Emmy – Time Rewind

On This Day April 18

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On This Day April 20

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Celebrity Birthdays

1909 – Legendary jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton (d. 2002)

1937 – Actor and LGBTQ rights advocate George Takei, best known as Lieutenant Sulu from the “Star Trek” TV and movie series

1941 – Actor Ryan O’Neal (“Love Story,” “What’s Up Doc,” “Paper Moon,” “The Main Event”)

1949 – Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Jessica Lange (“King Kong,” “Tootsie,” “Frances,” “Country,” “Grey Gardens,” “American Horror Story,” “Feud”)

1951 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Luther Vandross (“Never Too Much,” “Here and Now,” “Any Love,” “Power of Love/Love Power,” “Dance with My Father”) (d. 2005)

1964 – Actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”. He also had roles in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”,”Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Black Panther”

1964 – Actor Crispin Glover, best known for playing George McFly in the “Back to the Future” movie franchise

1972 – Model-turned-actress and reality TV star Carmen Electra (“Baywatch,” “Meet the Spartans,” “Epic Movie,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”)

History Highlights

1912 – With 27,000 people in the stands, the Boston Red Sox play their first game at Fenway Park and defeat the New York Highlanders (later renamed the Yankees) by a score of 7-6 in 11 innings.

1916 – The first National League game played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field (then Weeghman Park) sees the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings. A bear cub is in attendance at the ballpark, which becomes known as Cubs Park in 1920 after the Wrigley family purchases the team from Weeghman. It is named Wrigley Field in 1926 in honor of William Wrigley Jr., the club’s owner.

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the practice of busing to desegregate schools, ruling in the case of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Two years later, the high court makes a second ruling restricting the use of busing, concluding that students could only be bused across district lines if there was evidence that multiple districts had implemented deliberately discriminatory policies.

1977 – The comedy “Annie Hall” opens, starring director Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. The film goes on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

1980 – The Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift.

1999 – The school day at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado is shattered by deadly gunfire. Two seniors fatally shoot 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Twenty-three others are injured in what ushers in a wave of U.S. school shootings over the next two decades.

Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley is on top of Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart for a second week with “All Shook Up.” The track remains at No. 1 for eight weeks and becomes the biggest single of 1957, selling more than two million copies.

1963 – The Chiffons wrap up a four-week domination of the pop chart with “He’s So Fine.”

1968 – “Honey,” by Bobby Goldsboro, is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1970 – The New York Times reports that Catholic and Protestant youth groups have adopted The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine as a religious symbol and formed so called “submarine churches.” These churches featured the outline of a yellow submarine with a small cross on its periscope as their symbol. It is displayed alongside peace signs, flowers and other popular emblems of the period.

1974 – “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” by MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.

1991 – Wilson Phillips’ “You’re in Love” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1996 – Céline Dion’s Grammy-winning “Because You Loved Me” continues a six-week ride atop the U.S. singles chart. The track is from the 1996 movie “Up Close and Personal,” starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

2002 – Ashanti launches a 10-week run on top of the pop chart with “Foolish,” off her self-titled debut album.

2013 – Bruno Mars kicks off a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “When I Was Your Man.”

On This Day April 24

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Celebrity Birthdays

1934 – Oscar-winning actress-author Shirley MacLaine (“The Apartment,” “Irma la Douce,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Postcards From the Edge”)

1942 – Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning singer-actress-producer-author Barbra Streisand

1947 – Professional hunter-turned reality TV star Phil Robertson (“Duck Dynasty,” “Buck Commander”)

1964 – Actor Cedric the Entertainer, born Cedric Antonio Kyles (“Def Comedy Jam,” “Barbershop,” “The Original Kings of Comedy”)

1982 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson, whose career got a jump-start on “American Idol”

History Highlights

1916 – The Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion (also known as Easter Rising), a six-day armed uprising against British rule.

1945 – President Harry Truman is briefed on the full details of the Manhattan Project, an effort by American scientists to develop the world’s first atomic bomb. The project was so secret that President Franklin Roosevelt never informed Truman, his fourth-term vice president, that it existed by the time FDR died.

1962 – The first coast-to-coast satellite telecast takes place, as signals from California bounce off the first experimental communications satellite, Echo I, and are received in Massachusetts.

1967 – Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed in Soyuz 1 when the spaceship’s parachute fails to open during its descent to Earth. It is the first in-flight fatality in aerospace history.

