writer – Time Rewind

On This Day January 27

Musical Milestones

1956 – RCA Records releases Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which sells 300,000 copies in its first week to become Presley’s first Gold record. That spring, it spends seven weeks on top of the pop chart.

1962 – The hottest song on the radio is “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee & The Starliters.

1973 – Stevie Wonder sneaks into the top spot on the singles chart with “Superstition,” from his “Talking Book” album that also contains the hit “You Are The Sunshine of My Life.”

1984 – King of Pop, Michael Jackson, suffers second and third degree burns on his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles.

1991 – Grammy-winning pop legend Whitney Houston performs “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida to such excellent response that a single (that eventually reaches No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100) and video are rush-released. Houston’s appearance comes amid heightened patriotism across the U.S. during the Persian Gulf War.

1996 – “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men is in the midst of an unprecedented 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Destiny’s Child enjoys the final week of an 11-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women, Part I.”

History Highlights

1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”

1910 – Thomas Crapper, widely considered the prime developer of the flush toilet mechanism still in use today, dies at the age of 73.

1945 – Soviet troops reach the Auschwitz concentration camp complex and liberate some 7,000 remaining prisoners who survived the Holocaust, but were ill and dying. An estimated 1.1 million Auschwitz prisoners were killed between 1940 and 1945.

1965 – Ford introduces the Shelby GT 350, a version of the Mustang sports car developed by auto racer/car designer Carroll Shelby. The vehicle features a 306-horsepower V-8 engine and remains in production through 1971.

1967 – A launch pad fire during a preflight test at Cape Kennedy, Florida, kills Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. An investigation determines that a faulty electrical wire inside the command module was the probable cause.

1973 – In Paris, the U.S., South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.”

1996 – Tennis great Monica Seles wins her first Grand Slam title since her 1993 stabbing by a mentally unstable fan during a tournament in Hamburg, Germany that led her to take a two-year hiatus from the sport.

Celebrity Birthdays

1756 – Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1791)

1832 – Writer Lewis Carroll (“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Through the Looking-Glass”) (d. 1898)

1921 – Actress Donna Reed (“It’s a Wonderful Life,” “From Here to Eternity,” “The Donna Reed Show”) (d. 1986)

1940 – Emmy-winning actor James Cromwell (“Babe,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Green Mile,” “Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story: Asylum”)

1944 – Pink Floyd founding member-drummer and auto racer Nick Mason

1948 – Dancer-actor Mikhail Baryshnikov (“The Turning Point,” “White Nights,” “Sex and the City”)

1956 – Actress Mimi Rogers (“Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”)

1959 – TV host and political commentator Keith Olbermann

1964 – Actress Bridget Fonda (“Single White Female,” “Point of No Return,” “Jackie Brown”)

1979 – Actress Rosamund Pike (“Die Another Day,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jack Reacher,” “Gone Girl,” “Entebbe”)

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Peppermint Twist

Joey Dee & The Starliters

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

Flushed With Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper

Wallace Reyburn

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

Gene Kranz

The Donna Reed Show

Joanne Morreale

Star Trek VIII: First Contact

Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and James Cromwell, and directed by Jonathan Frakes

On This Day December 21

Musical Milestones

1968 – “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” by Marvin Gaye, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week and remains a chart-topper all through January 1969.

1969 – The Supremes make their final TV appearance together with Diana Ross on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” singing a medley of their hits.

1970 – Elvis Presley arrives unannounced at The White House for a meeting with President Richard Nixon to offer his services in the administration’s war on drugs.

1974 – “Cat’s in the Cradle” becomes Harry Chapin’s first and only No. 1 single. The track receives a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

1985 – Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” album passes Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become the second longest-lasting LP on the Billboard Top 10, holding there for 79 weeks. Only “The Sound of Music,” with Julie Andrews, lasted longer at 109 weeks.

2002 – Eminem rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Lose Yourself,” whcih remains a chart-topper for 12 weeks.

History Highlights

1913 – The first crossword puzzle is compiled by journalist Arthur Wynne and published in the New York World newspaper. It was originally called “Word-Cross” and ran as a feature in the paper’s “Fun” section.

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel officially opens, allowing motorists to drive between New Jersey and Manhattan beneath the Hudson River.

1968 – NASA successfully launches Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.

1980 – Socialite Martha “Sunny” von Bulow is found comatose on the bathroom floor of her Newport, Rhode Island mansion — the result of what appeared to be an insulin overdose. Her husband stands trial for attempted murder in what becomes one of the most sensational high society court dramas of all time.

