October 8
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Events on This Day
1871 - When Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in the barn, it was no laughing matter. The barn, on DeKoven Street in Chicago, caught fire. The fire spread, scorching almost four square miles, killing about 300 people and leaving a path of destruction valued at over two hundred million dollars -- a lot of dollars for that time.
1871 - This day was one for the history books as far as fires go. In Wisconsin, one of the most disastrous forest fires ever destroyed the town of Peshtigo, burned across six counties and killed over 1100 people.
1881 - A cyclone struck Haiphong, in North Vietnam. More than 300,000 people were killed.
1895 - The Berliner Gramophone Company was founded in Philadelphia. Record players were not too far off in the future.
1904 - Little Johnny Jones opened in Hartford, CT. The show became a hit several times, due in part to a little ditty which became quite popular. Give My Regards to Broadway was penned, as was the entire musical, by the ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ himself, George M. Cohan. Yetttthhhhiiirr!
1918 - Sergeant Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France during World War I. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
1919 - The first Army Air Service Transcontinental Reliability and Endurance Test started in the U.S. Seven airmen died in what amounted to an air race from New York to San Francisco and back. The ‘test’ was won on Oct 18 by Lieutenant Belvin Womble Maynard.
1935 - The O’Neills debuted on CBS radio. The theme song, Londonderry Air, opened the 15-minute soap opera. The O’Neills aired Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. In 1936 it moved to daytime where it stayed until 1943 on NBC’s Red and Blue networks and on CBS, too. One of radio’s original soaps, it was sponsored appropriately by Silver Dust, Ivory soap and Ivory soap flakes.
1935 - Wedding bells pealed for a singer and a bandleader who tied the knot, making radio history together. The bandleader was Ozzie Nelson and the singer was Harriet Hilliard. They would make the history pages again on this very day -- nine years later. Read on...
1938 - This day’s cover of The Saturday Evening Post portrayed Norman Rockwell. The illustrator chose to picture himself trying to come up with a cover concept and to complete the assignment before the magazine’s deadline.
1941 - The Benny Goodman Orchestra recorded Buckle Down Winsocki, with Tom Dix as featured vocalist, on the Columbia label.
1944 - The first broadcast of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was heard on the CBS radio network. The show would continue on radio until 1953 and on ABC-TV from 1952 to 1966. “Hi Mom, Hi Dad, Hi Dave, Hi Ricky.”
1952 - The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette was first published. Get your elbows off the table!
1955 - The aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, the world’s most powerful warship, was launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
1956 - Lawrence “a-one and a-two” Welk was doing so well with “da boys inta bant” on ABC-TV, that, after being on the tube for just one year with The Lawrence Welk Show, Welk originated another popular show called Lawrence Welk’s Top Tunes and New Talent. Mr. Welk wasn’t much on hip show titles, was he?
1956 - Legendary broadcaster Mel Allen was at the mike, describing Don Larson’s perfect game, as the New York Yankee pitched the only perfect game in World Series history. Larson threw 97 pitches, faced 27 batters, struck out 11 and lead the Bronx Bombers to a 2-0 shutout of the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. In the words of the immortal sports play-by-play great: “How about that!”
1958 - Dr. Ake Senning installed the first pacemaker in Stockholm. The patient was Arne Larsson who lived until December 28, 2001. Arne had about two dozen pacemakers in his extended lifetime.
1961 - New York Yankees’ pitcher Whitey Ford set the World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings, while extending his streak to 32 in a 7-0 shutout of the Cincinnati Reds in Game 4. Ford added one more scoreless inning in the 1962 World Series to bring that consecutive scoreless inning total to 33. The previous record was 29-2/3 innings, held by Babe Ruth.
1961 - Green Bay Packers’ running back/kicker Paul Hornung set a Packer records for points scored in a game: 33. Hornung scored 33 points: four touchdowns, six extra points and one field goal. (The Packers beat the Baltimore Coltsto, 45-7.)
1965 - London’s Post Office Tower opened as the tallest building (191m/627') in England at the time.
1967 - Clement R. Attlee, prime minister of Great Britain from 1945-1951, died at age 84.
1970 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in literature, “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature.”
