On This Day: January 24

On This Day January 24

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine (“Marty,” “McHale’s Navy,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Gattaca”) (d. 2012)

1941 – Grammy-winning singer Aaron Neville, formerly of The Neville Brothers (“Tell It Like It Is,” “Don’t Know Much”)

1941 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond (“Cherry, Cherry,” “Kentucky Woman,” “Holly Holy,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue”)

1947 – Rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon (“Werewolves of London,” “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”) (d. 2003)

1949 – Actor-comedian John Belushi (“Saturday Night Live,” “Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers”) (d. 1982)

1951 – Comedian Yakov Smirnoff

1961 – Actress Nastassja Kinski (“Tess,” “Cat People,” “Paris, Texas”)

1968 – Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton 

1974 – Actor Ed Helms (“The Daily Show,” “The Office,” “The Hangover” movie series)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1935 – The first canned beer goes on sale. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivers 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia

1965 – Sir Winston Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, dies in London at the age of 90.

1972 – After 28 years of hiding in the jungles of Guam, local hunters discover 57-year-old Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese sergeant who was unaware that World War II had ended. 

1984 – The first Apple Macintosh computer goes on sale two days after it was announced to the world in a dramatic TV commercial, directed by legendary film director Ridley Scott, that was broadcast during Super Bowl XVIII. This spot launched the tradition of specially produced, high-dollar commercials airing during the Super Bowl.

2006 – The Walt Disney Company announces plans to purchase computer animation giant Pixar for $7.4 billion.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1962 – Brian Epstein signs a five-year management deal with The Beatles that stipulates that he receive 25 percent of the band’s gross earnings at a time when the normal management deal was 10 percent.

1970 – “Randrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” by B. J. Thomas, marks its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single. 

1976 – “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To),” by Diana Ross, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

1979 – The Clash release their first single in the U.S., “I Fought The Law.” The song was originally written in 1958 by Sonny Curtis, formerly a member of Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets.

1981 – John Lennon’s “(Just Like) Starting Over” wraps up five weeks on top of the pop chart. The track is from “Double Fantasy,” the last album Lennon produced before his murder.

1998 – “Truly Madly Deeply,” by Australian pop band Savage Garden, marks its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

2004 – OutKast holds the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Ya!”

2009 – “Just Dance,” by Lady Gaga featuring Colby O’Donis, is in the middle of a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. The song garners a Best Dance Recording Grammy nomination.

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On This Day: December 14

On This Day December 14

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1932 – Country singer Charlie Rich (“Behind Closed Doors,” “The Most Beautiful Girl”) (d. 1995)

1935 – Actress Lee Remick (“Anatomy of a Murder,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Omen”) (d. 1991)

1946 – Former Hollywood mogul Michael Ovitz

1946 – Oscar-winning actress and author Patty Duke (“The Miracle Worker,” “Valley of the Dolls,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Glee”) (d. 2016)

1948 – Actress and “scream queen” Dee Wallace (“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Hills Have Eyes,” “The Howling,” “Cujo”)

1965 – Baseball Hall of Famer and former Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio

1988 – Actress-singer Vanessa Hudgens, best known for playing Gabriella Montez in the “High School Musical” series

History Highlights
History Highlights

1799 – George Washington, the American revolutionary leader and first U.S. president, dies of acute laryngitis at his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia at the age of 67.

1900 – The quantum theory of modern physics is born on this day as German physicist Max Planck publishes his groundbreaking study of the effect of radiation on a “blackbody” substance.

1909 – Workers place the last of the 3.2 million 10-pound bricks that pave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1911 – A team led by Roald Amundsen becomes the first to reach the South Pole — beating out British rival Robert Falcon Scott.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City.

1961 – President John F. Kennedy formally announces that the United States will increase aid to South Vietnam, which would include the expansion of the U.S. troop commitment.

2012 – A deranged gunman shoots and kills 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut before turning the gun on himself. Investigators discover that Adam Lanza had shot and killed his mother at her nearby home before driving to the school and opening fire. The tragedy becomes the second-deadliest mass-shooting in the U.S. at that time.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1963 – Grammy-winning “Queen of the Blues,” Dinah Washington, dies at the age of 39 after mixing alcohol and weight-reduction pills.

1968 – Marvin Gaye scores his first No. 1 single when “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” starts five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1969 – The Jackson 5 make their first network television appearance in the U.S. as guests on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

1977 – “Saturday Night Fever” opens in New York, starring John Travolta and featuring a soundtrack that helped shape the disco era.

1979 – The Clash release “London Calling” in the U.K. (it is released in the U.S. about a month later). The double album receives widespread acclaim and, in 2003, is ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

1980 – John Lennon fans around the world stage a silent vigil to honor the beloved musician who, six days earlier, was gunned down outside his Manhattan apartment building.

1991 – Michael Jackson kicks off four weeks atop the Billboard album chart with “Dangerous.”

1996 – “Un-Break My Heart,” by Toni Braxton, is the No. 1 single. It remains a chart-topper for 11 weeks.

2002 – Eminem maintains a 12-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Lose Yourself,” from the soundtrack to the 2002 movie “8 Mile.”

2013 – “Wrecking Ball,” by Miley Cyrus, strikes the top of the pop chart and holds there for a week.

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