1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the 747 are killed along with 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonates in the cargo hold when the plane reaches an altitude of 31,000 feet.

Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Former TV talk show host Phil Donahue (“The Phil Donohue Show,” later simply called “Donohue”)

1937 – Oscar-winning actress and 1980s fitness guru Jane Fonda (“Barefoot in the Park,” “Klute,” “Coming Home,” “The Newsroom”)

1948 – Actor-producer Samuel L. Jackson (“Jurassic Park,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” “The Incredibles,” “Snakes on a Plane,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Django Unchained,” and several of the Marvel Studios “Avengers” movies)

1954 – Retired U.S. tennis star Chris Evert

1957 – Emmy-winning actor, writer and comedian Ray Romano, best known for the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”

1966 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor and singer-songwriter Kiefer Sutherland (“Stand by Me,” “The Lost Boys,” “Young Guns,” “Flatliners,” A Few Good Men,” “The Three Musketeers,” “24,” “Designated Survivor”)

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Every Great Motown Hit Of Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Born In The U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen

Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8

Robert Zimmerman

The Longest Night: A Personal History of Pan Am 103

Helen Engelhardt

Pulp Fiction

Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, and directed by Quentin Tarantino

The Lost Boys

Starring Corey Feldman, Jami Gertz, Corey Haim and Kiefer Sutherland, and directed by Joel Schumacher

On this Day August 22

Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley is in the middle of a five-week domination of the singles chart with “It’s Now or Never.”

1964 – “Where Did Our Love Go,” by The Supremes, starts a two-week hold on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the girl group’s first No. 1 hit.

1968 – Bickering among The Beatles while recording “The White Album” prompts Ringo Starr to quit the band. “Back In the USSR” is recorded with Paul McCartney on drums and John Lennon on bass. News of Ringo’s departure is kept secret and he rejoins the band about two weeks later.

1970 – Bread’s “Make It With You” begins one week on top of the Billboard singles survey. It becomes the group’s only No. 1 hit.

1987 – “Who’s That Girl,” the title track of the movie of the same name, boosts Madonna to the top of the Hot 100 chart.

1992 – “End of the Road,” by Boyz II Men,” is in the second of what then was a record-breaking 13 weeks as a No. 1 single. The track goes on to capture two Grammy Awards.

1998 – Brandy & Monica hold the top spot on the pop chart with “The Boy is Mine.”

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas lay claim to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Gotta Feeling.”

History Highlights

1851 – The yacht America, representing the young New York Yacht Club, wins the first America’s Cup. It would be well over 100 years before it was taken away from New York.

1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile when he sets out from Connecticut on a driving tour of New England.

1906 – Way before the turntable and CD player are invented, the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey begins to manufacture the Victrola record player. The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sells for $200.

1950 – The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) accepts 23-year-old Althea Gibson into its annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making her the first African-American player to participate in a U.S. national tennis competition.

1973 – President Richard Nixon appoints Henry Kissinger secretary of state. Kissinger helped ease relations with the Soviet Union and China, and negotiated an end to the Vietnam War, but remains a controversial figure for his role in American actions in Cambodia, Latin America and elsewhere.

1989 – The Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan becomes the first pitcher in Major League history to register 5,000 career strikeouts.

Celebrity Birthdays

1862 – Classical composer Claude Debussey (d. 1918)

1920 – Award-winning fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery author Ray Bradbury, who wrote “The Martian Chronicles” and “Fahrenheit 451” (d. 2012)

1934 – U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman,” who commanded the American-led forces that crushed Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (d. 2012)

1939 – Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski

1939 – Emmy-winning actress Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda Morgenstern on TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff series, “Rhoda” (d. 2019)

1947 – Actress Cindy Williams, who played Shirley in the 70s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley”

1963 – Singer-songwriter Tori Amos, who released her debut album “Little Earthquakes” in 1992 and whose first five albums went platinum in the U.S.

1967 – Emmy-winning actor Ty Burrell, best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on the ABC comedy series “Modern Family”

1973 – Actress-comedian Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live,” “Knocked Up,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” “Bridesmaids,” “Girl Most Likely,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Skeleton Twins,” “The Martian,” “Ghostbusters”)

Own a Piece of This Day

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Where Did Our Love Go

The Supremes

The Best of Bread

Bread

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Candice Millard

The America's Cup: History, teams and yachts

Alex Ferguson

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

Bridesmaids

Starring Kristen WiigMaya Rudolph and Rose Byrne, and directed by Paul Feig