invasion – Time Rewind

On This Day March 21

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On This Day December 24

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Celebrity Birthdays

1922 – Actress Ava Gardner (“The Hucksters,” “Show Boat,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” “The Barefoot Contessa,” “On the Beach,” “Seven Days in May,” “The Night of the Iguana,” “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” “Earthquake,” “The Cassandra Crossing” (d. 1990)

1927 – Author Mary Higgins Clark, known as “The Queen of Suspense,” whose first bestseller was “Where Are the Children?”

1956 – Actor Anil Kapoor (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “24”)

1971 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and actor Ricky Martin, best known for his 1999 smash, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”

1973 – “Twilight” series author Stephenie Meyer

1974 – TV and radio host Ryan Seacrest (“American Idol,” “American Top 40,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”)

History Highlights

1818 – The now-legendary Christmas carol “Silent Night” (“Stille Nacht”) is composed in Austria by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr.

1923 – President Calvin Coolidge lights the first national Christmas tree on the White House grounds.

1968 – The Apollo 8 astronauts become the first humans to enter orbit around the moon. Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders complete 10 lunar orbits and transmit live TV images that become part of the famous Christmas Eve broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history. The crew members conclude their broadcast by taking turns reading from the Book of Genesis.

1972 – Beloved entertainer Bob Hope performs his last Christmas show for U.S. servicemen stationed in Vietnam.

1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. It is the first Soviet military expedition beyond the Eastern bloc since World War II and interrupts a period of improving relations in the Cold War.

1990 – Actor Tom Cruise and actress Nicole Kidman tie the knot after meeting on the set of “Days of Thunder” in 1989. They are considered one of Hollywood’s most glamourous couples until their divorce 11 years later.

Musical Milestones

1966 – The New Vaudeville Band’s “Winchester Cathedral” begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1977 – The Bee Gees mark the first of three weeks atop the singles chart with “How Deep is Your Love,” from the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1983 – Michael Jackson’s Grammy-winning “Thriller” returns to the top of the Billboard album chart for a third time, and ultimately claims the No. 1 spot for 37 non-consecutive weeks.

1983 – The Paul McCartney-Michael Jackson duet, “Say Say Say,” is in the middle of a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1988 – Poison starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” the band’s only chart-topper. The track is the final No. 1 hit of 1988 and first of 1989.

1994 – One-hit-wonder Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” begins a second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 before stepping off.

2005 – Chris Brown’s “Run It!” sets out on its fifth and final week as a No. 1 single.

On This Day December 20

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Celebrity Birthdays

1881 – Baseball Hall of Famer Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers coach who introduced Jackie Robinson, the farm club system and the batting helmet to baseball (d. 1965)

1898 – Actress Irene Dunne (“Showboat, “Anna and the King of Siam,” “Love Affair”) (d. 1990)

1932 – Actor John Hillerman (Higgins in the 1980s “Magnum, P.I.” series) (d. 2017)

1945 – Peter Criss, founding member and original drummer for the rock n’ roll supergroup, KISS

1946 – TV producer Dick Wolf (“Miami Vice,” “Law & Order”)

1957 – Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg (“She’s Leaving Home,” “We Laughed”)

1970 – Director-producer Todd Phillips (“The Hangover” series, “Due Date,” “Road Trip,” “Starsky & Hutch”)

1983 – Actor-comedian Jonah Hill (“Superbad,” “Knocked Up,” “21 Jump Street,” “This Is the End,” “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”)

History Highlights

1803 – One of the greatest real estate deals in history is completed as France turns over more than a million square miles of the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. for a price equal to about $20 per square mile.

1963 – More than two years after construction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany to prevent citizens from fleeing its communist regime, the wall is temporarily opened for the holidays. Nearly 4,000 West Berliners are granted one-day passes to cross into East Berlin to visit relatives. The wall is sealed off again on January 5, 1964.

1968 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, best known for works like “East of Eden,” “Of Mice and Men” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” dies at the age of 66.

1989 – Michael Moore’s documentary “Roger & Me,” about the economic toll General Motors’ factory closings and layoffs had on his hometown of Flint, Michigan, opens in theaters. It launches Moore’s career as a filmmaker.

1989 – The U.S. invades Panama in an effort to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega.

Musical Milestones

1957 – Rock and Roll legend Elvis Presley is served his draft notice by the U.S. Army. Three months later, he ships out to the Company “D” 1st Tank Battalion 32nd Armor Corps based in Germany.

1969 – Peter, Paul and Mary top the Billboard Hot 100 with “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” The song, written by John Denver, becomes the trio’s only No. 1 single and final hit recording.

1973 – The talent behind hits like “Dream Lover,” “Mack the Knife” and “Beyond the Sea” — teen idol Bobby Darin — dies at the age of 37 following open heart surgery.

1975 – “That’s the Way (I Like It),” by KC and the Sunshine Band, is the No. 1 single.

1986 – The Bangles start a four-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Walk Like an Egyptian.” That makes the track the final No. 1 single of 1986 and the first of 1987.

1997 – Elton John’s updated version of “Candle in the Wind,” a tribute to Princess Diana, maintains its hold on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day October 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1735 – One of America’s Founding Fathers, second U.S. President John Adams (d. 1826)

1939 – Rock singer-songwriter Grace Slick, who performed with Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship

1945 – Actor Henry Winkler, best remembered for playing “The Fonz” in the popular ABC sitcom “Happy Days”

1951 – Actor Harry Hamlin (“Clash of the Titans,” “L.A. Law,” “Mad Men”)

1957 – Actor Kevin Pollak (“Avalon,” “A Few Good Men,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “The Usual Suspects”)

1970 – Actress Nia Long (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Third Watch,” “Boiler Room,” the “Big Momma’s House” movies, “Are We There Yet?”)

History Highlights

1938 – In what could be called an early case of fake news, actor Orson Welles terrifies radio listeners across the United States with his “War of the Worlds” broadcast — a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ tale about a Martian invasion.

1968 – “The Lion in Winter,” starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn, opens at the box office. The movie goes on to capture three Oscars, including a Best Actress win for Hepburn.

1974 – An historic boxing match-up called the “Rumble in the Jungle” sees Muhammad Ali knock out George Foreman in the eighth round in Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in central Africa.

1975 – The New York Daily News runs its infamous front-page headline ‘Ford to City: Drop Dead’ in reference to President Gerald Ford’s speech the day before denying federal assistance to help New York City avert bankruptcy.

1991 – A so-called “perfect storm” churns across the North Atlantic, producing powerful and deadly waves along the coasts of New England and Canada. The Gloucester, Massachusetts-based fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-member crew are lost in the nor’easter, which inspires the best-selling book, “The Perfect Storm,” by Sebastian Junger, and a blockbuster movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

Musical Milestones

1965 – “Yesterday,” by The Beatles, marks its fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1971 – Rod Stewart concludes a five-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Maggie May.”

1976 – Chicago has the No. 1 single with “If You Leave Me Now,” which goes on to capture the band’s first Grammy.

1982 – The Australian band Men At Work climbs to the top of the U.S. singles chart with “Who Can It Be Now?” One week earlier, the group performed that song and their other hit, “Down Under,” on “Saturday Night Live,” and the following February, won a Best New Artist Grammy.

1993 – Mariah Carey’s “Dreamlover” marks the end of an eight-week run on top of the Billboard singles chart. It is her seventh No. 1 hit.

2004 – Usher and Alicia Keys rule the pop chart with “My Boo,” which holds the No. 1 spot for six weeks.