine with the intent to distribute after an FBI informant solicited him as financier in a scheme to sell 220 lb (100 kg) of cocaine worth approximately $24 million. He claimed police entrapment and was later acquitted. He was responsible for Pontiac's GTO and Firebird and the DeLorean (as featured in the Back to the Future movies) automobiles.
Earl Scruggs (left) and Lester Flatt
Earl Scruggs (left) and Lester Flatt
Earl Scruggs
Born January 6, 1924 d. 2012
American bluegrass musician, with Lester Flatt. He was the first banjoist to master the three-finger picking style. Music: Foggy Mountain Breakdown (1948), and the theme for TV show The Beverly Hillbillies.
Louis Harris
Born January 6, 1921 d. 2016
American public opinion analyst. He conducted The Harris Poll, one of the best-known polls of his time.
Sun Myung Moon
Born January 6, 1920 d. 2012
Korean evangelist. Founder of the Unification Church, whose members are known as "moonies." He claims that on Easter morning 1935 Jesus appeared to him and asked him to complete the task of establishing God's kingdom on earth and bringing peace to humankind.
David Bruce (Andrew McBroom)
Born January 6, 1914 d. 1976
American actor. TV: Beulah (Harry Henderson). Film: The Mad Ghoul (Ted Allison)
Tom Brown
Born January 6, 1913 d. 1990
American actor. TV: Gunsmoke (1968-72, Ed O'Connor) and General Hospital (Al Weeks).
Loretta Young (Gretchen Young)
Born January 6, 1913 d. 2000
American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. She claimed she was raped by Clark Gable whose child she bore. Film: The Farmer's Daughter (1947, Oscar). TV: The Loretta Young Show.
Tom Mix
Born January 6, 1880 d. 1940
American silent film western actor. His action-packed films set the pattern for future westerns.
Carl Sandburg
Born January 6, 1878 d. 1967
American Pulitzer-winning poet and Abraham Lincoln biographer.
Richard II
Born January 6, 1367 d. 1400
King of England (1377-99).
Deaths
Photo Credit: Roland Godefroy
Photo Credit: Roland Godefroy
Dizzy Gillespie (John Birks Gillespie)
Died January 6, 1993 b. 1917
American jazz trumpeter. Gillespie and Charlie Parker were major figures in the development of bebop and modern jazz.
In 1963, he ran for U.S. president and promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed the Blues House, and his cabinet would be composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Traveling Ambassador), and Malcolm X (Attorney General), while his running mate would be Phyllis Diller.
Theodore Roosevelt
Died January 6, 1919 b. 1858
American politician. 26th U.S. President (1901-09, the youngest president - age 42), 25th U.S. Vice-President (1901). He is the youngest U.S. president, assuming the presidency at the age of 42 after the assassination of William McKinley (John F. Kennedy was 43 years old when he became president, making him the youngest person elected U.S. president).
He was the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile (1902), submerge in a submarine (1905), and fly in an airplane (1910). He was also the only U.S. president not to use the word "I" is his inaugural address (1905), and the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize (1906). Also known for his motto, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
Even though he was shot while on his way to deliver a speech, he delivered the speech before going to the hospital.
Known for his athleticism, during his presidency he participated in a boxing match that cost him his sight in his left eye (1904).
Founder of Genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel
Died January 6, 1884 b. 1822
Austrian monk, botanist. His experiments with the garden pea (1856-63) constitute the basis of modern genetics, now referred to as Mendelian inheritance. His work was all but ignored until 1900.
Sidney Poitier
Died January 6, 2022 b. 1927
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Lilies of the Field (1963, for which he became the first black to win a Best Actor Oscar). He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Peter Bogdanovich
Died January 6, 2022 b. 1939
American Grammy-winning director. Film: The Last Picture Show (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), and Paper Moon (1973).
Pat Harrington, Jr.
Died January 6, 2016 b. 1929
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: One Day at a Time (1975-84, Emmy as handyman Dwayne Schneider) and The Jack Paar Show (1950s, Guido Panzini).
Celardo's cover for Jungle Comics #99 - 1948
Celardo's cover for Jungle Comics #99 - 1948
John Celardo
Died January 6, 2012 b. 1918
American cartoonist. Artist for Tarzan (1958-68).
Lou Rawls
Died January 6, 2006 b. 1933
American Grammy-winning blues singer, actor. Music: Love Is A Hurtin' Thing (1966, #1) and You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (1976, #1). Also known for his phrase "Yeahhhh, buddy!"
Rudolf Nureyev
Died January 6, 1993 b. 1938
Russian ballet dancer. He defected to the West in 1961, and became the Paris Opera ballet director (1983-89). He died of AIDS.
Founder of the John Birch Society
Robert Welch (Robert Henry Winborne Welch Jr.)
Died January 6, 1985 b. 1899
American executive, founder of the John Birch Society (1958). As a candy executive, Welch developed the Sugar Daddy and Junior Mint candies. After retiring from the candy business a wealthy man, he set his aim on fighting communism, leading to the founding of the John Birch Society (1958). It is an American right-wing political advocacy group that is anti-communist, socially conservative, supporting right-wing libertarian ideas and noted for its opposition the civil rights movement, the Equal Rights Amendment, the United Nations, and many free trade agreements. It is responsible for the magazine The New American.
Victor Fleming
Died January 6, 1949 b. 1889
American director. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939, Oscar).
Ida M. Tarbell
Died January 6, 1944 b. 1857
American author. Writings: The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), for which U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt called her a "muckraker."
Georg Cantor
Died January 6, 1918 b. 1845
German mathematician. He founded the theory of infinite ensembles, was one of the first to define real numbers, and co-developed the Cantor-Dedekind axiom describing the one-to-one correspondence between real numbers and points on a line.
Richard Henry Dana Jr.
Died January 6, 1882 b. 1815
American sailor, lawyer, author. Writings: Two Years Before the Mast (1840).
Louis Braille
Died January 6, 1852 b. 1809
French teacher of the blind. Blind since the age of three, he created the Braille reading system for the blind.