December 8
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Events on This Day
1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South. He also offered amnesty for confederate deserters.1902 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. became an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1924 - James B. Duke donated $40 million toward the founding of Duke University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
1940 - The Chicago Bears shut out the Washington Redskins at Griffith Stadium, Washington DC. The final score: Chicago 73, Washington 0.
1941 - Ray Eberle and The Modernaires teamed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to record Moonlight Cocktail on Bluebird Records. By April 1942, the song was a solid hit.
1941 - The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war on Japan, a day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Great Britian also declared war on Japan.
1944 - The U.S. started the longest, most effective air raid of the Pacific theatre. For 74 consecutive days bombers hammered Iwo Jima with bombs and napalm.
1949 - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway. The musical, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Anita Loos, ran for 740 performances and introduced Carol Channing. Popular songs Bye Bye Baby and Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend were also introduced in the show.
1956 - The Olympic games, which had opened Nov 22, closed this day at Melbourne, Australia. ‘The Friendly Games’, as this Olympiics came to be known, was Australia’s first attempt at hosting the Olympics and left “an enduring legacy not only for Melbourne and Australia but for the Olympic movement itself.”
1961 - Surfin, The Beach Boys first record, was released on Candix Records. It became a local hit in Los Angeles but only made it to #75 nationally. The surfin’ music craze didn’t take hold across America for another year. By the time Surfin’ Safari entered the Top 40 (September 1962), though, The Beach Boys were ridin’ a wave of popularity that continues today even though The Beach Boys have become The Beach Men.
1962 - Striking workers of the International Typographical Union closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days, ending on April 1, 1963. A total of 5,700,000 readers were affected by the shutdown. It made people turn on radio and TV, of course.
1963 - Florence Henderson and Jose Ferrer co-starred in The Girl Who Came to Supper on Broadway. The production, however, only lasted for 112 shows.
1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He was set free three days later after his father paid a $240,000 ransom with no questions asked. Three men were eventually caught, convicted and imprisoned for the crime.
1965 - Lauren Bacall opened in Cactus Flower on Broadway. The show also starred Barry Nelson. The production was awarded Best Play honors and ran for 1,234 performances.
1965 - Nikolai Podgorny succeeded Anastas Mikoyan as president of U.S.S.R.
1972 - Carly Simon was awarded a big, fat, gold disc for her No Secrets album. The album hit number one in the U.S. on Jan 13, 1973 and stayed there for five weeks.
1978 - Golda Meir, who had served as Israel’s prime minister from 1969 to 1974, died in Jerusalem. She was 80 years old.
1979 - Babe, by Styx, hit #1 in the U.S. It stayed there for two weeks, before being knocked out of the coveted spot by Rupert Holmes’ Escape (The Pina Colada Song).
1980 - John Lennon was shot and killed on this day in 1980 as he stood outside of his New York City apartment house, the Dakota. The deranged, obsessed ‘fan’ was quickly apprehended by others gathered at the scene. A several-days vigil by hundreds of mourning fans is remembered as candles flickered and the song "Give Peace a Chance" was heard -- a continuing tribute to the musician and songwriter of a generation. John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, together with New York’s officials, set up a permanent memorial to her husband: a section of Central Park, opposite The Dakota, named Strawberry Fields.
1982 - Country singing superstar Marty Robbins died of complications from heart bypass surgery he had undergone six days earlier. Robbins was not only was a successful recording artist. He was also a songwriter, actor, author, and stock car racer. Among Marty Robbins’ biggest hits were A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation), The Story of My Life, Don’t Worry, Devil Woman, My Woman, My Woman, My Wife and his Grammy Award-winning El Paso.
1986 - Santa Claus was really TV’s Ed McMahon (at least at the White House). Johnny Carson’s straight man arrived in D.C. for a Christmas bash. He and First Lady Nancy Reagan exchanged kisses and, according to Ed, “She gave me a kiss, and I gave her a Hershey.” Always the pitchman, that McMahon guy was. At least it wasn’t Alpo ... or Budweiser.
1988 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev cut short his U.S. visit to return home because of the 6.9 earthquake in Armenia the previous day. Some 60,000 people were killed in the quake.
1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine, declaring the Soviet national government dead, forged a new alliance known as the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1993 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into U.S. law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The pact between the U.S., Canada and Mexico went into effect at the start of 1994.
1994 - Brazil composer composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (The Girl from Ipanema) died. He was 67 years old.
