Ford – Time Rewind

On This Day February 11

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On This Day February 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Civil rights crusader Rosa Parks, who helped pave the way for desegregation in the U.S. when she refused to give up her seat aboard a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama (d. 2005)

1936 – Standup comedian David Brenner (d. 2014)

1940 – Horror film director-screenwriter George A. Romero, the master behind the cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” as well as “Dawn of the Dead,” “Land of the Dead” and “Creepshow” (d. 2017)

1948 – Rock And Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Alice Cooper, considered “The Godfather of Shock Rock” (“Schools Out,” “Eighteen”, “Poison”, “No More Mr Nice Guy”)

1962 – Country music singer-songwriter Clint Black (“A Better Man,” “Nothing’s News,” “Walking Away,” “Nobody’s Home,” “Killin’ Time”)

1973 – Retired professional boxer and Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya

1977 – Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw (“I Don’t Want to Be,” “Chariot,” “Follow Through”)

History Highlights

1789 – George Washington — commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War — is unanimously elected the first president of the United States, garnering all 69 electoral votes. No other American president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.

1922 – The Ford Motor Company acquires the bankrupt Lincoln Motor Company for $8 million, giving Ford a luxury division to compete against Cadillac, Packard and Auburn.

1938 – Disney releases “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in color and with sound, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.

1945 – President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to discuss the Allied war effort against Germany and Japan.

1957 – Smith Corona Manufacturing of New York begins selling portable electric typewriters. The first machine, known as the model 5TE, weighs 19 pounds.

1974 – The radical group Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst, from her California apartment.

2004 – Nineteen-year-old Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg launches “TheFacebook.com,” an online directory designed to connect fellow Harvard students with one another. By the next day, more than a thousand people had registered. The service sparks a social media revolution, with billions now using Facebook each day.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monkees maintain their grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m a Believer.” In all, the track remains a chart-topper for seven weeks.

1968 – The Beatles record “Across The Universe” at London’s Abbey Road Studios with backup vocals from two teenage fans who were among the groupies (“Apple scruffs”) that routinely gathered outside the facility on recording days.

1975 – Known as “The King of the Jukebox,” American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader Louis Jordan dies at the age of 66.

1977 – Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, “Rumours,” is released, introducing fans to the Top 10 hits “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” and “You Make Loving Fun.”

1978 – The Bee Gees have a No. 1 single with “Stayin’ Alive,” while another single of theirs, “Night Fever,” debuts on the pop chart, later staking its own claim to the top spot for eight weeks. Both songs are from the Grammy-winning “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1982 – “Centerfold,” by the J. Geils Band, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for six weeks.

1983 – Heart failure caused by chronic anorexia nervosa claims the life of 32-year-old singer Karen Carpenter of the acclaimed 1970s brother-sister pop duet, Carpenters.

1984 – Culture Club begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Karma Chameleon,” the band’s fifth Top 10 hit.

1995 – “Creep,” by TLC, is midway through a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the trio’s first chart-topper.

2006 – “Check On It,” by Beyoncé, featuring Bun B and Slim Thug, kicks off five weeks on top of the singles chart.

On This Day January 27

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Celebrity Birthdays

1756 – Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1791)

1832 – Writer Lewis Carroll (“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Through the Looking-Glass”) (d. 1898)

1921 – Actress Donna Reed (“It’s a Wonderful Life,” “From Here to Eternity,” “The Donna Reed Show”) (d. 1986)

1940 – Emmy-winning actor James Cromwell (“Babe,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Green Mile,” “Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story: Asylum”)

1944 – Pink Floyd founding member-drummer and auto racer Nick Mason

1948 – Dancer-actor Mikhail Baryshnikov (“The Turning Point,” “White Nights,” “Sex and the City”)

1956 – Actress Mimi Rogers (“Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”)

1959 – TV host and political commentator Keith Olbermann

1964 – Actress Bridget Fonda (“Single White Female,” “Point of No Return,” “Jackie Brown”)

1979 – Actress Rosamund Pike (“Die Another Day,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jack Reacher,” “Gone Girl,” “Entebbe”)

History Highlights

1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”

1910 – Thomas Crapper, widely considered the prime developer of the flush toilet mechanism still in use today, dies at the age of 73.

