January 8
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Events on This Day
1790 - U.S. President George Washington delivered the first annual presidential State of the Union Address.1853 - A bronze statue of Andrew Jackson on a horse was unveiled in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. The statue was the work of Clark Mills.
1856 - Borax (hydrated sodium borate) was discovered by Dr. John Veatch near Red Bluff, California. It became a multiuse product that was popularized during the era of TV’s Death Valley Days. Remember 20 Mule Team Borax?
1889 - The tabulating machine was patented this day by Dr. Herman Hollerith. Wonder what Dr. Hollerith would think of Excel?
1901 - The first tournament sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago, Illinois.
1906 - Arthur Rubinstein made his debut at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. The Polish American classical pianist went on to receive international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers, but many regarded him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.
1925 - Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky, appeared in his first American concert, as he conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a program of his own compositions.
1940 - Vincent Lopez and his orchestra recorded the third version of Lopez’ theme song titled Nola. This version, recorded in Hollywood on Bluebird Records, is recognized as his best rendition of the classic song.
1941 - Robert Baden-Powell, 83, founder of the Boy Scout movement, died.
1947 - General George Marshall was commissioned to become Secretary of State in President Harry S Truman’s Cabinet. Marshall started his new job on Jan 21, 1947, and served until Jan 20, 1949.
1951 - A cahow, thought extinct since 1615, was rediscovered in Bermuda. Fifteen-year-old David Wingate helped two scientists discover the cahow (aka Bermuda Petrel), a nocturnal seabird thought to have been extinct since the 17th century. Wingate went on to make a lifetime goal of saving the bird from extinction.
1952 - Marie Wilson came to TV as My Friend Irma. The show, popular for years on radio, lasted two seasons on television.
1955 - After 130 home basketball wins, the University of Kentucky lost -- at home -- to Georgia Tech, 59-58. It was the first Kentucky loss at home since January 2, 1943.
1957 - In an article appearing in Look magazine, Jackie Robinson announced his retirement from baseball.
1958 - Bobby Fischer won the United States Chess Championship for the first time. Interesting note: Fischer was all of 14 years of age.
1961 - Robert Goulet made his national TV debut this night on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS.
1966 - The Beatles LP, Rubber Soul, began a 6-week reign at the top of the album chart. This was the seventh Beatles LP to reach the #1 position since February 1964. Rubber Soul stayed on the charts for 56 weeks. The other #1 albums for the Fab Four to that date were: Meet the Beatles, The Beatles Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles ’65, Beatles VI and Help!.
1973 - Carly Simon received a gold record for the single, You’re So Vain.
1975 - Ella Grasso became the governor of Connecticut. She was the first woman to become a governor of a state without a husband preceding her in the governor’s chair.
1979 - Sara Carter, a member of country music’s legendary Carter Family, died. Sara married A.P. Carter in 1915, and together with her cousin, Maybelle, they formed the singing group. Beginning in 1927, The Carter Family, through their many recordings, kept alive the traditional mountain songs which have influenced many folk and country performers.
1981 - A new version of the comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Wilford Leach and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, began a run of 787 performances at the Uris and Minskoff Theatres on Broadway. With musical direction and arrangements by William Elliott, this take on Pirates earned rave reviews and seven Tony Award nominations. It won three Tonys, including the award for Best Revival and for Leach as director. The show was also nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning five, including Outstanding Musical and director.
1982 - American Telephone & Telegraph Co. settled the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies. (Actual separation happened on Jan 1, 1984.)
1984 - The Washington Redskins defeated San Francisco 24-21 after the 49ers staged a comeback with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. With this victory for the NFC Championship, Washington earned its trip to Super Bowl XVIII (where they would lose to the Los Angeles Raiders 38-9).
1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over the 2000 mark for the first time ever.
1989 - 42nd Street closed on Broadway after eight years and 3,486 performances seen by 10-million people. 42nd Street was based on the 1933 movie starring Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. It told the tale of a chorus girl replacing an aging star who breaks her ankle just before opening night.
1990 - English comic/actor Terry-Thomas died of Parkinson’s disease. He was 78 years old.
