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:
1751 – Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the United States.
1791 – First Bank of the United States was chartered by Congress and signed by President George Washington.
1793 – The department heads of the U.S. government met with President George Washington for the first Cabinet meeting.
1836 – Samuel Colt received hit first patent for a “revolving-cylinder pistol”.
1901 – J.P.Morgan incorporated the United States Steel Corporation.
1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.
1919 – The state of Oregon placed a one cent per gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first state to levy a gasoline tax.
1928 – The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.
1930 – The bank check photographing device was patented.
1933 – The aircraft carrier Ranger was launched. It was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.
1837 – Thomas Davenport patented the first commercial electrical motor, but because there was no practical electrical distribution system available, Davenport went bankrupt.
1940 – The first hockey game to be televised in the United States was between the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens. The game aired on W2WBS in New York, NY, with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.
1943 – This day was commonly thought to be George Harrison’s birthday. In 1992, Harrison was reported to have said, “I only learned recently after all these years that the date and time of my own birth have always been off by one calendar day and about a half hour on the clock.” His birthday is actually February 24.
1964 – In Miami, Cassius Clay (who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali) defeated Sonny Liston (on a TKO) for the world heavyweight
boxing championship.
1970 – On the children’s television show “Sesame Street”, Ernie first sang a song about his favorite little bath time buddy…his “Rubber Duckie“.
1982 – The final new episode of “The Lawrence Welk Show” aired.
1989 – The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys fired Tom Landry, the only head coach the team had since its inception in 1960.
2005 – Dennis Rader was arrested for the BTK serial killings in Wichita, KS. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 life prison terms.
2006 – The world’s estimated population reached 6.5 billion.
2010 – Apple announced that it had surpassed 10 billion song downloads from the iTunes Store. The 10 billionth song was “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash.
BIRTHDAYS:
Sally Jessy Raphael – 89 years old (1935) – TV talk show host
Tom Courtenay – 87 years old (1937) – Actor (“Doctor Zhivago”, “The Last Butterfly”)
Bob Schieffer – 87 years old (1937) – Journalist (TV’s “CBS Evening News”, “Face the Nation”)
Diane Baker – 86 years old (1938) – Actress (“The Diary of Anne Frank”, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, “The Best of Everything”, “Nine Hours to Rama”, “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man”, “The 300 Spartans”, TV’s “The Lloyd Bridges Show”, “The Nurses”, “Route 66”)
Karen Grassle – 82 years old (1942) – Actress (Played Caroline Ingalls on TV’s “Little House on the Prairie”)
Jack Handey – 75 years old (1949) – Author, TV writer (“Saturday Night Live”, “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey”)
Neil Jordan – 74 years old (1950) – Director (“The Crying Game”, “End of the Affair”)
John Doe – 71 years old (1953) – Musician, actor (TV’s “Roswell”)
Bob Brenly – 70 years old (1954) – Baseball player, manager, broadcaster (Chicago Cubs games)
Dennis Diken – 67 years old (1957) – Musician (The Smithereens)
Mike Peters – 65 years old (1959) – Lead singer (The Alarm)
Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) – 59 years old (1965) – Comedian
Veronica Webb – 59 years old (1965) – Actress (“Jungle Fever”, “Someone Like You…”, “The Big Tease”, “Malcolm X”, TV’s “Damon”). Born in Detroit, MI.
Téa Leoni – 58 years old (1966) – Actress (“Jurassic Park III”, “Deep Impact”, “Fun With Dick and Jane”, “The Family Man”, “Spanglish”, “Tower Heist”, “Bad Boys”, “A League of Their Own”, TV’s “Madame Secretary”, “The Naked Truth”, “Flying Blind”)
Sean Astin – 53 years old (1971) – Actor (“The Goonies”, “The War of the Roses”, “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”, “50 First Dates”, “Smile”, TV’s “24”, narrates Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor”)
Daniel Powter – 53 years old (1971) – Singer (“Bad Day”)
Julio Iglesias Jr. – 51 years old (1973) – Singer
Justin Jeffre – 51 years old (1973) – Singer (98 Degrees). Born in Mount Clemens, MI.
Chelsea Handler – 49 years old (1975) – Comedian, talk show host (TV’s “Chelsea Lately”)
Rashida Jones – 48 years old (1976) – Actress (TV’s “The Office”, “Parks and Recreation”, “Boston Public”, movies “The Social Network”, “I Love You, Man”)
Justin Berfield – 38 years old (1986) – Actor (TV’s “Malcolm in the Middle”, “Unhappily Ever After”)
TODAY IS:
National Chocolate Covered Nut Day
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.
