January 6
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Events on This Day
1838 - The telegraph was demonstrated for the first time in public at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey. The person demonstrating the new invention, the telegraph’s inventor was, of course, Samuel F.B. Morse. It was another six years before Sam could figure out how to say, “What hath God wrought!” in dots and dashes.1896 - The first American women’s six-day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Imagine riding around and around the Garden for six days!
1912 - The Land of Enchantment, the territory acquired by the U.S. as a result of the Mexican War, entered the United States of America this day as New Mexico, the 47th state. New Mexico is also referred to as the Sunshine State, but that irritates the residents of the Sunshine State of Florida, so we'll stick to the Land of Enchantment. Santa Fe, the oldest city in New Mexico, is also the state capital and has been the capital of the area since 1610. The state bird is the roadrunner, not the cartoon, but the real thing. New Mexico has a multitude of state symbols including its own fossil: coelophysis, plus the state flower: yucca; tree: pinon; animal: black bear; vegetables: chili and frijol; gem: turquoise; and insect: tarantula hawk wasp. The state motto is in latin: Crescit eundo, which translates to “It grows as it goes.”
1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip was completed this day. It ran 792 miles -- from Indianapolis, IN to New York City. This was a pretty long trip, right? It would cost quite a bit just in fuel and oil for the car, right? Wrong. The total cost of the run was $1.38.
1938 - Trummy Young played trombone and sang with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra in New York City as Margie became Decca record number 1617.
1941 - A young actor appeared for the first time in a new program on CBS radio titled, Home of the Brave. Along with others in the cast, this was Richard Widmark’s debut.
1941 - Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut by defeating Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1942 - The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place today. Pan American World Airways was the company credited with the historic feat.
1945 - Future U.S. president George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York.
1946 - Ho Chi Minh won election as president of North Vietnam.
1950 - Ronald Colman starred as the president of Ivy College in the radio presentation, The Halls of Ivy.
1952 - A regular feature of Sunday funny papers debuted. Peanuts was seen above the fold in newspapers across the U.S. The Charles Schulz creation became the most successful syndicated comic strip in history.
1963 - David Merrick brought Oliver! to the Broadway stage, where it premiered at the Imperial Theater on this day. It closed on November 14, 1964, after 774 performances. The musical was based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
1964 - England and France agreed to build a rail tunnel under the English Channel. Construction did not begin, however, until late 1987. Even then, the project took more than five years to complete.
1966 - Duke Ellington’s concert of sacred music, recorded at 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, was broadcast on CBS-TV.
1968 - Dr. Norman E. Shumway performed the first heart transplant on an adult patient in the U.S. at Stanford University Hospital. Shumway’s historic first heart transplant came four weeks after the first such operation in the world, by Dr. Christian Barnard, in South Africa. Barnard used techniques developed by Shumway at Stanford.
1969 - The U.S. Presidential salary was raised from $100,000 to $200,000 per year.
1971 - Berkeley chemists announced the first synthetic production of growth hormones.
1974 - CBS radio returned to dramatic programming at night with the first broadcast of Radio Mystery Theatre, hosted by E.G. Marshall. The program debuted on 218 CBS network stations.
1975 - ABC-TV joined the early morning news and information race as A.M. America debuted. Bill Beutel, long time WABC-TV news anchor (with Roger Grimsby), teamed up with Stephanie Edwards from LA. The show lasted ten months. ABC then introduced David Hartman in Good Morning America, which has given NBC’s Today show a solid run for the money for two decades.
1979 - Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits, Volume 2 was the #1 album in the U.S. The album was at the top of the charts for three weeks with these greatest hits: Love Theme From 'A Star Is Born' (Evergreen}, Love Theme From 'Eyes of Laura Mars' (Prisoner}, My Heart Belongs to Me, Songbird, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, The Way We Were, Sweet Inspiration/Where You Lead, All in Love is Fair, Superman, and Stoney End.
1980 - The Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to their fourth Super Bowl since 1974 by eliminating the Houston Oilers 27-13 in the AFC title game. And the Los Angeles Rams shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 in the NFC championship game. (The Steelers defeated the Rams 24-19 in Super Bowl XIV on Jan 20.)
1984 - Texaco Oil announced a bid to take over Getty Oil for an estimated $9.9 billion. The offer topped the previous record takeover bid by the DuPont Company for Conoco Oil in 1981 ($7.8 billion). 440 International recently turned down a $16.2 billion takeover bid by Acme Banana. They wanted to change this feature to Those Were the Peels and we thought that would be a big slip-up (argh! stop! ok...)