1945 – Soviet troops reach the Auschwitz concentration camp complex and liberate some 7,000 remaining prisoners who survived the Holocaust, but were ill and dying. An estimated 1.1 million Auschwitz prisoners were killed between 1940 and 1945.

1965 – Ford introduces the Shelby GT 350, a version of the Mustang sports car developed by auto racer/car designer Carroll Shelby. The vehicle features a 306-horsepower V-8 engine and remains in production through 1971.

1967 – A launch pad fire during a preflight test at Cape Kennedy, Florida, kills Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. An investigation determines that a faulty electrical wire inside the command module was the probable cause.

1973 – In Paris, the U.S., South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.”

1996 – Tennis great Monica Seles wins her first Grand Slam title since her 1993 stabbing by a mentally unstable fan during a tournament in Hamburg, Germany that led her to take a two-year hiatus from the sport.

Musical Milestones

1956 – RCA Records releases Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which sells 300,000 copies in its first week to become Presley’s first Gold record. That spring, it spends seven weeks on top of the pop chart.

1962 – With the American dance craze going strong, the hottest song on the radio is “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee & The Starliters. The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks.

1973 – Stevie Wonder sneaks into the top spot on the singles chart with “Superstition,” from his “Talking Book” album that also contains the hit “You Are The Sunshine of My Life.”

1984 – King of Pop, Michael Jackson, suffers second and third degree burns on his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles.

1991 – Grammy-winning pop legend Whitney Houston performs “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida to such excellent response that a single (that eventually reaches No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100) and video are rush-released. Houston’s appearance comes amid heightened patriotism across the U.S. during the Persian Gulf War.

1996 – “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men is in the midst of an unprecedented 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Destiny’s Child enjoys the final week of an 11-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women, Part I.”

On This Day January 5

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Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Former U.S. Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter

1931 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Robert Duvall (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Tender Mercies,” “Lonesome Dove,” “The Judge”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton (“The Godfather” series, “Annie Hall,” “The First Wives Club,” “Something’s Gotta Give”)

1969 – Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, born Brian Hugh Warner (“Sweet Dreams are Made of These,” “The Dope Show,” “The Beautiful People”)

1975 – Actor-director Bradley Cooper (“Wedding Crashers,” “Yes Man,” “He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Hangover” trilogy, “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “American Sniper,” “A Star is Born”)

1978 – Actress January Jones, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the “Mad Men” television series

History Highlights

1914 – The Ford Motor Company introduces an eight-hour workday and minimum wage of $5 for a day’s labor.

1933 – Construction begins on California’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, spanning San Francisco Bay. Crews complete the engineering marvel ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget when it opens four years later, on May 27, 1937.

1970 – The ABC soap “All My Children” premieres and runs for 41 seasons.

1972 – President Richard Nixon orders the development of a new space transportation system that relies on a reusable vehicle, and NASA’s space shuttle program is born.

1998 – Entertainer-turned-congressman Sonny Bono is killed in a California skiing accident at the age of 62.

Musical Milestones

1959 – Coral Records releases Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” It is Holly’s last single before his tragic death in a February 1959 plane crash that also killed popular singers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.

1963 – “Telstar,” by the British instrumental band The Tornados, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

1973 – Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” on Columbia Records.

1979 – Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus dies at the age of 56.

1980 – KC and the Sunshine Band claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Please Don’t Go,” the band’s fifth and final Billboard No. 1.

1991 – Madonna scores the first No. 1 single of 1991 with “Justify My Love,” off her album, “The Immaculate Collection.” It remains a chart-topper for two weeks.

2002 – Nickelback enters its third week on top of the singles chart with “How You Remind Me.”