1995 - Father of the Bride - Part II opened in the U.S. The sequel to Father of the Bride stars Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Martin Short, George Newbern and Kieran Culkin. And, as one moviegoer put it, “This film is proof that sequels should never be made to comedies.”
1995 - The first 75 mph speed limit signs were installed in Montana and Wyoming.
1997 - A $25 billion deal: Swiss Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland announced a plan to form a single bank with assets of well over half a trillion dollars. The combined group would be called the United Bank of Switzerland and would become the world’s biggest money manager.
1997 - Jenny Shipley was sworn in as the first woman prime minister of New Zealand.
1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the search incident to arrest doctrine in Iowa. The Court ruled that the doctrine did not apply to traffic stops when the driver was released on a citation rather than being arrested. The doctrine had authorized police to search drivers and the interiors of their cars following any traffic stop.
1999 - A civil trial jury in Memphis, TN ruled that the 1968 killing of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was a conspiracy. The jury concluded that Loyd Jowers, a former cafe owner, had conspired with elements of the Memphis Police, the federal government and organized crime to kill King.
2000 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Dungeons and Dragons (“This is no game.”), starring Justin Whalin, Zoe Mclellan and Jeremy Irons; Proof of Life: “Suspense, suspense. Russell Crowe excellent and mesmerizing, Meg (Ryan) grew for this one ... big time, epic adventure.”; and Vertical Limit (“The Mountain Will Decide.”), starring Chris O’Donnell, Bill Paxton and Robin Tunney.
2001 - Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch was awarded the Heisman Memorial Trophy as the outstanding college football player in the U.S.
2002 - 18-year-old University of Miami student, Devi Sridhar, was one of 32 recipients of the Rhodes scholarship -- and youngest U.S. recipient in the history of the University of Oxford international fellowship program.
2003 - U.S. President George Bush (II) signed into law the Medicare Act of 2003, the biggest expansion of Medicare since its creation in 1965.
2004 - A deranged ‘fan’ charged on stage and opened fire on a heavy metal band at a crowded bar in Columbus, Ohio. 25-year-old Nathan Gale killed heavy metal guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott and three others, and wounded two more, before being killed by police.
2005 - The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement adopted a Red Crystal design, allowing Israel to join as a fully-participating member.
2006 - It was opening day for these films in the U.S.: Apocalypto, with Mel Gibson and Farhad Safinia; Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen and Stephen Collins; The Holiday, with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell; Off the Black, starring Nick Nolte, Trevor Morgan, Timothy Hutton and Sally Kirkland; and Unaccompanied Minors, with Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama, Tyler James Williams, Dyllan Christopher, Gina Mantegna, Quinn Shephard, Rob Corddry, Donny Osmond, Al Roker, Teri Garr, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Rob Riggle, BJ Novak, David Koechner, Dave Gruber Allen and Nick Thune.
2006 - Former San Francisco Giants baseball shortstop Jose Uribe was killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic. Local police said he was driving to his hometown in San Cristobal province at the time of the crash. Uribe was the Giants’ shortstop for eight seasons, including their 1987 National League western division championship and 1989 NL pennant.
2007 - South Korea’s worst-ever oil spill reached the southwest coastline, polluting beaches with pungent sludge and threatening valuable sea farms.
2008 - The Chicago-based Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy as it struggled with $13 billion in debt and a drop-off in advertising revenue.
2008 - An F/A-18D Hornet (fighter jet) crashed into a residential area in San Diego, about two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as the pilot was returning from a training flight. Two homes were destroyed. Four people, a mother, 2 children and a grandmother, died in one of the houses. (The Marine Corps sacked four top officers of the fighter squadron and disciplined nine other Marines after an investigation showed deferred maintenance and faulty decisions by ground controllers and the pilot contributed to the crash. And a federal judge ordered the government to pay more than $17 million to the family that lost four members in the crash.)
2009 - The U.S. announced said it would pay $3.4 billion to settle claims that it has mismanaged the revenue in American Indian trust funds. The tentative settlement would resolve a 13-year-old lawsuit over hundreds of thousands of land trust accounts that dated back to the 19th century.
2009 - After years of declining ratings, CBS-TV announced the cancellation of As the World Turns. The soap opera had been on the air for more than a half-century. The first show aired April 2, 1956 and the final show was on Sep 17, 2010.
