pilot – Time Rewind

On This Day April 17

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On This Day January 23

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Celebrity Birthdays

1737 – John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress and first to sign the Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)

1919 – Comedian, writer and actor Ernie Kovacs (d. 1962)

1930 – Poet and playwright Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 (d. 2017)

1933 – Tony-winning actress-dancer-singer Chita Rivera (“The Rink,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “West Side Story,” “Sweet Charity,” “Chicago”)

1944 – Golden Globe-winning actor Rutger Hauer (“Blade Runner,” “The Hitcher,” “Ladyhawke,” “Sin City,” “The Blood of Heroes,” “Batman Begins,” “Hobo with a Shotgun”) (d. 2019)

1951 – Retired pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who became a hero after safely landing a crippled passenger jet on the Hudson River in 2008, an event dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson”

1957 – Princess Caroline of Monaco

1964 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Mariska Hargitay, best known as Detective Olivia Benson in the NBC crime series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

History Highlights

1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman physician in U.S. history when she earns a medical degree from the all-male Geneva Medical College in upstate New York, graduating at the top of her class at the age of 28. Blackwell devotes her life to advocating for women in the healthcare professions and, in 1868, opens a women’s medical college in New York City.

1957 – The Wham-O toy company introduces the first aerodynamic plastic disc known as the Frisbee, and forever changes outdoor recreation. The disc was the creation of Walter Frederick Morrison, who originally named it the Pluto Platter.

1968 – North Korea seizes the U.S. intelligence-gathering ship USS Pueblo and interrogates its 83 crew members claiming the vessel violated North Korean territorial waters while spying.

1973 – President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord had been reached in Paris to end the Vietnam War.

1975 – The ABC sitcom “Barney Miller” debuts. It’s about an NYPD precinct captain played by Hal Linden, and the shenanigans he endures with his detectives.

1976 – Singer, actor, athlete and civil rights activist Paul Robeson dies at the age of 77.

1977 – The miniseries “Roots,” based on the book by Alex Haley, debuts. It runs for eight consecutive nights on ABC Television and becomes the single most-watched program in American history, drawing about 100 million viewers.

1997 – One day after her unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Madeline Albright is sworn in as America’s first female Secretary of State by Vice President Al Gore.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Bert Kaempfert begins his third and final week on top of the Billboard pop chart with “Wonderland By Night.”

1965 – Petula Clark strolls to the top of the singles chart with “Downtown” and remains there for two weeks. The recording features Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page on guitar. Page was a studio session player at the time.

1971 – “Knock Three Times,” by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for three weeks.

1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members at a ceremony in New York City. Inductees include Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

1988 – Michael Jackson owns the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100: “The Way You Make Me Feel,” off his “Bad” album.

2000 – Santana’s “Supernatural” reaches the top of Billboard album chart for the second time. The album, which contains the hit single “Smooth,” ultimately remains at No. 1 for 12 non-consecutive weeks and goes on to capture eight Grammy awards.

On this Day May 28

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Celebrity Birthdays

1892 – Football, baseball and Olympics star Jim Thorpe (d. 1953)

1908 – James Bond author Ian Fleming (d. 1964)

1944 – Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump

1944 – Grammy-winning R&B vocalist Gladys Knight, who, along with The Pips, had many Top 40 hits, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”

1945 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Fogerty, former lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival (“Susie Q,” “Proud Mary,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” “Centerfield,” “The Old Man Down the Road”)

1968 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue (“Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” “Slow,” “2 Hearts”)

1977 – Conservative TV personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck, formerly a co-host of TV’s “The View”

1983 – YouTube star and prank video artist Roman Atwood

History Highlights

1892 – The Sierra Club is founded by naturalist John Muir. The organization promotes environmental conservation through public policy and has helped with the development of national parks across the United States.

1957 – National League owners vote unanimously to allow the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers to move to San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.

1961 – Several internationally read newspapers publish British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners”, launching the Appeal for Amnesty campaign which calls for the release of all those imprisoned around the world for peacefully expressing their beliefs.

1987 – In a daring attempt to ease Cold War tensions, 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane in Moscow’s Red Square. He serves 18 months in a Soviet prison for his stunt.

1998 – Comedic actor Phil Hartman, best known for his work on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (“SNL”) and “NewsRadio” and FOX’s “The Simpsons,” is shot to death in his sleep by his wife, Brynn, in a murder-suicide that horrifies fans and colleagues. Phil Hartman was just 49.

2014 – Author and poet Maya Angelou, who published more than 30 books, including 1969’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — a best-selling memoir about the racism and abuse she experienced growing up — dies at the age of 86.

Musical Milestones

1966 – Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Percy Sledge begins two weeks with the most popular single on U.S. radio: “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

1966 – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass reach No.1 on the Billboard album chart with “What Now My Love,” setting a new record with four albums in the Top 10. The other three are “South of the Border,” “Going Places” and “Whipped Cream and Other Delights.”

1976 – The Allman Brothers Band, considered one of the principal architects of Southern rock, breaks up.

1977 – Stevie Wonder is in the midst of a three-week domination of the pop chart with “Sir Duke,” from his Grammy-winning “Songs in the Key of Life” album.

1983 – Irene Cara commandeers the Billboard Hot 100 with “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” from the “Flashdance” movie soundtrack. The single remains at No. 1 for six weeks and goes on to capture an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

1983 – More than 750,000 fans attend the four-day US Festival ’83’ which opens in California, featuring The Clash, U2, David Bowie, The Pretenders, Van Halen, Stray Cats, Men At Work, Judas Priest, Stevie Nicks and Ozzy Osbourne.

1994 – “I Swear,” by All-4-One,” is the No. 1 single.

2005 – Gwen Stefani begins her fourth and final week as a chart-topping artist with “Hollaback Girl.”