On This Day December 13

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Celebrity Birthdays

1925 – Emmy, Tony and Grammy-winning actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke (“Bye Bye Birdie,” “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Night at the Museum”)

1929 – Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony-winning actor Christopher Plummer (“The Sound of Music,” ” A Beautiful Mind,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “The New World,” “Inside Man,” “Beginners”)

1948 – Rock musician Ted Nugent, best known for his 1977 hit “Cat Scratch Fever”

1957 – Golden Globe-winning actor Steve Buscemi (“Reservoir Dogs,” “Desperado,” “Con Air,” “Fargo,” “Armageddon,” “Boardwalk Empire”)

1967 – Oscar and Grammy-winning actor-comedian and musician Jamie Foxx, born Eric Marlon Bishop (“Ray,” “Django Unchained,” “Dreamgirls,” “Collateral,” “The Soloist”)

1989 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Taylor Swift

History Highlights

1957 – The Ford Motor Company produces the last two-seater Thunderbird. Beginning with the 1958 model year, the car becomes a four-seater, referred to as the “Square Bird.”

1972 – Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final “extravehicular activity” (EVA) or “moonwalk” during NASA’s last manned mission to the moon.

1983 – The Detroit Pistons defeat the Denver Nuggets by a score of 186-184 in triple overtime, the highest scoring game in the history of the NBA.

2000 – A long and bitter U.S. presidential race finally comes to an end. After five weeks of legal wrangling over the vote count in Florida, Democrat Al Gore—then vice president—concedes to Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush after the Supreme Court rules that the Florida recount must stop.

2000 – Seven convicts escape from a maximum-security prison in South Texas, setting off a manhunt that lasts six weeks. The so-called ‘Texas Seven’ leave behind an ominous note that reads, “You haven’t heard the last of us yet.” A tip from someone that had seen the escapees profiled on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted” crime program leads to their capture.

2003 – Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. military forces without as single shot being fired. Nine months after he and his family fled Baghdad, he is discovered hiding in an underground hole near his hometown of Tikrit. He stands trial and is executed in December 2006.

Musical Milestones

1969 – The Dutch band Shocking Blue hurtles onto the Billboard Hot 100 with “Venus,” which climbs to No. 1 in the U.S. and eight other countries in 1970. Bananarama’s 1986 cover of the song also becomes a chart-topper.

1975 – Silver Convention soars through its third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fly, Robin, Fly.”

1980 – Kenny Rogers holds the top spot on the Billboard pop chart with “Lady” — a song written by Lionel Richie.

1986 – “The Way It Is,” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, hits No.1 on the singles chart.

1993 – Janet Jackson’s “Again” is in the middle of a two-week ride atop the singles chart. The song goes on to receive Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Song.

On This Day December 1

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Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Oscar-winning screenwriter-actor-director Woody Allen (“Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Hannah and Her Sisters”)

1939 – Pro golfer Lee Trevino

1940 – Standup comedian-actor Richard Pryor (d. 2005)

1945 – Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning singer-actress Bette Midler, best known for her pop hits “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Wind Beneath My Wings” and the movies “The Rose,” “Beaches” and “For the Boys”

1946 – Singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, best known for his 1970s hits “Alone Again (Naturally)”, “Clair” and “Get Down”

1951 – Actor Treat Williams (“Hair,” “Prince of the City,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “The Late Shift,” “127 Hours”)

1970 – Comedian and “SNL” alum Sarah Silverman (“School of Rock,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “A Million Ways to Die in the West”)

History Highlights

1891 – James Naismith shoots and scores! The 30-year-old physical education teacher from the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts invents basket ball (originally two words) using two peach baskets and a ball. At the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, the year basketball was introduced to the international competition, Naismith was in Berlin, Germany to present medals to the winning teams of the three North American countries: United States, Gold; Canada, Silver; and Mexico, Bronze.

1913 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.

1914 – The Maserati company is founded in Bologna, Italy, and goes on to produce its first car in 1926.

1953 – The first issue of “Playboy” magazine is published, featuring a nude Marilyn Monroe centerfold. More than 50,000 copies sell at 50 cents apiece.

