On This Day October 14 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1927 – Actor Sir Roger Moore, who played Simon Templar in the 1960s spy series “The Saint” and secret agent James Bond in seven movies between 1973 and 1985 (d. 2017) 1939 – Fashion designer Ralph Lauren 1940 – Singer Cliff Richard ( “Devil Woman,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore”) 1946 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Justin Hayward of the rock band The Moody Blues (“Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Question”) 1958 – Synth-pop musician-producer Thomas Dolby, best known for his 1980s hits “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive!” 1978 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter and actor Usher, born Usher Terry Raymond IV (“Nice & Slow,” “You Make Me Wanna…,” “My Way,” “Yeah!”, “There Goes My Baby,” “Climax”) History Highlights 1947 – U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager ushers in the era of supersonic flight when he breaks the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 experimental plane, which he named “Glamorous Glennis,” in tribute to his wife. 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as an American U-2 spy plane snaps aerial photos showing the installation of Soviet-made medium-range missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, just 90 miles off the Florida coast in Cuba. 1964 – Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. The 35-year-old King donates the entire $54,000 prize money to furthering civil rights causes. 1964 – Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He is succeeded by his former protégé, Leonid Brezhnev. 1987 – While playing in her aunt’s back yard in Midland, Texas, 18-month-old Jessica McClure (“Baby Jessica”) slips and falls into an abandoned well. Millions of people around the world are riveted to news coverage of her rescue over the next 58 hours. 1994 – “Pulp Fiction,” a crime drama starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Quentin Tarantino, opens in theaters and becomes a cult classic. Musical Milestones 1957 – The Everly Brothers have their first No. 1 single with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The song also spends seven weeks on top of the Billboard country chart. 1967 – The Box Tops enter their fourth and final week as chart-toppers with “The Letter.” 1968 – The Jackson 5 make their national television debut when they appear on ABC’s “Hollywood Palace,” performing with Diana Ross and Sammy Davis, Jr. 1972 – Michael Jackson’s first solo single, “Ben,” reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song, used for the closing credits of the horror film, “Ben,” goes on to capture a Best Song Golden Globe Award. 1978 – Exile is in the middle of four weeks atop the singles chart with “Kiss You All Over.” 1989 – The Grammy-nominated “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, tops the Billboard Hot 100. 1990 – Internationally renowned Grammy and Tony-winning composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein (“On The Waterfront,” “Candide,” “West Side Story”) dies in New York at the age of 72. 1995 – Mariah Carey is in the middle of an eight-week domination of the U.S. pop chart with “Fantasy.” The track is the first by a female artist and second overall to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 2000 – “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You),” by Christina Aguilera, begins four weeks on top of the singles chart. READ MORE
On this Day June 17 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1904 – Tony-winning actor Ralph Bellamy (“His Girl Friday,” “The Winds of War,” “Trading Places”) (d. 1991) 1943 – Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich 1943 – Grammy, Emmy and Tony-winning singer-songwriter-arranger Barry Manilow (“I Write the Songs,” “Mandy,” “Copacabana”) 1951 – Actor-comedian Joe Piscopo, best remembered for his Frank Sinatra impersonations on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s 1960 – Actor Thomas Haden Church (“Wings,” “Sideways,” “Spider-Man 3”) 1963 – Actor Greg Kinnear (“As Good As It Gets,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “Stuck on You,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Green Zone”) 1980 – American tennis star Venus Williams 1987 – Grammy-winning rapper and producer Kendrick Lamar, born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, who has the distinction of being the first artist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for a genre other than classical or jazz History Highlights 1885 – The disassembled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the American people, arrives to great fanfare in New York Harbor aboard the French Navy ship, Isère. It will take a year to reassemble all its parts. 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, as she completes a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours. 1972 – Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C. The busts eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. 1991 – The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, removing what served as the foundation of apartheid. The law, first enacted in 1950, required the racial classification of all South Africans at birth. 1994 – The NBA playoffs are interrupted as TV networks break in with live coverage of perhaps the most famous car chase ever to take place on Los Angeles freeways. It’s football legend O.J. Simpson, inside a white Ford Bronco, being pursued as a double-murder suspect by a convoy of police cars. Musical Milestones 1965 – The New York Academy of Music hosts the first-ever American performances of two British bands that would become staples of the classic rock scene: The Moody Blues and The Kinks. 1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, makes a return trip to the top of the Billboard singles chart. It spent two weeks there in mid-May and begins another two-week stay this time around. 1972 – Sammy Davis, Jr. holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Candy Man,” from the movie “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.” It is the only chart-topper of Davis’ long career as a celebrated entertainer and Rat Pack member. 1972 – The Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main Street” starts a four-week run on top of the Billboard album chart. The double-album features “Rocks Off’,” “Rip This Joint,” “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.” 1978 – Andy Gibb is the hottest act on the singles chart with “Shadow Dancing,” which holds the top spot for seven weeks. 1986 – Kate Smith, one of the most successful American singers of the 1920s-40s and best known for her rendition of “God Bless America,” dies at the age of 79. 1995 – Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. The song is from the soundtrack to the movie “Don Juan DeMarco,” starring Johnny Depp. 2006 – “Hips Don’t Lie, by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, begins two weeks on top of the pop chart. READ MORE