Today's Highlight in History:
In 1963, President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
In 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, onetime adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.
In 1864, a Colorado militia killed at least 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians in the Sand Creek Massacre.
In 1890, the first Army-Navy football game was played, with Navy winning 24-0 at West Point, N.Y. [Navy Blue & Gold, baby! — Ed.]
In 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot." (It was finished by Franco Alfano.)
In1929, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd radioed that he & three crew members had made the first airplane flight over the South Pole.
In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of the British-mandated territory of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
In 1952, President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower kept his campaign promise to visit Korea to assess the ongoing conflict.
In 1961, Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited earth twice before returning.
In 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.
In 1987, a Korean Air jetliner disappeared off Burma, with the loss of all 115 people aboard; South Korean authorities charged North Korean agents had planted a bomb aboard the aircraft.
In 1989, in response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.
In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted 12-2 to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.
In 1996, a U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims - the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.
In 1997, former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, the city's first black mayor who held office for an unprecedented five terms, died at age 79.
In 1999, Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government.
In 2001, George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle," died in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer; he was 58. [Beatle news. And it's always a "battle" w/ cancer, innit? — Ed.]
Five years ago: The White House quietly announced that federal workers would get a smaller pay raise the following month because President Bush was freezing part of the increase, citing the fight against terrorism. [? — Ed.] Celebrity publicist Lizzie Grubman left the Suffolk County, New York, jail after serving 37 days of a 60-day sentence for backing her sport utility vehicle into a crowd outside a trendy Hamptons nightclub and fleeing.
One year ago: The first of two high-profile meetings in Jordan between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was abruptly canceled amid conflicting explanations. (Bush met al-Maliki the next day.) Still losing money after job and factory cuts, Ford Motor Company said 38,000 workers, almost half of its hourly production force, had accepted buyouts or early retirement offers.
Today's Birthdays: Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Vin Scully is 80. [Or so. — Ed.] Former president of France Jacques Chirac is 75. Blues singer-musician John Mayall is 74. Composer-musician Chuck Mangione is 67. Country singer Jody Miller is 66. Actress Diane Ladd is 64. Pop singer-musician Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals) is 63. Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee is 61. [Suzy Chapstick? — Ed.] Comedian Garry Shandling is 58. Movie director Joel Coen is 53. Actor-comedian-game show host Howie Mandel is 52. Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano is 50. Actress Cathy Moriarty is 47. Actress Kim Delaney is 46. Actor Tom Sizemore is 46. Actor Andrew McCarthy is 45. Actor Don Cheadle is 43. Musician Wallis Buchanan (Jamiroquai) is 42. Pop singer Jonathan Knight (New Kids on the Block) is 39. [Not a kid any more. — Ed.] Rock musician Martin Carr (Boo Radleys) is 39. Baseball player Mariano Rivera is 38. Actress Gena Lee Nolin is 36. Rapper The Game is 28.
Birthdays of the Dead:
Louisa May Alcott, author (1832)
William V. S. Tubman, president of Liberia (1895)
C.S. Lewis, author (1898)
Madeleine L'Engle, author (1918)
In Show Biz on this date:
In 1948, "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" made its debut on NBC.
In 1959, the Record of the Year Grammy Award went to Bobby Darin for "Mack The Knife." Frank Sinatra's "Come Dance With Me" won the Album of the Year award. Sinatra didn't show up to the ceremony, supposedly because he had gotten shut out at the very first Grammys, only six months earlier.
In 1963, The Beatles released "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in Great Britain.
In 1969, John Lennon was convicted of marijuana possession and was fined. [Three Beatle items today! — Ed.]
In 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis shot his bass player, Norman "Butch" Owens, twice in the chest while trying to hit a soda bottle. Lewis was charged with shooting a firearm within the city limits.
In 1979, the four original members of Kiss performed together for what they thought was the last time. They reunited in 1996. [$$$$!! — Ed.]
Also in 1979, model Anita Pallenberg, Keith Richard's common law wife, was cleared of murder charges. Her young male companion had been found shot to death in her home in New York state. [How'd we miss that one? — Ed.]
In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island, California, at age 43. The death was ruled accidental.
In 1986, actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82.
In 1997, singer Whitney Houston canceled an appearance at the last minute at a Unification Church mass wedding in Washington, citing illness. She had said earlier she didn't know the Unification Church was behind it when she agreed to the event. [Fuck "Reverend" Moon. — Ed.]
No comments:
Post a Comment