TODAY IN HISTORY:
1836 – Congress approved the Deposit Act, which contained a provision for turning over surplus federal revenue to the states.
1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention that he called a “Type-Writer.”
1904 – The first American motorboat race got underway on the Hudson River in New York, NY.
1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
1926 – The first lip reading tournament in America was held in Philadelphia, PA.
1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, NY on the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.
1938 – Marineland opened near St. Augustine, FL.
1950 – A furious squall on Lake Michigan caused the worst commercial aviation disaster at that time — Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 went down with 58 on board.
1963 – Jimmy Piersall, of the New York Mets, hit his 100th career home run and ran the bases backwards as promised.
1972 – President Richard ixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s Watergate investigation.
1980 – David Letterman’s daytime show debuted on NBC.
1988 – George Steinbrenner fired Yankees manager Billy Martin for the fifth time and replaced him with Lou Piniella.
1992 – Mob boss John Gotti, “The Teflon Don,” was sentenced to life in prison, where he died a decade later.
1993 – Lorena Bobbitt of Manassas, VA, cut off a part of her sleeping husband John’s penis with a kitchen knife. She drives off with the severed appendage and throws it from the car window. Police find it and a surgeon reattached it.
2003 – Apple Computer Inc. unveiled the new Power Mac desktop computer.
2005 – Roger Ebert received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2013 – In Arizona, aerialist Nik Wallenda completed a quarter mile tightrope walk over the Little Colorado River Gorge, to become the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.
2015 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey completed its 60,000th orbit around Mars. The spacecraft entered orbit on October 23, 2001.
2015 – Verizon announced it had completed its $4.4 billion purchase of AOL, Inc.
BIRTHDAYS:
Diana Trask 1940 – Country singer (“Lean It All on Me”)
Ted Shackelford 1946 – Actor (TV’s “Knots Landing”, “The Young and the Restless”)
Bryan Brown 1947 – Actor (“Breaker Morant”, “Give My Regards to Broad Street”, “F/X”, “Cocktail”, “Gorillas in the Mist” “F/X2”, “Along Came Polly”, “Australia”, “Kill Me Three Times”, “Gods of Egypt”, TV’s “The Thorn Birds”)
Clarence Thomas 1948 – U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Jim Metzler 1951 – Actor (“Tex”)
Randy Jackson 1956 – Musician, judge (Journey, TV’s “American Idol”)
Frances McDormand 1957 – Actress (“Fargo”, “Mississippi Burning”, “Almost Famous”, “North Country”)
Joss Whedon 1964 – Writer, director (Creator/director of TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, “Dollhouse”, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, director of “The Avengers”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”)
Chico DeBarge 1966 – Musician (DeBarge)
Selma Blair 1972 – Actress (“Cruel Intentions”, “Legally Blonde”, “Hellboy”, “A Dirty Shame”, “Kill Me Later”, “Columbus Circle”, TV’s “Anger Management”, “Kath and Kim,”)
Joel Edgerton 1974 – Actor (“Black Mass”, “Warrior”, “The Gift”, “The Great Gatsby”, “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Wish You Were Here”)
KT Tunstall 1975 – Singer
Jason Mraz 1977 – Singer
Melissa Rauch 1980 – Actress (Plays Howard’s wife Bernadette on TV’s “Big Bang Theory”)
Duffy 1984 – Singer
TODAY IS:
Let It Go Day
Public Service Day
Take Your Dog To Work Day
Typewriter Day
For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, and www.daysoftheyear.com.