1992 - From the Please Don’t Try This At Your Next State Dinner Department: U.S. President George Bush (I) fell suddenly ill at a state dinner in Japan. The Prez became pale, slumped in his chair and promptly vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister. What must have made this even more enjoyable for Mr. Bush is the fact that all of this was recorded on video tape for future generations to, er, digest.
1993 - Elvis Presley fans lined up at post offices throughout the U.S. The Elvis commemorative stamp issue was launched with a ceremony at Presley’s Graceland mansion in Memphis. In 1992, the Postal Service had narrowed the artwork choices for the stamp down to two images: one of Elvis in the 1950s as a sizzling young rocker, and one of him as a still-svelte superstar in his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii special. The USPS left the final decision up to the American people and distributed ballots coast to coast. Over 1.2 million votes were cast, and the image of the young rocker won. The Elvis stamp is the most widely publicized stamp issue in the history of the USPS, and it is the top selling commemorative postage stamp of all time.
1995 - Composer Loulou Gasté, who wrote the song that was plagiarised as the hit Feelings, died at his Paris home. He was 88 years old. In 1956, Gaste co-wrote Pour Toi (For You) with his wife, singer-actress Line Renaud. The song didn’t become popular at the time, but in 1975 Morris Albert adapted it as Feelings. Albert’s recording made the top-10, and the song became a staple of lounge singers all over the world. Gaste sued the Brazilian singer-composer over the song and won half a million dollars in damages in a U.S. court in 1987.
1995 - Guys and Dolls closed at the Martin Beck Theater in New York City after 1143 performances.
1996 - Former French president François Mitterrand died of prostate cancer in Paris. He was 79 years old.
1998 - Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing on Feb 26, 1993, was sentenced in New York to life in prison.
1999 - The top two executives of Salt Lake City’s Olympic organizing committee resigned amid investigations into how far city boosters stooped to win the 2002 Winter Games. Investigators found boosters gave IOC members cash payments up to $70,000 and expensive gifts; and paid educational, travel, housing and medical costs of IOC members and their families. The possibility that prostitutes were hired for IOC members was also under investigation.
2001 - Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards was sentenced to ten years in prison. Edwards was also fined fined a quarter of a million dollars for a scheme to extort payoffs from businessmen who applied for riverboat casino licenses.
2002 - Fast-food chain founder Dave Thomas died. He was 69 years old. The well-known face behind the Wendy’s restaurant chain died after a long battle with cancer. Thomas, wearing a Wendy’s apron, was one of the most recognized TV spokesmen in the U.S. He appeared in almost every advertisement for the burger chain since 1989.
2002 - Ozzie Smith, regarded as the finest-fielding shortstop ever, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first try.
2003 - A US Airways Express Beech 1900 turboprop crashed on takeoff in Charlotte, NC. All 21 people on board were killed.
2004 - The journal Science reported high levels of dangerous chemicals in farmed salmon; and that wild Pacific salmon had ten times less than the farmed ones.
2004 - Queen Elizabeth II offially named the world’s largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.
2005 - Hurricane-force winds swept across northern Europe, leaving at least 13 dead: three in Carlisle, England, four in Denmark and six in Sweden.
2006 - U.S. postage rates increased by 2 cents for a 1 ounce first-class letter -- to 39 cents. The U.S. Postal Service was quick to point out that the increase was the first since 2002.
2006 - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurred between the islands of Crete and Kythira in Southern Greece. Although residents were shaken up, there were only reports of minor damage at the island of Kythira, including 3 injuries.
2007 - Movie star Yvonne De Carlo died at 84 years of age. De Carlo is best remembered as Lily Munster in the TV series The Munsters. And she played Moses’ wife in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments. In her 1987 autobiography, she listed 22 of her lovers, including Howard Hughes, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Taylor, Billy Wilder, Aly Khan and an Iranian prince.
2007 - A wildfire destroyed five multimillion-dollar homes in Malibu, CA. Among the homes lost was one belonging to actress Suzanne Somers.
2008 - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (39%) led Barack Obama (36%) in New Hampshire primary voting; John McCain (37%) led Mitt Romney (32%).
2009 - The Bank of England cut interest rates to 1.5%, the lowest level since its founding in 1694.
