On This Day: February 13

On This Day February 13

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Retired U.S. Air Force General Chuck Yaeger, the first pilot to break the sound barrier 

1933 – Actress Kim Novak (“Vertigo,” “The Man With the Golden Arm,” “Bell, Book and Candle”) 

1934 – Golden Globe-winning actor George Segal (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “A Touch of Class,” “Just Shoot Me,” “The Goldbergs”) 

1942 – Singer-songwriter Peter Tork, best known as keyboardist and bass guitarist of The Monkees (d. 2019)

1944 – Talk show host and former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer 

1944 – Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Stockard Channing (“Grease,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “The West Wing”) 

1950 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and former Genesis front man Peter Gabriel (“Solsbury Hill,” “Shock the Money,” “Sledgehammer,” “Don’t Give Up,” “Big Time,” “In Your Eyes,” “Red Rain”)

1979 – Actress Mena Suvari (“American Beauty,” “American Pie,” “Six Feet Under”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1861 – Colonel Bernard Irwin becomes the first person awarded the new U.S. Medal of Honor for leading his troops in a battle against the Chiricahua Apaches during a rescue mission. 

1923 – The New York Renaissance (a.k.a. “The Rens”), the first all-Black professional basketball team, is organized. It becomes one of the dominant teams of the 1920s and 1930s.

1945 – Allied firebombing raids begin against Dresden, reducing the eastern German city to rubble and flames, and causing around 25,000 deaths. The assault becomes the single most destructive bombing of World War II — including Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and has been considered controversial because Dresden was neither significant to German wartime production nor an industrial center.

1965 – Sixteen-year-old Peggy Fleming wins the ladies senior figure skating title at the U.S. Figure Skating championships in Lake Placid, New York. Fleming goes on to win Olympic gold.

1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

2001 – “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” by director Ang Lee, earns 10 Oscar nominations, becoming the first Asian film and only the seventh foreign-language production to get a nod for Best Picture.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1914 – The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1961 – “Calcutta,” by American bandleader and television host Lawrence Welk, begins two weeks as the No. 1 single.  It becomes the most successful chart hit of Welk’s career.

1961 – Frank Sinatra launches Reprise Records in order to have more artistic freedom for his own recordings — a move that garners him the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.” Reprise later becomes the home of many influential acts, such as Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys.

1967 – The Beatles release the double A-sided single “Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane” on Capitol Records in the U.S. 

1971 – “One Bad Apple,” by The Osmonds, latches on to the No. 1 spot on the singles chart for five weeks.

1982 – The J. Geils Band is in the midst of a six-week stretch at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Centerfold.”

1993 – “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston, is in the midst of a 14-week ride atop the singles chart.

1999 – Monica begins a four-week hold at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Angel of Mine.”

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On This Day: October 14

On This Day October 14

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1927 – Actor Sir Roger Moore, who played Simon Templar in the 1960s spy series “The Saint” and secret agent James Bond in seven movies between 1973 and 1985 (d. 2017)

1939 – Fashion designer Ralph Lauren

1940 – Singer Cliff Richard ( “Devil Woman,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Justin Hayward of the rock band The Moody Blues (“Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Question”)

1958 – Synth-pop musician-producer Thomas Dolby, best known for his 1980s hits “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive!”

1978 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter and actor Usher, born Usher Terry Raymond IV (“Nice & Slow,” “You Make Me Wanna…,” “My Way,” “Yeah!”, “There Goes My Baby,” “Climax”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1947 – U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager ushers in the era of supersonic flight when he breaks the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 experimental plane, which he named “Glamorous Glennis,” in tribute to his wife.

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as an American U-2 spy plane snaps aerial photos showing the installation of Soviet-made medium-range missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, just 90 miles off the Florida coast in Cuba.

1964 – Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. The 35-year-old King donates the entire $54,000 prize money to furthering civil rights causes.

1964 – Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He is succeeded by his former protégé, Leonid Brezhnev.

1987 – While playing in her aunt’s back yard in Midland, Texas, 18-month-old Jessica McClure (“Baby Jessica”) slips and falls into an abandoned well. Millions of people around the world are riveted to news coverage of her rescue over the next 58 hours.

1994 – “Pulp Fiction,” a crime drama starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Quentin Tarantino, opens in theaters and becomes a cult classic.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – The Everly Brothers have their first No. 1 single with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The song also spends seven weeks on top of the Billboard country chart.

1967 – The Box Tops enter their fourth and final week as chart-toppers with “The Letter.”

1968 –  The Jackson 5 make their national television debut when they appear on ABC’s “Hollywood Palace,” performing with Diana Ross and Sammy Davis, Jr.

1972 – Michael Jackson’s first solo single, “Ben,” reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song, used for the closing credits of the horror film, “Ben,” goes on to capture a Best Song Golden Globe Award.

1978 – Exile is in the middle of four weeks atop the singles chart with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – The Grammy-nominated “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, tops the Billboard Hot 100. 

1990 – Internationally renowned Grammy and Tony-winning composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein (“On The Waterfront,” “Candide,” “West Side Story”) dies in New York at the age of 72.

1995 – Mariah Carey is in the middle of an eight-week domination of the U.S. pop chart with “Fantasy.” The track is the first by a female artist and second overall to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2000 – “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You),” by Christina Aguilera, begins four weeks on top of the singles chart.

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