February 8

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1692 – A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony suggested that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials.

1836 – In Michigan, the “Village of Kent” was recorded in the Kalamazoo Register. On February 6, 1844 it was renamed “Grand Rapids”.

1861 – The Confederate States of America was formed.

1896 – The Western Conference was formed by representatives of Midwestern universities. The group changed its name to the Big 10 Conference.

1910 – The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1922 – The White House began using radio after President Warren Harding had it installed.

1936 – The first National Football League draft was held. Jay Berwanger was the first to be selected, by the Philadelphia Eagles.

1960 – The first eight brass star plaques were installed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The first star was for director Stanley Kramer.

1963 – The Kennedy administration prohibited travel to Cuba and made financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. citizens.

1963 – Lamar Hunt, owner of the American Football League franchise in Dallas, TX, moved the operation to Kansas City and names the new team the Chiefs.

1968 – The movie “Planet of the Apes” premiered.

1969 – George Harrison’s tonsils were removed at London’s University College Hospital. The tonsils were destroyed so they could not be sold.

1969 – The last issue of the “Saturday Evening Post” was published. It was revived in 1971 as a quarterly publication and later a 6 times a year publication.

1971 – The Nasdaq stock-market index opened for the first time.

1973 – U.S. Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal.

1974 – After 84 days in space, the three-man crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit the American Space Station Skylab, returned to Earth.

1976 – The Martin Scorsese film “Taxi Driver”, starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, & Cybill Shepherd, premiered in theaters. The film was written by Paul Schrader, who was born and raised in Grand Rapids, MI.

1978 – Senate deliberations were broadcast on radio for the first time. The subject was the Panama Canal treaties.

1980 – President Jimmy Carter announced a plan to re-introduce draft registration.

1985 – Stroh’s Brewery closed its Detroit, MI, plant.

1985 – The television show “The Dukes of Hazzard” ended its 6-1/2 year run on CBS.

1993 – General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the news program “Dateline NBC” had rigged two car-truck crashes to show that some GM pickups were prone to fires if hit in certain places. NBC settled the suit the following day.

1996 – Congress passed the Communications Decency Act.

1998 – In the first female ice hockey game in Olympic history Finland beat Sweden 6-0.

2001 – Producers of “Baywatch” announced that the show would end in May. The series launched the careers of Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth and Carmen Electra.

2010 – MTV dropped the “Music Television” moniker from its logo.

2012 – Elizabeth Taylor’s collection of artworks by Vincent Van Gogh, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas sold for over $17 million at Christie’s in London.

2016 – Mexico’s president announced the recapture of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

2019 – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accused “The National Enquirer” and its owner, American Media Inc., of blackmail over private messages detailing an extramarital affair.

BIRTHDAYS:

John Williams – 94 years old (1932) – Pianist, composer, and conductor

Ted Koppel – 86 years old (1940) – English-American journalist

Nick Nolte – 85 years old (1941) – Actor and producer

Tom Rush – 85 years old (1941) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Robert Klein – 84 years old (1942) – Comedian, actor, and singer

Creed Bratton – 83 years old (1943) – Actor and musician

Valerie Thomas – 83 years old (1943) – Scientist and inventor

Brooke Adams – 77 years old (1949) – Actress, producer, and screenwriter

Mary Steenburgen – 73 years old (1953) – Actress

John Grisham – 71 years old (1955) – Lawyer and author

Marques Johnson – 70 years old (1956) – Basketball player and sportscaster

Vince Neil – 65 years old (1961) – Singer-songwriter and actor

Arlie Petters – 62 years old (1964) – Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic

Michael Ansley – 59 years old (1967) – Basketball player

Mary Robinette Kowal – 57 years old (1969) – Puppeteer and author

Mary McCormack – 57 years old (1969) – Actress and producer

Stephanie Courtney – 56 years old (1970) – Actress and comedian

Alonzo Mourning – 56 years old (1970) – Basketball player and executive

Susan Misner – 55 years old (1971) – Actress

Big Show – 54 years old (1972) – Wrestler and actor

Seth Green – 52 years old (1974) – Actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director

Joshua Morrow – 52 years old (1974) – Actor

Dave Farrell – 49 years old (1977) – Musician and songwriter

Aaron Cook – 47 years old (1979) – Baseball player

William Jackson Harper – 46 years old (1980) – Actor

Jim Parrack – 45 years old (1981) – Actor

Cecily Strong – 42 years old (1984) – Actress

Jeremy Davis – 41 years old (1985) – Bass player and songwriter

Brian Randle – 41 years old (1985) – Basketball player and coach

Anderson .Paak – 40 years old (1986) – Singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer

JaJuan Johnson – 37 years old (1989) – Basketball player

Julio Jones – 37 years old (1989) – Football player

Courtney Vandersloot – 37 years old (1989) – American-Hungarian basketball player

Bethany Hamilton – 36 years old (1990) – Surfer

Klay Thompson – 36 years old (1990) – Basketball player

Leighton Vander Esch – 30 years old (1996) – Football player

Kathryn Newton – 29 years old (1997) – Actress

TODAY IS:

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For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.