October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years). There are 86 days remaining until the end of the year. (Image: “Decisively Throw Out the Wang-Zhang-Jiang-Yao Anti-Party Clique!” Chinese poster condemning the Gang of Four.)

Today in History

• The date October 6, 1582, does not exist in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain because of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
• Seventeen year old Benjamin Franklin arrives in Philadelphia (1723)
• The Aradi Vértanúk (13 Martyrs of Arad) are executed following the unsuccessful Hungarian Revolution (1849)
• The talking motion picture The Jazz Singer premiers (1927)
• The Curse of the Billy Goat is placed on the Chicago Cubs (1945)
• The מלחמת יום כיפור (Yom Kippur War) begins with a surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces (1973)
• The 四人帮 (Gang of Four) are arrested, ending the Cultural Revolution (1976)
• The МиГ-29 (MiG-29) “Fulcrum” flies for the first time (1977)
• The first extrasolar planet around a Sun-like star is discovered orbiting 51 Pegasi (1995)
• Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević resigns (2000)
• Jason Lewis completes the first known human powered circumnavigation of the globe (2007)

Birthdays

• Jenny Lind, soprano (1820)
• George Westinghouse, inventor (1846)
• Reginald Fessenden, radiotelephony inventor (1886)
• Le Corbusier, architect (1887)
• Ernest Walton, first atom smasher (1903)
• Helen Wills, tennis player (1905)
• Janet Gaynor, actress (1906)
• Carole Lombard, actress (1908)
• Thor Heyerdahl, explorer (1914)
• Shana Alexander, TV debater (1925)
• حافظ الأسد (Hafez al-Assad), Syrian leader (1930)
• Britt Ekland, actress (1942)
• Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin leader (1948)
• Leslie Moonves, TV executive (1949)
• David Brin, science fiction writer (1950)
• Tony Dungy, football coach (1955)
• Elisabeth Shue, actress (1963)
• Amy Jo Johnson, pink Power Ranger (1970)
• Jessica Lunsford, murder victim (2005)

Deaths

• Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish leader (1891)
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1892)
• Will Keith Kellogg, cereal magnate (1951)
• Tod Browning, director (1962)
• أنور السادات (Anwar Sadat), Egyptian leader (1981)
• Nelson Riddle, bandleader (1985)
• Bette Davis, actress (1989)
• Denholm Elliott, actor (1992)
• “Lawnchair” Larry Walters, homemade airship builder (1993)
• Johnny Vander Meer, baseball player (1997)
• Mark Belanger, baseball player (1998)
• Gorilla Monsoon, wrestler (1999)
• Richard Farnsworth, actor (2000)
• Buck O’Neil, Negro League player (2006)
• Wilson “Bob” Tucker, science fiction writer and fan (2006)

Holidays

• Armed Forces Day (Montenegro, Egypt)
• Come and Take It Day (Gonzales, Texas)
• Day of Commemoration and National Mourning (Turkmenistan)
• Dukla Pass Victims Day (Slovakia)
• Feast of Pardulphus (Christianity)
• German-American Day (US)
• Mad Hatter Day (US)
• Memorial Day for the Martyrs of Arad (Hungary)
• National Noodle Day (US)
• National Physician’s Assistant Day (American Academy of Physician’s Assistants)
• Teacher’s Day (Sri Lanka)
• Tishreen Liberation Day (Syria)