1985 - Dan Marino passed for a record 421 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Miami Dolphins to a 45-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game. And the San Francisco 49ers were all over the Chicago Bears 23-0 in the NFC title game. (The 49ers defeated the Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX on January 20.)
1987 - After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was again presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. This was the first repeat winner of the award.
1991 - Bank of New England was declared insolvent and the FDIC was appointed as its receiver. U.S. Federal regulators seized banks owned by Bank of New England Corporation in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine.
1992 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration called on surgeons to stop using silicone gel breast implants because of safety questions. the FDA stopped short of an outright ban.
1993 - The great jazz trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie died of cancer at age 75. He has been credited with being a co-founder (w/Charlie Parker) of ‘bebop’ music and wrote many jazz numbers (Salt Peanuts, Night in Tunisia). Gillespie also created the ‘afro-cuban’ sound in jazz music. A few of the disciples who preached Dizzy’s gospel of bebop were Thelonious Monk, Earl ‘Bud’ Powell, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
1993 - Jim and Jennifer Stolpa were stranded by a blizzard on a desolate Nevada road with their five-month-old son, Clayton. Jennifer huddled in a tiny cliffside cave with Clayton while Jim trudged 48 miles through hip-deep snow to find help. Jennifer, who, like Jim, lost all her toes to frostbite as a result of the ordeal, says, “I can’t wear heels, I can’t wear sandals. I have to wear tennis shoes all the time. It kind of sucks.” Says Jim, “We really miss our toes.”
1994 - Nancy Kerrigan, a favorite to win the women’s U.S. Figure Skating Championship, was assaulted after she finished a practice session in Detroit. The assailant used a blunt object to strike the skater on the right knee, although she recovered in time to compete in the Olympics. Four men, including Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack; Harding, who denied advance knowledge of the attack, received probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution.
1996 - 12 Monkeys opened in U.S. theatres. The sci-fi, thriller stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, Jon Seda and Joseph Melito.
1997 - The Sun erupted with a ‘coronal mass ejection’. The blast reached Earth on Jan 10, and may have played a role in the Jan 11 failure of the $200-million "Telstar 401" communications satellite.
1998 - The NASA Lunar Prospector, the third robot mission of the Discovery program, was launched.
1999 - Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, would marry his longtime girlfriend, public relations executive Sophie Rhys-Jones. The couple was married on June 19 that year at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor.
2000 - Austrian banks Bank Austria and Creditanstalt agreed to a $40-million settlement with an estimated 1,000 Holocaust victims or their heirs for having confiscated their assets.
2001 - With the defeated Vice President Al Gore presiding, the U.S. Congress formally certified George W. Bush (II) the winner of the squeaky close 2000 presidential election. After the formal count of the Electoral College vote, a stoic Gore declared, “May God bless our new president and vice president, and may God bless the United States of America.”
2002 - Construction began to expand Camp X-Ray at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba. The camp would house detainees from Afghanistan; the first prisoners arrived Jan 11.
2003 - Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona called obesity the fastest growing cause of illness and death in the U.S.
2004 - The Ohio Lottery awarded $162 million to Rebecca Jemison (for the Dec 30 prize). Elicia Battle, who initially claimed to have lost the winning lottery ticket, recanted on Jan 8.
2004 - China began a mass eradication of some 10,000 civet cats to stem a suspected link to SARS disease.
2004 - A design consisting of two reflecting pools and a paved stone field was chosen for the World Trade Center memorial in New York.
2005 - A freight train carrying chlorine gas struck a parked train in South Carolina. Eight people were killed and 240 others were injured, nearly all of them sickened by a toxic cloud that at nightfall persisted over the small textile town of Graniteville.
2006 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent a second emergency surgery in as many days, following a massive stroke and brain hemorrhage. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sharon’s doctors acknowledged that he “has probably suffered irreversible brain damage that would preclude his ever resuming office.” (Sharon died Jan 11, 2014.)
2007 - Mudslides and flash floods triggered by torrential downpours in Brazil killed at least 31 people and drove thousands from their homes during the past five days.
2007 - A snow slide knocked two cars off the road and buried them in a high pass in Colorado. All eight people caught in the avalanche at Berthoud Pass were rescued alive. The avalanche was 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep.