2010 - U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation to pay American Indians and black farmers some $4.6 billion for government mistreatment since 1887. The legislation “closes a long and unfortunate chapter in our history,” Obama said. “It’s finally time to make things right.” The law also settled four long-standing disputes over Native American water rights in Arizona, New Mexico and Montana.
2011 - Britain’s Defense Secretary Philip Hammond announced that women would be allowed to serve on British navy submarines. Hammond said the military needed to respect its traditions, but not be a slave to them, and that was why he had accepted the recommendation of a review by the navy to allow women on board subs.
2011 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that fracking, an attempt to improve the productivity of oil and gas wells, was causing groundwater pollution. The EPA found that compounds associated with fracking had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals.
2012 - Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was arrested for drunk driving and charged with manslaughter after a car he was driving crashed and killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr. It was the second tragedy involving NFL players in a week. Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belche had killed his girlfriend and then himself on December 1.
2013 - The Philippine government and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), a Muslim rebel group, signed a power-sharing accord, paving the way for a peace agreement.
2013 - The Kennedy Center Honors were awarded in Washington DC to Carlos Santana, Billy Joel, Herbie Hancock, Martina Arroyo and Shirley McClaine for their impact on Amereican culture.
2014 - Jewel thieves pulled off a $500,000 heist at a rest stop in Marion Township, Minnesota. Investigators theorized that the robbers had trailed a diamond dealer and employees who were returning from a trade show in Chicago. The dealer and four others got out of the vehicle and went to use restrooms, while two others stayed in the van with the valuables. “Another van pulled up behind, and four, what we believe are males, got out and smashed the windows and grabbed three or four suitcases containing jewelry and loose diamonds,” sheriff’s Captain Scott Behrns said. The heist took just 90 seconds -- or less.
2014 - At least 10,000 people joined the march of Patriotic Europeans in Dresden, Germany against the “Islamization” of Europe, or PEGIDA, a German right-wing organization. The protesters said they want to preserve Germany’s Judeo-Christian Western culture, and curb the spread of Islamic State and Al-Qaeda activities in European Union countries.
2015 - 39-year-old Floyd Bledsoe was freed from a Kansas prison after serving more than 15 years of a life sentence for the 1999 shooting death of his sister-in-law. This, after Bledsoe’s brother confessed in suicide notes that he was the actual killer.
2016 - U.S. Astronaut and Senator John Glenn died at 95 years of age. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and was best known for making three tours around the planet on February 20, 1962. Glenn was elected U.S. senator in Ohio and served from 1974 to 1999. In 1998, while still a sitting senator, Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space as a crew member of the "Discovery" space shuttle and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
2016 - Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders congratulated local union President Chuck Jones -- who represented workers for air-conditioner manufacturing company Carrier -- for becoming “the most famous labor leader in America”. After he criticized Trump, Jones had become the target of POTUS-elect Donald Trump, who tweeted that Jones was ineffective as a labor leader. “Well you know, if I did something to piss off President-elect Trump, so be it,” Jones responded. “We’re moving on, and we’re going to keep up the fight, Bernie.”
2017 - Just Getting Started opened in U.S. theatres on this day. The Action comedy stars Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo, Glenne Headly, Joe Pantoliano, Elizabeth Ashley and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
2017 - A law permitting gay marriage in Australia took effect as it received royal assent from Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove. This, hours after the bill was overwhelming endorsed by Parliament.
2017 - Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Italy called on the U.S. to put forward detailed proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and described as unhelpful a decision by POTUS Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
2018 - The Justice Department said POTUS Donald Trump made illegal payments to buy the silence of two women whose claims of extra-marital affairs posed a threat to his presidential campaign.
2018 - Right-wing protesters opposed to Canada’s joining a U.N. pact for better regulating worldwide migration clashed with pro-immigration groups in the biting cold outside parliament in Ottawa. The non-binding pact, which aimed to help countries deal with growing numbers of migrants, including asylum seekers, was adopted the following week at a U.N. conference in Morocco.
2019 - South African model Zozibini Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe 2019 at ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia. Tunzi had previously been crowned Miss South Africa 2019. She is the third woman from South Africa to win the title, and the first black woman since Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011.
2019 - A fire believed to have been caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in a crowded market area in central New Delhi, India killed some 43 people. The blaze in New Delhi’s Karol Bagh neighborhood, a warren of narrow alleyways with electrical wiring strung helter-skelter, was the second major fire of the year. In February, 17 people were killed in a blaze that started in a six-story building’s illegal rooftop kitchen.
