evolution – Time Rewind

On This Day February 12

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On This Day November 24

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Celebrity Birthdays

1784 – Zachary Taylor, 12th U.S. president (d. 1850)

1868 – Ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin (“The Maple Leaf Rag,” “The Entertainer”) (d. 1917)

1925 – Conservative author-commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. (d. 2008)

1938 – Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar “Big O” Robertson

1941 – Original Beatles drummer Pete Best

1978 – Emmy-winning actress Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up,” “State of Affairs”)

1990 – Actress Sarah Hyland (“Private Parts,” “Modern Family,” “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters”)

History Highlights

1859 – “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England, and every copy sells the first day. Darwin concluded that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.”

1960 – Philadelphia Warrior Wilt Chamberlain snags 55 rebounds in a game against the Boston Celtics, setting an NBA record for the most rebounds in a single game.

1963 – Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the garage of Dallas police headquarters. The incident is captured on live television as media outlets cover Oswald’s transfer from the police station to a county jail.

1971 – A hijacker identifying himself as D.B. Cooper takes $200,000 in ransom money and parachutes from a Seattle-bound passenger jet flying through a thunderstorm at 10,000 feet. Cooper’s fate remains a mystery to this day.

1978 – David Letterman makes his first guest appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Musical Milestones

1950 – The musical comedy “Guys and Dolls” premieres on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre. Two years later, it spawns a film adaptation starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

1962 – The Four Seasons, featuring Frankie Valli, are in the second week of a five-week run as Billboard chart-toppers with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

1966 – The Beatles gather in a studio for the first time since wrapping up their U.S. summer concert tour and spend the entire day recording John Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

1972 – Don Kirshner’s “Rock Concert” TV show debuts, featuring Chuck Berry, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Alice Cooper.

1973 – Ringo Starr’s “Photograph” begins a week as the No. 1 single.

1979 – The Barbra Streisand-Donna Summer duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)” kicks off two weeks as a No. 1 single.

1984 – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” by Wham!, rules the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies of complications from AIDS exactly one day after publicly disclosing that he is HIV positive. He was 45 years old.

1997 – Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols is the defendant in an episode of TV’s “Judge Judy.” The case is a wrongful termination suit brought on by his former drummer, which Rotten wins.

2007 – Jay-Z climbs to the top of the Billboard album chart with “American Gangster,” his 10th chart-topping album. This ties the rapper to 2nd place with Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 albums. Only The Beatles have had more, with 19.

On this Day July 21

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Celebrity Birthdays

1899 – Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway (d. 1961)

1920 – Grammy-winning violinist Isaac Stern (d. 2001)

1924 – Comedic actor Don Knotts (“The Andy Griffith Show,” “Three’s Company,” “Pleasantville”) (d. 2006)

1926 – Oscar-winning director-producer Norman Jewison (“In The Heat of The Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Moonstruck,” “The Hurricane”)

1948 – Singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens (“Father and Son,” “Wild World,” “Peace Train,” “Moonshadow,” “Morning Has Broken”)

1951 – Oscar-winning actor-comedian Robin Williams (“Mork and Mindy,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Aladdin, “Night at the Museum”)) (d. 2014)

1957 – Comedian-actor and “SNL” alum Jon Lovitz (“A League of Their Own,” “The Wedding Singer”)

1978 – Actor-producer Josh Hartnett (“Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Sin City”)

History Highlights

1861 – In the first major clash of the Civil War, the Battle of Bull Run, a large Union force under General Irvin McDowell is routed by a Confederate army led by General Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

1925 – The so-called “Monkey Trial” ends with Tennessee high school biology teacher John Scopes found guilty of teaching evolution in class. He is fined $100.

1955 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower presents his “Open Skies” plan at the Geneva summit. It calls on the U.S. and Soviet Union to exchange maps showing the location of every military installation in their respective nations.

1961 – Astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom, piloting Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space in a suborbital mission.

1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Egypt is completed.