2007 - David Whelan and his son Andrew hit pay dirt with their metal detector in a farmer’s field near Harrogate, England. The pair discovered a Viking trove of coins and jewelry that had been buried for more than 1,000 years. The collection of valuable relics was traced to Ireland, France, Russia and Scandinavia.
2009 - South Korea announced its investment of some 50 trillion won ($38.1 billion) over four years on environmental projects in a “Green New Deal”. The project would spur slumping economic growth and create a million jobs.
2009 - U.S. President George Bush (II) designated parts of three Pacific island chains as national monuments to protect them from oil and gas extraction and commercial fishing. The areas total some 195,274 square miles and include the Mariana Trench as well as waters and coral surrounding three islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll in American Samoa and seven islands along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean.
2010 - Gilbert Arenas, a Washington DC Wizards basketball guard, was suspended indefinitely without pay by National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern for carrying guns into the Wizards’ locker room. With each game he missed, lost some $147,200. In late 2010, Arenas was traded away from the Wizards to the Orlando Magic.
2010 - Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned as part of a deal with prosecutors following allegations that she stole gift cards that had been donated to the poor.
2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama named banker and experienced political strategist William Daley as his new chief of staff. Daley succeeded Rahm Emanuel, who served as Chief of Staff during the first two years of the Obama term and left the position in October 2010 to run for election Mayor of Chicago.
2012 - Films opening in U.S. theatres: The Devil Inside, with Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, Suzan Crowley and Bonnie Morgan; Beneath the Darkness, starring Dennis Quaid, Tony Oller, Aimee Teegarden, Stephen Lunsford, Devon Werkheiser and Brett Cullen; Norwegian Wood, with Rinko Kikuchi, Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara, Tetsuji Tamayama and Kengo Kôra; and Roadie, with Lois Smith, David Margulies, Bobby Cannavale, Jarlath Conroy, Ron Eldard and Suzette Gunn.
2012 - U.S. hotel chain Best Western announced plans to build 66 hotels in India. The projects were part of a nearly $300 million investment in the country’s hospitality industry.
2012 - Rebekah Brooks, a long-serving personal assistant to the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was arrested by police in London investigating phone hacking. She was the 17th person to be arrested as part of Operation Weeting.
2013 - Spain’s El Nino lottery paid €840 million ($1.1 billion) to winning ticket holders in five regions. This, as Spain continued to endure a deep recession and high unemployment.
2014 - During what came to be known as ‘Arctic Monday’, a polar vortex barrelled across the U.S. with the coldest temperatures recorded in 20 years. Airlines canceled more than 4,400 flights as the cold froze fuel lines to airplanes and posed exposure hazards for employees working on the tarmac. On Jan 5 Green Bay, Wisconsin was -18 °F (-28 °C). On Jan 6 Babbitt, Minnesota was at -37 °F (-38 °C). The cold air reached as far as Dallas, which experienced a low of 16 °F (-9 °C).
2014 - China destroyed some six tons of illegal ivory from its stockpile. The move demonstrated a growing concern about the black market trade by authorities in the world’s biggest market for elephant tusks.
2015 - The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said an estimated 670,000 children in Syria are being deprived of education after ‘Islamic State’ forces ordered schools closed while the curriculum is made to conform with religious rules.
2016 - California Governor Jerry Brown declared a Los Angeles-area natural gas leak an emergency. The leak at a well-used for natural gas storage in Aliso Canyon just outside the Porter Ranch neighborhood had been sickening nearby residents for two months.
2016 - Washington state Governor Jay Inslee signed an executive order aimed at curbing gun violence -- to improve data sharing among government agencies and to start a new public health campaign on suicide prevention.
2017 - Motion pictures opening in the U.S. included: Amityville: The Awakening, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan and Jennifer Morrison; Underworld: Blood Wars, starring Kate Beckinsale, Theo James and Lara Pulver; Hidden Figures, with Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe; A Monster Calls, starring Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones and Lewis MacDougall; Silence, with Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson; The Ardennes, with Kevin Janssens, Jeroen Perceval and Veerle Baetens; and Arsenal, starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Johnathon Schaech.
2017 - Blizzards and icy weather swept parts of Europe, killing nine people, closing roads, causing traffic accidents, travel delays and medical evacuations. In Poland, the cold was blamed for five deaths in 24 hours. Ukraine officials reported that four people had died from effects of the cold in the Lviv region near the Polish border. Authorities in Romania reported 90 people had been rescued from stranded cars. 40+ trains were not running due to snow on the tracks.
