Apollo 17 – Time Rewind

On This Day December 19

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On This Day December 13

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Celebrity Birthdays

1925 – Emmy, Tony and Grammy-winning actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke (“Bye Bye Birdie,” “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Night at the Museum”)

1929 – Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony-winning actor Christopher Plummer (“The Sound of Music,” ” A Beautiful Mind,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “The New World,” “Inside Man,” “Beginners”)

1948 – Rock musician Ted Nugent, best known for his 1977 hit “Cat Scratch Fever”

1957 – Golden Globe-winning actor Steve Buscemi (“Reservoir Dogs,” “Desperado,” “Con Air,” “Fargo,” “Armageddon,” “Boardwalk Empire”)

1967 – Oscar and Grammy-winning actor-comedian and musician Jamie Foxx, born Eric Marlon Bishop (“Ray,” “Django Unchained,” “Dreamgirls,” “Collateral,” “The Soloist”)

1989 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Taylor Swift

History Highlights

1957 – The Ford Motor Company produces the last two-seater Thunderbird. Beginning with the 1958 model year, the car becomes a four-seater, referred to as the “Square Bird.”

1972 – Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final “extravehicular activity” (EVA) or “moonwalk” during NASA’s last manned mission to the moon.

1983 – The Detroit Pistons defeat the Denver Nuggets by a score of 186-184 in triple overtime, the highest scoring game in the history of the NBA.

2000 – A long and bitter U.S. presidential race finally comes to an end. After five weeks of legal wrangling over the vote count in Florida, Democrat Al Gore—then vice president—concedes to Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush after the Supreme Court rules that the Florida recount must stop.

2000 – Seven convicts escape from a maximum-security prison in South Texas, setting off a manhunt that lasts six weeks. The so-called ‘Texas Seven’ leave behind an ominous note that reads, “You haven’t heard the last of us yet.” A tip from someone that had seen the escapees profiled on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted” crime program leads to their capture.

2003 – Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. military forces without as single shot being fired. Nine months after he and his family fled Baghdad, he is discovered hiding in an underground hole near his hometown of Tikrit. He stands trial and is executed in December 2006.

Musical Milestones

1969 – The Dutch band Shocking Blue hurtles onto the Billboard Hot 100 with “Venus,” which climbs to No. 1 in the U.S. and eight other countries in 1970. Bananarama’s 1986 cover of the song also becomes a chart-topper.

1975 – Silver Convention soars through its third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fly, Robin, Fly.”

1980 – Kenny Rogers holds the top spot on the Billboard pop chart with “Lady” — a song written by Lionel Richie.

1986 – “The Way It Is,” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, hits No.1 on the singles chart.

1993 – Janet Jackson’s “Again” is in the middle of a two-week ride atop the singles chart. The song goes on to receive Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Song.

On This Day December 11

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Celebrity Birthdays

1931 – Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy-winning actress Rita Moreno, born Rosita Dolores Alverio (“West Side Story,” “The Electric Company,” “Oz”)

1938 – Legendary jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (d. 2020)

1940 – Emmy-winning actress Donna Mills (“Play Misty For Me,” “Knot’s Landing,” “General Hospital”)

1944 – Pop and country singer Brenda Lee (“I’m Sorry,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”)

1947 – Actress Teri Garr (“Young Frankenstein,” “Tootsie,” “Mr. Mom”)

1954 – Singer Jermaine Jackson, formerly of the Jackson 5

1958 – Mötley Crüe founder and bassist Nikki Sixx

1973 – Actor and hip hop artist Mos Def, a.k.a. Yasiin Bey, born Dante Smith (“Monster’s Ball,” “Something the Lord Made,” “Next Day Air,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “16 Blocks,” “Be Kind Rewind,” “The Italian Job,” “Bamboozled,” “Brown Sugar”)

History Highlights

1777 – General George Washington marches 12,000 soldiers of his Continental Army from Whitemarsh to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for the winter, but the troops are delayed when they encounter British forces.

