October 6: Date

October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 86 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 105 BC – Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict a major defeat on the Roman army of Mallius Maximus.
• 69 BC - Battle of Tigranocerta: Forces of the Roman Republic defeat the army of the Kingdom of Armenia led by King Tigranes the Great.
• 23 - Rebels kill and behead Xin Dynasty Emperor Wang Mang in China.
• 404 - Byzantine Empress Eudoxia ends her seventh pregnancy in a miscarriage. She bleeds to death shortly after.
• 891 – Formosus becomes Pope.
• 1539 - Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army enter the Apalachee capital city of Anhaica, present-day Tallahassee, Florida.
• 1582 – Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1600 – Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence.
• 1683 - German immigrant families found Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1762 - Seven Years' War: End of the Battle of Manila between British and Spanish forces, resulting in British occupation of the city until the end of the war.
• 1777 - American Revolutionary War: General Henry Clinton leads British forces in the capture of the Continental Army defenses on the Hudson River in the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery.
• 1789 - French Revolution: Louis XVI of France returns to Paris from Versailles after being confronted by Parisian woman on the previous day.
• 1849 - Execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian War of Independence.
• 1854 - The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead begins shortly after midnight, killing 53 people.
• 1860 - The Introduction of the so-called Section 377 of the British Indian penal code (Law) was enacted in British India respectively.
• 1871 - The Introduction of the so-called Criminal Tribes Act was enacted in British India respectively.
• 1876 - The American Library Association is founded.
• 1884 – The Naval War College of the United States Navy was founded in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1889 – Thomas Edison shows his first movie.
• 1889 – Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtschneller make the first ascent of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa in what is now Tanzania.

1901 – 2000

• 1903 – The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
• 1908 – Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1910 - Eleftherios Venizelos is elected Prime Minister of Greece for the first time.
• 1921 – International PEN is founded in London.
• 1923 - The Great Powers of World War I withdraw from Istanbul
• 1927 – Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie.
• 1928 – Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
• 1939 - World War II: The German invasion of Poland is completed.
• 1942 - World War II: The United States Marine Corps begins the October Matanikau Action on Guadalcanal, present-day Solomon Islands, against the Imperial Japanese Army.
• 1955 – A United Airlines DC-4 crashes in Medicine Bow Peak, Wyoming, killing 66 people.
• 1966 – LSD is declared illegal in the United States.
• 1973 – The Yom Kippur War begins, as Egypt and Syria launch an attack on Israel.
• 1976 – Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to sabotage, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados.
• 1976 – New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and their associates, putting an end to the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China.
• 1978 – Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, members of the Swedish pop group ABBA, are married. Incidentally, this is also the day that their single "Summer Night City" hits No.1 in Sweden.
• 1979 - Pope John Paul II visits the White House.
• 1981 – President of Egypt Anwar Sadat is assassinated, while inspecting a military parade.
• 1985 - Police Constable Keith Blakelock is murdered as riots erupt in the Broadwater Farm suburb of London.
• 1987 – Fiji becomes a Republic.
• 1991 - The Social Democratic Party under Anibal Cavaco Silva wins the Portuguese parliamentary election.
• 1993 - Michael Jordan surprisingly announces his retirement from basketball.
• 1995 – 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus, 47.9 light-years away from Earth, was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.
• 1998 – Gay-bashing: Near Laramie, Wyoming, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is viciously attacked by two assailants for being gay (he died on October 12).
• 1999 - Filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy begins in New Zealand.
• 2000 – Slobodan Milosevic resigns as President of Yugoslavia.
• 2000 - Argentine Vice President Carlos Alvarez resigns.

From 2001

• 2002 – French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.
• 2006 - Fredrik Reinfeldt becomes Prime Minister of Sweden after being elected on September 17.
• 2007 - Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered round-the-world journey.
• 2008 - Then-Prime Minister of Iceland Geir Haarde announces that his country is close to becoming bankrupt.
• 2017 - The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Up to 1900

