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On This Day December 29

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Celebrity Birthdays

1808 – 17th U.S. President Andrew Johnson (d. 1875), the first American president to face impeachment.

1936 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Mary Tyler Moore (“The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Ordinary People”) (d. 2017)

1938 – Golden Globe-winning actor Jon Voight (“Midnight Cowboy,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Pearl Harbor,” “National Treasure,” “Ray Donovan”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull

1947 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Ted Danson, best known as bartender Sam Malone in the 1980s sitcom “Cheers”

1972 – Actor-producer Jude Law (“Gattaca,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Cold Mountain,” “A.I.,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Spy”)

History Highlights

1845 – Six months after the Congress of the Republic of Texas votes for annexation by the United States, Texas is admitted into the Union as the 28th state.

1851 – The first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) location in the U.S. opens in Boston.

1890 – In the tragic final chapter of America’s long war against the Plains Indians, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

1940 – On a Sunday evening, German bombers launch their deadliest World War II attack (“Blitz”) on London, destroying buildings and triggering hundreds of fires that make up what is termed “The Second Great Fire of London.”

1972 – Eastern Airlines Flight 401 — an L-1011 jumbo jet en route from New York to Miami — crashes in the Florida Everglades, killing 101 people. Seventy-five survive. Investigators determine that the pilot and co-pilot were distracted by a faulty indicator light and accidentally bumped a lever which deactivated the aircraft’s autopilot setting.

1975 – A bomb explodes inside the main terminal at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people and injuring 75 others. The crime is considered the deadliest terrorist act in the city prior to the infamous September 11, 2001 attack, and remains unsolved to this day.

Musical Milestones

1958 – “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late),” by David Seville and the Chipmunks, is the No. 1 single. It holds the top spot for four weeks. The band is later known as Alvin and the Chipmunks.

1962 – The Tornados remain in orbit around No. 1 on the singles chart for a second week with “Telstar.”

1966 – Paul McCartney begins laying down tracks at London’s Abbey Road Studios for “Penny Lane,” derived from the name of a street near John Lennon’s house in Liverpool.

1973 – Three months after his death in a plane crash, folk-rock singer Jim Croce scores his second No. 1 single of the year with “Time In A Bottle.”

1984 – Madonna’s first No. 1 single, “Like a Virgin,” marks its second week atop the Billboard Hot 100. Her breakthrough hit remains a chart-topper for six weeks. The pop superstar goes on to score 11 more No. 1 singles later in her career.

1990 – “Because I Love You (The Postman Song),” by Stevie B,” enters its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

2001 – Nickelback is midway through a four-week run as Billboard chart-toppers with “How You Remind Me,” off the band’s “Silver Side Up” album. The track is later named the most played song on U.S. radio during the 2000s by Nielsen Soundscan.

2007 – Alicia Keys reigns over the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth and final week with “No One.”

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