1974 - Then Came You, by Dionne Warwicke and The Spinners, went solid gold this day. While the editors are poring over the proper spelling of her name, might we add that due to some superstitious feeling having to do with astrology, the former Ms. Warwick changed her name for good luck to Warwicke. It apparently worked. That is, until she went solo again upon meeting Barry Manilow in the early 1980s. Tunes like, I’ll Never Love This Way Again, Deja Vu and hits with Johnny Mathis, Luther Vandross and some friends made it OK to be just Dionne Warwick again.
1979 - Sugar Babies, opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway. The star of the hit show was also making his debut on the Great White Way. Mickey Rooney, who had been acting since the 1930s, once again delighted one and all with his performance.
1981 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan greeted predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon before sending them to Cairo, Egypt, to represent the United States at Anwar Sadat’s funeral. Reagan stayed home because of concerns for his safety.
1984 - Anne Murray won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year Award this day for A Little Good News. Murray was the first woman to win this award.
1989 - The Oakland A’s won the American League pennant for the second year in a row. (The A’s defeated the Toronto Blue Jays).
1990 - American doctors Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease.”
1991 - A U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, approved a $900-million settlement (annual payments stretched over ten years) with Exxon Shipping Company (Exxon Oil Corporation) for the Valdez oil spill. Exxon also agreed to pay a $250-million fine, which would reimburse the state of Alaska and the U.S. for the costs of cleanup, damage assessment and litigation.
1992 - West Indian poet Derek Walcott was the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.”
1993 - The U.S. government issued a report absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault on the Branch Davidian compound (Waco, TX). The fire that ended the siege killed as many as 85 people.
1996 - American economist William Vickrey (Columbia University) and British professor James Mirrlees (Cambridge University) were winners of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, “for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information.” The 82-year-old Vickrey died October 11, 1996 (three days after the Nobel announcement).
1997 - These films debuted in the U.S.: Gang Related, with James Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, Wendy Crewson, Gary Cole and Kool Mo Dee; and Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, Jamyang Wangchuk, Lhakpa Tsamchoe, B.D. Wong, Mako and Jetsun Pema.
1998 - Outspoken Portuguese novelist José Saramago won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Saramago, first writer in Portuguese to receive the award, received $950,000. In its citation, the Swedish Academy said it gave the award to Saramago for work that “with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us to apprehend an illusory reality.”
1999 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres: Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas in Random Hearts; and Superstar, starring Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Elaine Hendrix.
2001 - An SAS airliner taking off from Milan, Italy, hit a private jet, careened into an airport building and exploded. 118 people were killed.
2001 - Russia’s Kursk nuclear submarine was raised from the Barents Sea floor this day, more than a year after it sank.
2002 - Masatoshi Koshiba (University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan), Riccardo Giacconi (Associated Universities Inc. Washington, DC) and Raymond Davis Jr. (University of Pennsylvania) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics -- for their work on neutrinos that revised thinking about the nature of the universe.
2003 - Mystic River debuted in the U.S. The drama stars Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Clint Eastwood, Tim Robbins, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum, Marcia Gay Harden and Eli Wallach.
2003 - Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of tiny transportation tunnels in cell walls. The work of the pair illuminated diseases of the heart, kidneys and nervous system.
2004 - Opening in U.S. movie theatres: Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tim McGraw, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Lee Thompson Young, Garrett Hedlund and Lee Jackson; Raise Your Voice, starring Hilary Duff, John Corbett, Rebecca de Mornay, Lauren Mayhew, Jason Ritter, Ashlee Simpson, Rita Wilson, Dana Davis, Kat Dennings and Johnny K. Lewis; and Taxi, with Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen, Christian Kane, Henry Simmons, Ana Cristina De Oliceira and Ann-Margret.
2004 - Wangari Maathai (64) of Kenya won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. During the 1980s and 1990s, she campaigned against government oppression and founded Kenya’s Green Party in 1987. In 1991 Maathai won the Goldman Environmental Prize.
2004 - In a testy second debate, U.S. President George Bush (II) and Senator John Kerry argued over the war in Iraq, jobs, education, health care, abortion, the environment, cheaper drugs and tort reform. The setting was a town-hall-type session in St. Louis, MO.