2010 - New movies in U.S. theatres: Bitch Slap, starring Lucy Lawless, Kevin Sorbo, Renée O’Connor, America Olivo, Michael Hurst, William Gregory Lee, Karen Austin, Mark Lutz, Debbie Lee Carrington, Minae Noji, Dennis Keiffer, Ron Melendez, Erin Cummings, Julia Voth, Rick Jacobson, Robert Mammana, aul Karami, Sabine Varnes, Eric Gruendemann, Krystal Badia, Astrid Swan, Thaddeus, Scott Hanley and Rich Kirby; Crazy on the Outside, with Tim Allen, Ray Liotta, Carrie-Anne Moss, Julie Bowen, Kelsey Grammer, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sigourney Weaver, and J.K. Simmons; Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Michael Dorman, Sam Neill, Vince Colosimo and Isabel Lucas; Leap Year, starring Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, Bill Nighy, Kaitlin Olson and John Lithgow; the documentary Waiting for Armageddon; Wonderful World, with Matthew Broderick, Sanaa Lathan, Michael K. Williams, Jodelle Ferland, Philip Baker Hall, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Patrick Carney, Ally Walker, Zacharias Foppe, Christy Reese, Cristen Barnes, Mia Ford, Paul T. Taylor, James Burton and John Hambrick; and the comedy, Youth in Revolt, starring Michael Cera, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Jean Smart, M. Emmet Walsh, Adhir Kalyan, Portia Doubleday, Justin Long, Fred Willard, Zach Galifinakis, Erik Knudsen, Mary Kay Place, Ari Graynor, Tricia Mara, Jonny Wright and Rooney Mara.
2010 - An avalanche in Russia’s southern Caucasus mountain range killed five climbers, including an instructor. Four climbers in the party of nine survived the snow slide, which struck as they were ascending the Gedan-tau peak.
2011 - India reported that 22 people, many of them homeless, had died in three days in Uttar Pradesh state, pushing the death toll from two weeks of cold weather to 135.
2011 - U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head during a meeting with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona. 22-year-old assailant Jared Loughner opened fire on the crowd in a grocery-store parking lot. Killed were U.S. District Judge John Roll (63), Christina Greene (9), Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman (30), Dorothy Morris (76), Dorwin Stoddard (76) and Phyllis Scheck (79). Nine others were wounded. On May 25, 2011 a federal judge declared that Loughner was incompetent to stand trial. Later (August 7, 2012), Loughner was found to be competent to stand trial and pleaded guilty to 19 counts of murder and attempted murder, which spared him the death penalty.
2012 - Israel charged five Jewish extremists over a December 12th raid on an army base, accusing them of gathering intelligence about the Israeli military and planning a riot.
2013 - The U.N. World Food Program announced that it was unable to help a million Syrians who were going hungry because of a lack of security in the war-stricken country.
2014 - Former U.S. pro basketballer Dennis Rodman sang Happy Birthday to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Rodman then lead a squad of former NBA stars in a game as part of his ‘basketball diplomacy’. Rodman called the North Korean dictator a friend and a “very good guy.” The same “very good guy” was considered by many to be a brutal dictator who had lauded the execution of his own uncle.
2014 - New Jersey officials released e-mails that showed Governor Chris Christie’s staff plotting highway lane closures as a political payback. The September 2013 shutdowns were aimed at the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, because he had not endorsed the Republican governor’s re-election campaign. The plot involved the creation “traffic problems in Fort Lee” by closing lanes of the George Washington Bridge.
2014 - 24 people related to the San Diego street gang BMS were indicted in California and New Jersey. The FBI said the gang had operated a prostitution ring that spanned 46 cities in 23 states. U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said the suspected sex trafficking involved underage girls and women. The suspects branded the women by tattooing them with gang signs, bar codes or a pimp’s name, then traded and gifted the women among themselves.
2015 - Canada announced that it was welcoming 10,000 more Syrian refugees. Canada also pledged some $90,000,000 in humanitarian aid and said it was going to resettle 3,000 additional Iraqi refugees who were fleeing wars and Islamic State militants.
2016 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres included: The Forest, with Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney and Yukiyoshi Ozawa; Anesthesia, starring David Aaron Baker, Derrick Baskin and Jacqueline Baum; The Treasure, with Toma Cuzin, Adrian Purcarescu, Corneliu Cozmei; Diablo, starring Scott Eastwood, Walton Goggins and Camilla Belle; the documentaries Hot Water and Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art; Lamb, with Ross Partridge, Oona Laurence and Jess Weixler; The Masked Saint, starring Brett Granstaff, Lara Jean Chorostecki and T.J. McGibbon; Wazir, with Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari and John Abraham; and The Revenant, starring Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Leonardo DiCaprio.
