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On This Day October 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1900 – Novelist Thomas Wolfe (“You Can’t Go Home Again,” “Look Homeward, Angel”) (d. 1938)

1925 – Author, playwright and political commentator Gore Vidal (“Julian,” “Myra Breckinridge,”  “Lincoln”) (d. 2012)

1941 – Singer-songwriter Chubby Checker, born Ernest Evans, credited with inventing the popular 60’s dance “The Twist,” named after his hit single

1949 – Fleetwood Mac guitarist-vocalist Lindsey Buckingham

1950 – Earth, Wind & Fire saxophonist-guitarist Ronnie Laws

1954 – Minister and civil rights activist Al Sharpton

1954 – Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan (d. 1990)

1964 – Actor Clive Owen (“Closer,” “Sin City,” “Inside Man,” “Derailed,” “Children of Men,” “Shadow Dancer,” “The Confirmation”)

1969 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani (“Just a Girl,” “Don’t Speak,” “Hey Baby,” “Hollaback Girl,” “What You Waiting For?”)

1973 – Actress Neve Campbell (“Party of Five,” “The Craft,” “Scream” movies)

History Highlights

1955 – “Captain Kangaroo” premieres, starring Bob Keeshan as the captain. On the air until 1985, it is the longest-running children’s TV show until surpassed by “Sesame Street.”

1960 – Set in small-town Mayberry, North Carolina, “The Andy Griffith Show” debuts, featuring Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor, Ron Howard (then Ronnie) as his son, Opie, and Don Knotts as Deputy Barnie Fife.

1961 – Viewers discover “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” starring Dick Van Dyke as TV show writer Rob Petrie and Mary Tyler Moore as his wife, Laura, a former dancer.

1962 – Astronaut Wally Schirra pilots the Sigma 7 spacecraft through six orbits around Earth in a nine-hour and 13-minute flight that enters the history books as the first flawless Mercury mission.

1990 – Less than one year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany end 45 years of separation and come together on what is known as Unity Day.

1995 – A Los Angeles jury acquits football star O.J. Simpson of the brutal 1994 double-murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, ending an epic 252-day trial that became a media spectacle. An estimated 140 million Americans tune in to live coverage of the verdict.

Musical Milestones

1964 – “Oh, Pretty Woman,” by Roy Orbison, is in the middle of a three-week lock on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

1967 – Legendary folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie dies of complications from Huntington’s disease at the age of 55.

1970 – Diana Ross is perched at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” The track, a cover of the 1967 hit single by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, becomes Ross’ first No. 1 after leaving The Supremes. It also garners her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

1981 – The Diana Ross-Lionel Richie duet “Endless Love,” from the movie of the same title, begins its eighth week as a No. 1 single.

1992 – Sinead O’Connor belts out a haunting a capella cover of Bob Marley’s “War” on “Saturday Night Live,” then stuns the audience by tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II while singing about the victory of good over evil. She finishes her performance by shouting, “Fight the real enemy!” O’Connor is subsequently banned from the show for life.

1998 – Monica kicks off three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “The First Night,” which is built around a sample of Diana Ross’s 1976 recording, “Love Hangover.”

2000 – Benjamin Orr, singer and bass player for The Cars, dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 53. Orr sang lead vocals on the band’s hits “Just What I Needed,” “Let’s Go” and “Drive.”

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