Audrey Hepburn – Time Rewind

On This Day January 20

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On this Day August 27

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Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), 36th U.S. president (d. 1973)

1916 – Singer and comic actress Martha Raye, born Margie Yvonne Reed (“Rhythm on the Range,” “The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos,” “The Martha Raye Show”) (d. 1994)

1942 – Daryl Dragon, the keyboard-playing half of the Captain & Tennille (d. 2019)

1943 – Golden Globe-winning actress Tuesday Weld, born Susan Ker Weld (“Play It As It Lays,” “Looking For Mr. Goodbar,” “The Winter of Our Discontent,” “Once Upon a Time in America”)

1947 – Actress-model Barbara Bach, known for her role as Anya in the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and as the wife of musician Ringo Starr

1952 – Actor Paul Reubens, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman (d. 2023)

1963 – Actress, former MTV VJ and current Sirius/XM “90s on 9” host ‘Downtown’ Julie Brown

1976 – Actress Sarah Chalke (“Roseanne,” “Scrubs, “How I Met Your Mother”)

History Highlights

1883 – The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history jolts Krakatoa (also known as Krakatau), a small, uninhabited volcanic island located west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The resulting explosions and tsunamis kill an estimated 36,000 people.

1953 – “Roman Holiday,” featuring Audrey Hepburn in her first starring movie role, premieres in New York City.

1955 – The first edition of “The Guinness Book of Records” is published in England as a resource for pub patrons to settle friendly disputes. By that Christmas, it becomes a British best-seller. Today, it is the leading international authority for certifying every conceivable world record, from longest mustache to most tattooed woman, and everything in between.

1962 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe on a mission to fly by Venus and return data on the planet’s atmosphere, magnetic field, charged particle environment and mass.

1964 – Gracie Allen, who kept radio and TV audiences laughing for decades with comedy partner and husband George Burns, dies at age 69.

1966 – Sixty-five-year-old Francis Chichester sets sail from Plymouth, England aboard his yacht, Gipsy Moth IV, on the first solo around-the-world trip by sea. He completes the voyage nine months and one day later with only a single stop in Sydney, Australia, and is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1984 – President Ronald Reagan announces the Teacher in Space Project to inspire students, honor teachers and spur interest in mathematics, science and space exploration. New Hampshire social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe is eventually selected out of 11,000 applicants to be the first teacher in space. Sadly, she is killed along with all her fellow crew members in the January 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after liftoff.

Musical Milestones

1966 – “Summer in the City,” by The Lovin’ Spoonful, enters its third and final week on top of the singles chart.

1967 – Beatles manager Brian Epstein, regarded by many as “the fifth Beatle,” dies of a drug overdose at the age of 32.

1977 – The Emotions top the Billboard Hot 100 with “Best of My Love.”

1983 – “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, from the band’s “Synchronicity” album, begins its eighth and final week as the No. 1 single.

1988 – George Michael’s “Monkey” swings its way to the top of the Billboard singles chart and hangs there for two weeks. It is his sixth solo chart-topper.

1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, ranked seventh among the 100 greatest gutarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, dies in a helicopter crash at the age of 35.

1991 – Pearl Jam’s debut album, “Ten,” is released, spawning three hit singles: “Alive,” “Even Flow” and “Jeremy.” The album, which eventually climbs to No. 2, is credited, along with Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” with helping bring alternative rock into the mainstream.

1994 – Boyz II Men kick off 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’ll Make Love to You,” which goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

2005 – “We Belong Together,” by Mariah Carey, is the No. 1 single.

2011 – “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” by Katy Perry, begins two weeks as the No. 1 single.

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.