2016 - Mexico recaptured the world’s top drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman in a pre-dawn shootout and chase through drains in Los Mochis. Guzman was returned him to the same prison hehad escaped from six months earlier. Five gunmen were killed in the operation dubbed black swan.
2017 - La La Land won a record 7 Golden Globes, including best comedy or musical film; Moonlight won best drama. The Crown and Atlanta took TV honors. Host Jimmy Fallon kicked off the show at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills by comparing Donald Trump to Game of Thrones villain King Joffrey. “Game of Thrones is nominated tonight, how great is that? The show has so many plot twists and chalky moments, a lot of people have wondered what it would’ve been like if King Joffrey had lived. Well in 12 days, we’re gonna find out,” he said, referring to the President-elect’s January 20 inauguration.
2017 - Hugh Laurie criticized Donald Trump. Laurie won the Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his role in The Night Manager. Thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his win, the British actor noted it was made even sweeter due to winning it at the “last ever” Golden Globes. “I don’t mean to be gloomy. It’s just it has the words ‘Hollywood,’ ‘foreign’ and ‘press’ in the title,” Laurie said, the audience breaking out into laughter and cheers.
2017 - Meryl Streep, who received the lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes, slammed POTUS-elect Trump -- without mentioning his name -- for his behavior on the campaign trail and called on the press to hold him accountable. “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if you kick us all out, you’ll have nothing to watch except for football and mixed martial arts, which are not arts,” she said, tearfully and with a faint voice, upon accepting the career-spanning honor.
2018 - The Pi Delta Psi national fraternity was banned from the state of Pennsylvania for ten years and ordered to pay a fine of more than $110,000. The frat was punished for its role in the 2013 death of 19-year-old Baruch College freshman Chun Deng. Four former fraternity members were also sentenced from time served up to 24 months. Blindfolded and wearing a backpack, Deng was forced to walk in the backyard in the early morning hours through a line of fraternity members who pushed, shoved and tackled him in an attempt to bring him down. An autopsy showed Deng died of complications of traumatic brain injury. And a delay in getting medical help significantly contributed to his death.
2019 - French officials slammed a fundraising drive that brought in more than €114,000 ($126,000) for Christophe Dettinger. The former boxer had been filmed punching police officers during a ‘yellow vest’ anti-government protest in Paris.
2019 - A South Korean court approved a request by plaintiffs in a wartime forced labor case to seize part of the local assets of Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. The seizure came after a ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court ruling that Nippon Steel should pay 100 million won to each of four South Koreans to compensate them for suffering while in forced labor during WWII.
2020 - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) announced that they were going to divide their time between North America and the United Kingdom -- to carve out a “progressive new role” for themselves. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen,” the couple said in an official statement.
2020 - The World Health Organization (WHO) said the cluster of 50+ pneumonia cases in China’s central city of Wuhan was due to a newly emerging member of the family of viruses that caused the deadly SARS and MERS outbreaks. The emerging virus was soon to be named Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
2021 - Movies scheduled to open in the U.S. included: The Devil’s Light, starring Virginia Madsen, Ben Cross and Colin Salmon; Average Joe, with Jason Sedillo, Caitlin Rose Williams and Akasha Villalobos; and Redemption Day, starring Gary Dourdan, Serinda Swan and Andy Garcia.
2021 - Roku Inc acquired the global distribution rights to the Quibi short-form video streaming service content library. The purchase came some three months after Quibi was shut down following its unsuccessful run.
2021 - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned Iran from importing of U.S. Pfizer-BioNTech and Britain’s Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccines, a reflection of Iran’s mistrust of western countries.
2021 - In the book, Peril, by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa: On this day, two days after the Capitol attacks, General Mark A. Milley was so concerned about Donald Trump that he reassured China and others in secret calls and convened a meeting with top commanders to remind them that the procedures for launching a nuclear weapon needed to have Milley’s involvement in the decision.
