Events on This Day
1775 - The second Continental Congress gave the okay for its young country to acquire ships and form what is now the United States Navy.1792 - The cornerstone of what was termed the President’s House was laid by George Washington in Washington, DC. The name, White House, was not officially adopted until 1902. The house, designed by James Hoban, would be three stories tall with more than 100 rooms.
1884 - Greenwich, England was accepted as the prime meridian of world time calculations. The decision was made at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC.
1903 - Beginning this night, and for 192 performances, Babes in Toyland entertained youngsters of all ages in New York City. Toyland is just one of Victor Herbert’s timeless operettas.
1924 - The Guardsman, starring Lynne Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, was the catalyst to stardom for the pair. The play opened in New York this day.
1939 - Harry James and his band recorded On a Little Street in Singapore for Columbia Records. A kid singer named Frank Sinatra was the featured vocalist on what was his seventh recording.
1944 - British and Greek advance troops landed at the port city of Piraeus; the liberation of Greece was underway. (Axis forces in Greece surrendered on November 4, 1944.)
1944 - American troops entered Aachen, Germany. Aachen, Germany’s westernmost city, was the first German city to be taken by the Allies.
1953 - An ultrasonic (sound with a frequency greater than 20,000 Hz) burglar alarm was patented by New Yorker Samuel Bagno.
1957 - Two superstars introduced a new car on ABC-TV. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra joined forces in an hourlong special that turned out to be a big ratings hit. Too bad the Edsel, the car that Ford Motor Company was introducing, didn’t fare as well.
1958 - This day was musically memorable as Warren Covington conducted the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for what would be the last big band tune to climb the pop charts. Tea for Two Cha Cha, made it into the Top 10, peaking at #7. And that was the end of the Big Band Era. Rock ’n’ roll was here to stay.
1960 - After game six of the World Series, the New York Yankees had scored 46 runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates only 17, yet the Bucs had the series tied going into game seven. The final game opened with a home run by Rocky Nelson and was concluded by a historic game-winning hit by Bill Mazeroski, giving the Pirates their first world championship in thirty-five years.
1960 - Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in the third televised debate of their presidential campaign. Nixon was in Hollywood and Kennedy was in New York.
1961 - For the first time since 77 Sunset Strip debuted (Oct. 10, 1958), viewers saw Gerald Lloyd ‘Kookie’ Kookson III (Edd Byrnes) wearing a coat and tie. It was “the ginchiest.” Kookie, Kookie, lend us your comb.
1961 - A TV news icon called it quits. Howard K. Smith parted ways with CBS News. He said that “there was a difference in interpretation of network news policy.”
1962 - A young 34-year-old named Edward Albee brought his play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, to the stage in New York. Four years later, Albee’s play became an Academy Award-winning film (6 Oscars).
1963 - Beatlemania hit the London Palladium. The Beatles made their first appearance on a major TV show -- for the BBC. Thousands of delirious fans jammed the streets outside the theatre to voice their support of the Fab Four. A few months later, Beatlemania would sweep the U.S. as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
1964 - Voskhod 1, the first spacecraft to carry a multi-person crew, returned to earth.
1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered a worldwide secret nuclear alert to scare the Soviets into forcing concessions from North Vietnam. Nixon called the tactic a “Madman Theory.” Mad, or not, the alert did not work and, in fact, the Soviets may not even have noticed.
1971 - ‘Little’ Donny Osmond received a shiny gold record for his rendition of the Steve Lawrence hit, Go Away Little Girl. He went on to garner million-seller success with Hey Girl and Puppy Love too. Donny was quite popular with the bubblegum set, as well he should have been. Donny was only 13 years old.
1973 - The Rolling Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup was number one album in the U.S. With the exception of Angie, the album’s tracks were only semi-memorable: Dancing With Mr. D, 100 Years Ago, Coming Down Again, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Silver Train, Hide Your Love, Winter, Can You Hear the Music, Star Star.
1974 - Television host Ed Sullivan died in New York City. He was 73 years old.
1977 - Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, became president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
1979 - Speaking of the teenage set, Michael Jackson went to “#1 ... 1 ... 1” for the second time with Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough. His first number one (Oct. 14, 1972 - age 14) was a ratty little number about Ben.
1982 - The International Olympic Committee restored (post mortem) two gold medals from the 1912 Olympics to Jim Thorpe.
