On This Day

On this Day May 6

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On this Day May 5

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Celebrity Birthdays

1818 – Karl Marx, political theorist, philosopher and economist, best known for writing “Das Kapital” and “The Communist Manifesto” (d. 1883)

1914 – Actor Tyrone Power (“Witness for the Prosecution,” “The Mark of Zorro”) (d. 1958)

1927 – Actress Pat Carroll (“The Danny Thomas Show, “ Laverne & Shirley,” “ER”)

1942 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tammy Wynette, dubbed “The First Lady of Country Music” and best known for her 1968 hit “Stand by Your Man” (d. 1998)

1943 – Actor, writer and comedian Michael Palin, best known as a member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python

1945 – Former MTV music news host, Rolling Stone magazine editor, film critic and author Kurt Loder

1959 – Emmy-winning TV journalist and former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams

1983 – Actor Henry Cavill (“The Tudors,” “The Immortals,” “Man of Steel,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice”)

1988 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Adele, born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (“Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” “Hello”)

1989 – Grammy-winning singer-dancer Chris Brown (“Run It!,” “Kiss Kiss,” “Forever,” “Look at Me Now,” “Beautiful People”)

History Highlights

1862 – During the Battle of Puebla, Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza — outnumbered three to one — defeat invading French forces. The historic event is marked each year with Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

1925 – Teacher John Scopes is arrested for violating the Butler Act, which prevents the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. He is later tried in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.

1945 – One woman and five children are killed in rural Oregon while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out the woods. The balloon was armed and exploded after the group began tampering with it. They were the first and only known American civilians killed in the continental U.S. during World War II.

1955 – The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) becomes a sovereign state when the U.S., France and Great Britain end their 10-year military occupation. The move clears the way for West Germany to rearm and become a full-fledged member of the western alliance against the Soviet Union.

1961 – Astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space during a suborbital flight of 15 minutes aboard the Mercury capsule named Freedom 7.

1985 – President Ronald Reagan angers Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors by visiting the Bitburg war cemetery in Germany, unaware that the cemetery houses the graves of 49 Nazi officers.

2002 – “Spider-Man” becomes first movie to top $100 million in an opening weekend. Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation rakes in a staggering $114.8 million.

Musical Milestones

1891 – New York’s Carnegie Hall opens with acclaimed Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.

1956 – Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut album reaches No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and remains there for 10 weeks. It’s the album that brings us “Blue Suede Shoes.”

1962 – The soundtrack to the Oscar-winning movie musical “West Side Story,” featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, begins 54 weeks on top of the Billboard album chart. It goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best Sound Track Album – Original Cast.

1962 – “Soldier Boy,” by The Shirelles, marches to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for three weeks.

1973 – “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” by Tony Orlando and Dawn, is midway through a four-week domination of the pop chart.

1979 – Peaches & Herb kick off four weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Reunited.”

1986 – Cleveland is selected as the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, beating out New York, San Francisco, Memphis and Chicago. It opens to the public on September 2, 1995.

1990 – Sinead O’Connor is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a song penned by Prince: “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

2001 – Janet Jackson holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “All For You.”

On this Day May 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson (d. 2006)

1929 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Audrey Hepburn (“Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) (d. 1993)

1937 – Musician Dick Dale, known as the “King of the Surf Guitar” (d. 2019)

1939 – Actor Paul Gleason (“All My Children,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Trading Places,” “Die Hard”) (d. 2006)

1941 – Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist-author George Will

1947 – Emmy-winning actor Richard Jenkins (“Six Feet Under,” “The Visitor,” “Burn After Reading,” “White House Down,” “Olive Kitteridge,” “The Shape of Water”)

1953 – Golden Globe-winning actress-singer Pia Zadora (“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”)

1959 – Grammy-winning country music singer and actor Randy Travis (“On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever Amen,” “Deeper Than a Holler,” “Three Wooden Crosses”)

1970 – Actor Will Arnett (“Arrested Development,” “30 Rock,” “Let’s Go To Prison,” “Blades of Glory,” “The Lego Movie”)

History Highlights

1932 – Mobster Al Capone begins serving an 11-year sentence for income tax evasion in a federal prison in Atlanta.

1961 – Civil rights activists calling themselves the “Freedom Riders” decide to test a recent Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial segregation in interstate travel. They set out on a dangerous journey aboard buses from Washington, D.C. through the Deep South to New Orleans, defying segregated restrooms, restaurants and bus station waiting areas along the way.