2005 - A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Kashmir near the Pakistan-India border reaching to Afghanistan. It reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides and flattened an apartment building, killing hundreds of thousands of people in India and Pakistan. The Peace Bridge linking the Indian and Pakistani portions of disputed Kashmir nearly collapsed during the earthquake and took some four years to repair and reopen.
2006 - Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, said France would ban smoking in public places -- offices, schools and public buildings -- as of Feb 2007. The ban would extend to restaurants, bars and clubs at the start of 2008.
2007 - Mario R. Capecchi (70) of the University of Utah, Oliver Smithies (82) of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Sir Martin J. Evans (66) of Cardiff University in Wales shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They were awarded the prize for their groundbreaking discoveries that led to a powerful technique for manipulating mouse genes using embryonic stem cells.
2008 - Six central banks jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to shore up confidence in the world’s crisis-stricken financial system. The U.S., England, Canada, China, European and Switzerland. And the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the world economy had entered a major downturn.
2008 - Australian scientists said hundreds of new marine species and previously uncharted undersea mountains and canyons had been discovered in the depths of the Southern Ocean.
2008 - Two Americans and a U.S.-based Japanese scientist won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering and developing a glowing jellyfish protein that revolutionized the ability to study disease and normal development in living organisms. Japan’s Osamu Shimomura and Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien shared the prize for their work on green fluorescent protein, or GFP. Shimomura discovered the jellyfish protein in 1961. In the early 1990s Douglas Prasher conducted research on the jellyfish gene that made Chalfie’s and Tsien’s work possible.
2009 - Romania dedicated its Holocaust Memorial, a monument in memory of some 300,000 Jews and Gypsies killed during the Holocaust.
2009 - A New York City jury convicted 85-year-old Anthony Marshall, the son of socialite Brooke Astor, of grand larceny and conspiracy in a scheme to force her to change her will before she died at age 105 in 2007.
2010 - Films debuting in the U.S.: The documentary Inside Job, featuring narration by Matt Damon; Jim, with Dan Illian, Vanessa Burke, Abigail Savage, Michael Strelow and Atticus Cain;, Life as We Know It, starring Katherine Heigl, Christina Hendricks, Josh Duhamel Jessica St. Clair and Josh Lucas; Nowhere Boy, with Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, Thomas Sangster and David Morrissey; Secretariat, starring Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Scott Glenn, James Cromwell and Dylan Walsh; and Stone, starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Frances Conroy and Enver Gjokaj.
2010 - Imprisoned Chinese scholar Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” The decision to award the prize to Liu was made despite the objection of the Chinese government, which considered him a criminal.
2011 - Deaths on this day: NFL Hall of Famer and owner of the Oakland Raiders Al Davis died in Oakland, CA at 82 years of age; and pianist and composer Roger Williams (87), died in Los Angeles.
2012 - A U.S. House Intelligence Committee warned that U.S. companies should not do business with China’s two leading technology firms because they posed a national security threat. The panel recommended that U.S. regulators block mergers and acquisitions in this country by Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp, who were among the world’s leading suppliers of telecommunications gear and mobile phones. Reflecting U.S. concern over cyber-attacks traced to China, the report also recommended that U.S. government computer systems not include any components from the two firms because that could pose an espionage risk.
2013 - In the works for over a decade, new U.S. $100 notes went into circulation this day, with features designed to make the bills resistant to counterfeiting. The new ‘Benjamins’ were originally slated to be released in 2011, but a succession of production problems had forced roll-out plans to be postponed for more than two years.
2014 - The Nobel Prize in chemistry was won by William Moerner of Stanford University, Eric Betzig of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stefan W. Hell of Germany’s Max Planck Institute. They developed ‘super-resolved fluorescence microscopy’, microscopes with much sharper resolution than previously thought possible.
2014 - The European Union approved Britain’s bid to heavily subsidize a new nuclear power plant, overriding opposition from environmentalists and questions over the project’s 24.5 billion pound ($39 billion) price tag.
2015 - European Union governments agreed to step up deportations of illegal immigrants and discussed creating a border guard force. These were among measures proposed to cope with a surge in refugees from Syria’s civil war.