• 210 BC - Ptolemy V Epiphanes, Pharaoh of Egypt (d. 181 BC)
• 1289 – Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (d. 1306)
• 1459 – Martin Behaim, navigator, geographer (d. c. 1507)
• 1510 – Rowland Taylor, pastor, martyr (d. 1555)
• 1552 - Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (d. 1610)
• 1591 - Settimia Caccini, Italian composer and singer (d. 1638)
• 1738 - Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (d. 1789)
• 1742 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian-Danish poet (d. 1786)
• 1744 - James McGill, Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1813)
• 1767 – Henri Christophe, King of Haiti (d. 1820)
• 1768 - Samuel C. Crafts, Governor of Vermont (d. 1853)
• 1769 – Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, British commander during the War of 1812 (d. 1812)
• 1773 - John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist (d. 1835)
• 1773 – King Louis-Philippe of France (d. 1850)
• 1783 - François Magendie, French physician (d. 1855)
• 1801 - Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (d. 1888)
• 1803 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (d. 1879)
• 1808 – King Frederick VII of Denmark (d. 1863)
• 1820 – Jenny Lind, Swedish singer (d. 1887)
• 1831 – Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)
• 1838 – Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Italian patriot and writer (d. 1910)
• 1842 - Felice Cavallotti, Italian politician (d. 1898)
• 1846 – George Westinghouse, American engineer and inventor (d. 1914)
• 1849 - Basil Zaharoff, Greek weapons dealer (d. 1936)
• 1862 - Albert J. Beveridge, American historian and politician (d. 1927)
• 1866 - Reginald Fessenden, Canadian inventor (d. 1932)
• 1868 – George Horace Lorimer, editor of the Saturday Evening Post (d. 1937)
• 1872 - Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian writer (d. 1936)
• 1874 - Frank G. Allen, 51st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1950)
• 1882 – Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer (d. 1937)
• 1886 – Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (d. 1960)
• 1886 - Georges Vantongerloo, Belgian painter, sculptor and architect (d. 1965)
• 1887 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)
• 1887 - Maria Jeritza, Austrian soprano (d. 1982)
• 1888 - Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)
• 1889 - Zalman Shazar, President of Israel (d. 1974)
• 1890 - Jan Grijseels, Dutch runner (d. 1961)
• 1891 - David Sholtz, Governor of Florida (d. 1953)
• 1891 - Hendrik Adamson, Estonian poet (d. 1946)
• 1892 - Jackie Saunders, American silent movie actress (d. 1954)
• 1893 - Meghnad Saha, Indian astrophysicist (d. 1956)
• 1898 - Mitchell Leisen, American director, producer and costume designer (d. 1972)
• 1900 - Willy Merkl, German mountaineer (d. 1934)

1901 – 1950

• 1903 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist (d. 1995)
• 1905 – Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (d. 1998)
• 1906 – Janet Gaynor, American actress (d. 1984)
• 1907 - Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Mexican composer (d. 1990)
• 1908 – Carole Lombard, American actress (d. 1942)
• 1908 - Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, British Labour politician (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Méret Oppenheim, German-Swiss artist and writer (d. 1985)
• 1914 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the Kon-Tiki expedition (d. 2002)
• 1916 - Chiang Wei-kuo, Chinese general (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (d. 1977)
• 1921 - Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (d. 1997)
• 1923 - Yasar Kemal, Turkish writer (d. 2015)
• 1925 - Lyuben Berov, 43rd Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 2006)
• 1927 - Emmanuel III Delly, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 2014)
• 1928 - Barbara Werle, American actress (d. 2013)
• 1929 – Bruno Cremer, French actor (d. 2010)
• 1929 - Einar H. Ingman, Jr., American soldier (d. 2015)
• 1930 – Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (d. 2000)
• 1930 – Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer (d. 2015)
• 1931 - Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-American physicist (d. 2018)
• 1934 - Marshall Rosenberg, American psychologist (d. 2015)
• 1935 - Ernesto Laclau, Argentine philosopher and political theorist (d. 2014)
• 1935 – Bruno Sammartino, Italian-American professional wrestler
• 1937 – Mario Capecchi, Italian-American molecular geneticist
• 1939 - Melvyn Bragg, British broadcaster
• 1940 - Jan Keizer, Dutch football referee
• 1940 - Ellen Travolta, American actress
• 1941 - Winston Ntshona, South African playwright and actor (d. 2018)
• 1941 - Paul Popham, American soldier and activist (d. 1987)
• 1942 – Britt Ekland, Swedish actress
• 1943 - Ottavio Bianchi, Italian footballer
• 1943 - Cees Veerman, Dutch musician (d. 2014)
• 1944 - Boris Mikhailov, Soviet ice hockey player
• 1945 - Ivan Graziani, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
• 1946 – Lloyd Doggett, American politician
• 1946 - Tony Greig, South African-born English cricketer (d. 2012)
• 1947 - Patxi Andion, Spanish singer-songwriter
• 1947 - Klaus Dibiasi, diver
• 1948 – Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician
• 1948 - Glenn Branca, American composer and guitarist
• 1949 - Jim Gilmore, American politician, former Governor of West Virginia
• 1949 - Bobby Farrell, Aruban-born performer (d. 2010)
• 1949 - Leslie Moonves, American businessman (CBS Corporation)
• 1950 – David Brin, American science fiction writer