2005 – Terrorists attempt to attack the London transit system with bombs planted on three subways and a bus, however none detonates completely. The plot comes two weeks after terrorists killed 52 people and wounded over 700 others in the largest attack on Great Britain since World War II.

2011 – NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program comes to an end with the early-morning landing of shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 13-day mission to the International Space Station was the 33rd for Atlantis and 135th for NASA’s shuttle fleet.

Musical Milestones

1958 – The Coasters are chart-toppers with “Yakety Yak.” While this now-classic single spends just one week at No. 1 on the pop chart, it enjoys a seven-week run on top of the R&B chart.

1962 – “Roses Are Red (My Love),” by Bobby Vinton, is the No. 1 single.

1973 – Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” kicks off two weeks as a No. 1 single. It is Croce’s final chart-topper before his death in a plane crash that September.

1984 – Prince is midway through a five-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “When Doves Cry,” from his “Puple Rain” album.

1987 – Geffen Records releases Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, “Appetite for Destruction,” featuring hard rock anthems “Sweet Child O’Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle.” The album goes on to top the Billboard 200 and becomes the best-selling debut album ever by a band.

1990 – “She Ain’t Worth It,” by Glenn Medeiros featuring Bobby Brown, kicks off two weeks on top of the pop chart.

2001 – Usher maintains his grip on the top spot of the singles chart with “U Remind Me.”

On this Day July 10

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Celebrity Birthdays

1920 – NBC and ABC television newscaster-commentator David Brinkley (d. 2003)

1926 – Actor Fred Gwynne, best remembered for his roles as Herman Munster in the 1960s sitcom, “The Munsters,” and as Judge Chamberlain Haller in his last film, 1992’s “My Cousin Vinny” (d. 1993)

1939 – R&B-gospel singer Mavis Staples of The Staple Singers

1943 – Tennis great Arthur Ashe (d. 1993)

1945 – Actor Ron Glass, best known for playing Detective Ron Harris in the ABC sitcom “Barney Miller” (d. 2016)

1947 – Folk musician Arlo Guthrie (“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” “City of New Orleans”)

1972 – Actress-comedian and TV host Sofía Vergara, best known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC sitcom “Modern Family”

1976 – Actor Adrian Grenier (“The Adventures of Sebastian Cole,” “Entourage,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Drive Me Crazy”)

1980 – Singer-actress and reality TV star Jessica Simpson (“I Wanna Love You Forever,” “Irresistible”)

History Highlights

1850 – Vice President Millard Fillmore is sworn in as the 13th U.S. president. President Zachary Taylor had died the day before of a severe intestinal ailment. Fillmore becomes only the second man to inherit the presidency due to death.

1925 – The so-called “Monkey Trial” begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.

1962 – Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin receives a U.S. patent for the three-point, lap-and-shoulder seatbelt he invented while head of safety at Volvo. Considered one of the most significant safety innovations of all time, the seatbelt is credited with saving millions of lives and preventing at least as many injuries in car crashes around the world. Bohlin received a gold medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science in 1995 and, in 1999, was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

1962 – NASA launches Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, from Cape Canaveral. Two days later, the man-made orb relays the first transatlantic television signal from Maine to France.

1978 – The ABC News nightly “World News Tonight” broadcast premieres, featuring co-anchors Frank Reynolds in Washington, D.C., Max Robinson in Chicago and Peter Jennings in London.

1985 – French secret service agents plant two bombs on the hull of the Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of international conservation group Greenpeace, and sink the vessel in Auckland Harbor New Zealand. One crew member is killed in the blast, which was aimed at stopping the Rainbow Warrior from a protest mission to a French nuclear test site in the South Pacific.

1992 – The Alaska court of appeals overturns the conviction of Joseph Hazelwood, former captain of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, citing a federal statute that gave him immunity from prosecution for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Musical Milestones

1950 – NBC Television introduces “Your Hit Parade,” a program that originally launched on radio in 1935, featuring vocalists covering the top hits of the week.

