Once Upon A Time – April 6 – 1772 – Empress Of Russia, Catherine The Great, Ends Tax On Men With Beards

46 BC Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.

1652 Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck

1917 US declares war on Germany, enters World War I

1994 Plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by surface-to-air missiles, abruptly ending peace negotiations and sparking the Rwandan Genocide. Those responsible have never been identified.

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1889 George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film for the first time

1906 World’s 1st animated cartoon is released, “humorous phases of Funny Faces” by J. Stuart Blackton

Today in Music
1974 19th Eurovision Song Contest: ABBA for Sweden wins singing “Waterloo” in Brighton, England

Today in Sport
1896 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump

Do you know this fact about today?
1772 Catherine the Great Empress of Russia, ends tax on men with beards, enacted by Tsar Peter the Great in 1698

Would you believe this fact about today?
2016 First baby born with DNA from 3 parents through mitochondrial transfer in Mexico