1983 - The first cellular telephones in the U.S. were introduced in Chicago, Illinois by Motorola.
1987 - Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his work for peace in Central America, efforts which led to the accord signed in Guatemala on August 7 this year.”
1988 - Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was named recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel praise was high for Mahfouz, “who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind.”
1988 - Republican Vice President George Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis met in the second presidential debate of the 1988 campaign.
1990 - Le Duc Tho, co-founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, died in Hanoi at age 79. He was the 1975 North Vietnamese negotiator in Paris.
1991 - The Minnesota Twins won the American League pennant, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 at Toronto’s SkyDome.
1992 - Republican Vice President Dan Quayle and Democratic Senator Al Gore collided in a debate in Atlanta, Georgia.
1993 - The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Kary Mullis and Michael Smith.
1993 - The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Russel Hulse and Joseph Taylor.
1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation announced that it was offering its new Netscape Navigator free to users via the Internet. The Internet browser, developed by the six-month-old Silicon Valley company led by Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and NCSA Mosaic creator Marc Andreessen, was available for free downloading by “individual, academic and research users.”
1995 - The Scarlet Letter opened in U.S. theatres. The romantic drama stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall.
1995 - Joseph Rotblat, a nuclear physicist who devoted his life to trying to ban the bomb he helped create, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Rotblat shared the prize with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. All were praised for “their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.”
1996 - The New York Yankees won the American League pennant, beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 at at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
1998 - Walter Kohn and John A. Pople won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Nobel Prize in Physics went to Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer and Daniel C. Tsui for “their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations.”
1999 - Robert A. Mundell of Columbia University in New York won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
1999 - The JonBenet Ramsey grand jury in Boulder CO was dismissed. After 13 months of work, prosecutors decided there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone in the six-year-old’s strangulation and murder.
2000 - These motion pictures opened in the U.S.: Billy Elliot, starring Julie Walters, Jamie Bell, Jamie Draven, Gary Lewis, Jean Heywood and Stuart Wells; The Contender, with Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Philip Baker Hall, Saul Rubinek and Sam Elliott; Dr. T and the Women, with Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Tara Reid and Kate Hudson; The Ladies Man, starring Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, Tiffani Thiessen, Lee Evans and Will Ferrell; and Lost Souls, with Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin, John Hurt, Philip Baker Hall, Sarah Wynter and Elias Koteas.
2001 - Anthrax was confirmed in three U.S. states. In Florida, five more employees tested positive. In Nevada, a letter sent to a Microsoft office tested positive. And in New York City, a letter sent to NBC News tested positive.
2002 - The Anaheim Angels routed the Minnesota Twins 13-5 to win (four games to one) their first American League championship in franchise history.
2003 - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation anounced it was doubling -- to $200 million -- its grant to fight HIV and AIDS in India.
2004 - U.S. President George Bush (II) and Senator John Kerry held their third and final presidential campaign debate -- in Tempe, AZ.
2005 - The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to British playwright Harold Pinter. He is best known for his plays The Birthday Party (1957), The Caretaker (1959), The Homecoming (1964) and Betrayal (1978); and for his screenplay adaptations of novels, such as The Servant (1963) and The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1980).
2006 - Films debuting in the U.S.: The Grudge 2, with Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Arielle Kebbel, Jennifer Beals, Teresa Palmer, Takako Fuji, Ryo Ishibashi, Misako Uno, Shaun Sipos and Edison Chen; Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams, Laura Linney, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum and Lewis Black; and The Marine, with John Cena, Kelly Carlson, Jeff Chase, Jon Bennett, Abigail Bianca, Troy Brenna, Ashley Lyons, Anthony Ray Parker, Robert Patrick, Drew Powell and Kelly Steves.
2006 - At the Vatican Pope Benedict XVI met with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet. A Vatican spokesman confirmed that the visit had taken place but said it was “strictly private and of a strictly religious nature.”
2006 - The World Health Organization reported an outbreak of a suspected pneumonic plague in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There were 42 deaths the previous ten weeks -- among 626 suspected cases of the plague.
2007 - A landslide triggered by local residents digging for rumored deposits of gold in an abandoned mine near Suarez, Colombia killed two-dozen people.
2008 - Paul Krugman, Princeton University scholar and New York Times columnist, won the Nobel prize in Economic Sciences. Krugman worked out an analysis of how economies of scale can affect trade patterns and the location of economic activity.