2020 - An annual assessment of the area showed the Arctic had continued its unwavering shift toward a new climate in 2020. This, as the effects of near-record warming caused shrinking ice and snow cover that helped fuel extreme wildfires.
2020 - Spain reported four lions at Barcelona Zoo had tested positive for COVID-19. At that time, it was only the second known case in which large felines had contracted coronavirus.
2020 - Britain became the first country in the world to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, initially making the shot available at 50 hospitals. The vaccine starts conferring some protection after the first shot and reaches full effectiveness about a week after the second shot.
2021 - President Biden reinstated -- and slightly expanded -- the original 1.3 million acre boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, and restored the original 1.8 million acre boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. Biden also restored protections covering the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine monument, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.
2021 - President Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, marking the most significant boost yet to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of native peoples.
2021 - A Polish court ruling that challenged the supremacy of the European Union plunged the E.U. into an existential crisis. Fears among E.U. policymakers and many Poles were that Poland could eventually leave the European Union.
2022 - Celine Dion announced that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare, and incurable, neurological disorder. The diagnosis came after the French-Canadian singer was forced to cancel shows due to difficulties walking and singing.
2022 - Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner had been arrested by Russia at a Moscow airport for having vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage. She was sentenced to more than nine years. Bout is a former Soviet military officer who was serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. for conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day December 8
1765 - Eli Whitney
inventor: cotton gin and uniformity method of musket manufacturing: beginning of mass production; died Jan 8, 18251861 - William Durant
auto manufacturer: cofounder of Chevrolet, founder of General Motors, Durant Motors; died Mar 18, 19471886 - Diego Rivera
artist: politically controversial murals in Ministry of Education Building, National Palace and other government buildings in Mexico City; died Nov 24, 19571894 - Elzie Segar
cartoonist: creator of Popeye; died Oct 13, 19381894 - James Thurber
writer: New Yorker magazine; author: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, My World and Welcome to It, The Last Flower, Is Sex Necessary?; died Nov 2, 19611902 - Oswald Jacoby
bridge expert, author, journalist: syndicated bridge columnist [1949-1984], considered the best card player in the world in 1950; died June 27, 19841903 - Adele Simpson (Smithline)
fashion designer: “She gave the postwar U.S. its own couture identity.”; died Aug 23, 19951911 - Lee J. Cobb
actor: On the Waterfront, The Brothers Karamazov, Death of a Salesman, appeared in over 80 motion pictures; died Feb 11, 19761915 - Ernest Lehman
author: The French Atlantic Affair, The Comedian, Sweet Smell of Success; screenwriter: Sabrina, The King and I, Sweet Smell of Success, North by Northwest, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hello, Dolly; died Jul 2, 20051922 - Lucian Michael Freud
painter: known for his impasto portraits and nudes; considered one of the great figurative painters of his era: Girl With Roses, Girl With a White Dog, The Brigadier, Naked Man, Back View, The Brigadier, Reflection with Two Children Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, The Queen; died Jul 20, 20111925 - Sammy Davis Jr.
entertainer: Sammy and Company, NBC Follies; singer: The Candy Man, What Kind of Fool Am I, Faraway Places, Hey There, Something’s Gotta Give, Love Me or Leave Me, That Old Black Magic, Mr. Wonderful, Too Close for Comfort; group: The Will Mastin Trio; actor: The Kid Who Loved Christmas, Cannonball Run series, Sweet Charity, A Man Called Adam, Robin and the 7 Hoods, The Three Penny Opera, Ocean’s 11, Porgy and Bess, Golden Boy, Mr. Wonderful, Rufus Jones for President; member: The Rat Pack; author: Why Me?; died May 16, 1990; more1925 - Hank (Henry Curtis) Thompson
