Friday 6th of August 0258

24th Pope Sixtus II is executed by beheading in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Sixtus was martyred along with six deacons; Januarius, Vincentius, Magnus, Stephanus, Felicissimus and Agapitus.

Friday 6th of August 0523

52nd Pope Hormisdas dies of unknown causes at the age of 73 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Friday 6th of August 1458

209th Pope Callixtus III dies of unknown causes at the age of 80 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Friday 6th of August 1660

Painter Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez dies of fever at the age of 61 in Madrid, Área metropolitana de Madrid, Spain.

Sunday 6th of August 1809

Poet Alfred Tennyson is born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.

Friday 6th of August 1824

Serial poisoner William Palmer aka The Prince of Poisoners is born in Rugeley, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

Saturday 6th of August 1881

Biologist, pharmacologist and botanist Alexander Fleming known for discovering Penicillin is born in Lochfield Farm, Darvel, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 6th of August 1890

Murderer William Francis Kemmler aka John Hart known for becoming the first man executed using an electric chair is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 30 in Auburn Prison, State Street, Auburn, New York, United States.

Kemmler was the first person in the world to be legally executed using an electric chair. He murdered his common-law wife Matilda 'Tillie' Ziegler with a hatchet on 29 March 1889. Current of 1.000 volts was passed through Kemmler for 17 seconds and he was declared dead by Dr. Edward Charles Spitzka. Witnesses noticed Kemmler was still breathing so attending physicians Dr. Spitzka and Dr. Charles F. Macdonald came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming he was still alive Spitzka called out "Have the current turned on again, quick — no delay." In the second attempt Kemmler was shocked with 2.000 volts. Blood vessels under the skin ruptured and bled and some witnesses erroneously claimed his body caught fire. The New York Times reported instead that "an awful odor began to permeate the death chamber, and then, as though to cap the climax of this fearful sight, it was seen that the hair under and around the electrode on the head and the flesh under and around the electrode at the base of the spine was singeing. The stench was unbearable."

Wednesday 6th of August 1902

Mobster Arthur Flegenheimer aka Dutch Schultz is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Sunday 6th of August 1911

Actress, comedian, model and producer Lucille Désirée Ball known from her self-produced sitcom I Love Lucy is born in 69 Stewart Avenue, Jamestown, New York, United States.

Monday 6th of August 1917

Actor Robert Charles Durman Mitchum is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States.

Thursday 6th of August 1925

Victim of The Manson Family Leno Pasqualino Antonio LaBianca is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Saturday 6th of August 1927

Pop artist Andy Warhol aka The Pope of Pop is born as Andrew Warhola in 3252 Dawson Street, Pittsburgh, South Oakland, Pennsylvania, United States.

Wednesday 6th of August 1941

Victim of Jack the Stripper Gwynneth Rees aka Tina Smart Dawson is born in Barry, Wales, United Kingdom.

Friday 6th of August 1943

Murderer Harry Thompson is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Tucker Unit, Tucker, Arkansas, United States.

Monday 6th of August 1945

US Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber 'Enola Gay' drops a bomb named 'Little Boy' containing about 64 kg uranium-235 in Shima Hospital, Hiroshima, Chūgoku, Japan.

The radius of total destruction was about 1,6 km with resulting fires across 11 square km. Some 70.000–80.000 people or around 30% of the population of Hiroshima were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm and another 70.000 were injured.

Sunday 6th of August 1961

26-year-old Cosmonaut Gherman Stepanovich Titov becomes the second person to orbit the earth aboard Vostok 2, landing in Krasny Kut, Saratov Oblast, Russia.

Titov was preceded by Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961.

Friday 6th of August 1965

13-year-old Peter Fuchs is abducted, tortured and killed by serial killer Jürgen Bartsch aka Der Kirmesmörder in Luftschutzbunker, Heegerstraße 34, Langenberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Fuchs was abducted from the Hauptbahnhof in Oberhausen.

Saturday 6th of August 1966

41-year-old Satan worshipper and serial rapist Edward John Louis Paisnel aka The Beast of Jersey assaults and rapes an unidentified 15-year-old girl in Trinity, Jersey, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 6th of August 1969

Philosopher Theodor Adorno dies of heart palpitations after climbing a 3000m mountain against advice by his doctor at the age of 66 in Visp, Valais, Switzerland.

Adorno was convinced that recent attacks by students were directed against his theories as well as his person and he feared that the current political situation may lead to totalitarianism.

Sunday 6th of August 1978

262nd Pope Paulus VI aka The Pilgrim Pope dies of a heart attack at the age of 81 in Palazzo Apostolico, Castel Gandolfo, Lazio, Italy.

Saturday 6th of August 1983

Countertenor Klaus Nomi dies of AIDS-related complications at the age of 39 in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, New York, United States.

Nomi was one of the first celebrities to die of complications from AIDS.

Tuesday 6th of August 1985

25-year-old Serial killer Richard Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez aka The Night Stalker breaks into the house of 38-year-old Chris and 27-year-old Virginia Peterson and shoots them in the head and face in Los Angeles, Northridge, California, United States.

The couple survived their injuries.

Thursday 6th of August 1987

Psychotic Dwain Wallace is shot dead while attempting to slip past two officers of the Federal Protective Service at the Pentagon's River Entrance at the age of 30 in The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, United States.

Monday 6th of August 1990

Child beauty queen JonBenét Patricia Ramsey is born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Wednesday 6th of August 1997

228 die in Korean Air Flight 801 Boeing 747-3B5 crash in Nimitz Hill, Asan, Guam, United States.

There were 23 passengers and three flight attendants who survived the crash with serious injuries.

Saturday 6th of August 2005

Noise music band Club Moral play their 113th concert at the Death Petrol festival in Scheld'apen, D'Herbouvillekaai 36, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Saturday 6th of August 2005

A performance by an unidentified artist at the Death Petrol festival in Scheld'apen, D'Herbouvillekaai 36, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 6th of August 2009

80-year-old Great Train Robber Ronnie Ronald Arthur Biggs is released from prison on compassionate grounds in Norwich Prison, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

On 28 July 2009 Biggs was admitted to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with pneumonia. He had been admitted to the same hospital a month earlier with a chest infection and a fractured hip but returned to prison on 17 July 2009.

Thursday 6th of August 2009

The old pier in Rawa Island, Johor, Malaysia.