2022 - Crowds blocked roads in Serbia to protest plans for mining lithium in the country. Experts had warned that the mining could destroy the region’s farmland and water. (Two weeks later Serbia withdrew the exploration licences of Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto.)
2022 - NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror, the final step in the observatory’s dramatic unfurling. More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, the $10 billion Webb scans the cosmos for light streaming from the first stars and galaxies formed 13.7 billion years ago. To accomplish this, NASA had to outfit Webb with the biggest and most sensitive mirror ever launched — its “golden eye,” as scientists call it.
2023 - Prince Harry appeared in interviews to promote his memoir, Spare. The Duke of Sussex accused his father, King Charles III, brother Prince William, and stepmother Camilla, the queen consort, and their PR teams of leaking some of the “most heinous, horrible things” that have been printed about him and his wife, Meghan Markle. Harry, appearing on the British network ITV and CBS’s 60 Minutes, said when an article in the British press about Harry or Meghan includes a “royal source,” that is actually “the palace, covering their tracks.” Buckingham Palace had repeatedly declined to comment on Harry’s memoir.
2023 - The U.S. won the first United Cup Tennis tournament, 4-0 over Italy. The tourney ran from Dec 29, 2022 to Jan 8, 2023 at three venues in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney.
2023 - President Biden visited El Paso, Texas, facing pressure to address a surge of migrants trying to enter the United States through Mexico. El Paso, located on the southwestern edge of Texas, was the biggest corridor for illegal crossings, due in large part to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime and poverty in their country. Biden said that authorities on the border “need a lot of resources. We’re going to get it for them.”
and more...
Birthdays on This Day January 8
1908 - William Hartnell
actor and original Doctor Who [1963-1966], Carry on Sergeant, The Army Game, This Sporting Life, Tomorrow at Ten, A Santa for Christmas, The Mouse that Roared; died Apr 23, 19751912 - José Ferrer (Cintron)
Academy Award-winning actor: Cyrano de Bergerac [1950]; Joan of Arc, Moulin Rouge, The Caine Mutiny, Deep in My Heart, Lawrence of Arabia, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ship of Fools, Dune, The Evil That Men Do; Rosemary Clooney’s husband; died Jan 26, 19921920 - Richard Benedict
actor: Ocean’s Eleven [1960], The Scarface Mob, Monkey on My Back, Spy Chasers, Woman in the Dark, Destination Big House, Streets of San Francisco; died Apr 25, 19841920 - Elisabeth Fraser
actress: The Scarlett O’Hara War, Tony Rome, A Patch of Blue, Two for the Seesaw, The Tunnel of Love, Callaway Went Thataway; died May 5, 20051923 - Larry Storch
comedian, actor: F Troop, The Larry Storch Show, That Was the Week That Was, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Airport 1975, The Ghost Busters, S.O.B.; died Jul 8, 20221924 - Ron Moody
actor: Oliver!, Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It, Nobody’s Perfect, Tales of the Gold Monkey II, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court; died Jun 11, 20151926 - Evelyn Lear
Grammy Award-winning operatic soprano [Wozzeck: 1966]; Ariadne auf Naxos, Lulu, Der Rosenkavalier, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Seagull, Minutes to Midnight, Kirschgarten; recording artist: The Magic Flute, Wozzeck, Lulu; in film: Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History; died Jul 1, 20121926 - Soupy Sales (Milton Supman)
comedian, entertainer: Lunch with Soupy Sales, The Soupy Sales Show, Sha Na Na; recording artist: The Mouse, Spy with a Pie; game show panelist: What’s My Line?; actor: Don’t Push, I’ll Charge When I’m Ready Birds Do It; died Oct 22, 20091927 - Wally (Walter) Hergesheimer
hockey: NHL: NY Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks; died Sep 27, 20141928 - Sander Vanocur
newscaster: ABC News, NBC News; TV host: History Channel: Movies in Time1929 - Gerry Spence
American Trial Lawyers Hall of Famer: never lost a criminal case either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney1930 - Doreen Wilber
