environment – Time Rewind

On This Day March 31

Click each item below to learn more!

On This Day March 24

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weisz (d. 1926)

1930 – Actor and auto racer Steve McQueen, nicknamed the “King of Cool” (“The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape,” “The Sand Pebbles,” “Bullitt,” “The Getaway,” “The Towering Inferno”) (d. 1980)

1951 – Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger

1970 – Actress Lara Flynn Boyle (“Twin Peaks,” “The Practice,” “Men In Black II”)

1973 – Emmy-winning actor Jim Parsons (“Garden State,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Hidden Figures”)

1974 – Actress Alyson Hannigan (“American Pie,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “How I Met Your Mother”)

1976 – Retired star NFL quarterback and actor Peyton Manning, who set records for most career passing yards and most career passing touchdowns while playing for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos

History Highlights

1965 – NASA’s Ranger 9 spacecraft beams the first video images of the moon down to Earth before making a planned crash-landing on the lunar surface.

1977 – For the first time since severing diplomatic relations in 1961, Cuba and the U.S. enter into direct negotiations when the two nations discuss fishing rights.

1989 – The tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska and spills 11 million gallons of crude oil into one of nature’s richest habitats, eventually contaminating 1,300 miles of coastline. This was the largest oil spill in U.S. waters until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico caused a 168-million-gallon spill.

1996 – Astronaut Shannon Lucid begins the first full day of a five-month stay aboard the Russian space station Mir. She transfers from the space shuttle Atlantis, becoming the first female American astronaut to live on a space station.

2002 – Halle Berry becomes the first African-American performer to win a Best Actress Oscar (for “Monster’s Ball”) and only the second African-American actress ever to be honored by the Academy (the first was Hattie McDaniel, who won for her supporting role in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind”).

Musical Milestones

1958 – Elvis Presley swaps his blue suede shoes for military boots as he reports for duty in U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. The King achieves the rank of sergeant in February 1960, and a month later, is honorably discharged from active duty at the age of 25.

1962 – Bruce Channel wraps up his three-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Hey! Baby.”

1973 – “Love Train” by the O’Jays steams its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1979 – The Bee Gees have the No. 1 single on the radio with “Tragedy,” off their “Spirits Having Flown” album.

1986 – Howard Jones releases “No One Is To Blame” in the U.S. It goes on to become his biggest-selling single.

1992 – A class-action lawsuit against Milli Vanilli’s record label is resolved when a judge approves a plan to refund up to $3 to everyone who bought the pop duo’s music before November 27, 1990 — the date they admitted to not actually singing their songs. Fans who bought tickets to a Milli Vanilli concert could claim a rebate of up to $2.50.

2001 – One-hit-wonder Crazy Town has the No. 1 single for a week with “Butterfly,” which features a sample of “Pretty Little Ditty” from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

On This Day December 17

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1939 – Singer-songwriter (The Temptations co-founder) Eddie Kendricks (d. 1992)

1945 – Actor Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters,” “The Crow,” “Oz”)

1945 – Political commentator and MSNBC host Chris Matthews

1946 – Actor Eugene Levy (“A Mighty Wind, “Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman.” “American Pie,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonians,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”)

1953 – Actor Bill Pullman (“Spaceballs,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “Independence Day,” “The Sinner”)

1974 – Actor Giovanni Rabisi (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Public Enemies,” “The Boiler Room,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Lost in Translation,” “Avatar,” “Ted”)

1975 – Actress-model Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element,” “Dazed and Confused,” “The Three Musketeers,” the “Resident Evil” series)

1978 – International boxing champion and Philippines lawmaker Manny Pacquiao

History Highlights

1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and revolutionize aviation.

1944 – The U.S. approves ending the internment of Japanese-American “evacuees” from the West coast.

1963 – Congress passes the Clean Air Act, a sweeping set of laws designed to protect the environment from air pollution. During the six decades since its enactment, the measure led to huge reductions in airborne lead, sulfur compounds, chlorofluorocarbons as well as concentrations of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone.

