Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

October 6

1991
Anita Hill accuses Supreme Court Judge nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

1965
First black woman U.S. ambassador: Patricia Roberts Harris assumes her duties as ambassador to Luxembourg.

1962
Dr. No world premier in London, first in the James Bond series, it starred Sean Connery as 007.

1961
First black actress nominated for an Emmy: Ethel Waters appears in an episode of Route 66, for which she was nominated for the award.

1956
Polio: Dr. Albert Sabin announces he will begin testing an oral polio vaccine.

1927
First major "talkie" movie: The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson premieres.

1876
American Library Association is founded, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1866
First U.S. robbery of a train in motion, the Reno Gang throws two safes off a train as it was leaving the station.

1857
American Chess Association is organized.

1807
Potassium is discovered by English scientist Humphry Davy.

1942
Britt Ekland (Britt Eklund), Swedish actress. Film: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974, Mary Goodnight).

1925
Shana Alexander, American journalist, author of The Feminine Eye (1970). She represented the liberal view on TV's "Point/Counterpoint" segment of 60 Minutes.

1918     d. 2006
Henry Morris, American young earth creationist, considered to be the father of modern creation science.  Co-wrote The Genesis Flood (1961) which used the great flood to explain many geological formations.

1914
Gerry Wilmont, ice hockey commentator, world's fastest speaking broadcaster.

1908     d. 1942
Carole Lombard (Jane Alice Peters), American actress. Film: Nothing Sacred (1937) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).

1903
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton, Irish nuclear physicist. In 1932, he and John Cockcroft became the first to use a particle accelerator to split an atom; for this they were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize.

1893     d. 1979
Milton Ager, American composer. Music: Ain't She Sweet and Happy Days Are Here Again.

1866     d. 1932
Reginald Fessenden, Canadian inventor. He invented the radio transmission method of continuous wave and made the first long-range radio transmission of voice (1906).

1846     d. 1914
George Westinghouse, American inventor, railway air brakes (1868) and provided alternating current to the U.S.

1820     d. 1887
Jenny Lind, Swedish singer, known as "The Swedish Nightingale." She toured with P.T. Barnum.

2005     b. 1973
Ronald Ray Howard, American criminal, "Rap Music Killer." He executed for the 1992 murder of a state trooper. He claimed the anti-police rap music he was listening to made him to do it.

1992     b. 1922
Denholm Elliott, British actor. Film: Trading Places (Eddie Murphy's butler).

1989     b. 1908
Bette Davis (Ruth Elizabeth Davis), American Oscar-winning actress. She turned down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939). Film: All About Eve (1950) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

1988     b. 1891
Lois Wilson, American founder of Al-Anon, the support group for friends and family of alcoholics. She was the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous cofounder Bill Wilson.

1981     b. 1918
Anwar as-Sadat, Egyptian president (1970-81), Time magazine's Man of the Year (1977), and co-winner of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize (with Menachem Begin).

1951     b. 1860
Will Keith Kellogg, American breakfast-cereal manufacturer, philanthropist, founded the W.K. Kellogg Company (1906) to sell toasted corn flakes.

1892     b. 1809
Lord Alfred Tennyson, English poet, poet laureate of England (1850-92). He wrote Charge of the Light Brigade (1855), inspired by the Crimean War battle.

1867     b. 1828
Henry Timrod, American poet, known as the "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy."

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