1970 – Four students are killed, nine others wounded when National Guard troops open fire during a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Guardsmen fire 67 rounds in 13 seconds. The tragedy sends shockwaves across the U.S. and around the world.

1977 – British journalist David Frost sits down with former President Richard Nixon for the first of four revealing television interviews. Nixon apologizes for putting “the American people through two years of needless agony” during the Watergate scandal.

1979 – Britain’s Conservative Party leader, Margaret Thatcher, becomes that nation’s first female prime minister.

2008 – The term “May the 4th be with you,” a tribute to the popular Star Wars phrase, “May the force be with you,” becomes a part of pop culture as it begins to be used among members of Star Wars-related Facebook groups that turn it into a celebration of the beloved sci-fi franchise. In 2011 and 2012, Star Wars Day is observed by fans in Toronto during a festival that draws significant media coverage. In 2013, just months after purchasing Lucasfilm, Disney officially recognizes May 4 as Star Wars Day, and its marketing of new movies, TV shows and merchandise continues to explode today.

Musical Milestones

1959 – The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents the first Grammy Awards with ceremonies held simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles. Among the awards handed out, “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” (better known as “Volare”) wins both song and record of the year for composer Domenico Modugno.

1968 – Bobby Goldsboro is in the middle of a five-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Honey.”

1973 – Led Zeppelin opens its 1973 North American tour in Atlanta. Billed as “the biggest and most profitable rock & roll tour in the history of the United States,” the group would gross more than $4 million from it.

1974 – The soundtrack to the motion picture “The Sting,” featuring Marvin Hamlisch’s interpretation of ragtime music by Scott Joplin, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the album chart.

1974 – Grand Funk Railroad chugs its way to the top of the Billboard singles chart with “The Loco-Motion.”

1985 – “We Are The World,” the musical collaboration produced under the baton of Quincy Jones as a fundraiser for African famine relief, begins its fourth and final week as a chart-topper.

1990 – Madonna kicks off the North American leg of her 57-date Blond Ambition World Tour with a performance in Houston, Texas at The Summit (now Lakewood Church). Years later, Rolling Stone magazine would call the tour “the Greatest Concert of the 1990s.”

2002 – Ashanti has the No. 1 single in the U.S. with “Foolish.” The single remains on top of the pop chart for 10 weeks.

On this Day May 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1469 – Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli (d. 1527)

1903 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning singer and actor Bing Crosby (“White Christmas,” “Going My Way,” “High Society”) (d. 1977)

1906 – Oscar-winning actress Mary Astor (“Beau Brummel,” “The Great Lie,” “The Maltese Falcon”) (d. 1987)

1919 – Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter and activist Pete Seeger (d. 2014)

1921 – Boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson (d. 1989)

1932 – Actor, film historian, television host and author Robert Osborne, best known for more than 20 years as the marquee host of the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable channel (d. 2017)

1933 – “The Godfather of Soul,” Grammy-winning singer James Brown (“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (d. 2006)

1934 – Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Frankie Valli, born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, lead singer of The Four Seasons (“Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Sherry,” “Grease”)

1951 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (“Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “Arthur’s Theme-Best That You Can Do”)

1975 – Actress Christina Hendricks, best known for her role as Joan Harris in the “Mad Men” TV series

1975 – Actor and tap dancer Dulé Hill (“She’s All That,” “The West Wing,” “Psych”)

History Highlights

1937 – Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” captures the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and becomes one of the best-selling novels of all time.

1948 – The “CBS Evening News” premieres as a 15-minute telecast anchored by Douglas Edwards. He is succeeded in 1962 by Walter Cronkite and the show is expanded to 30 minutes. Subsequent anchors have included Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric and Scott Pelley.

1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised for the first time, and the winner of the 78th Run for the Roses is Hill Gail.

1971 – National Public Radio (NPR) presents its first broadcast, “All Things Considered,” hosted by Robert Conley.

1973 – Chicago’s Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) is topped out as the world’s tallest building. It loses that distinction in 1997 when the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are completed.

1980 – Thirteen-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, California, is killed by a drunk driver while walking to a church carnival. Her tragic death compels her mother, Candy Lightner, to found Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness about driving while intoxicated (DWI) and to promote tough legislation against the crime.

1986 – Fifty-four-year-old Bill Shoemaker, riding 18/1 shot Ferdinand, becomes the oldest jockey ever to win the Kentucky Derby. The victory becomes one of Shoemaker’s 8,833 wins — a record that stands until 1999, when broken by Laffit Pincay, Jr.

