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:
1846 – Elias Howe received a patent for the sewing machine.
1913 – The Lincoln Highway opened. It was the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the United States. The highway ran coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York, NY, west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, CA, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.
1935 – “Popeye” was heard on NBC radio for the first time.
1942 – President Franklin Roosevelt mandated gasoline rationing as part of the U.S. wartime effort.
1953 – Swanson introduced the first “TV dinner.”
1955 – The classic TV western “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS.
1955 – Bert Parks began a 25 year career as host of the “Miss America Pageant”.
1960 – Mickey Mantle hit his longest home run in Briggs/Tiger Stadium history.
1961 – Mickey Mantle hit his 400th home run to tie a major league baseball record.
1977 – “Mickey Finn” appeared in the comic pages for the last time.
1984 – The TV game show “Jeopardy” began it’s daily syndication with Alex Trebek as the host. Trebek has hosted every episode except one — when he switched with Pat Sajak for April Fool’s Day. It originally started as a daytime TV game show on NBC, with Art Fleming as the host, on March 30th, 1964.
1984 – The Federal Communications Commission changed a rule to allow broadcasters to own 12 AM and 12 FM radio stations. The previous limit was 7 of each.
1990 – The Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas, NV, opened.
1990 – The TV sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, debuted starring young rapper Will Smith.
1990 – Historic Ellis Island re-opened as the National Museum of Immigration.
1992 – Bud Selig became Major League Baseball’s “acting” commissioner. (Six years later the post became official, and he remained in that position until January 2015.)
1993 – The TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” debuted.
1993 – Fox aired the very first episode of “The X Files”, introducing us to Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson).
1994 – The PBS TV show “The Magic School Bus” premiered. The theme song, called “Ride on the Magic School Bus”, was performed by Little Richard.
1998 – Singer Mac Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 – Northwest Airlines announced an agreement with pilots, ending a nearly two-week walkout.
2000 – Indiana University fired basketball coach Bobby Knight for what is called a pattern of unacceptable behavior.
2002 – Florida tested its new elections system. The test resulted in polling stations opening late and problems occurred with the touch screen voting machines.
2002 – The “September 11: Bearing Witness to History” exhibit opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
2009 – The television drama “The Vampire Diaries” premiered on The CW.
2020 – California’s August Complex wildfire became largest recorded in state history at 471,000 acres (736 square miles).
2022 – King Charles III was formally proclaimed as monarch at a meeting of the Accession Council.
BIRTHDAYS:
Jared Diamond – 88 years old (1937) – Biologist, geographer, and author
Danny Hutton – 83 years old (1942) – Irish-American singer
Mike Mullane – 80 years old (1945) – Colonel and astronaut
Larry Nelson – 78 years old (1947) – Golfer
Charlie Waters – 77 years old (1948) – Football player, coach, and radio host
Don Muraco – 76 years old (1949) – Wrestler
Bill O'Reilly – 76 years old (1949) – Journalist and author
Rosie Flores – 75 years old (1950) – Singer and guitarist
Joe Perry – 75 years old (1950) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Steve Keirn – 74 years old (1951) – Wrestler
Bill Rogers – 74 years old (1951) – Golfer
Medea Benjamin – 73 years old (1952) – Activist, founder of Code Pink
Pat Cadigan – 72 years old (1953) – Science fiction author
Amy Irving – 72 years old (1953) – Actress
Clark Johnson – 71 years old (1954) – American-Canadian actor
Don Wilson – 71 years old (1954) – Kickboxer and actor
Pat Mastelotto – 70 years old (1955) – Rock drummer
Kate Burton – 68 years old (1957) – British-American actress
Chris Columbus – 67 years old (1958) – Director, producer, and screenwriter
Alison Bechdel – 65 years old (1960) – Author and illustrator
David Lowery – 65 years old (1960) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Randy Johnson – 62 years old (1963) – Baseball player
Bill Stevenson – 62 years old (1963) – Drummer, songwriter, and producer
John E. Sununu – 61 years old (1964) – Engineer and politician
Big Daddy Kane – 57 years old (1968) – Rapper, producer, and actor
Johnathon Schaech – 56 years old (1969) – Actor, producer, and screenwriter
Paula Kelley – 55 years old (1970) – Singer-songwriter
Neera Tanden – 55 years old (1970) – Lawyer and policy analyst
Joe Bravo – 54 years old (1971) – Jockey
James Duval – 53 years old (1972) – Actor and producer
Ryan Phillippe – 51 years old (1974) – Actor and producer
Ben Wallace – 51 years old (1974) – Basketball player
Melanie Pullen – 50 years old (1975) – Photographer
Matt Morgan – 49 years old (1976) – Wrestler
Mike DiBiase – 48 years old (1977) – Wrestler
Jacob Young – 46 years old (1979) – Actor
Roger Mason Jr. – 45 years old (1980) – Basketball player
Trevor Murdoch – 45 years old (1980) – Wrestler
Mikey Way – 45 years old (1980) – Bass player and songwriter
Bonnie Maxon – 44 years old (1981) – Wrestler
Misty Copeland – 43 years old (1982) – Ballerina and author
Shawn James – 42 years old (1983) – Guyanese-American basketball player
Drake Younger – 41 years old (1984) – Wrestler
Neil Walker – 40 years old (1985) – Baseball player
Angel McCoughtry – 39 years old (1986) – Basketball player
Ashley Monroe – 39 years old (1986) – Singer-songwriter
Paul Goldschmidt – 38 years old (1987) – Baseball player
Alex Saxon – 38 years old (1987) – Actor
Jared Lee Loughner – 37 years old (1988) – Mass murderer
Ricky Ledo – 33 years old (1992) – Basketball player
Matt Rife – 30 years old (1995) – Comedian and actor
Troy Terry – 28 years old (1997) – Ice hockey player
Sheck Wes – 27 years old (1998) – Rapper
Nick Cross – 24 years old (2001) – Football player
Gabriel Bateman – 21 years old (2004) – Actor
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.