2008 - Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Austria put up €1.7 trillion ($2.3 trillion) in guarantees and other emergency measures to save the banking system. It was the most unified response yet to the global financial crisis.
2009 - Two creepy thrillers opened in U.S. theatres: Infestation, with Chris Marquette, Brooke Nevin, Ray Wise, Bru Muller, Deborah Geffner and Efram Potelle; and The Killing Room, starring Nick Cannon, Clea DuVall, Timothy Hutton, Meade Patton, Joan Roberts and Chloë Sevigny.
2009 - American International Group [AIG] announced the sale of its Taiwan unit for 2.15 billion U.S. dollars as the insurance giant raised money to repay huge U.S. government bail-out loans.
2010 - Canada declared bisphenol A (BPA) to be a toxic chemical. The announcement prompted calls for far-reaching curbs on the industrial chemical that was widely used to create clear, hard plastics, as well as food can liners.
2010 - The 33 miners in Chile who had been trapped for 69 days after their mine caved in climbed into a rescue capsule and made a smooth ascent to the surface. All the miners were pulled up through a narrow escape chute from nearly a half-mile down in just under 23 hours.
2011 - Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced in New York City to 11 years in prison. He was also fined $10 million and ordered to forfeit $53.8 million. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell said he concluded that Rajaratnam made well over $50 million in profits from illegal trades. The 11-year sentence was the longest insider trading sentence ever, but was far short of the two decades sought by prosecutors.
2012 - Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said the the global economy was relying too heavily on Asia to make up for stagnant growth in the U.S. and Europe. He urged international policy makers to do more to bolster expansion. “It is time for the other players to get off the benches and start to pull their weight on global economic growth again,” Swan said in remarks to the International Monetary and Financial Committee in Tokyo. “Asia alone can’t carry the global economy.”
2013 - 19 North Korean officers and sailors died while performing “combat duties” in a submarine chaser. Nov 6, 2013 North Korea’s official news agency reported, “Commanding officers and sailors of submarine chaser No. 233 fell while performing their combat duties in mid-October last in defence of their post to the last moments of their lives.” The agency offered no details of the incident.
2014 - A magnitude 7.4 earthquake off the Pacific coast of El Salvador disrupted power to several communities and killed one man. The quake was part of a series of strong temblors that rattled much of Central America.
2014 - Comcast NBCUniversal and a consortium of four Chinese state-owned companies announced the approval of the development of a $3.3-billion Universal theme park in Beijing. Universal Beijing would be the first major foreign-owned theme park in the Chinese capital.
2015 - Playboy magazine announced that it would stop publishing full nudity pictures as of March 2016. The onslaught of Internet pornography has made the nude images in Playboy “passé,” said Scott Flanders, the company’s chief executive. (The move was a big flop and Playboy resumed publishing nude photos with the March/April 2017 issue.)
2015 - The Dutch Safety Board concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 had been shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile. This, in its final report on the crash in July 2014 that killed all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch. The findings of the board did not point the finger at any group or party for launching the missile. The West and Ukraine said Russian-backed rebels brought down the Boeing 777, but Russia blamed Ukrainian forces.
2016 - Republican VP candidate Mike Pence tried to defend his running mate against “unsubstantiated allegations” of sexual misconduct made by multiple women. The Indiana governor spoke at a gathering of the Lehigh County GOP reiterating that Donald Trump had “categorically denied” such allegations. He went on to assail the media saying, “We’re not going to allow the Clinton campaign and the national media to turn this campaign into a discussion of slander and lies.” This, while Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke of a need for national healing. “I take no satisfaction in seeing what Trump does and says because it hurts — it hurts me and it hurts our country,” she said in a speech at a fundraiser.
2016 - Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” The news was announced by the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, Sara Danius, who called Dylan “a great poet in the English-speaking tradition,” and “a wonderful sampler – a very original sampler”. “For 54 years now, he has been at it and reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity,” she added.
2017 - New movies in U.S. theatres included: The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan and Michael McElhatton; the animated Gnome Alone, featuring the voices of Becky G., Tara Strong, David Koechner, Olivia Holt, Josh Peck, Madison De La Garza and George Lopez; Happy Death Day, with Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard and Ruby Modine; Marshall, starring Dan Stevens, Sophia Bush and Kate Hudson; 6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain, with Josh Hartnett, Mira Sorvino and Sarah Dumont; American Satan, starring Denise Richards, John Bradley and Booboo Stewart; Breathe, with Diana Rigg, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield; Goodbye Christopher Robin, starring Margot Robbie, Domhnall Gleeson and Kelly Macdonald; The Meyerowitz Stories, starring Adam Sandler, Grace Van Patten and Dustin Hoffman; and Swing Away, with Shannon Elizabeth, John O'Hurley and Karl Theobald.