archery: Olympic Gold Medalist [Munich: 1972]; died Oct 19, 20081931 - Bill Graham
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer: concert promoter, artist manager: The Grateful Dead, Santana, Neville Brothers, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones; killed in helicopter crash at Vallejo, CA Oct 26, 19911933 - Charles Osgood
TV journalist, correspondent: Universe; CBS News: CBS News Sunday Morning; author1934 - Gene (Eugene Lewis) ‘Augie’ Freese
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates, SL Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961], Houston Astros; died Jun 19, 20131935 - Elvis (Aron) Presley
singer: That’s All Right, Mama, Mystery Train, All Shook Up, Love Me Tender, Suspicious Minds; 90 top-20 hits; actor: Jailhouse Rock, G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii; over 30 films; died Aug 16, 19771937 - Shirley Bassey
singer: James Bond themes: Goldfinger [1964], Diamonds Are Forever [1971], Moonraker [1979]1938 - Bob Eubanks
TV game show host: The Newlywed Game, Rhyme and Reason, Card Sharks, The New Newlywed Game; more1940 - Cristy Lane
singer: One Day at a Time, Let Me Down Easy, Trying to Forget About You, Janie Took My Place, Shake Me I Rattle, Penny Arcade, Sweet Deceiver1940 - Jimmy O’Neill
DJ: KRLA, KFWB [Los Angeles], TV host: Shindig!; died Jan 11, 20131941 - Anthony Gourdine
singer: group: Little Anthony and The Imperials: Tears on My Pillow, Hurt So Bad1942 - Stephen Hawking
theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author: A Brief History of Time; died Mar 14, 20181942 - Yvette Mimieux
actress: The Time Machine, Where the Boys Are, Toys in the Attic, Three in the Attic, The Most Deadly Game, Skyjacked, The Neptune Factor, The Black Hole, Circle of Power, Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception; died Jan 18, 20221942 - John Petersen
musician: drums: group: The Beau Brummels: Laugh Laugh, Just a Little, You Tell Me Why, Don’t Talk to Strangers, Good Time Music, One Too Many Mornings; died Nov. 11, 20071945 - Ron Ellis
hockey: NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs [1963-1975/1978-1981] : tied Frank Mahovlich with 23 goals a piece [1964-65]1945 - Kathleen Noone
actress: Skeletons, Hearts Adrift, Citizen Ruth, A Song for You, Passions, According to Jim1946 - Robbie Krieger
musician: guitar: The Doors: Light My Fire, Love Her Madly, Riders on the Storm, Hello, I Love You1947 - Don Bendell
rancher, tracker, former U.S. Green Beret, author: Chief of Scouts series, Colt Family series, Criminal Investigation Detachment; standalone novels: Coyote Run, Strongheart: A Story of the Old West, Blood Feather; non-fiction: The B-52 Overture, Valley of Tears, Tracks of Hope: A Memoir, Snake Eater: Characters in and Stories about the U. S. Army Special Forces in Vietnam1947 - David Bowie (Jones)
singer: Space Oddity, Fame, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Peace on Earth-Little Drummer Boy [w/Bing Crosby]; actor: The Man Who Fell to Earth, Just a Gigolo, The Last Temptation of Christ; died Jan 10, 2016; more1947 - Terry Sylvester
musician: groups: Swinging Blue Jeans: Hippy Hippy Shake, Hollies: He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother, Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress, The Air That I Breathe1948 - Joe Reed
football: Detroit Lions QB1949 - Wilbur (Leon) Howard
baseball: Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros1953 - Bruce Sutter
Baseball Hall of Famer: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves1955 - Harriet Sansom Harris
actress: Desperate Housewives, Frasier, It’s All Relative, Six Feet Under, Union Square, The Shakespeare Olympics1959 - Paul Hester
musician: drums: group: Crowded House: Weather with You, World Where You Live, Fall at Your Feet, Locked Out, Don’t Dream It’s Over, Into Temptation; died Mar 26, 20051959 - Kathy Valentine
musician: bass guitar: group: The Go-Go’s: Our Lips Are Sealed, We Got the Beat, Lust to Love, Skidmarks on My Heart, This Town, Can’t Stop the World, Fading Fast1965 - Michelle Forbes
actress: Guiding Light, Escape from L.A., Kalifornia, Swimming with Sharks, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Homicide: Life on the Street, Battlestar Galactica, 24, In Treatment, Durham County, Prison Break, Unthinkable, Global Frequency, Messiah, Johnson County War, Bullfighter, True Blood, The Killing1966 - Maria Pitillo