2016 - A Long Island Rail Road commuter train and a work train performing track maintenance were traveling in the same direction when they side-swiped each other, causing the commuter train to derail and injuring 33 people. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said initial reviews indicated the yellow-painted maintenance train somehow entered the clearance space of the eastbound LIRR train, causing it to derail and leaving “a splatter of yellow paint where the first collision occurred.”
2017 - In ongoing Bashar al-Assad regime air strikes in northwestern Syria, at least 11 civilians, including two children, were killed. The attack by military aircraft hit the market in Idlib province’s Maaret al-Numan.
2017 - Thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women trekked through a biblical desert landscape, converging on the shores of the Jordan River in a march for peace.
2018 - The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to to William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer of New York University. Nordhaus has developed models that suggest how governments can combat global warming. Romer has produced research that shows how governments can advance innovation.
2018 - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke approved a 20-year ban on new mining in the Paradise Valley and Gardiner Basin in Montana. Most of the land is within the Custer Gallatin National Forest north of Yellowstone National Park. Proposed gold mines had raised concerns that the area could be spoiled.
2019 - California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the first statewide law to protect renters. It imposed a statewide cap on rent increases (5% each year plus inflation) and required landlords to provide a “just cause” when evicting tenants.
2019 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said U.S. infections from three sexually transmitted diseases had risen for a fifth consecutive year. Chlamydia rose 3% from 2017, gonorrhea rose 5% and syphilis rose 15%.
2019 - U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff blasted POTUS Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for blocking Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, from testifying in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump. House Democrats said they plan to issue a subpoena for Sondland, a central player in the Ukraine scandal.
2020 - U.S. prosecutors charged Donald Trump fund-raiser Elliott Broidy with violating foreign lobbying laws -- to benefit Chinese and Malaysian interests.
2020 - Suspended officials at the agency that runs the Voice of America news outlet filed suit, accusing its CEO and his top aides of trying to turn it into a vehicle to promote Donald Trump’s agenda.
2020 - 13 men were arrested in Michigan with a foiled plot to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. The arrests grew out of an FBI-led inquiry that began in March and focused on militia groups’ discussing the “violent overthrow” of certain government and law enforcement officials.
2021 - President Biden signed into law a program to compensate CIA officers, State Department diplomats and other federal officials who had suffered traumatic neurological injuries for what was known as ‘Havana syndrome’, first identified in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.
2021 - California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a measure requiring high school students in the state to complete one semester of ethnic studies before graduation. The new rule will start in 2029.
2021 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.” Ms Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended for using freedom of expression to “expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines.” The Nobel committee said Mr Muratov, the co-founder and editor of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, had for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions.
2022 - Residents of Estero Island were allowed to return home for the first time following the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in September. The massive storm had destroyed significant portions of the small island’s infrastructure, leaving many residents of the Fort Myers Beach-area town without basic necessities. 161 deaths were attributed to the storm.
2023 - Dutch driver Max Verstappen scored his 14th win of the F1 season with a dominant victory in the Qatar Grand Prix (at the Lusail Circuit). Verstappen clinched his third consecutive Formula 1 title.
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Birthdays on This Day October 8
1890 - Eddie Rickenbacker
aviator: decorated World War I hero; President and CEO of Eastern Airlines [1938-63]; died July 23, 19731895 - Juan (Domingo) Perón