2017 - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was deploying its first-ever plague treatment center to Madagascar. Dozens had been reported killed by the outbreak of plague (caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas and rats).
2018 - The Bank of England said its new 50-pound note will be printed on thin, flexible polymer with extra security measures to prevent forgeries.
2018 - The Vatican said Pope Francis had defrocked Chilean two retired bishops (Francisco José Cox Huneeus and Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández) who have been caught up in the country’s widening child/sexual abuse crisis.
2019 - Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. V.P. Joe Biden, defended his work in Ukraine and China, after ongoing criticism from POTUS Trump that embroiled the White House in an impeachment fight. The younger Biden said of Trump’s accusations of improprieties while he was a board member of the Burisma energy company in Ukraine for five years, that no foreign or domestic law enforcement agency had accused him of any wrongdoing. “Did I do anything improper? No, and not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever. I joined a board, I served honourably,” Mr Biden said, adding that he did not discuss such business with his father.
2019 - Japan sent tens of thousands of troops and rescue workers to save stranded residents and fight flooding caused by powerful Typhoon Hagibis. At least 63 people had been killed with 11 others presumed dead. The storm -- the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in six decades -- had paralyzed Tokyo.
2020 - Federal payments to U.S. farmers hit a record $46 billion. This, as the White House funneled money to Trump’s rural base in the South and Midwest just ahead of election day. Government subsidies would account for about 40 percent of total farm income in 2020.
2020 - The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to halt the 2020 census count ahead of schedule, effectively shutting down the contentious and heavily litigated census. The move set the stage for a fight over how to use census numbers for the apportionment of the next Congress.
2020 - Calling for better working conditions, hundreds of primary care doctors went on strike in the Catalonia region of Spain. With 900,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 33,000 deaths, Spain had become the pandemic’s hotspot in Western Europe. Madrid and nearby suburbs were all locked down. Public primary care centers were the first line of defense against the virus because they handled testing and tracing of potential cases while continuing to treat the sick. The doctors said those centers were overwhelmed.
2021 - The Biden administration announced that it was helping develop some seven offshore wind farms on the East and West U.S. coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. If approved and built, the projects could mean about 78 million metric tons less of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.
2021 - 90-year-old Hollywood actor William Shatner and three younger passengers flew to an altitude of 66.5 miles aboard a Blue Origin ship over the West Texas desert.
2022 - 90-year-old actor William Shatner became the oldest person to reach space, travelling aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket -- on a 10 minute flight. The actor who first played the space-traveling Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV franchise was emotional after the flight. “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, diverting myself in now & then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me,” he said of his experience.
2022 - The Supreme Court rejected former POTUS Donald Trump’s request to let special master Raymond Dearie review classified documents that federal agents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The unsigned one-sentence order upheld a September appeals court decision barring Dearie from including the classified material in his review. Trump’s lawyers had argued that some of the seized government documents were protected under executive and attorney-client privilege; the Justice Department said Trump has no executive claim to the files.
2022 - New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state court to freeze the New York assets of the Trump Organization, and put in place an independent monitor. James filed a $250 million lawsuit earlier accusing Trump and his family real estate business of fraudulently overvaluing the company’s properties to get better loans, and undervaluing them to get lower taxes. She said preventing Trump and his company from moving their assets was a necessary move to prevent Trump from continuing the “same fraudulent practices” and evading justice.
