Waco – Time Rewind

On This Day April 19

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On This Day February 28

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Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Actor Charles Durning (“The Front Page,” “North Dallas Forty,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”) (d. 2012)

1931 – Actor Gavin MacLeod, best known for his TV roles as Murray, the news writer in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and as Captain Stubing in “The Love Boat”

1939 – Tony Award-winning actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer and choreographer Tommy Tune

1940 – Auto racing legend Mario Andretti

1948 – Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters (“Dames at Sea,” “The Jerk,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Silent Movie”)

1957 – Actor-producer John Turturro (“Do The Right Thing,” “Barton Fink,” “The Quiz Show,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Brother, Where Art Thou?,” the “Transformers” movie series)

History Highlights

1953 – Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have confirmed the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes. They are later honored with the Nobel Prize for their achievement.

1958 – A school bus in Prestonsburg, Kentucky hits a tow truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Big Sandy River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains the worst school bus accident in U.S. history.

1983 – After 11 seasons, CBS broadcasts the finale of the popular sitcom “M*A*S*H” as a special two and a half-hour episode (“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”) watched by 77 percent of the viewing audience. It’s the largest viewership ever for a single TV show up to that time.

1993 – Four federal agents are killed in Waco, Texas after attempting to serve an arrest warrant for weapons charges on Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh, triggering a 51-day standoff.

1994 – U.S. fighter planes shoot down four Serbian warplanes engaged in a bombing mission that violates Bosnia’s no-fly zone. It marks the first military action in the 45-year history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Musical Milestones

1970 – “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” by Simon & Garfunkel, tops the singles chart and remains there for six weeks. It captures Record of the Year and Song of the Year Grammys in 1971 and goes on to sell over six million copies worldwide.

1976 – The No. 1 single comes from a prime time police drama on ABC-TV. It’s “Theme From S.W.A.T.” by Rhythm Heritage.

1976 – Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” captures an Album Of The Year Grammy. In his acceptance speech, Simon tells the audience, “I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.”

1981 – Eddie Rabbitt hops to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Love a Rainy Night.”

1983 – U2 release “War,” the Irish rock band’s third studio album, which gives us their earliest signature songs, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day.”

1987 – Bon Jovi holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with what becomes their signature song: “Livin’ on a Prayer”

1996 – At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Kiss shock the audience by appearing in full makeup. Introduced by rapper Tupac Shakur (2Pac), it marks the first time in more than 15 years that all four band members appeared together. Just a few weeks later, they announce a reunion tour.

1998 – Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme from the blockbuster movie “Titanic,” is captain of the pop chart.

On this Day May 11

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Celebrity Birthdays

1888 – Acclaimed songwriter Irving Berlin (“White Christmas, “Cheek to Cheek,” “God Bless America”), who was a major contributor to the Great American Songbook (d. 1989)

1904 – Surrealist artist Salvador Dali (d. 1989)

1911 – Actor Phil Silvers (“The Phil Silvers Show,” “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”) (d. 1985)

1927 – Comedian and political satirist Mort Sahl, considered the first modern stand-up comedian

1941 – Rock singer-songwriter Eric Burdon, former lead vocalist for the bands The Animals and War

1952 – Actress Frances Fisher (“Unforgiven,” “Titanic,” “House of Sand and Fog,” “Laws of Attraction,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Resurrection”)

1959 – Former MTV VJ and Sirius XM “80s on 8” DJ Martha Quinn

1963 – Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson (“A Month in the Country,” “Patty Hearst,” The Parent Trap,” “Maid in Manhattan”) (d. 2009)

1964 – Actor Tim Blake Nelson (“Donnie Brasco,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “Minority Report,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”)

History Highlights

1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is established to promote the movie industry.

1947 – The B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announces development of a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient.

1949 – Israel becomes a member of the United Nations.

1953 – A powerful F5 tornado sweeps across downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114 people. Violent weather also causes death and destruction in Flint, Michigan and Worcester, Massachusetts.

1976 – “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” makes his final house call as the popular ABC medical drama starring Robert Young airs for the last time. The series premiered in 1969.

1987 – Klaus Barbie, the former Nazi Gestapo chief of German-occupied Lyon, France, goes on trial more than four decades after the end of World War II. The so-called “Butcher of Lyon” is charged with 177 crimes against humanity.

1997 – This is a landmark day for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigns after 19 moves in a game against Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer developed by scientists at IBM. This was the sixth and final game of their match, which Kasparov lost two games to one, with three draws.

Musical Milestones

1959 – The instrumental “The Happy Organ,” by organist-pianist Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez, is the No. 1 single for a week and becomes a fixture at roller skating rinks across the U.S. Cortez makes one more trip to the Top-10 during his career with “Rinky Dink” in 1962.

1963 – Little Peggy March wraps up three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Will Follow Him.”

1970 – The three-disk soundtrack to the Woodstock Festival is released and goes gold within two weeks.

1972 – John Lennon makes a guest appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show” and claims the FBI is tapping his phone.

1981 – Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist Bob Marley, who introduced international audiences to reggae music, dies of cancer at the age of 36. Marley is posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and in 2001, receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

1985 – Madonna has the No. 1 single with “Crazy for You,” from the soundtrack to the movie “Vision Quest,” starring Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino. The track garners Madonna her first Grammy nomination in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category.

1991 – “Joyride,” by Swedish pop duo Roxette, is the No. 1 single for a week.

1996 – Mariah Carey begins her second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Always Be My Baby.”

2002 – Ashanti maintains her hold on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Foolish.” The track remains a chart-topper for 10 weeks.