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Kevin Cronin, American musician
• 1951 – Manfred Winkelhock, German auto racing driver (d. 1985)
• 1951 - Clive Rees, Welsh rugby player
• 1953 - Claas Bruinsma, Dutch drugs dealer (d. 1991)
• 1960 - Richard Jobson, Scottish singer and musician
• 1960 - Yves Leterme, former Prime Minister of Belgium
• 1961 - Ben Summerskill, English businessman, Chief Executive of the LGBT rights charity Stonewall
• 1963 - Sven Andersson, Swedish footballer
• 1963 – Elisabeth Shue, American actress
• 1964 - Knut Storberget, Norwegian lawyer and politician
• 1964 - Mark Field, English politician
• 1966 - Fito Cabrales, Spanish singer, guitarist and composer
• 1966 – Niall Quinn, Irish footballer
• 1967 - Attila Ambrus, Hungarian bank robber and ice hockey player
• 1967 - Kennet Andersson, Swedish footballer
• 1967 - Svend Carlsen, Norwegian strongman and bodybuilder
• 1967 - Steven Woolfe, English politician
• 1969 - Muhammad V of Kelantan, former Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
• 1969 – Troy Shaw, English snooker player
• 1970 - Shauna MacDonald, Canadian actress
• 1971 – Alan Stubbs, English footballer
• 1972 – Mark Schwarzer, Australian footballer
• 1972 - Dominic Andres, Swiss curler
• 1973 – Ioan Gruffudd, Welsh actor
• 1973 - Rebecca Lobo, American basketball player
• 1974 – Walter Centeno, Costa Rican footballer
• 1974 - Jeremy Sisto, American actor, producer and screenwriter
• 1975 - Peter Pellegrini, Slovakian politician, Prime minister of Slovakia

From 1976

• 1977 – Melinda Doolittle, American singer
• 1977 - Shimon Gershon, Israeli footballer
• 1977 – Vladimir Manchev, Bulgarian footballer
• 1978 – Ricky Hatton, British boxer
• 1979 – David Di Tommaso, French footballer (d. 2005)
• 1981 – Zurab Khizanishvili, Georgian footballer
• 1982 – Levon Aronian, Armenian chess player
• 1982 - William Butler, American musician (Arcade Fire)
• 1982 - Michael Frater, Jamaican sprinter
• 1984 - Valerie Adams, New Zealand shot putter
• 1984 - Joanna Pacitti, American actress and singer
• 1985 - Mitchell Cole, English footballer (d. 2012)
• 1985 - Sylvia Fowles, American basketball player
• 1986 - Olivia Thirlby, American actress
• 1986 - Mohammed Shukri, Malaysian cricketer
• 1988 - Stephen Darby, English footballer
• 1988 - Maki Horikita, Japanese model and actress
• 1989 - Albert Ebossé Bodjongo, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2014)
• 1989 - Sophia Thomalla, German actress, presenter and model
• 1990 - Scarlett Byrne, English actress
• 1990 - Han Sun-hwa, South Korean singer, dancer and rapper
• 1990 - Jynx Maze, American pornographic actress
• 1990 - Jordan Hamilton, American basketball player
• 1991 - Roshon Fegan, American actor
• 1993 - Adam Gemili, English athlete
• 1996 - Sara Takanashi, Japanese ski jumper
• 1998 - Mia-Sophie Wellenbrink, German actress and singer
• 2000 - Jazz Jennings, American YouTuber, television personality and LGBT activist
• 2002 - Cleopatra Stratan, Moldovan singer

Up to 1900

• 23 - Wang Mang, Chinese Xin Dynasty Emperor
• 404 - Aelia Eudoxia, Roman Empress
• 877 - Charles the Bald, Roman Emperor (b. 823)
• 1014 - Samuil of Bulgaria (b. 958)
• 1101 - Bruno of Cologne, German-Italian monk and saint (b. 1037)
• 1413 - Dawit I of Ethiopia (b. 1382)
• 1542 – Thomas Wyatt, English poet (b. 1503)
• 1641 - Matthijs Quast, Dutch explorer
• 1644 - Elisabeth of Bourbon, consort of Philip IV of Spain (b. 1602)
• 1660 - Paul Scarron, French poet and author (b. 1610)
• 1661 - Guru Har Rai, 7th Sikh Guru (b. 1630)
• 1688 - Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman (b. 1652)
• 1762 – Francesco Manfredini, Italian baroque composer (b. 1684)
• 1777 - Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French author (b. 1699)
• 1819 - Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia (b. 1751)
• 1829 - Pierre Debigny, Governor of Louisiana (b. 1769)
• 1849 - Ludwig Batthyany, Hungarian Prime Minister (b. 1807)
• 1863 - Frances Trollope, English writer (b. 1779)
• 1873 – Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (b. 1797)
• 1883 - Duc Duc, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1852)
• 1891 - Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish politician (b. 1846)
• 1891 - Charles I of Württemberg (b. 1823)
• 1892 – Alfred Tennyson, British poet laureate (b. 1809)