2023 - Microsoft completed the biggest buyout in gaming history, purchasing Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
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Birthdays on This Day October 13
1754 - Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley)
American heroine: took over loading and firing cannon for her wounded husband during the Battle of Monmouth [American Revolution]; name became synonym for a heroine; died July 22, 18321821 - Rudolf Virchow
scientist: doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist: founded cellular pathology; died Sep 5, 19021872 - L.L. (Leon Leonwood) Bean
founded L.L. Bean mail-order/retail company which specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment; died Feb 5, 19671909 - Herblock (Herbert Block)
editorial cartoonist; died Oct 7, 20011914 - Walter Brooke
actor: Jagged Edge, Advice to the Lovelorn, East of Eden, The Heartbreak Winner, North Dallas Forty, Black Sunday, The Honorable Sam Houston; died Aug 20, 19861915 - Cornel Wilde
actor: A Song to Remember, Sharks’ Treasure, Norseman, Omar Khayyam, The Greatest Show on Earth, Forever Amber; died Oct 16, 19891917 - Burr Tillstrom
Emmy Award-winning puppeteer: Berlin Wall Hand Ballet, That was the Week that Was [1965-66]; Kukla, Fran & Ollie; died Dec 6, 19851918 - Nipsey Russell
actor, comedian: Car 54, Where are You?, ABC’s Nightlife, Barefoot in the Park, The Dean Martin Show; died Oct 2, 20051918 - Robert Walker
actor: Bataan, Madame Curie, Since You Went Away, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo; father of actor Robert Walker, Jr.; died Aug 28, 19511920 - Laraine Day (La Raine Johnson)
actress: Return to Fantasy Island, Murder on Flight 502, Mr. Lucky, Those Endearing Young Charms, Tycoon; TV panelist: I’ve Got a Secret; died Nov 10, 20071921 - Yves Montand (Yvo Livi)
actor: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Lovers like Us, Grand Prix, The Crucible; singer: Mais Qu’est-ce que J’ai; died Nov 9, 19911921 - Lou Saban
football: Indiana Univ QB; Cleveland Browns LB; Head Coach: NE Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Maryland Terrapins; died Mar 29, 20091925 - Lenny Bruce (Leonard Alfred Schneider)
comedian; films: Dance Hall Racket, Dynamite Chicken; died Aug 3, 19661925 - Frank D. Gilroy
playwright: The Gig, Jinxed, From Noon till Three, Desperate Characters, Fastest Gun Alive; died Sep 12, 20151925 - Margaret (Hilda) Thatcher (Roberts)
‘The Iron Lady’: British leader: Prime Minister of Great Britain [1979-1990]; died Apr 8, 20131926 - Ray Brown
Jazz Hall of Famer bassist known for his work with Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Krall, Milt Jackson, Jazz at the Philharmonic, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Blossom Dearie, Lalo Schifrin, Jim Hall; died Jul 2, 20021926 - Eddie (Edward Frederick Joseph) Yost
‘The Walking Man’: baseball: third base: Washington Nationals [all-star: 1952], Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels; Manager: 1963 Senators; died Oct 16, 20121931 - Eddie (Edwin Lee) Mathews
Baseball Hall of Famer: third base: Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves [all-star: 1953, 1955-1962/World Series: 1957, 1958], Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1968], Houston Astros; seventh player in major league history to hit 500 home runs [512]; Braves coach & manager; on cover of first Sports Illustrated; died Feb 18, 20011938 - Shirley Caesar
multi-award winning singer: Never, His Blood, Feel the Spirit, Things Are Going to Get Better, Hold My Mule, Born Again, Yes Lord, Yes, Peace in the Midst of the Storm1939 - Melinda Dillon
actress: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Sioux City, The Prince of Tides, Harry and the Hendersons, A Christmas Story, Absence of Malice, Slap Shot, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bound for Glory; died Jan 9, 20231941 - Paul Simon
songwriter, singer, musician: guitar: duo: Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Homeward Bound, I Am a Rock, Mrs. Robinson, Scarborough Fair, The Sounds of Silence, Cecilia; solo: Mother and Child Reunion, Me and Julio, Kodachrome, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Slip Slidin’ Away; LP: Graceland; Wonderful World [w/Art Garfunkel, James Taylor]; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; in film: Annie Hall1942 - Jerry Jones
