On This Day: January 4

On This Day January 4

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1643 – Scientist Sir Isaac Newton, credited with developing the principles of modern physics (d. 1727) 

1809 – Scientist Louis Braille, who created a touch-based reading system for the blind (d. 1852)

1930 – Pro Football Hall of Famer Retired Miami Dolphins coach and Don Shula

1937 – Actress Dyan Cannon (“Honeysuckle Rose,” “Deathtrap,” “That Darn Cat,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal”)

1957 – Grammy-winning country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member Patty Loveless (“Timber I’m Falling in Love,” “Chains,” “You Can Feel Better”)

1960 -Rock singer-songwriter and former R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe (“Orange Crush,” “Losing My Religion,” “Everybody Hurts”)

1965 – Emmy-winning actress Julia Ormond (“Legends of the Fall,” “First Knight,” “Sabrina,” “The Barber of Siberia,” “Temple Grandin,” “My Week With Marilyn”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1958 – Sputnik 1, the Soviet satellite responsible for triggering the Space Race between the superpowers, burns up while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after three months in orbit. 

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson uses his State of the Union address to outline ambitious plans for a “Great Society,” which include knocking down racial barriers and freeing Americans from what he calls the “crushing weight of poverty.”

1974 – President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. 

1995 – The 104th Congress becomes the first held entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era some 40 years earlier.

1996 – General Motors (GM) takes the wraps off a prototype of its EV1 electric car, which the automaker only makes available in Arizona and California — and exclusively for lease — as GM considered the development of electric vehicle technology to be ongoing.

1999 – Europe is united with a common currency when the euro is introduced as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union (EU) nations adopt the currency in hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth. 

2007 – Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, becomes the first female elected as Speaker of the U.S. House.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1936 – Billboard magazine publishes its first list of best-selling pop records covering the week that ended December 30, 1935. Big band violinist Joe Venuti  and his Orchestra have the first No. 1 with “Stop Look and Listen.”

1954 – Working as a truck driver, Elvis Presley enters the Memphis Recording Service in Tennessee and records “It Wouldn’t Be The Same Without You” and “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” as a demo for Sun Records. Impressed with his sound, Sun Records head Sam Phillips calls Presley back to record more, and the rest is rock and roll history.

1964 – Bobby Vinton begins a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “There! I’ve Said It Again.” 

1975 – Elton John rules the U.S. pop chart with his version of The Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

1986 – Lionel Richie is mid-way through a four-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Say You, Say Me,” from his “Dancing on the ceiling” album.

1997 – Toni Braxton has the first No. 1 single of 1997 with “Un-Break My Heart,” which remains a Billboard chart-topper for 11 weeks. The song goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

2003 – “Lose Yourself,” by Eminem, maintains its grip on the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100. The track is from the movie “8 Mile,” in which Eminem stars.

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On this Day: July 30

On this Day July 30

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1863 – Industrialist and Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford

1890 – Baseball Hall of Famer Casey Stengel

1941 – Singer-songwriter Paul Anka 

1947 – Actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

1961 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Laurence Fishburne (“Boyz n the Hood,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “Mission: Impossible III”)

1963 – Actress-comedian Lisa Kudrow, best known for her role as Phoebe in the popular sitcom “Friends”

1964 – Actress Vivica Fox (“Days of Our Lives,” “Independence Day,” “Batman & Robin,” “Alias”)  

1969 – Actor Simon Baker (“L.A. Confidential,” “Land of the Dead,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Mentalist”)

1970 – Director Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Inception,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Interstellar”) 

1974 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Amelia”) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1935 – Literature’s first paperback is introduced by Penguin Books in London. It’s “Ariel” by André Maurois, who traces the life of the poet Shelley. 

1945 – A Japanese submarine torpedoes the U.S. Navy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis in Pacific waters after it delivers the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The ship sinks in just 12 minutes. Of the approximately 1,200 crewmen, 300 go down with the ship. The rest face exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. 

1956 – Two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the United States’ pledge of allegiance, President Dwight Eisenhower signs a law declaring “In God We Trust”  the nation’s official motto. 

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare bill into law, granting seniors access to affordable healthcare. The bill-signing ceremony takes place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, where former President Harry S. Truman is enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and receives the first Medicare card.