President of Argentina [1946-1955] [1973-1974]; married Eva Perón [Evita] who died in 1952; married Maria Estela Martinez aka Isabel, who became Vice President of Argentina in 1973 and then took over the presidency upon the death of her husband [1974]; died July 1, 19741910 - Wally (Wallace) Moses
baseball: Philadelphia Athletics [all-star: 1937], Chicago White Sox [all-star: 1945], Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1946]; died Oct 10, 19901917 - Billy Conn
International Boxing Hall of Famer: World Light Heavyweight Champion [1939-41]; lifetime pro record: 63-12-1, 14 KOs; in film: The Pittsburgh Kid; died May 29, 19931917 - Walter Lord
author: A Night to Remember, Day of Infamy, Incredible Victory; died May 19, 20021917 - Danny Murtaugh
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates; manager: Pittsburgh Pirates; died Dec 2, 19761919 - Jack McGrath
auto racer: Indy 500 [1955]; died Nov 6, 19551920 - Frank Herbert
author: Dune, Hellstrom’s Hive, The White Plague, The Dosadi Experiment; died Feb 11, 19861930 - Donald Lewis Kaufman
toy manufacturing mogel: co-founder of K-B Toys; antique toy collector: had multi-million dollar collection; died Oct 12, 20091931 - Pepper (Franklin) Rodgers
football: Georgia Tech; head coach: Univ. of Kansas, Georgia Tech., UCLA; died May 14, 20201934 - Doc Green
singer: group: The Drifters: There Goes My Baby, [If You Cry] True Love, True Love, Dance With Me, This Magic Moment, Save the Last Dance for Me; died Mar 10, 19891936 - Rona Barrett (Burstein)
gossip columnist: syndicated newspapers, Entertainment Tonight; TV host: The Tomorrow Show1938 - Fred Cash
singer: group: The Impressions [replaced Jerry Butler in 1960]: Gypsy Woman, It’s All Right, Talking About My Baby, I’m So Proud1938 - Fred Stolle
tennis champion: Australian Open [1965], U.S. Open [1966]1939 - Paul Hogan
actor: Crocodile Dundee series, Lightning Jack, Flipper1941 - Rev. Jesse Jackson
civil rights leader, founder: Rainbow Coalition; U.S. presidential candidate1942 - Buzz (Reese) Clifford
singer: Baby Sittin’ Boogie; died Jan 26, 20181943 - Chevy Chase (Cornelius Crane Chase)
Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor: Saturday Night Live [1976]; The Chevy Chase Show, Fletch, Man of the House, Caddyshack I & II, National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Three Amigos, The Groove Tube; Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: The Paul Simon Special [1978], Saturday Night Live [1976]; The Groove Tube1943 - R.L. Stine
author: author of hundreds of horror fiction novels: Fear Street, Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room series; Space Cadets trilogy, Hark gamebooks; more1944 - Ed (Edgar Leon) Kirkpatrick
baseball: LA Angels, California Angels, KC Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers; died Nov 15, 20101944 - Susan Raye
singer: I’ve Got a Happy Heart, Willie Jones1945 - Ray Royer
musician: guitar: group: Procol Harum: Whiter Shade of Pale, She Wandered Through the Garden Fence, Something Following Me1946 - Dennis Kucinich
Democrat member of the U.S. House of Representatives [Ohio 1997-2013]; candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President [2004, 2008])1946 - Paul (William) Splittorff
baseball: pitcher: Kansas City Royals [World Series: 1980]; died May 25, 20111947 - Tony Wilson
musician: bass, singer: group: Hot Chocolate: Love is Life, I Believe in Love, Brother Louie, Emma, Disco Queen, You Sexy Thing; songwriter [w/Errol Brown]: Think About Your Children, Bet Your Life I Do1948 - Claude Jade
actress: Topaz, Home Sweet Home, The Window, The Hitchhiker, Le grand secret; died Dec 1, 20061948 - Sarah Purcell
TV reporter: Real People1948 - Johnny Ramone (Cummings)
musician: guitar: group: The Ramones: Beat on the Brat, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue, Do You Remember Rock ’n’ Roll Radio?, We Want the Airwaves, The KKK Took My Baby, Howling at the Moon; died Sep 15, 20041949 - Enos (Milton) Cabell
baseball: Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, SF Giants, Detroit Tigers, LA Dodgers1949 - Brian Glenwright
hockey: Kansas City Blues, Montreal Voyageurs, Denver Spurs, Chicago Cougars, Long Island Cougers, Kenosha Flyers, Saginaw Gears, Columbus Owls; died Aug 5, 20061949 - Hamish Stuart
musician: guitar, singer: group: Average White Band: Pick Up the Pieces, Let’s Go Around Again1949 - Sigourney Weaver
actress: Political Animals, Gorillas in the Mist, Alien series, Working Girl, Dave, Ghostbusters series, Annie Hall, The Year of Living Dangerously; daughter of Sylvester Pat Weaver, Today show creator and author of Best Seat in the House1950 - Robert ‘Kool’ Bell