baseball: SL Browns, NY Giants [World Series: 1951, 1954]; died Sep 30, 19691928 - Jimmy Smith
Grammy Award-winning musician: modern jazz organist: LP: The Cat [1965]; Walk on the Wild Side; died Feb 8, 20051930 - Maximilian Schell
Academy Award-winning actor: Judgment at Nuremberg [1961]; Little Odessa, Abraham, Stalin, The Freshman, Peter the Great, The Chosen, Julia, The Man in the Glass Booth, The Odessa File, Heidi, The Young Lions, Wiseguy; died Feb 1, 20141932 - Michael Levin
actor: Ryan’s Hope, All My Children, As the World Turns1933 - Flip Wilson
Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: The Flip Wilson Show with Lena Horne and Tony Randall [12/10/70]; comedian: Uptown Saturday Night, The Flip Wilson Show: Geraldine: “The Devil Made Me Do It!”, Charlie & Co.; TV emcee: People are Funny; died Nov 25, 19981936 - David Carradine
actor: Karate Cop, Animal Instincts, Double Trouble, Future Zone, Night Children, Future Force, Warlords, The Bad Seed, Lone Wolf McQuade, The Long Riders, Gray Lady Down, Cannonball, Kung Fu: The Movie, North and South Book I & II, Shane, Kung Fu, Kung Fu-The Legend Continues; son of actor John Carradine, brother of actors Keith and Robert Carradine; died June 3, 20091937 - James MacArthur
actor: Hawaii Five-O: Danno of “Book ’em, Danno”, Hang ’Em High, Spencer’s Mountain, The Interns, The Swiss Family Robinson; son of actress Helen Hayes; died Oct 28, 20101939 - Gordon ‘Red’ Berenson
hockey: U. of Michigan; NHL: Montreal Canadiens, NY Rangers, SL Blues [shares NHL record for goals [4] made in one period [11/7/68], Detroit Red Wings; coach1939 - Jerry Butler
singer: For Your Precious Love, He Will Break Your Heart, Find Another Girl, I’m Telling You, Moon River, Never Give You Up, Hey Western Union Man, LP: Only the Strong Survive; group: The Impressions1939 - James Galway
musician: flute: LP: In Ireland1941 - Bob ‘Boomer’ Brown
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Univ of Nebraska; NFL: Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders1942 - Bobby Elliott
musician: drums: group: The Hollies: Searchin’, Stay, Just One Look, Here I Go Again, We’re Through, Yes I Will, I’m Alive, Look Through Any Window, I Can’t Let Go, Bus Stop, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, The Air That I Breathe1943 - Jim Morrison
‘The Lizard King’: singer: group: The Doors: Light My Fire, Love Her Madly, Riders on the Storm, When the Music’s Over, People are Strange, Love Me Two Times, Touch Me; died July 3, 19711943 - Mary Woronov
actress: Eating Raoul, Rock ’n’ Roll High School1946 - John Rubinstein
Tony Award-winning actor: Children of a Lesser God [1980]; Crazy Like a Fox, Family, RoboCop the Series: The Future of Law Enforcement; composer: score: The Candidate1947 - Gregg Allman
musician: keyboards, guitar, singer: Midnight Rider; group: Allman Brothers Band: Ramblin’ Man; died May 27, 20171950 - Tim (Timothy John) Foli
baseball: shortstop: NY Mets, Montreal Expos, SF Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates [World Series: 1979], California Angels, NY Yankees1952 - Greg Collins
football: Notre Dame, San Francisco 49ers LB1953 - Kim Basinger
actress: Ready to Wear, Wayne’s World 2, The Real McCoy, The Getaway, Final Analysis, Cool World, The Marrying Man, Batman, My Stepmother is an Alien, Blind Date, 9 1/2 Weeks, The Natural, Hard Country; former town owner: Braselton, GA1953 - Sam Kinison
comedian, actor: The Sam Kinison Family Entertainment Hour, Back to School, Savage Dawn; died Apr 10, 19921957 - Phil Collen
musician: guitar: group: Def Leppard: Photograph, Rock of Ages, Foolin’; group: Girl1961 - Ann Coulter
right-wing U.S. political commentator, syndicated columnist and author: High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism1964 - Teri Hatcher
actress: Desperate Housewives, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, The Love Boat, Karen’s Song, MacGyver, Heaven’s Prisoners, Straight Talk, The Cool Surface, Soapdish, Dead in the Water, Tango and Cash, The Big Picture1966 - Bushwick Bill (Richard Shaw)
Hip Hopper: group: Geto Boys: Scarface, Balls and My World, My Mind Playin’ Tricks on Me, Straight Gangstaism, Six Feet Deep, World Is a Geto1966 - Wendell Pierce
actor: The Wire, Women’s Murder Club, Treme, Waiting to Exhale, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 21966 - Sinéad O’Connor
singer: Nothing Compares to You, My Lagan Love, No Man’s Woman, Emma’s Song, This Is a Rebel Song, Molly Malone, Thank You for Hearing Me1967 - Jeff George