1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in a failed mission to rescue 52 American hostages in Iran. The fatalities occur when two U.S. military aircraft collide. In a nationally broadcast address, President Jimmy Carter says he assumes full responsibility for the disastrous outcome of Operation Eagle Claw.

1980 – Longtime Illinois Congressman John Anderson announces he is quitting the Republican party and will run as an independent presidential candidate against incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Republican challenger Ronald Reagan. He ends up finishing a distant third, capturing less than 7 percent of the vote and failing to win a single electoral vote.

1982 – Already well established as an Oscar-winning actress and outspoken political activist, Jane Fonda adds fitness guru to her credentials with the release of the million-plus-selling “Jane Fonda’s Workout” video. The video sparks the aerobics craze and popularizes leg-warmers and Spandex among fitness-minded women.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Del Shannon’s “Runaway” is the No. 1 single in the U.S. and remains on top for four weeks.

1965 – “Game of Love,” by Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, tops the Billboard singles chart.

1976 – “Disco Lady,” by Johnnie Taylor, begins its fourth and final week as the No. 1 single.

1989 – Tom Petty releases his debut solo album, “Full Moon Fever,” featuring his Top 10 and longest-charting hit, “Free Fallin’.” The album, produced by Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra fame, soars to No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

1993 – Snow marks his seventh and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Informer.”

2003 – ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer interviews the Dixie Chicks after singer Natalie Maines created a firestorm by telling a London audience that she was “ashamed the president of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas,” her home state.

2016 – Soul singer Billy Paul dies at his New Jersey home from pancreatic cancer at the age of 81. He was best known for his Grammy-winning 1972 hit “Me and Mrs Jones.”

On This Day April 25

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Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Nobel Prize-winning radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi (d. 1937)

1908 – Pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow (d. 1965)

1917 – Legendary Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, affectionately known as “The First Lady of Song” (d. 1996)

1932 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, born Meadow Lemon III (d. 2015)

1940 – Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning actor Al Pacino (“The Godfather” movie series, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” ” …And Justice for All,” “Scarface,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Carlito’s Way,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Insider,” “Oceans Thrteen,” “Danny Collins,” “The Irishman,” “Hunters”)

1946 – Actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in “The Godfather” films and Adrian Balboa in the “Rocky” series

1964 – Emmy-winning actor-producer-comedian Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” “The Birdcage,” “Mystery Men,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “The Smurfs,” “Brockmire”)

1969 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Renée Zellweger (“Jerry McGuire,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Me Myself and Irene,” “Chicago,” “Cold Mountain,” “Cinderella Man”)

History Highlights

1901 – New York becomes the first state to require license plates on cars. Owners had to display their initials on the back of the vehicle and the letters had to be at least three inches tall. Since the state did not produce license plates, owners were forced to make their own, and they did so using metal, leather or wood — or they painted their initials directly onto the vehicle. In 1903, Massachusetts became the first state to produce license plates.

1945 – A milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe is achieved when U.S. and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting Nazi Germany in two.

1980 – President Jimmy Carter informs the nation that eight U.S. servicemen were killed in the collision of two military aircraft to be used to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. Those hostages are finally freed the following January, on the day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated president.

1983 – Soviet leader Yuri Andropov personally invites American fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Maine to visit his country after reading her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. She makes the trip that summer and becomes an honorary ambassador for peace at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were strained during the Cold War. Sadly, Smith dies in a plane crash two years later.

1990 – The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth. Hubble — named after astronomer Edwin Hubble — continues to provide astronomers with an unparalleled view of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe.

1995 – Oscar-winning entertainer Ginger Rogers, best known for her films with dance partner Fred Astaire, dies at the age of 83.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley signs a seven-year movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

1960 – Elvis Presley gets stuck on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks with “Stuck On You.” It’s his first hit single following his two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

1970 – The Jackson 5 give The Beatles’ “Let It Be” the boot and claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks with “ABC.”

1981 – Daryl Hall and John Oates begin their third and final week as chart-toppers with “Kiss On My List.”

1987 – U2 begin a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Joshua Tree,” which packs chart-topping tracks including “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It goes on to capture Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster that rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival is auctioned off for a record $330,000. His two-hour set at the 1969 rock festival included a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

1992 – “Jump,” by hip hop duo Kris Kross, grabs the top spot on the singles chart and remains there for eight weeks.