actress: Godzilla, Wise Guys, Ryan’s Hope, Natural Born Killers, Between Love & Honor, After Sex1967 - R. Kelly (Robert Sylvester Kelly)
Grammy Award-winning singer, music producer: I Believe I Can Fly [1998]; Bump n’ Grind, Your Body’s Callin’, Gotham City, Ignition [Remix], If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time, The World’s Greatest, I’m a Flirt, Trapped in the Closet; more1969 - Brian Boehringer
baseball [pitcher]: Nevada-Las Vegas, NY Yankees, SD Padres, SF Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates1969 - Ami Dolenz
actress: Stepmonster, She’s Out of Control, Can’t Buy Me Love, Growing Pains, General Hospital; daughter of Micky Dolenz [The Monkees]1970 - Melissa Hill
actress [1993-2008]: X-rated films: Bad Wives, Make Me Watch, The Butt Sisters Do New York, Penetrator 2: Grudge Day, Hawaiian Heat, Orgazmo, Dirty Bob’s Xcellent Adventures 29, Stiff as a Board1970 - Jon Klemm
hockey: Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche1970 - Darryl Williams
football: Univ of Miami; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks1971 - Jason Giambi
baseball: Long Beach State Univ, Oakland Athletics, NY Yankees; brother of player Jeremy Giambi1971 - Billy Joe Hobert
football: Univ of Washington; NFL: Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints1971 - Darren Langdon
hockey: NY Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils1972 - Brandie Burton
golf: LPGA1973 - Mike Cameron
baseball: Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, NY Mets1973 - Charlie Condou
actor: The Girl in the Red Dress, Charlotte Gray, The Infinite Words of H.G. Wells, Dead Babies, Martin Chuzzlewit, To Kill a Priest1973 - Jarno Kultanen
hockey: Boston Bruins1975 - Jeremi González
baseball: Chicago Cubs, TB Devil Rays; died May 25, 20081976 - Jenny Lewis
actress: Don’s Plum, Pleasantville, Runaway Daughters, Daddy, The Wizard, Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter, Troop Beverly Hills1976 - Carl Pavano
baseball [pitcher]: Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins, NY Yankees1977 - Amber Benson
actress: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Latter Days, Chance, Taboo, The Enforcers, The Prime Gig, Take It Easy, Bye Bye Love1979 - Sarah Polley
actress: Road to Avonlea, The Sweet Hereafter, Guinevere, Go, The Weight of Water, My Life Without Me, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dawn of the Dead, Splice, Mr. Nobody, The Secret Life of Words, The Event, Love Come Down1979 - Josh Waters
actor: Carolina, Bringing Down the House, Truth and Dare, Van Wilder, Sixteen to Life1980 - Rachel Nichols
actress: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Star Trek [2009], Charlie Wilson’s War, Mr. Dramatic, Debating Robert Lee, Autumn in New York1981 - Jeff Francis
baseball [pitcher]: Colorado Rockies1981 - Genevieve Padalecki
actress: Wildfire, FlashForward, Hated, Supernatural1982 - Gaby Hoffman
actress: Field of Dreams, The Man Without a Face, This is My Life, Field of Dreams, Sleepless in Seattle, Transparent1983 - Kim Jong-un
North Korea dictator; son of Kim Jong-il [1941–2011]; grandson of Kim Il-sung [1912–1994]1984 - Jeff Francoeur
baseball [pitcher]: Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals1986 - David Silva
footballer [midfielder, striker]: Spain [2001-2018]: 2010 World Cup champs1987 - Cynthia Erivo
singer-songwriter: Stand Up; Tony Award-winning stage actress: The Color Purple; screen: Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale, Harriet1987 - Freddie Stroma
actor: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1/Part 2, A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, Pitch Perfect, The Philosophers2000 - Noah Cyrus
actress: Hannah Montana, The Miley and Mandy Show, Doc, Mostly Ghostly; daughter of singer Billy Ray and actress Leticia ‘Tish’ Cyrus; younger sister of actress Miley Cyrus
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day January 8
1947For Sentimental Reasons (facts) - Nat King Cole
Ole Buttermilk Sky (facts) - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The Campus Kids)
1956
1965
1974
1983
1992
2001
2010
2019
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
TWtD Calendar
