Tuesday, June 2, 2009

2 June: Charlie Watts, Stacy Keach Both Born In 1941

By The Associated Press 2 hrs 47 mins ago Today is Tuesday, June 2, the 153rd day of 2009. There are 212 days left in the year. Assoc. Press Alt. Univ. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI. [Up the Queen! — Ed.]On this date: In 1851, Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol. In 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate armies of eastern Virginia and North Carolina in the Civil War. In 1865, the Civil War came to an end when Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, signed the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators. In 1886, President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in a White House ceremony. In 1897, Mark Twain, 61, was quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that "the report of my death was an exaggeration." In 1924, Congress passed a measure that was then signed by President Calvin Coolidge granting American citizenship to all U.S.-born American Indians. [Say, that's mighty white of Silent Cal & the Congreƒs, wouldn't ya say, fellas? — Ed.] In 1941, Lou Gehrig, baseball's "Iron Horse," died in New York of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; he was 37. In 1946, Italy held a referendum which resulted in the Italian monarchy being abolished in favor of a republic. In 1966, the U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface. Forty years ago, in 1969, an American destroyer, the U.S. S. Frank E. Evans, was struck and cut in two by the Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne during naval exercises in the South China Sea; 74 crew members from the Evans were killed. In 1975, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller said his commission had found no widespread pattern of illegal activities at the CIA. [The C. I. A. never lies. — Ed.] In 1979, Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country. In 1986, for the first time, the public could watch the proceedings of the U.S. Senate on television as a six-week experiment of televised sessions began. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. [The Beginning of the End. — Ed.] Ten years ago: South Africans went to the polls in their second post-apartheid election, giving the African National Congress a decisive victory; retiring president Nelson Mandela was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Five years ago: Three foreign aid workers and two Afghans were shot and killed in an ambush in northwestern Afghanistan in an attack claimed by resurgent Taliban militants. Software engineer Ken Jennings began his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated TV game show "Jeopardy!" One year ago: Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent 3 1/2 hours of risky and delicate surgery to cut out as much of his cancerous brain tumor as possible. Polygamist sect children began to be reunited with their parents two months after Texas removed the children from the sect's ranch. The space shuttle Discovery linked up with the international space station, and the 10 space travelers immediately got ready to install the Japanese lab Kibo. Today's Birthdays of the Unliving: Martha Washington, the first U.S. first lady, in 1731; French writer Marquis de Sade in 1740; English novelist Thomas Hardy in 1840; English composer Edward Elgar ("Pomp and Circumstance") in 1857; Olympic gold-medal swimmer and "Tarzan" movie star Johnny Weissmuller in 1904; actor-composer Max Showalter in 1917; & astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad of Apollo 12 in 1930. Today's Birthdays: Actor Milo O'Shea is 84. Actress-singer Sally Kellerman is 72. Actor Ron Ely is 71. Actor Stacy Keach is 68. Rock musician Charlie Watts is 68. Singer William Guest (Gladys Knight & The Pips) is 68. Actor Charles Haid is 66. Composer Marvin Hamlisch is 65. Movie director Lasse Hallstrom is 63. Actor Jerry Mathers is 61. Actress Joanna Gleason is 59. Actor Dennis Haysbert is 55. Comedian Dana Carvey is 54. Actor Gary Grimes is 54. Rock singer Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) is 49. Singer Merril Bainbridge is 41. Rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill) is 39. Actress Paula Cale is 39. Actor-comedian Wayne Brady is 37. Actor Wentworth Miller is 37. Rock musician Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane) is 33. Actor Zachary Quinto is 32. Actor Dominic Cooper is 31. Actress Nikki Cox is 31. Actor Justin Long is 31. Actor Deon Richmond is 31. R&B singer Irish Grinstead (702) is 29. Rock musician Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) is 29.  Today in Entertainment History On June 2, 1962, Island Records released its first single, "Twist Baby" by Owen Gray. Island became home to such acts as Jethro Tull and Traffic. Later, reggae artists like Bob Marley and the Wailers were featured on the label. In 1973, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham dumped a bucket of water over promoter Bill Graham following an argument at a show in San Francisco. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen's album "Darkness on the Edge of Town" was released. In 1989, Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman married model Mandy Smith. He was 48, she was 19. They divorced in 1991. In 1993, Ronald Ray Howard's murder trial began in Austin, Texas. Prosecutors said Howard killed a state trooper after listening to 2Pac's "2Pacalypse Now" album. Howard was convicted and sentenced to death. In 1996, game show host Ray Combs hanged himself in the mental ward of a hospital in Glendale, Calif. Combs hosted "The New Family Feud." He was 40. In 2001, Tom Petty married longtime girlfriend Dana York in Las Vegas. In 2008, Bo Diddley, 79, a founding father of rock 'n' roll, died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla. in Archer, Fla. Actor-director Mel Ferrer died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 90. Thought for Today: "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't." — Mark Twain (1835-1910).

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