1998 – Next has the No. 1 single with “Too Close.” The track remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

2007 – Leukemia claims the life of 69-year-old Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known for his hit novelty song “Monster Mash,” which still gets radio airplay every Halloween.

On This Day April 26

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Celebrity Birthdays

1933 – Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning comedian-actress Carol Burnett

1936 – Guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Duane Eddy

1958 – Actor Giancarlo Esposito (“Do The Right Thing,” “School Days,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Malcolm X,” “Breaking Bad”)

1963 – Martial artist-actor Jet Li (“The War Lords,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Kiss of the Dragon,” “The Forbidden Kingdom”)

1965 – Actor-comedian Kevin James (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The King of Queens,” “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Grown Ups,” “Zookeeper,” “Pixels”)

1980 – Actor Channing Tatum (“Coach Carter,” “21 Jump Street,” “22 Jump Street,” “She’s the Man,” “The Dilemma,” “White House Down,” “Foxcatcher,” “The Hateful Eight,” “Hail, Caesar!”, “Smallfoot”)

History Highlights

1865 – Presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is killed by Union soldiers that track him to a Virginia farm 12 days after Booth fatally shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

1954 – More than 1.8 million American children (“Polio Pioneers”) participate in the Salk polio vaccine field trials. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine in an effort to wipe out polio — an infectious disease occurring primarily in children that can result in paralysis. A year later, researchers declare that the vaccine is safe and effective, and it becomes a standard part of childhood immunizations across the U.S.

1984 – President Ronald Reagan visits China — the first such mission by a U.S. president since the historic Nixon trip in 1972.

1986 – An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine sets off fires that release deadly radioactive material into the air, becoming the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

1986 – Almost a decade after meeting at a celebrity tennis tournament, TV news reporter Maria Shriver weds movie actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. The marriage lasts 25 years.

1989 – An American entertainment icon, comedian Lucille Ball (“I Love Lucy”) dies at the age of 78.

1994 – South Africa’s 18 million blacks vote in multi-party elections for the first time ever and anti-Apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela is elected president.

Musical Milestones

1969 – The Edwin Hawkins Singers hit the singles chart with “Oh Happy Day,” which eventually soars to No. 4 and million-selling status. It becomes the first gospel track to cross over to the pop chart.

1975 – B.J. Thomas owns the hottest single in America with “(Hey Won’t You Play), Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”

1980 – Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” begins its 15th and final week on top of the Billboard album chart. It becomes the best-selling album of 1980.

1986 – “Kiss,” by Prince and The Revolution, holds at No. 1 on the singles chart for a second week. The song clinches Prince a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

1988 – A jury in White Plains, New York finds Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger not guilty of copyright infringement. Reggae singer Patrick Alley had sued Jagger for $7 million over the song “Just Another Night,” claiming the chorus’s lyrics were similar to his version. Jagger provided jurors with a rare glimpse into his work habits by playing homemade and studio tapes demonstrating the development of his song.

1997 – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase, wraps up a six-week run as a Billboard chart-topper.

2008 – Leona Lewis kicks off a week at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Bleeding Love.”

2013 – George Jones, known as “the greatest voice in country music,” dies in Nashville at the age of 81.

On This Day April 28

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Celebrity Birthdays

1916 – Italian industrialist Ferruccio Lamborghini, who founded the high-end sports car company that bears his name (d. 1993)

1926 – Novelist Harper Lee, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller “To Kill a Mockingbird” (d. 2016)

1941 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress-dancer-singer Ann-Margret (“Carnal Knowledge,” “Tommy”)

1950 – Emmy-winning TV host, stand-up comedian and classic car collector Jay Leno, born James Douglas Muir Leno (“The Tonight Show,” “The Jay Leno Show,” “Jay Leno’s Garage”)

1952 – Actress Mary McDonnell (“Dances With Wolves,” “Passion Fish,” “Independence Day”)

1971 – Actress Bridget Moynahan (“I, Robot,” “Lord of War,” “Blue Bloods”)

1973 – Actor Jorge Garcia, best known for playing Hugo “Hurley” Reyes in the TV series “Lost”

1974 – Oscar-winning actress Penélope Cruz (“Vanilla Sky,” “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” “Vicki Cristina Barcelona”)

1981 – Actress Jessica Alba (“Dark Angel,” the “Sin City” films, the “Fantastic Four” movie series, “Into The Blue,” “Good Luck Chuck,” “Spy Kids 4: All The Time in the World”)

History Highlights

1945 – Italy’s deposed former dictator, Benito Mussolini (a.k.a. “Il Duce”), and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

1967 – Boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army to serve in the Vietnam War. He is immediately stripped of his world heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cites religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service.

