April 6 in Pop Culture History
648 BC – Earliest solar eclipse recorded by the Ancient Greeks.
1748 – Excavations began at Pompeii, covered by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
1830 – The Mormon Church was founded in Fayette Township, New York, by Joseph Smith.
1852 – Edward Sabine announced that the 11 year sunspot cycle was “absolutely identical” with Earth’s geomagnetic cycle.
1895 – Oscar Wilde was arrested, and later found guilty of being a homosexual, and sentenced to two years of hard labor.
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.
1906 – The first animated cartoon, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, was copyrighted.
1930 – Hostess Twinkies snack cakes were invented by James ‘Jimmy’ A. Dewar, at the Continental Baking Company in Chicago
1931 – Little Orphan Annie debuted on the Blue Network of NBC.
1936 (Tornado) Gainesville, Georgia.
1938 – Roy J. Plunkett and Jack Rebok accidentally discovered the chemical compound polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), later marketed as Teflon by DuPont.
1947 – The first Tony Awards were presented for theatrical achievement.
1957 – #1 Ht April 6, 1957 – April 12, 1957: Perry Como – Round And Round
1957 -Trolley cars in ended service in New York City.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit via NASA by the Space and Communications Group of Hughes Aircraft Company.
1966 – Hundred of children and their teachers reported seeing a UFO over Melbourne, Australia.
1973 – NASA launched Pioneer 11 to Jupiter and Saturn.
1974 – #1 Hit April 6, 1974 – April 12, 1974: Blue Swede – Hooked on a Feeling
1974 – Waterloo won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden. ABBA went on to pop music success for much of the 1970s.
1984 – The Gods Must Be Crazy, Moscow on the Hudson, Up The Creek and Hard To Hold were released in theaters.
1990 – Ernest Goes to Jail, The First Power, Cry-Baby and I Love You To Death debuted in theaters
1998 – Travelers and Citicorp merged (the merger was completed on October 8) forming Citibank.
1999 – Mamma Mia! (East End Musical) Opened on April 6, 1999
2001 – Along Came a Spider and Pokemon 3: The Movie were released in theaters.
2007 – Grindhouse debuted in theaters.