espionage – Time Rewind

On This Day April 5

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On this Day July 8

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Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Pop singer-actor Steve Lawrence, best known as half of the “Steve and Eydie duo with his wife, Eydie Gormé

1944 – Actor Jeffrey Tambor (“…And Justice For All,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Arrested Development”)

1951 – Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston (“Prizzi’s Honor,” “The Grifters,” “The Addams Family,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”)

1958 – Golden Globe-winning actor Kevin Bacon (“Footloose,” “Apollo 13,” “The River Wild,” “A Few Good Men,” “Mystic River,” “The Following”)

1961 – Country music singer-songwriter and actor Toby Keith (“Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “How Do You Like Me Now?!”)

1962 – Singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, best known for her 1995 hit “One of Us”

1970 – Rock singer-songwriter Beck, born Bek David Campbell

1998 – Actor Jaden Smith (“The Pursuit of Happyness,” “The Karate Kid,” “After Earth”)

History Highlights

1776 – The Liberty Bell rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

1947 – Reports are broadcast that a “flying disc” has crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico, however U.S. Air Force officials claim it is a weather balloon. The incident triggers conspiracy theories about a government coverup and accounts of aliens and UFOs that are still debated today.

1959 – American troops suffer their first casualties in the Vietnam War with the deaths of Maj. Dale R. Buis and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand.

1960 – An emerging Cold War détente between the United States and Soviet Union suffers a setback when the Soviets charge U.S. Air Force and CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers with espionage. The move comes two months after the Soviets shoot Powers down while flying a secret spy mission.

1994 – Kim Il-Sung, the communist dictator of North Korea since 1948, dies of a heart attack at the age of 82. Hoping to reunify Korea by force, Kim launched an invasion of South Korea in 1950, igniting the Korean War, which ended in a stalemate in 1953.

Musical Milestones

1957 – “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” by Elvis Presley begins a seven-week run on top of the singles chart. Two months earlier, Elvis was king of the pop chart with “All Shook Up,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1.

1958 – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards the first official Gold album (for achieving sales of $1 million). It goes to the cast album for the stage production of “Oklahoma!” featuring Gordon MacRae.

1967 – The Monkees begin a 29-date concert tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as the opening act. However, Hendrix is dropped after eight performances because the producers felt his act was not suitable for their “teeny-bopper” audiences.

1970 – “The Everly Brothers Show” starts an 11-week prime-time run on ABC- TV.

1972 – Bill Withers scores the first and only No. 1 hit of his career when “Lean On Me” reaches the top of the pop chart. It holds that position for three weeks.

1978 – Gerry Rafferty’s “City To City” reaches the top of the Billboard album chart, dethroning the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack which occupied that spot for nearly six months.

1989 – “Good Thing,” by Fine Young Cannibals, begins a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track is the second chart-topper from the band’s “The Raw & The Cooked” album. Three months earlier, “She Drives Me Crazy” claimed the top spot.

1995 – TLC flows to the top of the Billboard pop chart with “Waterfalls.” The song remains at No. 1 for seven weeks.

2000 – Enrique Iglesias begins his third and final week on top of the singles chart with “Be With You.”

On this Day June 19

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Celebrity Birthdays

1930 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Gena Rowlands (“Gloria,” “A Woman Under the Influence”)

1947 – Novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie (“Grimus,” “Midnight’s Children,” “Shame,” “The Satanic Verses,” “East, West”)

1948 – Tony-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, best known for playing Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show”

1950 – Ann Wilson of the rock duo Heart

1954 – Actress Kathleen Turner (“Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Romancing The Stone,” “The War of the Roses”)

1962 – Grammy and Emmy-winning singer, dancer, choreographer and former “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul

1972 – Actress Robin Tunney (“The Craft,” “Vertical Limit,” “The Mentalist”)

History Highlights

1865 – Union soldiers land in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War has ended and that enslaved African Americans were now free. The announcement comes two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863. Some historians blame the delay on poor communication of that era while others believe Texan slave owners intentionally withheld the information. June 19 is observed around the U.S. as Juneteenth. On June 17, 2021, it became a federal holiday.

1905 – The world’s first nickelodeon opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and draws some 450 guests. The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron a nickel.

1934 – Congress establishes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate broadcasting in the United States.

1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Both deny wrongdoing and proclaim their innocence right up to the time of their execution. The Rosenbergs were the first American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War.

1973 – In separate games, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds and Willie Davis of the L.A. Dodgers achieve their 2,000th career hits.

1978 – Cartoonist Jim Davis introduces readers of 41 newspapers around the U.S. to a pleasantly plump, lazy, lasagna-loving cat named Garfield.

1981 – A caped superhero returns to U.S. movie theaters with the release of “Superman II,” starring Christopher Reeve as “The Man of Steel.”

2013 – Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his role as crime boss Tony Soprano in the HBO series “The Sopranos,” dies of a heart attack at age 51 while vacationing in Italy.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Pat Boone tops the pop chart for a week with “Moody River.”

1965 – “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” by the Four Tops, is No. 1 on both the singles and R&B charts. Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the song #415 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1971 – Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” begins a five-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song, from her now-classic “Tapestry” album, captures a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1972.

1976 – Paul McCartney & Wings have a No. 1 single with “Silly Love Songs.”

1982 – Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are in the middle of a seven-week reign over the singles chart with “Ebony and Ivory.”

1999 – “If You Had My Love,” by Jennifer Lopez, holds the top spot on the pop chart.

2004 – Usher maintains a firm grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Burn.” The single remains a chart-topper for seven weeks.

2010 – “California Gurls,” by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, kicks off six weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.