1969 – Charles de Gaulle, a towering figure in post-World War II politics, resigns as the president of France.

1988 – An Aloha Airlines 737 makes an emergency landing on Maui, Hawaii after a large section of roof and fuselage tears away in flight, killing one stewardess.

2004 – Comcast, America’s largest cable operator, abandons a $54 billion hostile takeover bid for the Walt Disney Company in the face of faltering stock prices and Disney’s continued refusal to entertain the proposal.

Musical Milestones

1962 – “Good Luck Charm,” by Elvis Presley, begins its second and final week on top of the pop chart.

1965 – Barbra Streisand makes her television debut in the CBS special, “My Name is Barbra,” in conjunction with the album of the same name. The hour-long special consists of three acts and clinches five Emmy and two Tony Awards. The album captures a Best Female Vocal Performance Grammy.

1968 – The first rock musical, “Hair,” opens at New York’s Biltmore Theater, featuring the songs “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine” and the title track. More than 1,700 performances are given by the time it closes in the summer of 1972.

1979 – Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” off the band’s “Parallel Lines” album, is a Billboard No. 1 for a week

1984 – Phil Collins rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” from the movie “Against All Odds.”

1990 – Sinéad O’Connor is mid-way through a four-week domination of the pop chart with the Prince composition, “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

1999 – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On This Day April 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – Actress Eve Arden (“Our Miss Brooks,” “Grease,” “Grease 2”) (d. 1990)

1923 – Actor Al Lewis, born Albert Meister, best known for his portrayal of Grandpa in the 1960s sitcom “The Munsters” and Officer Leo Schnauser in another 60s sitcom, “Car 54, Where Are You?” (d. 2006)

1926 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Cloris Leachman (“The Last Picture Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Young Frankenstein”)

1943 – Pop music singer and 1960s teen idol Bobby Vee, born Robert Thomas Velline (“Take Good Care of My Baby,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes”)

1944 – Actress Jill Clayburgh (“An Unmarried Woman,” “Starting Over”) (d. 2010)

1961 – Basketball Hall of Famer and 12-time NBA All-Star Isiah Thomas (a.k.a. “Zeke”), who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons

1975 – Actor Johnny Galecki (“Roseanne,” “The Big Bang Theory”)

1982 – Actress Kirsten Dunst (“Interview With the Vampire,”,”Devil’s Arithmetic”,”The Bonfire of the Vanities,” “Spider-Man” trilogy, “Marie Antoinette,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Melancholia,” “Fargo”)

1992 – Rapper-producer Travis Scott, born Jacques Berman Webster II

History Highlights

1789 – George Washington, the great military leader of the American Revolution, is inaugurated as the first president of the United States during a ceremony at Federal Hall in New York City — then the nation’s capital.

1939 – Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) becomes the first U.S. president to appear on television when he officially opens the New York World’s Fair. He does so on the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s presidential inauguration.

1945 – With Soviet forces closing in on him, German dictator Adolf Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, commit suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin.

1975 – Saigon falls, as the president of South Vietnam announces his country’s unconditional surrender to the Viet Cong. Communist troops move into Saigon and a thousand Americans are hastily evacuated.

1993 – Four years after its development by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, the Word Wide Web truly goes global when its owners, Cern, make the software free for anyone to use.

1993 – A knife-wielding man lunges from the stands during a tennis match in Hamburg, Germany and stabs then-world No. 1-ranked Monica Seles in the back. Spectators subdue the assailant, a fan of German tennis great Steffi Graf, who apparently hoped that by injuring Seles, Graf would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking. Seles recovers, but takes a two-year hiatus from the game.

1997 – Ellen DeGeneres’ TV character, Ellen Morgan, comes out as lesbian on the ABC sitcom “Ellen.” The introduction of the first-ever gay lead character on television becomes a breakthrough moment for the LGBTQ community. Forty-four million viewers tune in to “The Puppy Episode,” which captures an Emmy and Peabody Award.

Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley records “Jailhouse Rock,” which is first released as a single and later featured in the movie of the same name. It goes on to top the pop chart for seven weeks.

1966 – “Good Lovin’,” by The Young Rascals, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

1977 – Glen Campbell lands on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Southern Nights,” his second No. 1 hit.