Musical Milestones

1969 – The 5th Dimension own the top spot on the singles chart with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures).” The medley was written for the 1967 musical “Hair” and goes on to win both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group Grammy Awards in 1970.

1975 – Tony Orlando and Dawn start a three-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with “He Don’t Love You, (Like I Love You),” the group’s third chart-topper.

1976 – Paul McCartney & Wings kick off the “Wings Over America” tour at the Tarrant County Convention Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. It is McCartney’s first U.S. concert appearance since The Beatles’ farewell show at Candlestick Park in 1966.

1980 – “Call Me,” by Blondie, is midway through a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The song is from the soundtrack to “American Gigolo,” starring Richard Gere.

1980 – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band begin a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “Against The Wind.”

1986 – Robert Palmer has a No. 1 single with “Addicted to Love.” The music video features Palmer singing in front of a band of beautiful women dressed and made up to look alike as they “play” their instruments. It becomes one of the most iconic videos of the 1980s.

1997 – “Hypnotize,” by The Notorious B.I.G., begins three weeks as a Billboard No. 1. However, the hip-hop legend isn’t alive to enjoy the success. He was killed in a Los Angeles drive-by shooting two months earlier.

2008 – “Lollipop,” by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major, negins a week at No. 1 on the singles chart.

On this Day May 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1903 – Internationally acclaimed pediatrician-author Dr. Benjamin Spock (“Baby and Child Care”) (d. 1998)

1907 – Actor-comedian Pinky Lee, born Pincus Leff, who hosted the children’s TV program “The Pinky Lee Show” in the early 1950s. (d. 1993)

1924 – Actor Theodore Bikel (“The Defiant Ones,” “The African Queen,” “Fiddler on the Roof”) (d. 2015)

1936 – Pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck (“Release Me,” “After the Lovin’”)

1946 – Pop singer Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party,” “You Don’t Own Me”), born Lesley Sue Goldstein (d. 2014)

1952 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Christine Baranski (“Cybill,” “The Birdcage,” “Bowfinger,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Wife,” “Mamma Mia!” “Into the Woods, “Trolls,” “The Good Fight”)

1955 – Fashion designer Donatella Versace

1972 – Pro wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“The Mummy Returns,” “Walking Tall,” “Tooth Fairy,” “The Fast and the Furious” franchise, “Pain and Gain,” “San Andreas,” “Baywatch”)

History Highlights

1918 – General Motors (GM), which goes on to become the world’s largest automotive firm, acquires Chevrolet Motor Company.

1933 – The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when the Scottish newspaper Inverness Courier reports the account of a local couple that claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface.”

1939 – Legendary New York Yankee Lou Gehrig ends his record-setting streak of 2,130 consecutive games played by benching himself.

1945 – The curtain comes down on Germany in the waning days of World War II, as Russia’s Red Army announces the capture of Berlin.

1952 – The Jet Age begins as the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the British-built de Havilland Comet, makes its 24-hour maiden flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. Despite the aircraft’s overall success and longevity, the first Comets suffered from structural problems and experienced a number of accidents through the mid-1950s.

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York City.

2011 – The world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden — mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America — is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. After undergoing extensive training, U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six carried out the mission, codenamed Operation Neptune Spear.

Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley’s “Stuck on You” remains stuck on top of the singles chart for a second consecutive week. It will hold that spot for another two weeks.

1964 – “Can’t Buy Me Love,” by The Beatles, begins its fifth and final week as a No. 1 single.

1970 – The Jackson 5 wrap up two weeks at No. 1 on the pop chart with “ABC.” Two months before it became a chart-topper, the band performed the song on “American Bandstand.”

1981 – Sheena Easton lays claim to the top spot on the singles chart with “Morning Train (Nine to Five).”

1987 – “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” by Cutting Crew, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1998 – The Minneapolis-based R&B trio, Next, is in the midst of a five-week domination of the Billboard pop chart with “Too Close.”

2003 – The Dixie Chicks appear naked on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, with slogans such “Traitors,” “Hero,” “Boycott,” “Saddam’s Angels” and “Proud Americans” across their bodies. The slogans represent the reactions the trio received following singer Natalie Maines’ anti-George W. Bush comments.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas dominate the pop chart with “Boom Boom Pow.” The track is the band’s first No. 1, and it remains a chart-topper for 12 weeks.

On this Day May 6

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On this Day May 5

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On this Day May 4

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On this Day May 3

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On this Day May 2

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