On This Day January 25 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1882 – British novelist and journalist Virginia Woolf (d. 1941) 1931 – Actor Dean Jones (“The Love Bug,” “That Darn Cat”) (d. 2015) 1938 – Singer Etta James, best known for her Grammy-winning hit, “At Last” (d. 2012) 1943 – Director-screenwriter Tobe Hooper, best known for the horror classics, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Poltergeist” (d. 2017) 1957 – Singer-turned-actress Jenifer Lewis (“Dreamgirls,” “Beaches,” “Sister Act,” Cars,” “The Princess and the Frog”) 1981 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys (“Fallin’,” “You Don’t Know My Name,” “If I Ain’t Got You,” “Diary,” “No One,” “Empire State of Mind”) History Highlights 1924 – The first Winter Olympic Games open in Chamonix, France with athletes representing 16 nations. The event was originally called “Winter Sports Week.” 1949 – The first Emmy Awards ceremony, honoring excellence in television, is held at the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. Ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale becomes the first recipient of an Emmy for her show, “Judy Splinters.” Television was still a new medium at the time, with only about 50,000 American households owning a TV set. 1959 – American Airlines ushers in the Jet Age with the first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707 from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (Idlewild Airport, later known as Kennedy Airport/JFK). 1961 – Beginning a tradition that continues today, John F. Kennedy holds the first live televised presidential news conference, just five days after his inauguration as 35th U.S. president. An estimated 65 million viewers tune in. 1971 – Charles Manson and three of his cult followers are convicted of the brutal 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. 1995 – The world comes dangerously close to nuclear war when Russia activates its nuclear missile arsenal for the first time in history after its early-warning defense system detects a missile launch near Norway. Russian leaders suspect it might be a U.S. attack, but it turns out to be a harmless scientific rocket that Norway launched to study the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Musical Milestones 1964 – “There! I’ve Said It Again,” by Bobby Vinton, begins its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single. It’s the last song to occupy the top spot on the pop chart before The Beatles have their first No. 1 — “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” 1969 – Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” enjoys a seventh and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 1975 – Carpenters deliver a No. 1 single with their cover of The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.” It becomes the brother-sister duo’s 12th million-selling single gold record. 1986 – Barbra Streisand kicks off a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Broadway Album.” 1992 – “All 4 Love,” by Color Me Badd, replaces Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” as the No. 1 single and holds the top spot for a week 1997 – Toni Braxton is in the midst of an 11-week reign over the pop chart with “Un-Break My Heart.” 2014 – “Timber,” by Pitbull featuring Ke$ha, is in the midst of a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. READ MORE
On This Day October 26 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1942 – Actor Bob Hoskins, best known for his role as Detective Eddie Valiant in the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (d. 2014) 1945 – Actress Jaclyn Smith, best known for her role in the popular TV detective series “Charlie’s Angels” 1946 – TV host Pat Sajak (“Wheel of Fortune”) 1947 – Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 1962 – Actor Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride,” “Glory,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “Days of Thunder,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “Hot Shots!” “Twister,” “Liar, Liar”) 1963 – Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, former lead singer of the popular folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs 1967 – Grammy and Golden Globe-winning country music singer Keith Urban (“But for the Grace of God,” “Somebody Like You,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “Stupid Boy,” “For You”) 1973 – Actor-producer and “Family Guy” and “American Dad” creator Seth MacFarlane History Highlights 1881 – The Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight only lasts 30 seconds, but when the dust clears, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers are dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday are wounded. 1958 – The Jet Age begins as the first Boeing 707 commercial airliner, operated by Pan Am, takes off from New York’s Idlewild Airport (now JFK) and crosses the Atlantic to Paris-Le Bourget Airport on an 8.5-hour flight. 1970 – The “Doonesbury” comic strip, created by Garry Trudeau, premieres in 28 newspapers across the U.S. 1982 – “St. Elsewhere,” a drama set at the fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston, captivates viewers when it premieres on NBC. Then-unknown actors Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel co-star. 1984 – Surgeons place a baboon heart into the chest of Baby Fae (Stephanie Fae Beauclair), an infant with a heart defect that normally kills newborns within their first 10 days of life. The transplant keeps Baby Fae alive for 21 days. 1984 – Director James Cameron’s career-launching sci-fi action film, “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, opens in theaters. The movie is produced on a $6.4 million budget and grosses more than $78 million worldwide. It supercharges Schwarzenegger’s acting career, and “I’ll be back” becomes a popular catch-phrase. 2001 – President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law drawn up in response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Musical Milestones 1958 – Bill Haley and his Comets play the first rock and roll concert in West Berlin, Germany, where riots erupt among the 7,000 fans in attendance. The band had to flee the stage as equipment was damaged and four police officers were injured. 1965 – Queen Elizabeth II presents The Beatles with prestigious MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) medals at Buckingham Palace. 1968 – The Beatles are in the midst of a nine-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart with “Hey Jude.” 1974 – The No. 1 single is a collaboration between Dionne Warwick and The Spinners: “Then Came You.” 1985 – Whitney Houston has her first No. 1 single with “Saving All My Love For You,” which goes on to earn the late pop sensation her first Grammy Award. 1991 – Mariah Carey begins her third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Emotions.” 1999 – Singer, songwriter and actor Hoyt Axton, who penned songs for Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, John Denver, Ringo Starr and Glen Campbell, dies of a heart attack in Victor, Montana at the age of 61. READ MORE