1983 – Acclaimed blues artist Muddy Waters — best known for “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Got My Mojo Working” — dies of a heart attack at the age of 68.

1983 – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album delivers yet another chart-topper. “Beat It” rises to the top of the Billboard singles chart, just one week after “Billie Jean” ends its seven-week run at No. 1.

1988 – “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” by Whitney Houston, begins its second and final week as a chart-topper.

1994 – R. Kelly begins his fourth and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bump ‘N Grind.”

2005 – “Candy Shop,” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, enters its ninth and final week as a chart-topper.

2015 – Legendary R&B singer Ben E. King, who performed with The Drifters before launching a solo career, dies at the age of 76. In 1960, the Drifters had a No. 1 single with “Save The Last Dance For Me,” and King had the Top 10 hit “Stand By Me” in 1961 and again in 1986 when it was used in the movie of the same name.

On This Day April 9

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Celebrity Birthdays

1898 – Stage actor, singer and civil rights crusader Paul Robeson (d. 1976)

1926 – Playboy magazine founder and publisher Hugh Hefner (d. 2017)

1928 – Singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician Tom Lehrer

1954 – Actor Dennis Quaid (“Breaking Away,” “The Right Stuff,” “Enemy Mine,” “Innerspace,” “Postcards From the Edge,” “The Parent Trap,” “Frequency,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “In Good Company,” “A Dog’s Purpose”)

1966 – Emmy, Tony and Grammy-winning actress Cynthia Nixon, best known as Miranda Hobbes in “Sex and the City”

1990 – Actress Kristen Stewart (“Panic Room,” “Zathura,” “The Twilight Saga,” “Snow White and the Huntsman”)

1998 – Actress Elle Fanning (“I Am Sam,” “Phoebe in Wonderland,” “Super 8,” “We Bought a Zoo,” “Low Down,” “Maleficent,” “Trumbo”)

History Highlights

1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, ending the American Civil War.

1959 – Six months after its creation, NASA holds a news conference to introduce the U.S. Air Force pilots that were to become America’s first astronauts – the Mercury Seven: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.

1962 – “West Side Story” sweeps the Academy Awards, winning 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress and Best Director.

1965 – The Houston Astrodome, the world’s first domed stadium and so-called “Eighth Wonder of the World,” opens to the public with a sold-out exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. President Lyndon B. Johnson is in attendance as the Astros prevail 2-1.

1972 – Jane Fonda wins the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as a call girl who witnesses a crime in “Klute,” co-starring Donald Sutherland.

Musical Milestones

1966 – “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration,” by The Righteous Brothers, launches a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1969 – Columbia Records releases Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” album, showcasing Dylan’s foray into country music. It spawns the hit “Lay Lady Lay,” which climbs as high as No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1977 – “Dancing Queen,” by ABBA, becomes the Swedish band’s first and only No. 1 single in the U.S. The song holds the top spot for a week.

1978 – Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” from the “Thank God It’s Friday” soundtrack, captures an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 51st annual Academy Awards.

1988 – Billy Ocean kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car.”

1994 – “Bump n’ Grind,” by R. Kelly, begins four weeks as a Billboard singles chart-topper.

On This Day April 8

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Celebrity Birthdays

1892 – Actress Mary Pickford, known as “America’s Sweetheart,” as she became a legend of the silent film era (d. 1979)

1938 – Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who, along with the U.N., won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001

1963 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Julian Lennon (“Too Late for Goodbyes,” “Valotte”)

1966 – Golden Globe-winning actress Robin Wright (“The Princess Bride,” “Forrest Gump,” “House of Cards”)

1968 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Patricia Arquette (“True Romance,” “Flirting With Disaster,” “Medium,” “Boyhood”)

History Highlights

1974 – Playing for the Atlanta Braves, Hank Aaron hits the 715th home run of his career, breaking the record set by Babe Ruth in 1935. The historic shot is hit off of Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers into the left field bullpen at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

1985 – The government of India files suit against Union Carbide for the Bhopal disaster which killed more than 2,200 people.

1986 – Actor-director Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel, California, and serves for two years.

1990 – Filmmaker David Lynch’s surreal prime-time series, “Twin Peaks,” premieres on ABC. Set in a small fictional logging town, strange and intriguing characters and their relationships are revealed as investigators try to solve the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer.

1992 – Tennis great Arthur Ashe stuns the world when he announces that he has AIDS, acquired from a blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery he underwent in 1983. Ashe, the first black man to win Wimbledon, dies from the disease less than a year later at age 49.