2017 - A U.S. Army National Guard veteran from Anchorage, Alaska, shot and killed five people and wounded six others at the Fort Lauderdale airport. 26-year-old Esteban Santiago opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun that he appeared to have legally checked on a flight from Alaska.
2018 - POTUS Donald Trump praised himself as “a very stable genius” (we can’t make this stuff up), following the release of a book that called into doubt his mental health. This, as he proposed spending $18 billion over 10 years to build a border wall with Mexico.
2018 - And just in time to help calm the populace after Trump’s latest incredible exclamations, legal sales of recreational cannabis began in San Francisco.
2019 - A new regulation took effect in Saudi Arabia aimed at curbing men secretly ending marriages without informing their wives. Saudi courts were directed to notify women by text message when they were divorced.
2019 - Bohemian Rhapsody won the best picture award at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, passed out this day at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave Glenn Close the best actress award for her role as Joan Castleman in "The Wife". Rami Malek won best actor for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
2020 - Borden Dairy, one of the oldest and largest milk producers in the U.S., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company cited dropping demand for cow’s milk, rising costs of raw milk, its own debt and pension obligations as the main reasons for its financial troubles.
2020 - Mourners crowded into downtown Tehran, the Iranian capital, to pay an emotional homage to Qasem Soleimani, the “heroic” general killed in a U.S. strike. Soleimani, 62, headed Iran’s elite Quds Force, and was tasked with protecting and boosting the country’s influence in the Middle East.
2021 - The U.S. Congress met to certify the Electoral College election results. POTUS Trump had attempted to pressure V.P. Mike Pence, who presided over the ceremony, to overturn the result. But Pence told Trump that he did not have that power. The certification was interrupted by pro-Trump protesters attacking the Capitol.
2021 - The U.S. Capitol was overrun by a pro-Trump mob. A woman died after she was shot by police during the mayhem inside the building. Three other people also died in the area around the Capitol “from separate medical emergencies.” A bomb squad destroyed a pipe bomb that was found at the Republican National Committee headquarters. QAnon conspiracists helped lead the Capitol Hill assault. “The invasion of the U.S. Capitol … was stoked in plain sight,” ProPublica newsroom reported. “For weeks, the far-right supporters of President Donald Trump railed on social media that the election had been stolen. They openly discussed the idea of violent protest on the day Congress met to certify the result.” Their goal of stopping the election certification, based on baseless conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud, was encouraged by elected officials like Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Paul Gosar, Sen. Josh Hawley, and Sen. Ted Cruz. The biggest instigator, of course, was the president himself, who for months had fanned the flames of conspiracy and earlier that day urged the crowd to march to the Capitol and “fight.”
2021 - Congressional action resumed late in the day. Nearly 15 hours after lawmakers first gathered in the joint session, they accepted the final Electoral College state tally and certified Joe Biden’s victory.
2021 - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned parliament that ending England’s latest lockdown would require a “gradual unwrapping” over time, pledging that schools would be the “very first things to reopen.” The U.K. recorded more than 1,000 COVID-19 daily deaths for the first time since April as the government struggled to deal with a new, more infectious variant of the coronavirus.
2022 - Novak Djokovic, famous men’s tennis player from Serbia, was told to leave Australia after a 10-hour standoff at a Melbourne airport. Australia’s federal immigration minister cancelled Djokovic’s visa for being unvaccinated against COVID-19.
2022 - President Biden accused Donald Trump of posing a continuing threat to American democracy. This, in a speech on the anniversary of the deadly U.S. Capitol attack by Trump supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
2022 - Deaths on this day included film director and actor Peter Bogdanovich, who died at his home in Los Angeles at 82 years of age. Bogdanovich directed acclaimed films like The Last Picture Show (1971) and Paper Moon (1973). And actor Sidney Poitier, 94, also in Los Angeles. Poitier broke racial barriers as the first Black winner of the best actor Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field in 1963. And he inspired a generation during the civil rights movement. His other films included The Blackboard Jungle (1955), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), A Patch of Blue (1965), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), To Sir, With Love (1967) and They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970). In all, he acted in more than 50 films and directed nine.
2023 - Movies set to open in the U.S. included M3GAN, with Jenna Davis, Amie Donald and Allison Williams; and Women Talking, starring Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey and Emily Mitchell.
