On This Day: April 27

On This Day April 27

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1791 – Inventor and painter Samuel Morse, most famous for creating the telegraph  (d. 1872)

1822 – 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, who helped lead the Union forces to victory during the Civil War (d. 1885)

1922 – Actor Jack Klugman (“The Odd Couple,” “Quincy, M.E.”) (d. 2012)

1927 – Civil rights leader Coretta Scott King, wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  (d. 2006)

1932 – Radio personality Casey Kasem, co-founder and former host of “American Top 40” and the voice of Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo” (d. 2014)

1951 – Guitarist and Kiss co-founder Ace Frehley 

1959 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheena Easton (“Morning Train,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “Sugar Walls”)  

1986 – Actress Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who,” “Victoria,” “The Cry”)

1988 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Lizzo, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson

History Highlights
History Highlights

1865 – After surviving the horrors of the Civil War, some Union soldiers — many former prisoners of war — are crammed aboard the steamboat Sultana, heading home along the Mississippi River, when the ship’s boilers explode. More than 1,800 passengers die as the ship burns and sinks, resulting in the worst maritime disaster in American history — with more lives lost than in the 1912 Titanic sinking. 

1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). 

1956 – Rocky Marciano retires from boxing at age 31, ending his career as the only undefeated world heavyweight champion: 49 wins in 49 professional bouts, with 43 knockouts. 

1974 – Some 10,000 demonstrators march in Washington, D.C. calling for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. 

1982 – Jury selection begins in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr., charged with the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. 

1993 – Authorities in North Carolina determine that film crew negligence is to blame for the death of actor Brandon Lee, who was accidentally shot and killed a month earlier on the set of the action-adventure movie “The Crow.” Brandon was the son of legendary martial arts star Bruce Lee.

2009 – General Motors (GM) announces plans to discontinue production of its 80-year-old Pontiac line of cars in 2010.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1963 – High school freshman Little Peggy March (born Margaret Annemarie Battavio) marches to the top of the Billboard singles chart with “I Will Follow Him.” The song remains at No. 1 for three weeks and makes March, at age 15, the youngest female singer to ever have a chart-topping hit.

1967 – Motown Records releases the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duet, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which becomes a Top 20 hit. Diana Ross’ 1970 version rockets to the top of the pop chart, becoming her first No. 1 since leaving The Supremes. 

1974 – “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” by MFSB and The Three Degrees, is the No. 1 single. 

1981 – Singer-songwriter and legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr weds actress Barbara Bach, best known for her roles in the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Force 10 from Navarone.”

1985 – “We Are The World,” the musical collaboration produced under the baton of Quincy Jones as a fundraiser for African famine relief, is in the middle of a four-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby begins two weeks as the most popular single in the U.S.

1999 – British rockers The Verve, best known for their Grammy-nominated hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony” and the chart-topping singles “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man,” announce their second breakup. The band re-forms in 2007, but by 2009, the musicians truly go their separate ways.

2002 – “Foolish,” off Ashanti’s self-titled debut album, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and remains at No. 1 for 10 weeks. The accompanying music video features actor Terrence Howard.

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On this Day: August 5

On this Day August 5

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1906 – Golden Globe-winning director and actor John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon,” “The African Queen,” “Chinatown”) (d. 1987)

1930 – Astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was the first human to set foot on the moon (d. 2012)

1935 – Actor John Saxon, born Carmine Orrico, best known for his work in westerns and horror films, as well as Bruce Lee’s 1973 movie, “Enter the Dragon” (d. 2020)

1945 – Actress Loni Anderson (“WKRP in Cincinnati”) 

1956 – Actress Maureen McCormick, best known for playing Marcia Brady in the sitcom “The Brady Bunch”

1962 – Retired basketball Hall of Famer and current Georgetown University head coach Patrick Ewing

1963 – Actor Mark Strong (“Syriana,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Green Lantern,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Imitation Game,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service”)

1964 – Rapper and Beastie Boys founder Adam Yauch (d. 2012)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1858 – The first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean is completed, stretching nearly 2,000 miles at depths of up to two miles. It is put to use on August 16, as U.S. President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria exchange formal introductory and complimentary messages.

1914 – The world’s first electric traffic signal is installed at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio.

1962 – Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles home at the age of 36. An investigation determines that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.”

1963 – Representatives of the U.S., Soviet Union and Great Britain sign the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons in outer space, underwater or in the atmosphere. The treaty is hailed as an important first step toward the control of nuclear weapons.

1981 – President Ronald Reagan begins firing more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers for defying his order to return to work. The move slowed commercial air travel for months.

1983 – “Risky Business” opens in theaters, propelling actor Tom Cruise to stardom. The movie’s most iconic scene features Cruise dancing at home in his underpants to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.”

1998 – Seventy-year-old Marie Noe is arrested and charged with the suffocation murders of eight of her 10 children over a 50-year period.

2002 – Divers recover the rusty turret of the ironclad Civil War-era warship U.S.S. Monitor, which sank 140 years earlier in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – “American Bandstand” debuts on national television (ABC) with host Dick Clark, and helps make rock ‘n roll more “acceptable” to skeptical parents by bringing music and dancing kids into their homes. It also provides exposure to up-and-coming bands.

1966 – The Beatles release their seventh studio album, “Revolver,” in the U.K. It’s the first album to feature backwards music — a George Harrison guitar solo played in reverse in “I’m Only Sleeping.”

1967 – The Doors are chart-toppers for a second straight week with “Light My Fire.”

1978 – The Rolling Stones climb to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Miss You,” the group’s eighth No. 1 hit. The track is from the band’s “Some Girls” album, which also delivers the hits “Beast of Burden” and “Shattered.”

1981 – Singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John, who starred with John Travolta in the 1978 movie “Grease,” is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1989 – Prince’s “Batdance,” from the movie “Batman,” starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, soars to No. 1 on the singles chart. 

1995 – “Waterfalls,” by TLC, holds on to the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth consecutive week.

2000 – NSYNC rules the pop chart for a second and final week with “It’s Gonna Be Me.”

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