On This Day: January 27

On This Day January 27

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Celebrity Birthdays
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
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
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.”

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On this Day: May 9

On this Day May 9

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Archaeologist Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun (d. 1939)

1918 – Longtime CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace (d. 2012)

1936 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Albert Finney (“Miller’s Crossing,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Big Fish”) (d. 2019)

1940 – Oscar and Emmy-winning director-producer James L. Brooks (“Terms of Endearment,” “The Simpsons,” “As Good as it Gets”)

1946 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown,” “Boston Legal,” “Miss Congeniality”)

1949 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billy Joel (“Piano Man,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “She’s Always a Woman”)

1961 – Actor-singer John Corbett (“Northern Exposure,” “Sex and the City,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), who also provides voiceovers for Applebees and Walgreens

History Highlights
History Highlights

1926 – Polar explorer Richard Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett fly over the North Pole in a triple-engine Fokker monoplane, marking the first time an aircraft crosses the top of the world. The flight’s earlier-than-expected return prompted some to challenge the achievement. However, a scientific committee of the National Geographic Society confirms the historic crossing, and Byrd and Bennett are awarded Medals of Honor by President Calvin Coolidge.

1960 – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first commercially produced birth control pill, which comes to be known as “The Pill,” and paves the way for the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

1970 – A Vietnam War protest draws nearly 100,000 demonstrators to an area near the White House. Speakers include actress Jane Fonda and acclaimed pediatrician-author Dr. Benjamin Spock. President Richard Nixon meets secretly with a group of protesters at the Lincoln Memorial.

1971 – The long-running comedy “The Honeymooners,” starring Jackie Gleason as bus driver Ralph Kramden and Audrey Meadows as his wife Alice, signs off for the last time.

1974 – The House Judiciary Committee opens impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

1978 – The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is found in the back of a car in Rome. Moro had been kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists two months earlier after a bloody shoot-out near his suburban home.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly” ends The Beatles’ 14-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart which began with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and was followed by “She Loves You” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” At age 62, Satchmo becomes the oldest artist to reach No. 1.

1966 – The Beatles hold the first of three studio sessions to record “For No One,” a track on the band’s “Revolver” album.

1970 – “American Woman,” by The Guess Who, begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1987 – Cutting Crew begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “(I Just) Died in Your Arms.”

1992 – Bruce Springsteen makes his network television debut on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) with host Tom Hanks.

1992 – “Jump,” the debut single by hip hop duo Kris Kross, is midway through an eight-week reign of the Billboard Hot 100. The artists are just 12 and 13 years old when they record the track, which becomes an international smash.

2014 – Michael Jackson’s second posthumous album, “Xscape,” is released. It contains previously unreleased tracks dating back to 1980.

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