businessman: owner, president, general manager of Dallas the Cowboys [NFL]1942 - Pamela Tiffin
actress: Viva Max, The Hallelujah Trail, State Fair, Summer and Smoke, Dinner at Eight, Harper; died Dec 2, 20201944 - Robert Lamm
singer, musician: keyboards: group: The Big Thing: Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago: Beginnings, Feelin’ Stronger Every Day, Saturday in the Park, [I’ve Been] Searchin’ So Long, If You Leave Me Now, Just You ’n’ Me, Hard to Say I’m Sorry; songwriter: Critic’s Choice; solo: LP: Skinny Boy1945 - Karen Akers
singer, actress: Heartburn, The Purple Rose of Cairo1946 - Demond Wilson
actor: Sanford and Son, The Odd Couple, Baby I’m Back; preacher1947 - Sammy Hagar
singer, musician: guitar: Keep on Rockin’, Bad Motor Scooter, Your Love is Driving Me Crazy, Two Sides of Love, I Can’t Drive 55; group: Van Halen1948 - Lacy J. Dalton (Jill Byrem)
songwriter, singer: Dream Baby, 16th Avenue, Takin’ It Easy, Hard Times, Crazy Blue Eyes; in film: Take this Job and Shove It1948 - Randy (Randall James) Moffitt
baseball: pitcher: SF Giants, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays; brother of tennis great Billie Jean King1951 - John Ford Coley
singer: duo: England Dan and John Ford Coley: I’d Really Love to See You Tonight, It’s Sad to Belong, Love is the Answer, Gone Too Far, We’ll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again1951 - Olympia-Ann Sylvers
singer: group: The Sylvers: Wish That I Could Talk to You, Through the Love in My Heart, Stay Away From Me, Can You Handle It, Boogie Fever, Cotton Candy1952 - Beverly Johnson
model, actress: The Cover Girl Murders, Ashanti, Land of No Mercy1952 - Greg Latta
football: Chicago Bears TE1953 - Pat Day
‘Little Jesus’: jockey: National Horse Racing Hall of Famer: Eclipse Award [1984, 1986, 1987, 1991]; Triple Crown winner [1985]; Classic winner [1984, 1990]; won a record $11,631,000 in Breeders’ Cup races [1984-1994]1958 - Joseph Richard ‘Ricky’ Sylvers
singer: group: The Sylvers: Boogie Fever, Wish That I Could Talk to You, Through the Love in My Heart, Stay Away From Me, Can You Handle It, Cotton Candy, Hot Line
1959 - Marie (Olive) Osmond
singer: Paper Roses, Who’s Sorry Now, This is the Way That I Feel; TV host: Donny and Marie, Ripley’s Believe It or Not; doll maker and seller1961 - Derek Harper
basketball [guard]: Univ of Illinois; NBA: Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, LA Lakers1961 - Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers
basketball [forward]: Atlanta Hawks [1983–1991]; LA Clippers, [1991–1992]; New York Knick [1992–1994]; San Antonio Spurs [1994–1996]; as coach: Orlando Magic [1999–2003]; Boston Celtics [2004–2013]: 2008 NBA champs; Los Angeles Clippers [2013–2020]; Philadelphia 76ers [2020–2023]; Milwaukee Bucks [2024- ]1962 - Kelly Preston
actress: For Love and Honor, Cheyenne Warrior, Double Cross, Love is a Gun, Only You, The Perfect Bride, Amazon Women on the Moon, Mischief, Jerry Maguire, Jack Frost, The Cat in the Hat, Old Dogs, Broken Bridges, CSI: Cyber; died Jul 12, 20201962 - Jerry Rice
football: San Francisco ’49er wide receiver: Super Bowl XXIII, XXIV, XXIX; NFL individual record: touchdown receptions: career [131], season [22]; Super Bowl records: career: yards gained [215], points scored: [42], touchdowns scored [7], TDs in one game [3]; Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks1964 - Christopher Judge
actor: Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Stargate Atlantis, The Mentalist, Personal Effects, Snow Dogs, A Dog’s Breakfast, Anonymous, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Dark Knight Rises1964 - Matt Walsh
comedian, actor: Dog Bites Man, Veep, Players, Into the Storm1967 - Trevor Hoffman
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Arizona; MLB: Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers1967 - Kate Walsh
actress: Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, Hot Tub Time Machine, Inside Out, After the Sunset, The Family Man, Night of the Lawyers, Normal Life; more1968 - Tisha Campbell
actress: House Party series, Boomerang, Rooftops, School Daze, Rags to Riches, Martin, My Wife and Kids, Lemonade Mouth1969 - Rhett Akins