football [quarterback]: Univ of Illinois; NFL: Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins1968 - Mike Mussina
baseball [pitcher]: Stanford Univ; NFL: Balitmore Orioles, New York Yankees1975 - Corey Bradford
football [wide receiver]: Jackson State Univ; NFL: Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans1975 - Kevin Harvick
NASCAR race car champ: NASCAR Winston West Series [1998], Busch Series [2001], IROC [2002], Brickyard 400 [2003], Busch Series [2006], Daytona 500, Sprint All-Star Race XXIII [2007], Budwesier Shootout [2009]; more1976 - Dominic Monaghan
actor: The Lord of the Rings film series, Lost, FlashForward, Goodnight Burbank, Soldiers of Fortune, Sin, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Millionaire Tour, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates1976 - Nathan Perrott
hockey [right wing]: NHL: Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars1977 - Ryan Newman
NASCAR race car champ: USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year [1996]; USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown Series champion [1999]; Winston Cup Rookie of the Year [2002]; Sprint All-Star Race XVIII Winner; 2003 Driver of the Year; Daytona 500 winner [2008]; 15 wins, 135 top tens, 47 poles1977 - Matthias Schoenaerts
actor: Daens, Loft, Bullhead, Rust and Bone, Blood Ties1978 - Ian Somerhalder
actor: The Vampire Diaries, Lost, How to Make Love to a Woman, The Sensation of Sight, National Lampoon’s TV: The Movie, The Rules of Attraction1978 - Vernon Wells
baseball: Toronto Blue Jays: 3× All-Star [2003, 2006, 2010], 3× Gold Glove Award [2004, 2005, 2006], Silver Slugger Award [2003]1980 - Brandt Snedeker
golf champ: PGA: 2007 Wyndham Championship; 2011 The Heritage; 2012 Farmers Insurance Open; 2012 Tour Championship; 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; 2013 RBC Canadian Open; 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; 2016 Farmers Insurance Open; 2018 Wyndham Championship1981 - Philip Rivers
football [quarterback]: NFL: San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers [2004-2019]: NFL record for most passing yards through first 8 games of a season [2,649 yards in 2010]; Indianapolis Colts [2020]1982 - Nicki Minaj
rapper: LPs: Pink Friday [Super Bass], Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded [Starships]; she had seven singles reach Billboard’s Hot 100 at the same time1984 - Sam Hunt
songwriter, singer: Leave the Night On, Take Your Time, House Party, Break Up in a Small Town, Make You Miss Me, Body Like a Back Road; more1984 - Nika Noir
actress [2007-2012]: X-rated films: Whack Jobs 3, My First Sex Teacher 15, Barely Legal 83, Hookers and Blow, A Girl and Her Toys, We Suck1985 - Dwight Howard
basketball [Center-Forward]: Orlando Magic [2004-2012]: six-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA team, five-time All-Defensive member, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, led the Magic to three division titles and one conference title, winner of the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest; 2008 Olympics: starting center for Team USA, which won the gold medal; traded to the Los Angeles Lakers [2012-2013]; Houston Rockets [2013–2016]; Atlanta Hawks [2016–2017]; Charlotte Hornets [2017–2018]; Washington Wizards [2018–2019]; Los Angeles Lakers [2019–2020]; Philadelphia 76ers [2020–2021]; Los Angeles Lakers [2021–2022]; more1986 - Amir Khan
boxer: WBA, WBA [Super], IBF Light Welterweight champ; youngest British boxer to win an Olympic medal [silver: 2004] at age 17; more1989 - Drew Doughty
hockey: defenseman for Canada’s 2008 and 2010 gold-medal hockey team; NHL: Los Angeles Kings: [2008- ] Stanley Cup champs 2012, 20141993 - AnnaSophia Robb
actress: Because of Winn-Dixie, Race to Witch Mountain, The Carrie Diaries, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bridge to Terabithia, The Space Between, Samantha: An American Girl Holiday; more1996 - Teala Dunn
actress: Are We There Yet?, The Wonder Pets, Transamerica, The Naked Brothers Band, Shake It Up!1998 - Owen Teague
actor: Bloodline, Black Mirror, It, It Chapter Two, Every Day, I See You, The Empty Man
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day December 8
1952You Belong to Me (facts) - Jo Stafford
Glow Worm (facts) - The Mills Brothers
1961
1970
1979
1988
1997
2006
2015
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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