1901 – 2000

• 1912 – Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert, Belgian statesman (b. 1829)
• 1940 - Henry Horner, Governor of Illinois (b. 1878)
• 1945 - Leonardo Conti, German SS officer (b. 1900)
• 1946 - Per Albin Hansson, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1885)
• 1951 – Otto Meyerhof, German doctor, won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1884)
• 1951 - Will Keith Kellogg, American food manufacturer (b. 1860)
• 1953 - Vera Mukhina, Russian sculptor (b. 1889)
• 1956 - Samuel R. McKelvie, Governor of Nebraska (b. 1881)
• 1962 – Tod Browning, American movie director (b. 1880)
• 1973 - François Cevert, French racing driver (b. 1944)
• 1974 - Luther H. Hodges, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1898)
• 1976 – Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (b. 1900)
• 1979 - Elizabeth Bishop, American writer (b. 1911)
• 1980 - Hattie Jacques, British comedy actress (b. 1922)
• 1980 - Jean Robic, French cyclist (b. 1921)
• 1981 – Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt (assassinated) (b. 1918)
• 1983 – Terence Cardinal Cooke, tenth bishop (seventh archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York (b. 1921)
• 1984 - George Gaylord Simpson, American zoologist and paleontologist (b. 1902)
• 1985 – Nelson Riddle, bandleader (b. 1921)
• 1988 – Larry Walters, who used 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet in 1982, suicide (b. 1949)
• 1989 – Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)
• 1992 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (b. 1922)
• 1993 – Agnes de Mille, American dancer, choreographer (b. 1905)
• 1995 - Benoit Chamoux, French climber (b. 1961)
• 1999 – Amalia Rodrigues, Portuguese singer (b. 1920)
• 2000 - Richard Farnsworth, American actor (b. 1920)

From 2001

• 2002 – Claus von Amsberg, husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (b. 1926)
• 2004 - Yogi Bhajan, Indian spiritual teacher (b. 1929)
• 2006 - Eduardo Mignogna, Argentine movie director (b. 1940)
• 2007 - Babasaheb Bhosale, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1921)
• 2011 - Diane Cilento, Australian actress (b. 1933)
• 2012 - Chadli Bendjedid, 3rd President of Algeria (b. 1929)
• 2014 - Igor Mitoraj, Polish sculptor (b. 1944)
• 2014 - Bill Campbell, American sportscaster (b. 1923)
• 2014 - Marian Seldes, American actress (b. 1928)
• 2014 - Serhiy Zakarlyuka, Ukrainian footballer (b. 1976)
• 2015 - Arpad Goncz, former President of Hungary (b. 1922)
• 2015 - Kevin Corcoran, American actor (b. 1949)
• 2015 - Billy Joe Royal, American singer (b. 1942)
• 2015 - Christine Arnothy, French writer (b. 1930)
• 2017 - Roberto Anzolin, Italian footballer (b. 1938)
• 2017 - Terry Downes, British boxer and actor (b. 1936)
• 2017 - Ralphie May, American comedian and actor (b. 1972)
• 2017 - Darsi Ferrer Ramírez, Cuban journalist and physician (b. 1969)
• 2017 - Connie Hawkins, American basketball player (b. 1942)
• 2017 - Toon Geurts, Dutch sprint canoeist (b. 1932)
• 2018 - Eef Brouwers, Dutch journalist and spokesman (b. 1939)
• 2018 - Montserrat Caballé, Spanish opera singer (b. 1933)
• 2018 - Quentin Kenihan, American disability activist (b. 1975)
• 2018 - Don Sandburg, American actor (b. 1930)
• 2018 - Scott Wilson, American actor (b. 1942)
• 2019 - Ginger Baker, English musician (Cream) (b. 1939)
• 2019 - Yevgeny Bushmin, Russian politician (b. 1958)
• 2019 - Vlasta Chramostová, Czech actress (b. 1926)
• 2019 - Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player (b. 1933)
• 2019 - Martin Lauer, German sprinter (b. 1937)
• 2019 - Neale Lavis, Australian equestrian (b. 1930)
• 2019 - Karen Pendleton, American actress (b. 1946)
• 2019 - David Petel, Iraqi-Israeli politician (b. 1921)
• 2019 - Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist leader (b. 1924)
• 2019 - Rip Taylor, American actor and comedian (b. 1935)
• 2020 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist (Van Halen) (b. 1955)

• Armed Forces Day (Egypt)
• German-American Day
• Teacher's Day (Sri Lanka)