1955 – Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man — a violation of the city’s racial segregation laws. The incident, which triggers a year-long boycott of the city’s bus system, is considered the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

1992 – Workers drill a hole through a wall of rock 132 feet beneath the English Channel connecting both ends of a tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in 8,000 years. The Channel Tunnel or “Chunnel” finally opens for passenger service in 1994.

Musical Milestones

1957 – Buddy Holly and the Crickets appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” performing “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Sam Cooke is a guest on the same show performing “You Send Me.”

1958 – The Teddy Bears are No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “To Know Him is to Love Him.” It remains a chart-topper for three weeks.

1962 – The Four Seasons are midway through a five-week domination of the singles chart with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

1973 – “Top of the World” puts the Carpenters on top of the singles chart, where they remain for two weeks. It is the duo’s second No. 1 single following “(They Long to Be) Close to You” in 1970.

1984 – Wham! begins its third and final week with a No. 1 single: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”

1990 – “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” by Whitney Houston, begins a week-long run at No. 1 on the pop chart. It is Houston’s eighth chart-topping single.

2001 – Mary J. Blige has the No. 1 single with “Family Affair.”

2007 – Alicia Keys kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “No One,” from her “As I Am” album. The track captures Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.

On This Day November 19

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Celebrity Birthdays

1933 – Award-winning TV and radio talk show host Larry King, born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger

1936 – Retired Emmy-winning TV talk show host and comedian Dick Cavett, who tackled controversial topics and featured countless celebrities over the years on “The Dick Cavett Show”

1938 – Media mogul Ted Turner, born Robert Edward Turner III, who founded Cable News Network (CNN) and Turner Broadcasting (TBS)

1942 – Fashion designer Calvin Klein

1961 – Actress-producer Meg Ryan, born Margaret Hyra (“Top Gun,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “French Kiss,” “Addicted to Love,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “City of Angels,” “Proof of Life,” “Kate & Leopold”)

1962 – Oscar-winning actress-producer-director Jodie Foster (“Taxi Driver,” “The Accused,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Contact,” “Anna and the King,” “Panic Room,” “Flightplan,” “Elysium”)

History Highlights

1863 – During the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address.

1954 – The first automatic toll machine in the United States goes into service along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, charging motorists 25 cents to pass.

1959 – It’s the end of the road for the Edsel, as Ford Motor Company terminates production of an automobile line that proved to be a marketing disaster.

1964 – Something other than bread pops in and out of the toaster, as Kellogg’s introduces the Pop-Tart in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, apple currant and brown sugar-cinnamon.

1969 – Apollo 12 becomes the second manned space mission to land on the moon. The crew touches down within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed in April 1967. The astronauts bring some Surveyor III instruments back to Earth to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

1975 – “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opens in theaters, starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a 1960s psychiatric hospital, and Louise Fletcher as the head nurse. It becomes only the second movie of all time to clinch five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Nicholson).

Musical Milestones

1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Written by Perkins, it is considered one of the first rockabilly recordings. The single reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in 1956 and is later famously covered by Elvis Presley.

1966 – Reigning supreme on the singles chart: “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Diana Ross and The Supremes. The track hangs on to the No. 1 position for two weeks and is the Motown sensation’s seventh chart-topper.

1977 – Debby Boone is midway through a 10-week hold on No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Light Up My Life.”

1979 – Chuck Berry walks out of prison a free man after serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion.

1983 – Tina Turner has her first chart single in more than a decade with her cover of Al Green’s 1972 hit, “Let’s Stay Together.” The track, from her “Private Dancer” album, climbs as high as No. 26 on the Hot 100.

1994 – Boyz II Men have the No. 1 single with “I’ll Make Love to You.”

2003 – California authorities issue an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of child molestation and ask the pop superstar to turn himself in and surrender his passport.

2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, begins its tenth and final week on top of the Billboard singles chart.