2023 - A 6-year-old boy was taken into police custody after he shot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Police Chief Steve Drew said, “...The female teacher was shot inside a classroom. This was not an accidental shooting.” Drew added, “There was an altercation between the teacher and the student, who had the firearm, and that a single round was fired. No other students were involved.” (Almost a year later, the mother of the 6-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison for felony child neglect.)
and more...
Birthdays on This Day January 6
1412 - Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc)
Maid of Orleans: French heroine: liberated the city of Orleans from the English; burned at the stake as a witch May 30, 1431; Roman Catholic saint1799 - Jedediah Smith
explorer: helped to create Oregon Trail; 1st American to reach California by land, 1st to travel Pacific Coast from San Diego to Canada by land; killed by Comanche warriors in the spring of 1831 while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail; died May 27, 18311878 - Carl Sandburg
author: Abraham Lincoln; poet: Chicago, Grass, The People, Yes; folk balladeer: The American Songbag; died July 22, 19671880 - Tom (Thomas Hezikiah) Mix
actor: Ranch Life in the Great Southwest, On the Little Big Horn or Custer’s Last Stand, A Prisoner of Cabanas, Sagebrush Tom, The Chef at Circle G, Going West to Make Good, Rough-Riding Romance, Tom Mix in Arabia, Rustler’s Roundup, The Miracle Rider; over 300 films; died Oct 12, 1940
1901 - Patrick Aherne
actor: The Court Jester, Superman in Scotland Yard, Botany Bay, Lorna Doone, The Challenge, Warn That Man, Trouble Ahead; died Sep 30, 1970
1903 - Francis L. Sullivan
Tony-Award-winning actor: Witness for the Prosecution [1955]; The Return of Bulldog Drummond, Dinner at the Ritz, The Gables Mystery, ‘Pimpernel’ Smith, Behave Yourself!, Hell’s Island; played same role two film versions of the same novel: Jaggers in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations [1934 and 1946]; died Nov 19, 19561911 - Joey Adams (Joe Abromowitz)
actor, comedian: “He’s the kind of doctor who feels your purse -- watch it!” “A bore never opens his mouth unless he has nothing to say.”; died Dec 2, 19991912 - Danny Thomas (Amos Jacobs)
Emmy Award-winning actor: Make Room for Daddy [1954]; philanthropist: St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center, Memphis, TN; Marlo’s Dad; died Feb 6, 19911913 - Loretta Young (Gretchen Michaela Young)
Academy Award-winning actress: The Farmer’s Daughter [1947]; Emmy Award-winning actress: Letter to Loretta [1959]; The Loretta Young Show, Big Business Girl, The Crusades, Doctor Takes a Wife, A Night to Remember, Rachel and the Stranger; died Aug 12, 20001916 - Eugene Maleska
educator, crossword puzzle buff: created new puzzle designs and clue styles; crossword puzzle editor: NY Times; died Aug 5, 19931916 - Phil (Philip Samuel) Masi
baseball: catcher: Boston Bees, Boston Braves [all-star: 1945-1948/World Series: 1948], Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox; died Mar 29, 19901920 - Early ‘Gus’ Wynn
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: Washington Nationals [all-star: 1948], Cleveland Indians [World Series: 1954/all-star: 1955-1960], Chicago White Sox [World Series: 1959/Cy Young Award: 1959]; American League record: pitched 23 seasons: won an even 300 games; 20-game winner on five occasions; died Apr 4, 19991921 - Louis Harris
pollster: Louis Harris Poll; died Dec 17, 20161921 - Cary Middlecoff
golf champion: Masters [1955]; U.S. Open [1949, 1956]; died Sep 1, 19981924 - Earl Scruggs
musician: banjo: groups: Bluegrass Boys, Foggy Mountain Boys: Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Ballad of Jed Clampett; Earl Scruggs Review [w/sons]; member: Grand Ole Opry; died Mar 28, 20121925 - John DeLorean
engineer, U.S. automobile industry executive, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company; most well known for developing the Pontiac GTO muscle car, and the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car [the time machine driven by actor Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in the 1985 film Back to the Future]; died Mar 19, 20051926 - Ralph (Theodore Joseph) ‘Hawk’ Branca
