On this Day August 29

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On this Day August 22

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On this Day August 15

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1769 – French military general/emperor Napolean Bonaparte (d. 1821)

1912 – TV chef and cookbook author Julia Child (d. 2004)

1925 – Actor Mike Connors, most remembered for his role as a detective in the CBS series “Mannix” (d. 2017)

1925 – Grammy-winning jazz pianist-composer Oscar Peterson (d. 2007)

1944 – Journalist, author and former NBC News correspondent Linda Ellerbee 

1946 – Grammy-winning songwriter-composer Jimmy Webb, who penned some of the highest-charting singles of the 20th century, including “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “The Worst That Could Happen,” “All I Know,” “MacArthur Park”

1968 – Actress Debra Messing, best known as Grace Adler in the sitcom “Will & Grace”

1972 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-director-producer Ben Affleck (“Dazed and Confused,” “Chasing Amy,” “Good Will Hunting,”  “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town,” “Argo,” “Gone Girl,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”)

1989 – Singer-actor Joe Jonas, who originally performed with the Jonas Brothers before forming the band DNCE (“See No More,” “Just in Love,” “Cake by the Ocean”)

1990 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence (“The Bill Engvall Show,” “Winter’s Bone,” “X-Men: First Class,” “The Hunger Games,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “Joy”)

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley is king of the pop chart with “It’s Now or Never.” The song remains at No. 1 for five weeks. 

1965 – More than 56,000 Beatles fans pack New York’s Shea Stadium for a concert introduced by TV host Ed Sullivan. The event serves as the kickoff of the Fab Four’s second U.S. tour.

1969 – Half a million hippies, flower children and 60s counter-culture zealots converge on a farm in Bethel, New York for what is billed as “three days of peace and music.” Decades later, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair is still considered the definitive concert event.

1970 – The Carpenters’ breakthrough hit, “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” marks its fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track garners the sibling duo the first of three career Grammys.

1981 – Diana Ross and Lionel Richie kick off nine weeks on top of the pop chart with “Endless Love,” the theme from the movie of the same name. The track receives a Best Original Song Oscar nomination for Richie.

1992 – “End of the Road,” by Boyz II Men, is a Billboard No. 1, and holds the top spot for a then-record-breaking 13 weeks. The song goes on to capture two Grammys at the 1993 Grammy Awards.

1998 – Brandy and Monica have a lock on the No. 1 slot on the pop chart with “The Boy Is Mine.”

2015 – Omi wraps up four consecutive weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Cheerleader.” The track returns to No. 1 two weeks later and remains there for an additional two weeks.

On this Day July 28

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On this Day July 25

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1898 – More than 16,000 U.S. troops invade Puerto Rico asserting that they are liberating the inhabitants from Spanish colonial rule, which had recently granted the island’s government limited autonomy. The island, as well as Cuba and the Philippines, were spoils of the Spanish-American War, which ended the following month.

1943 – Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost. 

1953 – Big changes take place for New York City commuters as the subway token is introduced, and the cost of riding the underground rises from a dime to 15 cents. 

1956 – The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and sinks the next day, killing 51. 

1978 – Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived throughin vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England.

1984 – Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space. She spends more than 3.5 hours outside the Salyut 7 space station along with a crewmate, welding, brazing and testing a new multipurpose tool. Savitskaya was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest honor bestowed by her country, and later entered Soviet politics.

1985 – The world learns that screen legend Rock Hudson has AIDS through a written announcement released by his publicist. He becomes the first celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis, which was still stigmatized at that time.

On this Day July 11

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On this Day June 27

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1939 – One of the most iconic scenes in movie history is filmed. It’s Clark Gable (as Rhett Butler) and Vivien Leigh (as Scarlett O’Hara) parting in “Gone with the Wind.” Director Victor Fleming shoots an extra take of the scene using the alternate line, “Frankly, my dear, I just don’t care,” in case film censors object to the word “damn.” The censors approve the movie but fine producer David O. Selznick $5,000 for including the D-word.

1950 – Two days after communist North Korean forces invade South Korea, the United Nations Security Council approves a U.S.-sponsored resolution calling for military force to defend against the North Korean aggression. President Harry Truman dispatches air and naval troops, leading to three years of U.S. involvement in the Korean War.

1966 – “Dark Shadows,” ABC’s daytime soap opera starring vampires, werewolves and witches, premieres and runs through 1971. It is the first soap to feature the concepts of time travel and a parallel universe.

1976 –  The world’s first recorded Ebola virus epidemic begins spreading across the African nation of Sudan. By the time the epidemic is over, 284 cases are reported, with slightly more than half of the victims dying from the disease.

1976 – Members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) hijack an Air France jet en route from Athens to Paris. They divert the flight to Entebbe, Uganda, and hold the passengers hostage for a week until Israeli elite special forces stage a dramatic rescue mission.

1979 – Boxing champion Muhammad Ali holds a press conference in Los Angeles to announce his retirement, however he returns to the ring two years later.

1988 – Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson knocks out challenger Michael Spinks 91 seconds into the first round. The decisive victory leaves the boxing world wondering if anyone can beat “Iron Mike” Tyson.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – “A World Without Love,” by Peter and Gordon, begins a week as the No. 1 single. The song was written by Beatles legend Paul McCartney when he was just 16, but is credited as a Lennon-McCartney composition.

1970 – The Jackson 5 kick off two weeks on top of the singles chart with “The Love You Save.” It’s the band’s third of four consecutive chart-topping tracks from the “ABC” album. The others were “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There.”

1975 – Entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher finalize their divorce, ending a 10-year marriage. Four days later, Cher weds musician Gregg Allman.

1987 – Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is the hottest song on the radio. The track remains at No. 1 for two weeks and goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

1992 – “I’ll Be There,” by Mariah Carey featuring Trey Lorenz, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. It’s their cover of the 1970 Jackson 5 hit.

1994 – Aerosmith becomes the first major band to let fans download a full new track free from the Internet. More than 10 thousand CompuServe subscribers download the song “Head First” during the first eight days it’s available.

1998 – “The Boy Is Mine,” by Brandy & Monica, is in the middle of a 13-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas dominate the pop chart for an 11th week with “Boom Boom Pow.” The single remain at No. 1 for one more week.

On this Day June 13

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