On This Day November 15

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Celebrity Birthdays

1887 – Artist Georgia O’Keeffe, considered the “mother of American modernism” (d. 1986)

1929 – Emmy-winning actor Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Lou Grant,” “JFK,” “Elf,” “Up”)

1932 – Grammy-winning pop vocalist Petula Clark (“Downtown,” “I Know a Place,” “A Sign of the Times,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”)

1940 – Golden Globe-winning actor Sam Waterston (“The Killing Fields,” “Law & Order,” “The Newsroom”)

1945 – Actor Bob Gunton (“Demolition Man,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Patch Adams”)

1952 – Fashion designer Jimmy Choo

1972 – Actor Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting,” “Hackers, ” Elementary”)

1991 – Actress Shailene Woodley (“Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “The Descendants,” “The Spectacular Now,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” the “Divergent” series)

History Highlights

1867 – The first stock ticker is introduced in New York City and goes on to revolutionize the stock market by making up-to-the-minute prices available to investors around the country. Previously, such information was transmitted by mail or messenger.

1969 – Dave Thomas opens the world’s first Wendy’s fast food restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

1977 – President Jimmy Carter hosts the Shah of Iran at the White House.

1977 – Ford Motor Company celebrates its 100,000,000th car built in America. It’s a 1978 Fairmont four-door sedan.

1984 – Baby Fae dies 20 days after doctors replaced the newborn’s defective heart with that of a baboon.

1985 – A research assistant suffers burns and shrapnel wounds when he opens an exploding package at the home of University of Michigan psychology professor James McConnell. Investigators determine the package bomb is the work of the so-called Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

1996 – “The English Patient,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, opens in theaters. The film goes on to capture nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Musical Milestones

1956 – “Love Me Tender,” Elvis Presley’s first movie, opens at the Paramount Theater in New York. Presley plays one of three brothers turned outlaws in the musical Western.

1969 – The Fifth Dimension are in the midst of a three-week hold on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Wedding Bell Blues.”

1975 – Host Dick Clark welcomes Swedish pop phenom ABBA to TV’s “American Bandstand.”

1975 – Elton John begins his third and final week as captain of the pop chart with “Island Girl,” from his “Rock of the Westies” album.

1980 – After years of success on the music charts with the New Christy Minstrels and The First Edition, Kenny Rogers scores his first No. 1 single as a solo act with “Lady.” The song, written and produced by Lionel Richie, holds the top spot for six weeks.

1986 – “Amanda,” by Boston, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. It is the band’s first officially released single since 1978.

1990 – One of pop music’s biggest scandals unfolds as Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian confirms rumors that band members Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan never actually sang any of their hit records. The duo are stripped of the Grammys they had won for Best New Artist and duped fans file class-action lawsuits.

1997 – Elton John is in the middle of a 14-week domination of the pop chart with his tribute to Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997.”

2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, is the No. 1 single.

On This Day October 7

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Celebrity Birthdays

1931 – Anti-apartheid hero, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu (d. 2021)

1951 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter John Mellencamp (“Ain’t Even Done With the Night,” “Hurts So Good,” “Jack & Diane,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” “Cherry Bomb”)

1955 -Internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma

1959 – TV producer, executive and celebrity judge Simon Cowell (“American Idol, “The X Factor,” “America’s Got Talent”)

1967 – Grammy-winning soul-R&B singer and actress Toni Braxton, best known for her 1996 hit “Un-Break My Heart” and for playing Belle in the Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast”

History Highlights

1913 – The moving assembly line is introduced at Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park factory outside Detroit. Henry Ford’s invention allowed workers to build a Model T from scratch in 84 steps, cutting production time from 12.5 hours to six hours, and a year later to just 93 minutes.

1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) adopts its film rating system. Movies are rated G for general audiences, M (which later becomes PG), R or X (for adults only).

1982 – “Cats” opens, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history. The musical is based the T.S. Eliot’s 1939 collection of poems, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” and features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

1985 – Four Palestinian terrorists hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea. They kill a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and order his body thrown overboard with his wheelchair.

2001 – President George W. Bush announces that a U.S.-led coalition has begun attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. The campaign, in retaliation for terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. three weeks earlier (9/11), is known as Operation Enduring Freedom.