1975 – A federal jury in California sentences Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme to life in prison for her attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.

1979 – Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett tears across the dry lakebed at California’s Edwards Air Force Base in a rocket- and missile-powered car, becoming the first person to travel faster than the speed of sound on land. However, he does not set an official record.

1989 – Doh! FOX TV’s Emmy-winning animated comedy series “The Simpsons,” created by Matt Groening, premieres. The first episode is called “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” In 2018, the show surpasses the classic Western TV series “Gunsmoke’s” record 635 episodes to become America’s longest-running series.

Musical Milestones

1966 – Two weeks after its first trip to No. 1, “Winchester Cathedral,” by The New Vaudeville Band, returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1969 – Singer Tiny Tim (real name Herbert Butros Khaury) marries his sweetheart, “Miss Vickie” (real name Victoria Budinger), on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”

1977 – Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” begins its tenth and final week at No. 1 on the pop chart.

1983 – The Paul McCartney-Michael Jackson duet, “Say Say Say,” is in the midst of a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. It is the last No. 1 song of 1983 and first of 1984.

1995 – The Mariah Carey-Boys II Men collaboration, “One Sweet Day,” is into an unprecedented 16-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

2005 – Chris Brown’s debut single, “Run It!”, featuring Juelz Santana, rules the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day October 12

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1912 – Playwright, novelist and actress Alice Childress (d. 1994)

1932 – Comedian-activist Dick Gregory (d. 2017)

1935 – R&B singer Sam “Soul Man” Moore of the duo Sam & Dave

1935 – Internationally renowned operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (d. 2007)

1947 – Journalist-TV anchor Chris Wallace

1962 – Trumpeter-composer Chris Botti

1968 – Actor Hugh Jackman, best known for playing Wolverine in the “X-Men” movie series

1992 – Actor Josh Hutcherson (“Zathura,” “Little Manhattan,” “RV,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “The Hunger Games”)

History Highlights

1492 – Explorer Christopher Columbus discovers the New World as his fleet comes ashore in what is now known as The Bahamas.

1810 – Bavarian Crown Prince Regent Ludwig, later King Ludwig I of Bavaria, marries Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The Bavarian royalty invite residents of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. This becomes an annual tradition that gives rise to Oktoberfest, which is now celebrated around the world.

1940 – Beloved cowboy actor Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his 1937 Cord 812 phaeton and crashes near Florence, Arizona.

1960 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev creates a spectacle by pounding his shoe on a desk at a United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest the comments of a Philippines delegate.

1964 – Three Soviet cosmonauts blast off aboard the Voshkod-1 spacecraft and orbit Earth, becoming the first multi-person crew in space and the first to fly without spacesuits.

2000 – Two suicide bombers associated with the al-Qaeda terrorist network ram their motorboat full of explosives into the side of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole off Yemen. The attack kills 17 crew members, injures 39 others and leaves a gaping hole in the ship’s hull.

2007 – Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to increase public knowledge about man-made climate change.

Musical Milestones

1955 – Chrysler introduces the first car phonograph — the Highway Hi-Fi — which sits below the dashboard and plays 16 rpm records for up to 45 minutes. Despite claims that records would never skip while driving, they did and Chrysler dropped the $200 option two years later.

1963 – “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs is the No. 1 single and remains there for five weeks.

1971 – Rockabilly pioneer Gene Vincent — the talent behind the 1956 smash “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and who appeared in the movie “The Girl Can’t Help It” with Jayne Mansfield — dies at age 36 of complications from an ulcer.

1974 – Olivia Newton-John wraps up two weeks on top of the pop chart with “I Honestly Love You.”

1979 – Fleetwood Mac release their 12th studio album, “Tusk,” which spawns two Top 10 singles: the title track and “Sara.”

1985 – Ready For The World claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Oh Sheila.”

1991 – “Emotions,” by Mariah Carey, begins three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1997 – Country and pop music singer-songwriter and actor John Denver is killed when his experimental plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. He was 53.

2002 – “A Moment Like This,” by Kelly Clarkson, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single.