1936 – After ruling for less than a year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He announces his decision during a national broadcast. The move follows condemnation by the British government, the public and the Church of England of his decision to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and causes a constitutional crisis for the British Empire.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to establish the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), an organization to help provide relief and support to children living in countries devastated by World War II.

1972 – The crew of Apollo 17 performs the sixth and final manned lunar landing.

2008 – Financier Bernard Madoff is arrested at his New York City apartment and charged with masterminding a long-running Ponzi scheme later estimated to involve around $65 billion, making it one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history.

Musical Milestones

1961 – “Please Mr. Postman,” by The Marvelettes, tops the singles chart.

1961 – Elvis Presley kicks off a 20-week run on top of the Billboard album chart with the soundtrack to the movie “Blue Hawaii.” The King’s seventh No. 1 album is nominated for a Grammy.

1964 – Legendary soul singer Sam Cooke is shot to death by a Los Angeles motel manager in what investigators call a justifiable homicide. The manager claimed Cooke attacked her after trying to rape a young woman he was with. Cooke was 33.

1976 – Rod Stewart owns the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright).” The single remains at No. 1 for eight weeks, becoming the last chart-topping hit of 1976 and the first of 1977.

1982 – One-hit wonder Toni Basil reaches the top of the singles chart with “Mickey.”

1993 – Janet Jackson begins two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Again,” off her “Janet” album. It is also used as the closing track to the 1993 movie, “Poetic Justice,” starring Jackson and rapper-actor Tupac Shakur.

2004 – “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell, is the No. 1 single.

On This Day December 7

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Celebrity Birthdays

1915 – Tony and Emmy-winning actor Eli Wallach (“The Misfits,” “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “Nuts,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”) (d. 2014)

1932 – Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn (“The Exorcist,” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”)

1947 – Baseball Hall of Famer and former Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench

1949 – Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter and actor Tom Waits (“Jersey Girl,” “Hold On,” “One From the Heart”)

1956 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Indiana Pacers coach/legendary Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird

1979 – Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (“Love Song,” “King of Anything”)

History Highlights

1941 – Japanese forces launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thrusting the U.S. into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls it “a date which will live in infamy.”

1963 – Decades before the DVR and years before the first Super Bowl, instant replay is used for the first time during an Army-Navy college football game. As the CBS broadcast replays Rollie Stichweh’s winning touchdown, commentator Lindsey Nelson tells viewers, “Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!”

1972 – Apollo 17 hurtles toward space, carrying a three-man crew to the last moon landing of the Apollo program.

1982 – The nation’s first execution by lethal injection takes place at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. Charles Brooks, Jr. was convicted of kidnapping and murdering an auto mechanic.

1993 – Colin Ferguson opens fire on a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuter train after it pulls out of New York’s Penn Station, killing six and injuring 19. Other passengers overpower Ferguson when he stops to reload his pistol. The incident comes to be known as the Long Island Rail Road Massacre.

2001 – The heist film “Ocean’s Eleven,” starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts, and directed by Steven Soderbergh, opens in theaters. It is a remake of the 1960 movie of the same name that starred “Rat Pack” members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., along with Angie Dickinson.

Musical Milestones

1963 – The Singing Nun begins a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Dominique,” which goes on to sell 1.5 million copies in the U.S. and win a Grammy for the year’s best Gospel song.

1974 – One-hit wonder Carl Douglas chops his way to the top of the singles chart with “Kung Fu Fighting.” The song, which holds at No. 1 for two weeks, sells 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

1985 – “Broken Wings,” by Mr. Mister, begins two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – U2 conquer the Billboard album chart with “Achtung Baby,” featuring “One,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and other popular tracks.

2002 – Eminem is in the midst of a 12-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Lose Yourself.” The track, from his “8 Mile” movie soundtrack, becomes the first rap song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It also garners Eminem two Grammys.