2003 – The last of over 21 million Volkswagen Beetles, known as the “Volkswagen Type 1,” rolls off an assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, ending nearly 70 years of production. The baby blue car is sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where VW is headquartered.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – The Beatles own the No. 1 position on the Billboard album chart with “Yesterday…And Today.” The album, released in the U.S. and Canada only, holds the top spot for five weeks. It contains such fan favorites as “Drive My Car,” “Yesterday,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Nowhere Man” and “Day Tripper.” 

1966 –  The Troggs claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Wild Thing.” The track was originally recorded by the American rock band, The Wild Ones, in 1965, but never charted. The Troggs’ version holds at No. 1 for two weeks and reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in their native U.K.

1977 – Andy Gibb kicks off three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.” 

1988 – “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood begins four weeks as a No. 1 single.

1994 – All-4-One wraps up an 11-week domination of the singles chart with “I Swear.”

2003 – Record producer Sam Phillips, who founded the legendary Sun Record Company and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, dies of respiratory failure. He discovered Elvis Presley and worked with other musical greats, including Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

2005 – Mariah Carey owns the top spot on the singles chart with “We Belong Together,” which holds at No. 1 for 14 non-consecutive weeks.

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On this Day: July 5

On this Day July 5

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1810 – Legendary showman P. T. Barnum, who founded the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1891)

1929 – Golden Globe-winning actress Katherine Helmond (“Family Plot,” “Soap,” “Who’s The Boss?” “Brazil,” “Everybody Loves Raymond”) (d. 2019)

1950 – Singer-songwriter Huey Lewis, front man for the 1980s chart-topping band Huey Lewis and The News 

1963 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Edie Falco (“Law & Order,” “Oz,” “The Sopranos,” “Nurse Jackie”) 

1980 – TV personality and disc jockey DJ Pauly D, born Paul DelVecchio (“Jersey Shore”)

1980 – Actress Eva Green (“The Dreamers,” “Kingdom of Heaven,” “Casino Royale,” “Womb”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1946 – French engineer Louis Réard and fashion designer Jacques Heim introduce the bikini — the two-piece bathing suit described as “smaller than the world’s smallest swimsuit” — at a Paris fashion show, and revolutionize swimwear.

1950 – Private Kenneth Shadrick, a 19-year-old infantryman from West Virginia, becomes the first American casualty in the Korean War. Shadrick, a member of a bazooka squad, had just fired his weapon at a Soviet-made tank when he was struck by enemy machine-gun fire.

1971 – President Richard Nixon certifies the 26th Amendment of the Constitution, lowering the U.S. voting age from 21 to 18. 

1975 – Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American man to win a Wimbledon singles title when he defeats Jimmy Connors. 

1989 – “Seinfeld” premieres on NBC. The sitcom, described as “the show about nothing,” stars its co-creator, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and quickly becomes a ratings bonanza for the network, running for nine seasons.

1996 – Dolly the sheep — the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult cell — is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. Her birth is not publicly announced until the following February.

2003 – The World Health Organization (WHO) announces that the global spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has stopped, after the disease killed about 775 people in 26 countries. Despite the announcement, four new cases are diagnosed in early 2004.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1954 – Working together for the first time in a recording studio with Scotty Moore and Bill Black, Elvis Presley fools around during a break with an up-tempo version of “That’s All Right.” Producer Sam Phillips has them repeat the jam and records it. The track becomes Presley’s first release on Sun Records. 

1969 – “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet,” by Henry Mancini, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. 

1975 – The Captain & Tennille rule the singles chart with “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which goes on to clinch a Record of the Year Grammy.

1980 – “Glass Houses,” by Billy Joel, is in the midst of a six-week run on top of the Billboard album chart.

1986 – Billy Ocean hits No. 1 on the singles chart with “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry).” 

1986 – Janet Jackson’s “Control” tops the Billboard album chart, making the 20-year-old the youngest artist since 13-year-old ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder to clinch the No. 1 spot. The album spawns five Top-5 singles, including “What Have You Done for Me Lately” and “Let’s Wait Awhile.”

1997 – “I’ll Be Missing You,” by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112, is on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track is an homage to slain rapper, The Notorious B.I.G. 

2008 – Katy Perry kicks off seven weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Kissed a Girl.”

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