musician: bass guitar, singer: group: Kool and the Gang: Celebration1954 - Michael Dudikoff
actor: Virtual Assassin, Soldier Boyz, The Human Shield, American Ninja series, Platoon Leader, Avenging Force, Bachelor Party, I Ought to Be in Pictures, The Black Marble, Star of the Family, Cobra1955 - Bill Elliott
NASCAR champ: Winston Cup Series Championship [1988]; two Daytona 500 victories, four consecutive wins at Michigan International Speedway [1985-1986]; holds the track record at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway with speeds of more than 210 mph; won NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award 16 times1955 - Darrell Hammond
comedian, actor: Saturday Night Live Agent Cody Banks, New York Minute, Kiss Me Again, Epic Movie, Wieners, Buzzkill1956 - Stephanie Zimbalist
actress: Remington Steele, Centennial, The Gathering, The Awakening; daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.1959 - Mike Morgan
baseball [pitcher]: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks1964 - Ian Hart
actor: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; Liam, The Hours and Times, Backbeat, Snodgrass, Neverland, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dirt, The Man Who Crossed Hitler1965 - C.J. Ramone (Christopher Ward)
musician: bass: group: The Ramones: I Don’t Want to Grow Up, Main Man, Strength To Endure, The Crusher1966 - Karyn Parsons
actress: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Lush Life, The Job, Late Nights, Major Payne, The Ladies Man, Sweet Blackberry1968 - Emily Procter
actress: CSI: Miami, Submerged, Kingdom Come, Family Plan, The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!, Jerry Maguire, Leaving Las Vegas, Fast Company1969 - Julia Ann (Tavella)
actress [1992-2012]: X-rated films: Diary of Casanova, Women In & Out of Uniform, Stiff Competition 2, Julia Ann: Superstar, Seven Deadly Sins, It’s a Vivid Girl Reunion, Island Fever1969 - Jeremy Davies
Emmy Award-winning actor: Justified [2012]; Saving Private Ryan, Lost, Helter Skelter, Manderlay, Rescue Dawn, It’s Kind of a Funny Story1970 - Matt Damon
actor: Saving Private Ryan, Courage Under Fire, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum, The Monuments Men, Good Will Hunting: shared Academy Award [Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen] with Ben Affleck [1998]1970 - Anne-Marie Duff
actress: Shameless, The Virgin Queen, The History of Mr Polly, From Darkness, Sex Education, The Salisbury Poisonings, Enigma, The Magdalene Sisters, Notes on a Scandal, French Film, The Last Station, Nowhere Boy, Before I Go to Sleep, Suffragette, His Dark Materials1971 - Monty Williams
basketball [forward]: Notre Dame Univ; NBA: New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers; head coach: New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans [2010-2015], Phoenix Suns [2019–2023]; Detroit Pistons [2023–2024]1973 - Derk Cheetwood
actor: General Hospital, Frailty, U-571, Finding Kelly, The Postman, The Cold Equations1976 - Amos Zereoué
football [running back]: Univ of West Virginia; NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers [1999–2003]; Oakland Raiders [2004]; New England Patriots [2005]1983 - Travis Pastrana
motorsports racer, stunt performer: gold medal winner at X Games for rally racing, supercross, freestyle motocross1985 - Max Crumm
actor: Grease: You’re the One That I Want!, Echoboom, Miles From Home1985 - Bruno Mars
Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer: Just the Way You Are, Grenade, It Will Rain; co-wrote Flo Rida’s hit, Right Around; more1993 - August T. Jones
actor: Two and a Half Men, See Spot Run, The Rookie, Bringing Down the House, George of the Jungle 2, The Christmas Blessing1993 - Molly C. Quinn
actress: Castle, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, A Christmas Carol, Ways & Means, Agnes, The Last Rampage1997 - Bella Thorne
actress: Shake It Up, Raspberry Magic, Little Monk, Dirty Sexy Money, Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place; singer: LPs: Shake It Up: Break It Down, Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance, Shake It Up: Made In Japan2001 - Percy Hynes White
actor: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Edge of Winter, Our House, Age of Summer, Killer in My Home, A Christmas Horror Story, Between, The Gifted2002 - Zheng Qinwen
Chinese tennis champ: Australian Open women's singles 2024 runner-up
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Hit Music on This Day October 8
1945Till the End of Time (facts) - Perry Como
If I Loved You (facts) - Perry Como
1954
1963
1972
1981
1990
1999
2008
2017
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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