singer: Don’t Get Me Started, That Ain’t My Truck, She Said Yes, What They’re Talkin’ About, I Brake for Brunettes; more1969 - Nancy Kerrigan
Olympic ice skating medalist: [silver, 1994]1969 - Damian Miller
baseball: Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers1971 - Sacha Baron Cohen
stand-up comedian, writer, actor, voice actor: known for writing and playing four unorthodox fictional characters, Ali G, Borat, Brüno, and Admiral General Aladeen, in his routines1971 - Sean O’Donnell
hockey: Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, Phoenix Coyotes, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Anaheim Ducks1973 - Brian Dawkins
football: Clemson Univ; NFL: Philadelphia Eagles 1994-2008]; Denver Broncos [2009–2011]1973 - Moana Wolfgramm
singer: group: The Jets: Cross My Broken Heart, Crush on You, You Got It All, Rocket 2 U, Make It Real, Sendin’ All My Love1976 - Lennie Friedman
football: Duke Univ; NFL: Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins1976 - Jennifer Sky
actress: The Helix... Loaded, Never Die Alone, Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife, Shop Club, Shallow Hal, Trigger Happy, Xena: Warrior Princess1977 - Quincy Carter
football [quarterback]: Univ of Georgia; NFL: Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets1977 - Paul Pierce
basketball [forward; ‘The Truth’]: Univ of Kansas: MVP of Big 12 Conference Tournament [1997, 1998]; NBA: Boston Celtics [1998–2013; NBA Champion: 2008]; Brooklyn Nets [2013-2014]; Washington Wizards [2014-2015]; Los Angeles Clippers [2015-2017]1978 - Jermaine O’Neal
basketball [forward]: Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers1979 - Ryan Clark
football [free safety]: NBA: New York Giants [2002–2003]; Washington Redskins [2004–2005]; Pittsburgh Steelers [2006–2013]: 2009 Super Bowl XLIII champs, 2011 Super Bowl XLV; Washington Redskins [2014]1980 - Ashanti
singer: Rain on Me, Foolish, Baby, When a Man Does Wrong, Movies, Breakup 2 Makeup, Rock Wit U [Awww Baby], I Found Lovin’, Feels So Good, Sweet Baby1980 - David Haye
boxer [The Hayemaker]: held world titles in two weight classes [cruiserweight and heavyweight]1982 - Ian Thorpe
swimming champ [holds 22 world records]; TV host: Undercover Angels1988 - Norris Cole
basketball [point guard]: NBA: Miami Heat [2011-2015]: 2012, 2013 NBA champs1989 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
activist politician: U.S. Representative [D-NY]: took office at age 29, the youngest woman ever to serve in the U.S. Congress2001 - Caleb McLaughlin
actor: Stranger Things, High Flying Bird, Concrete Cowboy, The New Edition Story
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Hit Music on This Day October 13
1950Goodnight Irene (facts) - The Weavers
La Vie En Rose (facts) - Tony Martin
Bonaparte’s Retreat (facts) - Kay Starr
I’m Moving On (facts) - Hank Snow
1959Mack the Knife (facts) - Bobby Darin
Mr. Blue (facts) - The Fleetwoods
Poison Ivy (facts) - The Coasters
The Three Bells (facts) - The Browns
1968Hey Jude (facts) - The Beatles
Fire (facts) - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Little Green Apples (facts) - O.C. Smith
Harper Valley P.T.A. (facts) - Jeannie C. Riley
1977Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band (facts) - Meco
Keep It Comin’ Love (facts) - KC & The Sunshine Band
You Light Up My Life (facts) - Debby Boone
Heaven’s Just a Sin Away (facts) - The Kendalls
1986When I Think of You (facts) - Janet Jackson
Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone) (facts) - Glass Tiger
Two of Hearts (facts) - Stacey Q
Both to Each Other (Friends & Lovers) (facts) - Eddie Rabbitt & Juice Newton
1995Fantasy (facts) - Mariah Carey
Gangsta’s Paradise (facts) - Coolio featuring L.V.
Runaway (facts) - Janet Jackson
I Like It, I Love It (facts) - Tim McGraw
2004My Happy Ending (facts) - Avril Lavigne
She Will Be Loved (facts) - Maroon 5
Goodies (facts) - Ciara featuring Petey Pablo
Days Go By (facts) - Keith Urban
2013Royals (facts) - Lorde
Roar (facts) - Katy Perry
Wrecking Ball (facts) - Miley Cyrus
That’s My Kind of Night (facts) - Luke Bryan
2022Bad Habit (facts) - Steve Lacy
As It Was (facts) - Harry Styles
Unholy (facts) - Sam Smith & Kim Petras
You Proof (facts) - Morgan Wallen
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
TWtD Calendar