On This Day March 11 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1903 – Bandleader and accordion player Lawrence Welk (“The Lawrence Welk Show”), known as the creator and king of so-called “champagne music” (d. 1992) 1931 – Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who founded News Corporation and FOX Broadcasting 1950 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Bobby McFerrin, best known for his 1988 smash, “Don’t Worry Be Happy” 1963 – Actress Alex Kingston (“ER,” “Doctor Who,” “Arrow”) 1969 – Actor and singer-songwriter Terrence Howard (“Hustle & Flow,” “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” “Crash,” “The Brave One,” “Iron Man,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Empire”) 1971 – Comedic actor Johnny Knoxville of MTV’s “Jackass” series History Highlights 1888 – One of the worst blizzards in U.S. history strikes the Northeast, killing more than 400 people and dumping 55 inches of snow in some areas. “The Great White Hurricane,” as it comes to be known, paralyzes the East coast for days from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine. 1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Lend-Lease” program, which provides money and materials for U.S. allies in World War II, takes effect. 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes head of the Soviet Union following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. At 54, he is the youngest member of the ruling Politburo. 1989 – One of the first reality TV shows premieres on Fox Television. It’s “COPS,” which is shot documentary style as cameras follow police officers pursuing suspects and making arrests. 2011 – The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan and resulting tsunami kill more than 18,000 people in Japan, triggering a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Musical Milestones 1967 – “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone,” by the Supremes, begins one week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and becomes the Motown trio’s ninth No. 1 single. The track is from the “The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland” album. 1972 – Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” begins its fourth and final week on top of the singles chart. The track garners Nilsson a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. 1989 – Debbie Gibson conquers the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with Lost in Your Eyes.” It remains at No. 1 for a total of three weeks. 1995 – “Take a Bow,” by Madonna, is in the midst of a seven-week ride atop the pop chart. The track is from her “Bedtime Stories” album. 1997 – Former Beatle Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during a Buckingham Palace ceremony honoring his “services to music.” 2000 – Country music conquers the Billboard Hot 100 as Lonestar scores a No. 1 hit with “Amazed.” It’s the last country song to do so until Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” rockets to No. 1 on September 1, 2012. 2006 – “You’re Beautiful,” by British singer-songwriter James Blunt reaches the top of the pop chart and holds there for a week. READ MORE
On This Day September 10 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1929 – Golf legend Arnold Palmer (d. 2016) 1945 – Grammy-winning guitarist-singer Jose Feliciano, best known for his cover of the Doors hit “Light My Fire” and the Christmas favorite “Feliz Navidad” 1949 – Conservative TV talk show host and best-selling author Bill O’Reilly 1953 – Actress Amy Irving (“Crossing Delancey,” “The Fury,” “Carrie,” “Yentl”) 1958 – Screenwriter-director-producer Chris Columbus (“Home Alone,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”) 1960 – Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth (“The English Patient,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Love Actually,” “A Single Man,” “The King’s Speech,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service”) 1968 – Director Guy Ritchie (“Snatch,” “swept Away,” ” RocknRolla,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) 1974 – Actor Ryan Phillippe (“I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Cruel Intentions,” “54,” “Gosford Park,” “Crash,” “Flags of Our Fathers”) History Highlights 1897 – London taxi driver George Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pleads guilty and is fined 25 shillings. 1919 – Almost a year after an armistice officially ends World War I, New York City holds a parade to welcome home General John J. Pershing, commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the AEF’s 1st Division on the Western Front. 1953 – Swanson revolutionizes meal preparation when it introduces the first TV dinner. It sells for 89 cents and includes turkey, gravy, corn bread dressing, whipped sweet potatoes and peas. By the end of that year, Americans had gobbled up more than 10 million of them. 1966 – Meep! Meep! The animated “Road Runner Show,” from the creative minds at Looney Tunes, premieres on CBS Television. 1973 – Boxing great Muhammad Ali defeats Ken Norton in a heavyweight match, avenging a stunning loss to Norton six months earlier. 1977 – The guillitine falls silent on this day. A man convicted of torture and murder becomes the last person executed by the French government using a guillitine. 1993 – FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully pursue aliens and supernatural phenomena as “The X-Files” premieres on Fox Television, starring David Duchovny as Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Scully. Musical Milestones 1966 – A new folk-rock sound hits the radio from “Mack The Knife” crooner Bobby Darin, as “If I Were a Carpenter” debuts on the singles chart. 1966 – The Supremes rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Can’t Hurry Love.” The single holds the top spot for two weeks. 1966 – The first of 21 hits for The Monkees enters the pop chart. It’s “Last Train to Clarksville,” which chugs its way to No. 1 two months later. 1988 – “Sweet Child O’ Mine” lands on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for two weeks, becoming the first and only No. 1 hit for Guns N’Roses. 1991 – Nirvana releases “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the first track off the “Nevermind” album. The song becomes the pioneering grunge band’s biggest hit. 2005 – Mariah Carey wraps up 14 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the pop chart with “We Belong Together.” READ MORE