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers [all-star: 1947-1949/World Series: 1947, 1949], Detroit Tigers, NY Yankees; died Nov 23, 20161926 - (George Francis) Pat Flaherty
auto racer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1956]; died Apr 9, 20021926 - Mickey Hargitay
Mr. Universe [1955]; actor: The Loves of Hercules, Promises! Promises!, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Cool Million, Bloody Pit of Horror; TV exercise show host; married to actress Jayne Mansfield; died Sep 14, 20061929 - Wilbert Harrison
singer: Kansas City, Let’s Work Together; died Oct 26, 19941930 - Vic Tayback (Tabback)
actor: Alice; died May 25, 19901931 - E.L. Doctorow
author: Welcome to Hard Times, Ragtime; died Jul 21, 20151931 - Dickie Moore
hockey: NHL: Montreal Canadiens: Stanley Cup Individual Record for points scored in a period [4: 3/25/54], Toronto Maple Leafs, SL Blues; died Dec 19, 20151933 - (Ray) Lee Walls
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1958], Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, LA Dodgers: hit 3 home runs in ninth game played at LA Coliseum; died Oct 11, 19931934 - Bobby Lord
singer: Without Your Love, Life Can Have Meaning, You and Me Against the World, Wake Me Up Early in the Morning; TV: Jubilee USA, Bobby Lord Show; died Feb 16, 20081935 - Nino Tempo
musician: sax singer: Deep Purple [w/April Stevens]1935 - Paul Wilson
singer: group: The Flamingos: I Only Have Eyes For You, Golden Teardrops, Ko Ko Mo [I Love You So], That’s My Desire; died May 6, 19881936 - Rubén (Mora) Amaro Sr.
baseball: SL Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, NY Yankees, California Angels; died Mar 31, 20171936 - Darlene Hard
tennis: Women’s Singles Champion: French Open [1960], US Open [1960, 1961]; died Dec 2, 20211937 - Lou Holtz
football: college head coach: William and Mary: Southern Conference Championship [1970], North Carolina State: four bowl games, University of Arkansas : 6 bowl games, University of Minnesota: Independence Bowl, Notre Dame: Fiesta Bowl; pro football coach: NY Jets1937 - Doris Troy
singer: Just One Look; died Feb 16, 20041944 - Bonnie Franklin
actress Applause, One Day at a Time; died Mar 1, 20131946 - Syd (Roger) Barrett
musician: guitar, singer: solo: LPs: The Madcap Laughs, Barrett; group: Pink Floyd: Baby Lemonade, Effervescing Elephants, Golden Hair, She Took a Long Cold Look; died Jul 7, 20061951 - Don (Donald Edward) Gullett
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976], NY Yankees [World Series: 1977]1951 - Kim Wilson
musician: harmonica, singer: group: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff, Twist of the Knife, Why Get Up, Got Love If You Want It, Rock This Place, Stand Back, You Can’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover1953 - Gary Kloppenburg
basketball coach: Reno Sharpshooters [ABA], Indiana Fever [WNBA]; assistant coach: UC San Diego, Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, Charlotte Bobcats, Rockford Lightning, Quad City Thunder1953 - Malcolm Young
musician: guitar: group: AC/DC: Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway to Hell, Back in Black, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, For Those About to Rock, Fly on the Wall, Who Made Who, Blow Up Your Video; died Nov 18, 20171955 - Rowan Atkinson
actor: Johnny English, Scooby-Doo, Rat Race, Full Throttle, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hot Shots! Part Deux1957 - Nancy Lopez
golf: four-time LPGA Player of the Year [1978, 1979, 1985, 1988]; Rookie of Year [1977]; three-time LPGA Champ; reached Hall of Fame by age 30 with 35 victories and 48 career wins1959 - Kathy Sledge
singer: group: Sister Sledge: We are Family1960 - Paul Azinger
golf champ: PGA [1993]1960 - Nigella Lawson
cook, TV host: Nigella Bites, Forever Summer; columnist; writer: How to Be a Domestic Goddess; father is former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson1960 - Howie Long
Pro Football Hall of Famer: L.A. Raiders; TV sportscaster: FOX NFL Sunday; actor: Broken Arrow1962 - Sean Landeta
football: Towson State Univ; NFL: and has played for the NY Giants, LA/SL Rams, TB Buccaneers, GB Packers, Philadelphia Eagles1963 - Norm (Wood) Charlton
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1990/all-star: 1992], Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies1964 - Charles Haley