2013 – Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of Britain, dies in London at the age of 87 from a stroke. Serving from 1979 to 1990, Thatcher was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. She was nicknamed the “Iron Lady” because of her her fierce determination and unyielding will.

Musical Milestones

1964 – Diana Ross and The Supremes record “Where Did Our Love Go,” which eventually becomes the first of the girl group’s five No. 1 singles.

1967 – The Turtles’ “Happy Together” marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

1972 – America gallops into its third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Horse with No Name.”

1975 – “Toys in the Attic,” the third studio album from Aerosmith, is released. It contains the hit singles “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion” and becomes the Boston rockers’ best-selling album to date, with more than 8 million copies sold.

1989 – “The Look” by Roxette is the No. 1 single and becomes the Swedish duo’s international breakthrough hit after success in Europe.

1995 – “Take a Bow” marks its seventh and final week as a No. 1 single, becoming Madonna’s longest-reigning chart-topper.

2000 – “Maria Maria,” by Santana featuring The Product G&B, kicks off 10 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track goes on to capture the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

On This Day April 5

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Celebrity Birthdays

1900 – Oscar-winning actor Spencer Tracy (“Boys Town,” “Inherit the Wind,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”) (d. 1967)

1908 – Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis, known as “The First Lady of the American Screen” (“Jezebel,” “All About Eve,” “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”) (d. 1989)

1916 – Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck (“The Keys of the Kingdom,” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “To Kill a Mockingbird”) (d. 2003)

1926 – Producer-director Roger Corman, known as “The Pope of Pop Cinema” (“The Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Raven,” “Piranha,” ” Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”)

1937 – Soldier-turned-statesman Colin Powell, a four-star U.S. general who became the first African American secretary of state in 2001

1941 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Michael Moriarty (“Bang the Drum Slowly,” “Holocaust,” “Law & Order”)

1973 – Singer-rapper-music producer Pharrell Williams, best known for his 2014 smash “Happy,” from the movie “Despicable Me 2.”

History Highlights

1614 – Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, weds English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensures peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.

1951 – A federal judge sentences Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. The couple had been convicted of their crimes a week earlier. They are executed by electric chair in 1953, becoming the only two American civilians to be executed for Cold War espionage.

1965 – Movie musicals sweep the Oscars. At the 37th Academy Awards, “My Fair Lady” wins Best Picture, while its star, Rex Harrison, wins Best Actor. Singer/actress Julie Andrews wins Best Actress for her role in “Mary Poppins.”

1971 – Canadian Fran Phipps becomes the first woman to reach the North Pole.

1987 – The sitcom “Married…With Children” debuts on Fox and ultimately lasts 11 seasons, becoming the network’s longest-running live action series.

2000 – Lee Petty, an early star of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and the patriarch of a racing dynasty that includes his son, NASCAR legend Richard Petty, dies at the age 86. Lee Petty won more than 50 races during his career.

Musical Milestones

1969 – Tommy Roe enjoys his fourth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Dizzy.”

1975 – “Lovin’ You,” by Minnie Riperton, tops the Billboard Hot 100. At the end of the track, you can hear her sing, “Maya, Maya” to her daughter, actress-comedian and “SNL” alum Maya Rudolph. Tragically, Riperton dies of breast cancer four years later at the age of 31.

1980 – “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II,” by Pink Floyd, is the No. 1 single.

1984 – The funeral service for Motown legend Marvin Gaye takes place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and other Motown talent are on hand to pay their respects.

1985 – At 3:50 p.m. GMT, more than 5,000 radio stations around the world simultaneously broadcast the single “We Are the World,” produced as a charity to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. The single, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones, features the voices of some of the biggest musical acts of the day.

1994 – Grunge music icon Kurt Cobain, Nirvana founder and frontman, commits suicide at age 27. His body is discovered at his Seattle home three days later by an electrician who showed up to install a security system.

1997 – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase, is in the middle of a six-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2002 – Another grunge legend, singer-songwriter Layne Staley, co-founder and lead vocalist of alternative rock band Alice in Chains, is found dead in his Seattle home from a drug overdose at the age of 34.

2008 – Leona Lewis has the No. 1 single with “Bleeding Love.” The track holds the top spot for a week.

2014 – Pharrell Williams holds the top spot on the singles chart with “Happy,” which remains at No. 1 for 10 weeks.