Lou Gehrig – Time Rewind

On this Day July 4

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On this Day June 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1731 – First U.S. First Lady, Martha Washington (d. 1802)

1904 – Olympic Gold-winning swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmuller, best known for his portrayal of Tarzan in the 1930s and 40s movies (d. 1984)

1937 – Actress Sally Kellerman (“M*A*S*H,” “Brewster McCloud”)

1941 – Actor Stacy Keach (“Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer,” “Titus”)

1941 – Legendary Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts

1944 – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch (d. 2012)

1955 – Emmy-winning comedian-actor Dana Carvey (“Saturday Night Live,” the “Wayne’s World” movie series)

1977 – Actor Zachary Quinto (“Heroes,” “Star Trek,” “American Horror Story”)

1978 – Actor Justin Long (“Galaxy Quest,” “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” “Live Free or Die Hard”)

History Highlights

1865 – Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators. Smith’s surrender effectively dissolves the last Confederate army, formally ending the Civil War — the bloodiest four years in U.S. history.

1924 – President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizen Act, granting automatic American citizenship to Native Americans born in the United States.

1935 – Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, ends his Major League playing career after 22 seasons, 10 World Series and 714 home runs.

1941 – Another baseball legend, Lou Gehrig, dies of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a rare type of paralysis commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

1953 – Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is crowned in Westminster Abbey during the first televised coronation ceremony.

1979 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit a communist country when he tours his native Poland.

1989 – Moviegoers discover a darker side of comedian-actor Robin Williams when “Dead Poets Society” opens in U.S. theaters, starring Williams as an unconventional prep school English teacher. The performance garners Williams a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

1997 – Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army soldier, is convicted on 11 counts of murder, conspiracy and using a weapon of mass destruction for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He is later sentenced to death.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Ray Charles kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard pop chart with “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” The track also reaches No. 1 on the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts.

1973 – Paul McCartney and Wings dominate two separate music charts: “Red Rose Speedway” is the No. 1 album while one of the tracks on it, “My Love,” is the No. 1 single.

1979 – “Hot Stuff,” by Donna Summer, captures the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

1984 – “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” by Deniece Williams, begins its second and final week at No. 1. The song is from the “Footloose” movie soundtrack, which sits at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

1990 – Madonna begins her third and final week on top of the pop chart with “Vogue.” The song and accompanying video, directed by David Fincher, celebrate voguing — a style of dance popularized in New York’s mostly gay ballroom club scene of the 1980s that mimics fashion-shoot poses.

2001 – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover of Labelle’s 1974 smash, “Lady Marmalade.” This reinterpretation, for the “Moulin Rouge!” movie soundtrack, holds the top spot for five weeks.

2008 – Legendary singer-guitarist Bo Diddley dies of heart failure at the age of 79. Born Ellas Otha Bates, Diddley helped shape the transition of blues to rock and roll, and influenced artists including Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and U2.

On this Day May 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1903 – Internationally acclaimed pediatrician-author Dr. Benjamin Spock (“Baby and Child Care”) (d. 1998)

1907 – Actor-comedian Pinky Lee, born Pincus Leff, who hosted the children’s TV program “The Pinky Lee Show” in the early 1950s. (d. 1993)

1924 – Actor Theodore Bikel (“The Defiant Ones,” “The African Queen,” “Fiddler on the Roof”) (d. 2015)

1936 – Pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck (“Release Me,” “After the Lovin’”)

1946 – Pop singer Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party,” “You Don’t Own Me”), born Lesley Sue Goldstein (d. 2014)

1952 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Christine Baranski (“Cybill,” “The Birdcage,” “Bowfinger,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Wife,” “Mamma Mia!” “Into the Woods, “Trolls,” “The Good Fight”)

1955 – Fashion designer Donatella Versace

1972 – Pro wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“The Mummy Returns,” “Walking Tall,” “Tooth Fairy,” “The Fast and the Furious” franchise, “Pain and Gain,” “San Andreas,” “Baywatch”)

History Highlights

1918 – General Motors (GM), which goes on to become the world’s largest automotive firm, acquires Chevrolet Motor Company.

1933 – The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when the Scottish newspaper Inverness Courier reports the account of a local couple that claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface.”

1939 – Legendary New York Yankee Lou Gehrig ends his record-setting streak of 2,130 consecutive games played by benching himself.

1945 – The curtain comes down on Germany in the waning days of World War II, as Russia’s Red Army announces the capture of Berlin.

1952 – The Jet Age begins as the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the British-built de Havilland Comet, makes its 24-hour maiden flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. Despite the aircraft’s overall success and longevity, the first Comets suffered from structural problems and experienced a number of accidents through the mid-1950s.

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York City.

2011 – The world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden — mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America — is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. After undergoing extensive training, U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six carried out the mission, codenamed Operation Neptune Spear.

Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley’s “Stuck on You” remains stuck on top of the singles chart for a second consecutive week. It will hold that spot for another two weeks.

1964 – “Can’t Buy Me Love,” by The Beatles, begins its fifth and final week as a No. 1 single.

1970 – The Jackson 5 wrap up two weeks at No. 1 on the pop chart with “ABC.” Two months before it became a chart-topper, the band performed the song on “American Bandstand.”

1981 – Sheena Easton lays claim to the top spot on the singles chart with “Morning Train (Nine to Five).”

1987 – “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” by Cutting Crew, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1998 – The Minneapolis-based R&B trio, Next, is in the midst of a five-week domination of the Billboard pop chart with “Too Close.”

2003 – The Dixie Chicks appear naked on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, with slogans such “Traitors,” “Hero,” “Boycott,” “Saddam’s Angels” and “Proud Americans” across their bodies. The slogans represent the reactions the trio received following singer Natalie Maines’ anti-George W. Bush comments.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas dominate the pop chart with “Boom Boom Pow.” The track is the band’s first No. 1, and it remains a chart-topper for 12 weeks.