On This Day: October 24

On This Day October 24

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1930 – Rock & roll singer The Big Bopper, born Jiles Perry “J.P.” Richardson, Jr., who died in a plane crash with musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens (d. 1959)

1939 – Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus,” “Finding Forrester,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Grand Budapest Hotel”)

1947 – Oscar and Tony-winning actor Kevin Kline (“Sophie’s Choice,” “The Big Chill,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Dave,” “Cry Freedom”)

1960 – Tony-winning actor B.D. Wong (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Seven Years in Tibet,” “Oz,” “Awake,” “Jurassic Park,” “Jurassic World”)

1986 – Grammy-winning rapper-actor Drake, born Aubrey Drake Graham, best known as Jimmy Brooks in TV’s “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” and for hit songs like “Best I Ever Had” and “Take Care”

History Highlights
History Highlights

1901 – On her 63rd birthday, widowed schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel and survive. Dubbing herself “Queen of the Mist,” Taylor had hoped the publicity stunt would generate money for her retirement, but 19 years later, she dies in poverty.

1929 – Frenzied trading begins on the New York Stock Exchange and culminates days later with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, which sends the United States into the Great Depression.

1931 – New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the George Washington Bridge, a majestic span linking New York to New Jersey over the Hudson River. The bridge was the longest of its kind in the world at that time — 3,500 feet — and was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.

1945 – The United Nations (U.N.) is established to promote cooperation among the nations of the world. A charter officially creating the U.N. had been ratified four months earlier by China, France, the Soviet Union, the U.S., the U.K. and other signatories.

1978 – The U.N. General Assembly urges member states to call attention to the danger of the arms race and promote disarmament, so it declares October 24 – 30 Disarmament Week.

2003 – The iconic Concorde passenger jet makes its last commercial flight, traveling at twice the speed of sound from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport. The supersonic aircraft enjoyed three decades of uninterrupted service with British Airways and Air France until a July 2000 crash in Paris killed 113 people.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1962 – Soul music legend James Brown records his landmark “Live At The Apollo” album, which is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and, in 2003, is ranked No. 24 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

1964 – “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” by Manfred Mann, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

1973 – John Lennon sues the U.S. government over the FBI’s wiretapping of his phone. The former Beatle had been under surveillance because of his political activism, and along with his wife Yoko Ono, faced the threat of deportation.

1978 – Rolling Stone Keith Richards pleads guilty in a Canadian court to a charge of heroin possession. He receives a one-year suspended sentence and is ordered to play a charity concert for the blind.

1987 – Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” from the album of the same name, begins two weeks as the No. 1 single.

1992 – Boyz II Men notch another week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “End of the Road.”

1998 – Monica is at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The First Night,” a track that features a sampling of Diana Ross’ 1976 smash, “Love Hangover.”

2009 – The No. 1 song belongs to Britney Spears with “3.”

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On this Day: May 16

On this Day May 16

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1905 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actor Henry Fonda (“The Grapes of Wrath,” “Mister Roberts,” “12 Angry Men,” “On Golden Pond”) (d. 1982)

1919 – Emmy-winning pianist Liberace, born Wladziu Valentino Liberace, known for his signature candelabra and glittery wardrobe (d. 1987)

1953 – Actor Pierce Brosnan (“Remington Steele,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Dante’s Peak,” “GoldenEye” and three other James Bond films, “The Ghost Writer”)

1955 – Actress Debra Winger (“Urban Cowboy,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Legal Eagles,” “Shawdowlands,” “Rachel Getting Married”)

1966 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Janet Jackson

1973 – Actress Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Scream 2,” “The House of Yes,” “Trick,” “Cthulhu”)

1986 – Actress and model Megan Fox (“Hope & Faith,” “Transformers,” “Jennifer’s Body,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1929 – A far cry from the pageantry of today’s Oscar ceremonies, about 270 guests attend a dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where the first Academy Awards are handed out.

1960 – Two weeks after the Soviet downing of an American U-2 spy plane, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev lashes out at the U.S. and President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a Paris summit between the two heads of state. Khrushchev’s outburst angered Eisenhower and doomed any chances for successful talks or negotiations.

1965 – The Franco-American food company revolutionizes the way American kids eat when it introduces SpaghettiOs — canned pasta rings in tomato and cheese sauce. “The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon…Uh-Oh! SpaghettiOs.”

1977 – A commuter helicopter accident on the roof of the Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building) in Manhattan leaves five people dead, eight others injured. Investigators blame the crash on “metal fatigue,” which caused the landing gear to fail. The helipad is never used again.

1988 – Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issues a report stating that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

1996 – The final episode of “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, airs on CBS, ending a successful 12-season run.

2014 – Broadcast journalist and TV personality Barbara Walters retires from ABC News and as co-host of the daytime program “The View.” The 84-year-old Walters blazed a trail for women in television news during a distinguished career spanning more than 50 years.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – Motown sweetheart Mary Wells lays claim to the top of the pop chart for two weeks with “My Guy,” a track written and produced by Smokey Robinson.

1970 – The Guess Who are in the midst of a three-week ride at No. 1 on the singles chart with “American Woman.”

1970 – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young land on top of the Billboard album chart with “Deja Vu,” which spawns three Top 40 singles: “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Woodstock.”

1981 – Kim Carnes begins a nine-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bette Davis Eyes.” The track goes on to capture Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

1987 – U2’s “With or Without You,” off the band’s Grammy-winning “The Joshua Tree” album, begins three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1990 – Entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. dies of throat cancer at the age of 64. Davis was an acclaimed comedian, actor, dancer and singer, and a member of the “Rat Pack” with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

1998 – “Too Close,” by Next, marks its fourth and final week as a Billboard chart-topper.

2009 – Bob Dylan grabs the top spot on the album chart with “Together Through Life,” which garners two Grammy Award nominations in the Best Americana Album category and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’.”

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