On this date:
In 1732, Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard's Almanac.
In 1776, Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls." [What times aren't? — Ed.]
In 1777, General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
In 1813, British forces captured Fort Niagara during the War of 1812.
In 1843, "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, was first published in England.
In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corporation began transmitting overseas with its Empire Service to Australia. ["London calling." — Ed.]
In 1946, war broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French. [Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win! And they did, too! — Ed.]
In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
In 1974, Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States.
In 1986, Lawrence E. Walsh was appointed independent counsel to investigate the Iran-Contra affair.
In 1998, President Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he was later acquitted by the Senate).
Ten years ago: A SilkAir Boeing 737-300 plunged from the sky, crashing into an Indonesian river and killing all 104 people aboard. In Milwaukee, postal clerk Anthony Deculit killed a co-worker he'd feuded with, wounded a supervisor and injured another worker before taking his own life. James Cameron's epic film "Titanic," the highest-grossing film ever made, opened in US theaters.
Five years ago: Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in "material breach" of a U.N. disarmament resolution. After a prosecutor cited new DNA evidence, a judge in New York threw out the convictions of five young men in a 1989 attack on a Central Park jogger who had been raped and left for dead. Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election.
In 2003, Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
One year ago: A Libyan court convicted five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV and sentenced them to death. (The six later had their death sentences commuted, and were transferred to Bulgaria, where they were pardoned and set free.)
Today's Birthdays:
Country singer Little Jimmy Dickens (photo) is 87. Composer-lyricist Robert Sherman ("Mary Poppins") is 82. Actress Cicely Tyson is 74. Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer-musician Maurice White (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 66. Actor Tim Reid is 63. Paleontologist Richard E. Leakey is 63. Rock singer Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) is 63. Actress Elaine Joyce is 62. Singer Janie Fricke is 60. Basketball Hall of Famer Kevin McHale is 50. Actor Mike Lookinland is 47. Actress Jennifer Beals is 44. Actress Kristy Swanson is 38. Actress Alyssa Milano is 35. Football player Warren Sapp is 35. Football player Jake Plummer is 33. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal is 27. ["Hey Meester, joo wanna see dirty peectures of my seester?" — Ed.]Others, Now Dead, Born this Date:
Ford Frick, NL president, commissioner of baseball (1894); Sir Ralph Richardson, actor (1902); Leonid Brezhnev, political leader (1906); Jean Genet, playwright (1910); Edith ["The Little Sparrow"] Piaf, cabaret singer (1915).
The Black Hole of Show Bidness:
In 1955, Carl Perkins recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" at Sun Records in Memphis.
In 1957, Meredith Willson's musical play "The Music Man," starring Robert Preston as charming con man Harold Hill, opened on Broadway.
In 1975, the C.W. McCall single "Convoy" went gold in the US.
In 1980, Dolly Parton's first movie, "9 to 5," opened nationwide.
In 1985, country singer Johnny Paycheck was arrested for shooting a man during a fight in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was released from jail in 1991.
In 1991, Oliver Stone's controversial film "JFK" premiered in Dallas, where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
In 1995, one person was killed and several others injured on the set of the Disney movie "Gone Fishin'." A boat used in a stunt went out of control and landed on a group of people.
In 1997, the movie "Titanic" opened. It was the most expensive movie ever made.
In 2000, musician Pops Staples of The Staple Singers died at his home outside Chicago at the age of 84. He had been recovering from a concussion suffered four weeks earlier. That same day, guitarist Rob Buck of 10,000 Maniacs died of complications from liver failure. He was 42.
1 comment:
You know, it turns out that many of the Rock (as it was called in those days) musicians of the late 60s and early 70s were war babies. Boy, did they end up making a stinky mess, Good thing punk rock came along when it did.
P.
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