1961 – “Tossin’ and Turnin’,” by Bobby Lewis, begins seven weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1965 – The Rolling Stones score their first U.S. No. 1 single with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which holds the top spot for four weeks. In 1998, it is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the track No. 2 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1976 – “Afternoon Delight,” by the Starland Vocal Band, kicks off a two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1982 – “Don’t You Want Me,” from The Human League’s “Dare” album, is in the midst of three weeks as a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. It remains the British band’s best known and most commercially successful recording.

1993 – The trio SWV conquers the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks with “Weak.”

1999 – Jennifer Lopez begins her fifth and final week on top of the singles chart with “If You Had My Love.”

2004 – First time is the charm for Fantasia, whose first single, “I Believe,” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She rose to fame as winner of the third season of “American Idol” in 2004.

On this Day May 5

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Celebrity Birthdays

1818 – Karl Marx, political theorist, philosopher and economist, best known for writing “Das Kapital” and “The Communist Manifesto” (d. 1883)

1914 – Actor Tyrone Power (“Witness for the Prosecution,” “The Mark of Zorro”) (d. 1958)

1927 – Actress Pat Carroll (“The Danny Thomas Show, “ Laverne & Shirley,” “ER”)

1942 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tammy Wynette, dubbed “The First Lady of Country Music” and best known for her 1968 hit “Stand by Your Man” (d. 1998)

1943 – Actor, writer and comedian Michael Palin, best known as a member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python

1945 – Former MTV music news host, Rolling Stone magazine editor, film critic and author Kurt Loder

1959 – Emmy-winning TV journalist and former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams

1983 – Actor Henry Cavill (“The Tudors,” “The Immortals,” “Man of Steel,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice”)

1988 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Adele, born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (“Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” “Hello”)

1989 – Grammy-winning singer-dancer Chris Brown (“Run It!,” “Kiss Kiss,” “Forever,” “Look at Me Now,” “Beautiful People”)

History Highlights

1862 – During the Battle of Puebla, Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza — outnumbered three to one — defeat invading French forces. The historic event is marked each year with Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

1925 – Teacher John Scopes is arrested for violating the Butler Act, which prevents the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. He is later tried in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.

1945 – One woman and five children are killed in rural Oregon while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out the woods. The balloon was armed and exploded after the group began tampering with it. They were the first and only known American civilians killed in the continental U.S. during World War II.

1955 – The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) becomes a sovereign state when the U.S., France and Great Britain end their 10-year military occupation. The move clears the way for West Germany to rearm and become a full-fledged member of the western alliance against the Soviet Union.

1961 – Astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space during a suborbital flight of 15 minutes aboard the Mercury capsule named Freedom 7.

1985 – President Ronald Reagan angers Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors by visiting the Bitburg war cemetery in Germany, unaware that the cemetery houses the graves of 49 Nazi officers.

2002 – “Spider-Man” becomes first movie to top $100 million in an opening weekend. Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation rakes in a staggering $114.8 million.

Musical Milestones

1891 – New York’s Carnegie Hall opens with acclaimed Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.

1956 – Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut album reaches No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and remains there for 10 weeks. It’s the album that brings us “Blue Suede Shoes.”

1962 – The soundtrack to the Oscar-winning movie musical “West Side Story,” featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, begins 54 weeks on top of the Billboard album chart. It goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best Sound Track Album – Original Cast.

1962 – “Soldier Boy,” by The Shirelles, marches to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for three weeks.

1973 – “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” by Tony Orlando and Dawn, is midway through a four-week domination of the pop chart.

1979 – Peaches & Herb kick off four weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Reunited.”

1986 – Cleveland is selected as the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, beating out New York, San Francisco, Memphis and Chicago. It opens to the public on September 2, 1995.

1990 – Sinead O’Connor is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a song penned by Prince: “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

2001 – Janet Jackson holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “All For You.”