On this day

August 6, 1991

Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from August 6, 1991

Japan Says It Won't Prosecute

By James Sterngold

A top Finance Ministry official said today that the Government would not prosecute Japan's scandal-ridden securities houses for creating billions of dollars worth of bogus securities trades, despite ample evidence of improper activities. Nobuhiko Matsuno, head of the ministry's securities bureau, said at a news briefing that the trades, which were used to disguise illicit payments to some clients, appeared improper. But he said the Government would not use one of its most potent legal weapons to prosecute the firms because of a technicality in the way the securities were traded.

Financial Desk574 words

Shortage Of Judges Slows Cases

By Constance L. Hays

Federal District Court in Manhattan, one of the busiest and most important district courts in the nation, is struggling with one of the nation's worst shortages of judges. Seven of the court's 28 seats are vacant, and three have been unfilled for 18 months or more. Only eight other judgeships in the nation's 94 district courts have been left vacant as long.

Metropolitan Desk1318 words

Polygram Is Buying Stake In Lloyd Webber Company

By Geraldine Fabrikant

Andrew Lloyd Webber, who created musical extravaganzas like "Cats," "Phantom of the Opera" and "Starlight Express," is selling a stake in his company to Polygram N.V., the European record company that has sold more than 10 million albums from his hit shows. Polygram said yesterday that it had agreed to acquire a 30 percent interest in Mr. Lloyd Webber's company, Really Useful Holdings, for $:68 million, or about $117 million, plus a payment in 1994 of $:10 million, or $17 million.

Financial Desk721 words

Can't Count on Numbers; The Elaborate Effort to Adjust the Census By Using Statistics Adds Up to Ambiguity

By Peter Passell

Most experts agree that the 1990 census failed to ferret out about four million to five million Americans, a disproportionate number of them probably black, Hispanic or Asian. Most also agree that the Census Bureau's statistical fix would better reflect the nation's total population. But they are deeply divided on the critical question of whether the adjustment would provide more accurate -- and fairer -- counts for individual cities and Congressional districts.

National Desk1775 words

Stars Without Twinkle

By Unknown Author

Using ground telescopes and technology from the military's "Star Wars" research, astronomers may soon see stars unblurred by Earth's atmosphere. To correct the images, they will project an artificial laser star into space and measure light's distortion on the return trip. Science Times, page C1.

Science Desk44 words

Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of July 31, 1991, covering August 6, 1991.

1
Unforgettable: With Love
Natalie Cole
Last week
1
Peak
1
Weeks
6
2
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Van Halen
Last week
2
Peak
1
Weeks
5
3
Spellbound
Paula Abdul
Last week
3
Peak
1
Weeks
10
4
Gonna Make You Sweat
C+C Music Factory
Last week
4
Peak
2
Weeks
30
5
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
Soundtrack
Last week
6
Peak
5
Weeks
3

Notable Births

1991Wilmer Flores, Venezuelan baseball player^[†]

Wilmer Alejandro Flores Garcia, nicknamed "Catire", is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). On his 16th birthday in 2007, Flores signed as an international free agent with the New York Mets, and he made his major league debut with them in 2013. He has previously played in MLB for the Mets and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

1991Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer^[†]

Jiao Liuyang is a Chinese swimmer, who specializes in the 200-metre butterfly.

Notable Deaths

1991Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Iran (born 1915)^[†]

Shapour Bakhtiar was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the words of the historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in the tone of a jeremiad he reminded the nation of the dangers of clerical despotism, and of how the fascism of the mullahs would be darker than any military junta." In 1991, he and his secretary were murdered in his home in Suresnes, France, by agents of the Islamic Republic.

1991Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (born 1900)^[†]

Daniel Roland Michener was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the 20th governor general of Canada from 1967 to 1974.

1991Harry Reasoner, American journalist, co-created 60 Minutes (born 1923)^[†]

Harry Reasoner was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News, known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator and as one of the original hosts of the news magazine 60 Minutes.

Historical Events

1991Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet.^[†]

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the HTML markup language, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

1991Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.^[†]

Takako Doi was a prominent Japanese politician from 1980 until her retirement in 2005. She was the first female Lower House Speaker in Japan, the highest position a female politician has ever held in the country's modern history, as well as the country's first female Opposition Leader.

Historical Context for August 6, 1991

In 1991, the world population was approximately 5,418,735,891 people^[†]

Headlines from August 6, 1991

Japan Says It Won't Prosecute

Shortage Of Judges Slows Cases

Polygram Is Buying Stake In Lloyd Webber Company

Can't Count on Numbers; The Elaborate Effort to Adjust the Census By Using Statistics Adds Up to Ambiguity

Stars Without Twinkle

Unforgettable: With Love

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Spellbound

Gonna Make You Sweat

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Events

Historical Context for August 6, 1991