2003 – “Terminator” actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California, replacing Gray Davis — the first U.S. governor to be recalled by the public since 1921. Affectionately called “The Governator,” he is reelected in 2006.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Mamas & the Papas’ British tour is cancelled when Mama Cass Elliot is arrested and charged with stealing items from a hotel.

1967 – The Box Tops are mid-way through a four-week ride at No. 1 on the pop chart with “The Letter.”

1977 – Queen releases the single “We Will Rock You,” with “We Are the Champions” on the B-side, and many radio stations eventually play the tracks back to back. The songs continue getting airplay today on classic rock stations and serve as a motivational anthem at sporting events around the world.

1978 – Exile tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, begins a four-week run as a chart-topping single.

1995 – Alanis Morissette rules the Billboard album chart with “Jagged Little Pill,” becoming the first Canadian female artist to reach No. 1 in the U.S. The album sells more than 30 million copies and goes on to capture four Grammy Awards.

2000 – “Music,” by Madonna, enters its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

2006 – Justin Timberlake is mid-way through a seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “SexyBack.”

On This Day September 15

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Celebrity Birthdays

1254 – Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo (d. 1324)

1890 – Mystery author and playwright Agatha Christie (d. 1976)

1907 – Actress Fay Wray, most remembered for playing the lead in the original “King Kong” movie (d. 2004)

1922 – Jackie Cooper, the first child actor to be nominated for an Oscar (“Our Gang,” “Little rascals,” “The Champ’) (d. 2011)

1946 – Oscar-winning screenwriter-director Oliver Stone (“Platoon,” “Scarface,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK,” “Natural Born Killers”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Men in Black,” “The Fugitive,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Lincoln,” “Jason Bourne”)

1977 – Actor Tom Hardy (“Black Hawk Down,” “Star Trek: Nemesis,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Dunkirk,” “Venom”)

1984 – Prince Harry of Wales

History Highlights

1916 – The tank makes its debut as a battlefield weapon, attacking German troops as part of a British assault near Bois d’Elville, or Delville Wood, on the Western Front, during the Battle of the Somme in World War I.

1942 – Three Japanese torpedoes slam into the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp off Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II. The attack claims the lives of nearly 200 of the ship’s 2,000 crewmen. The wreckage of the Wasp was discovered at the bottom of the Coral Sea in January 2019.

1954 – The iconic scene of Marilyn Monroe laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast of air from a Manhattan subway vent is shot during the filming of “The Seven Year Itch,” directed by Billy Wilder.

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. During the next two weeks, Khrushchev’s visit dominates the headlines and provides some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War.

1963 – Four young black girls are killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that investigators determine to be a racially motivated terrorist attack. The bombing, which shocks the nation, is Birmingham’s third in 11 days following a federal order to integrate the Alabama schools.

1978 – Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, becoming the first fighter ever to do so.

1981 – The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice.

1982 – Gannett publishes the first edition of a new national daily newspaper called USA Today.

2008 – The venerable Wall Street brokerage firm Lehman Brothers seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis that would devastate financial markets and contribute to the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley is king of the pop chart with “Don’t Be Cruel,” which becomes his biggest-selling single and, in 2002, is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The B-side of the disc contains “Hound Dog,” which climbs to No. 2 a few weeks later.

1962 – “Sherry,” by The Four Seasons, is the No. 1 single and remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

1965 – Ford Motor Company is the first automaker to introduce factory-installed 8-track tape players in a car — the 1966 Mustang and Thunderbird — a year before 8-track equipment is available for home use.

1973 – Originally a Top-10 country hit for Tanya Tucker, Helen Reddy takes “Delta Dawn” to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

1983 – Huey Lewis and the News release “Sports,” which goes on to top the Billboard album chart the following summer and spawns four Top-10 hits, including “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “I Want a New Drug.”

1984 – Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. The track goes on to capture Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammys.

1990 – “Release Me,” by Wilson Phillips, claims the top spot on the singles chart and holds there for two weeks.

2001 – “I’m Real,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.