football: San Francisco 49ers: UPI National Football Conference defensive player of the year [1990]: Super Bowl XXIII, XXIV; Dallas Cowboys defensive end: Super Bowl XXVIII1964 - Mark O’Toole
musician: bass: group: Frankie Goes to Hollywood: albums: Relax, Two Tribes, The Power Of Love, The Decline, Split & Aftermath, Legacy
1968 - Joey Lauren Adams
actress: Chasing Amy, Married with Children, Remembering Charlie, The Gunman, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, On the Ege, Harvard Man, Beautiful, Big Daddy1968 - John Singleton
director, writer: Higher Learning, Poetic Justice, Boyz N the Hood; died Apr 28, 20191969 - Norman Reedus
actor: The Boondock Saints, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The Walking Dead, Ride with Norman Reedus; more1970 - Julie Chen
TV host: Big Brother, The Talk, The Early Show1970 - Keenan McCardell
football: Nevada-Las Vegas; NFL: Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, TB Buccaneers, SD Chargers1971 - Rob Valicevic
hockey: Nashville Predators, LA Kings, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Dallas Stars1971 - Mike Wells
football: Univ of Iowa; NFL: Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts1973 - Scott Ferguson
hockey: Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks1974 - Marlon Anderson
baseball: South Alabama; Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, SL Cardinals1974 - Paul Grant
basketball: Boston College, Univ of Wisconsin; NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz1975 - Laura Berg
U.S. World/Olympic softball: Gold medalist at Athens Olympics [2004]1975 - James Farrior
football [linebacker]: Univ of Virgina; NFL: NY Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers [Super Bowl XL, XLIII]1976 - Roberto Bergersen
basketball: Boise State Univ; NBA: Sacramento Kings1976 - Johan Davidsson
hockey: Anaheim Mighty Ducks, NY Islanders1976 - Mike Goff
football: Univ of Iowa; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals, SDi Chargers1976 - Jeremy McKinney
football: Univ of Iowa; NFL: Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys1976 - Danny Pintauro
actor: Jury Duty: The Comedy, The Beniker Gang, Timestalkers, Cujo, Who’s the Boss?, As the World Turns1976 - Richard Zednik
hockey: Washington Capitals, Montreal Canadiens1978 - Robert Bean
football: Mississippi State Univ; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars1978 - Bubba Franks
football: Univ of Miami; NFL: Green Bay Packers, New York Jets1981 - Rinko Kikuchi
actress: Babel, Norwegian Wood, Assault Girls, The Brothers Bloom, 69 sixty nine1982 - Glenn Eller
U.S. World/Olympic shooter: youngest man on 2004 Olympic shooting team [age 22]1982 - Eddie Redmayne
Academy Award-winning actor: The Theory of Everything; My Week with Marilyn, Les Misérables, Powder Blue, Glorious 39, Black Death; stage: Red, Richard II1984 - A.J. Hawk
football [linebacker]: Ohio State Unive; NFL: Green Bay Packers[2006–2014]: 2011 Super Bowl XLV champs; Cincinnati Bengals [2015]; Atlanta Falcons [2016]1984 - Kate McKinnon
actress, voice actress, comedian: Saturday Night Live, The Big Gay Sketch Show, My Best Day, Hannah Has a Ho-Phase, The Awesomes, Angry Birds1986 - Petter Northug
ski champ: gold medals: 13 World Championship, 2 Winter Olympic1986 - Alex Turner
musician: guitar; singer: group: Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Humbug, Suck It and See1991 - Colette Carr
singer, songwriter, rapper: Back It Up, Sex Sells Stay Tooned, [We Do It] Primo, Sex [featuring New Boyz], Like I Got a Gun, F16; radio host: Colette Carr Pool Live; owns and manages her clothing brand, Coca-Nico1996 - Courtney Eaton
Australian model, actress: Mad Max: Fury Road, Gods of Egypt, Newness, Status Update, Perfect1997 - Shelbee Myne
actress [1997-2008]: X-rated films: Hot Bods and Tail Pipe 1, Gutter Mouths 10, Blowjob Adventures of Dr. Fellatio 15, World’s Luckiest Patient, Violation of Violet Blue, Girly Girls 21, Lesbian Hooter Party
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day January 6
1945Don’t Fence Me In (facts) - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
There Goes that Song Again (facts) - Russ Morgan
1954
1963
1972
1981
1990
1999
2008
2017
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
TWtD Calendar
