On This Day: December 29

On This Day December 29

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
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
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
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.”

READ MORE
On This Day: December 1

On This Day December 1

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Oscar-winning screenwriter-actor-director Woody Allen (“Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Hannah and Her Sisters”)

1939 – Pro golfer Lee Trevino

1940 – Standup comedian-actor Richard Pryor (d. 2005)

1945 – Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning singer-actress Bette Midler, best known for her pop hits “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Wind Beneath My Wings” and the movies “The Rose,” “Beaches” and “For the Boys”

1946 – Singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, best known for his 1970s hits “Alone Again (Naturally)”, “Clair” and “Get Down”

1951 – Actor Treat Williams (“Hair,” “Prince of the City,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “The Late Shift,” “127 Hours”)

1970 – Comedian and “SNL” alum Sarah Silverman (“School of Rock,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “A Million Ways to Die in the West”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1891 – James Naismith shoots and scores! The 30-year-old physical education teacher from the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts invents basket ball (originally two words) using two peach baskets and a ball. At the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, the year basketball was introduced to the international competition, Naismith was in Berlin, Germany to present medals to the winning teams of the three North American countries: United States, Gold; Canada, Silver; and Mexico, Bronze.

1913 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.

1914 – The Maserati company is founded in Bologna, Italy, and goes on to produce its first car in 1926.

1953 – The first issue of “Playboy” magazine is published, featuring a nude Marilyn Monroe centerfold. More than 50,000 copies sell at 50 cents apiece.

1955 – Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man — a violation of the city’s racial segregation laws. The incident, which triggers a year-long boycott of the city’s bus system, is considered the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

1992 – Workers drill a hole through a wall of rock 132 feet beneath the English Channel connecting both ends of a tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in 8,000 years. The Channel Tunnel or “Chunnel” finally opens for passenger service in 1994.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – Buddy Holly and the Crickets appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” performing “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Sam Cooke is a guest on the same show performing “You Send Me.”

1958 – The Teddy Bears are No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “To Know Him is to Love Him.” It remains a chart-topper for three weeks. 

1962 – The Four Seasons are midway through a five-week domination of the singles chart with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

1973 – “Top of the World” puts the Carpenters on top of the singles chart, where they remain for two weeks. It is the duo’s second No. 1 single following “(They Long to Be) Close to You” in 1970.

1984 – Wham! begins its third and final week with a No. 1 single: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”

1990 – “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” by Whitney Houston, begins a week-long run at No. 1 on the pop chart. It is Houston’s eighth chart-topping single.

2001 – Mary J. Blige has the No. 1 single with “Family Affair.”

2007 – Alicia Keys kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “No One,” from her “As I Am” album. The track captures Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.

READ MORE