On This Day: September 5

On This Day September 5

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1847 – Outlaw Jesse James (d. 1882)

1929 – Comedian-actor Bob Newhart (“The Bob Newhart Show,” “Newhart”)

1939 – Actor William Devane (“The Missiles of October,” “Knot’s Landing,” “Space Cowboys,” “24”)

1940 – Actress and 1960s-70s sex symbol Raquel Welch (d. 2023)

1945 – Singer-songwriter Al Stewart, best known for his 70s hits “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages”

1946 – Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara (d. 1991)

1951 – Golden Globe-winning actor Michael Keaton, born Michael John Douglas (“Mr. Mom,” “Beetlejuice,” “Batman Returns,” “Pacific Heights,” “My Life,” “The Paper,” “Birdman, “Spotlight”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1836 – Sam Houston is elected president of the Republic of Texas, which earned its independence from Mexico in a successful military rebellion. He serves as president until 1838, then again from 1841 to 1844. Despite plans for retirement, Houston helps Texas win admission to the United States in 1845 and is elected as one of the state’s first two senators. 

1958 – Boris Pasternak’s romantic novel, “Doctor Zhivago,” is published in the United States. The book was banned in the Soviet Union, but goes on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 and is the basis of the Oscar-winning 1965 movie starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.

1966 – The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon debuts. The live fundraiser was hosted every Labor Day weekend through 2011 by comedian Jerry Lewis. 

1972 – The world watches in horror as news unfolds about a massacre at the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, where Palestinian terrorists murder 11 Israeli athletes. Many cite this tragedy as ushering in the modern age of terrorism.

1975 – An assassination attempt against President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California is thwarted by a Secret Service agent who wrests a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol from Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson. Fromme is paroled in 2009 after 34 years in prison.

1986 – A Pan Am flight from Bombay, India to New York (Pan Am Flight 73) is hijacked by four armed Palestinian men during a scheduled stop in Karachi, Pakistan. Twenty people are killed aboard the 747 jumbo jet — among them, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who is posthumously honored with India’s highest peacetime award for bravery for protecting many of the 360 survivors.

2006 – Katie Couric debuts as the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast, the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,” and draws an audience of 13.6 million viewers. Couric, who served as co-host of NBC’s “Today” show from 1991 to 2006, succeeded longtime anchor Dan Rather.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley surprises his mother with a gift of a pink Cadillac. The car remains in the Presley family for years, and eventually goes on display at Graceland. 

1964 – The Animals begin a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “House of the Rising Sun.” The track also soars to the top of the U.K. singles chart.

1966 – Taking a break from nearly four years of touring with The Beatles, John Lennon begins acting duties as Private Gripweed in the movie “How I Won The War.” The black comedy, directed by Richard Lester (director of The Beatles’ movies “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”), was filmed in Germany and Spain.

1981 – Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks finds solo success, soaring to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “Bella Donna.” The album features the tracks “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (the Tom Petty duet), “Leather and Lace” (a duet with Don Henley) and “Edge of Seventeen.” 

1992 – Boyz II Men is in the midst of a 13-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “End of the Road.”

1998 – Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” from the movie “Armageddon,” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and holds there for four weeks. It is band’s only chart-topping single to date.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas continue their domination of the singles chart with “I Gotta Feeling,” which is in the midst of 14 weeks at No. 1.

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On this Day: July 22

On this Day July 22

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1940 – Emmy-winning “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek (d. 2020)

1946 – Actor-director Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon” series, “The Color Purple,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “2012,” “Death at a Funeral”) 

1947 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, guitarist, drummer and Eagles co-founder Don Henley (“Dirty Laundry”, “The Boys of Summer”, “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”, “The Heart of the Matter”, “The Last Worthless Evening”, “Sunset Grill”, “New York Minute” and “The End of the Innocence”)

1949 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning composer Alan Menken, known for his many Disney movie soundtracks

1955 – Actor Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “To Live and Die in L.A.” “Shadow of the Vampire,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” the “Spider-Man” trilogy)

1964 – Actor-comedian John Leguizamo (“Hanging With the Homeboys,” “Ice Age,” “ER”) 

1964 – Actor-comedian and “SNL” alum David Spade (“Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Joe Dirt,” “Grown Ups”) 

1992 – Actress and pop superstar Selena Gomez (“Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Ramona and Beezus,” “Monte Carlo”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1916 – A massive parade in San Francisco marking Preparedness Day, in anticipation of the United States entering World War I, is interrupted when a suitcase bomb explodes, killing 10 bystanders and wounding 40 others.

1933 – Some 50,000 cheering New Yorkers greet aviator Wiley Post at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field as he completes the first solo flight around the world. Post logged 15,596 miles in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes — the fastest circumnavigation of the globe.

1934 – FBI agents gun down Public Enemy No. 1 — notorious bank robber and murderer John Dillinger, outside Chicago’s Biograph movie theater. Dillinger and his mob gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men, wounding seven others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging three jail breaks — killing a sheriff during one and wounding two guards in another.

1937 – The U.S. Senate rejects President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to add more justices to the Supreme Court — his so-called “court-packing” plan. 

1942 –  Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver arrives in Dearborn, Michigan at the invitation of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford to begin collaborating on crop experiments.

1987 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that he will accept a worldwide ban on intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1991 – Milwaukee police arrest serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer after discovering dismembered victims and other evidence in his apartment. Dahmer is tried and convicted for the murders of 17 males between 1978 and 1991. While serving time in prison, he is attacked and killed by a fellow inmate in 1994.

2003 – U.S. Army Private Jessica Lynch, a prisoner-of-war who was rescued from an Iraqi hospital, receives a hero’s welcome when the 20-year-old returns to her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia. Following her return, new details of her capture and rescue emerge suggesting the original accounts were exaggerated to create positive feelings about the war.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – “Windy,” by The Association, blows through the top of the singles chart for a fourth and final week.

1972 – “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers, begins its third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song is Withers’ only No. 1 on both the pop and soul charts.

1977 – During a performance, Tony Orlando announces he is retiring, which shocks the rest of his act — Dawn — since he had never mentioned his plans to them.  

1977 – Elvis Costello releases his debut album, “My Aim is True,” which helps usher in the new wave genre and packs fan favorites including “Alison” and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes.” Subsequent pressings of the album for U.S. distribution contain the popular track, “Watching the Detectives.” In 2007, the album is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1978 – Andy Gibb is in the midst of a seven-week reign over the pop chart with “Shadow Dancing.”

1989 – Martika begins two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Toy Soldiers.” 

1995 – “Waterfalls,” by TLC, is in the middle of seven weeks as the No. 1 single.

2000 – Eminem has the No. 1 album with “The Marshall Mathers LP, which goes on to capture three Grammy Awards.

2006 – Three years after his death, country music legend Johnny Cash claims the top spot on the Billboard album chart with “American V: A Hundred Highways.”

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