Events on This Day
1836 - Alonzo D. Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts received a patent for the “manufacture of friction matches.” Alonzo called his matches ‘locofocos’ because they were self-lighting. The name is derived from loco(motive), meaning self-moving, and the Italian word for fire, fuoco.1861 - The western section of the first transcontinental telegraph line was finished -- completing the line. The event brought about the demise of the Pony Express.
1861 - Telegrams were sent coast to coast for the first time in the U.S. California Justice Stephen J. Field was the first in line to send a message. The recipient was President Abraham Lincoln.
1861 - West Virginia seceded from Virginia and created a new state. In a public referendum, voters overwhelmingly supported the creation of the state of Kanawha. The following month, a convention at Wheeling changed the name to West Virginia. And from our ‘Flip Flop and Flip Again’ department: West Virginia’s capital was originally Wheeling. It was changed to Charleston in 1870, back to Wheeling in 1875, and back to Charleston in 1885.
1897 - The first regular comic strip was seen in The New York Journal American. The strip was The Yellow Kid.
1901 - Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor of Bay City, MI had nothing better to do on this, her 43rd birthday (at least that’s what she claimed), than to sail over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She was the first to live to tell about it; but only one of many people to try. Interestingly, Annie couldn’t swim.
1929 - The Rudy Vallee Show was broadcast for the first time over NBC radio. Actually, the Rudy Vallee show had several different titles over the years, all of which were referred to by the public as The Rudy Vallee Show. Megaphone-totin’ Rudy and his Connecticut Yankees band were mainstays on radio into the late 1940s.
1929 - This day became known as Black Thursday after Wall Street investors panicked and ordered their stock brokers to sell, sell, sell! Nearly 13 million shares traded hands and stock prices plummeted. Many stocks recovered late in the afternoon, but the stage had been set for the October 29th stock market crash -- and the beginning of the Great Depression.
1931 - The George Washington Bridge was opened, linking New York City with New Jersey. The bridge became a famous New York landmark and has been featured in many movies and TV shows. The toll to cross the bridge was to be temporary -- just to cover costs. But it costs and costs and costs when you have to keep repairing and painting a bridge that big -- so, the bridge toll continues. And the bridge is still being painted.
1939 - Let’s Dance was recorded on Columbia Records. It became the theme song for the band that recorded it, the Benny Goodman Band.
1939 - Women’s nylon hosiery went on sale for the first time -- at Wilmington Dry Goods in Wilmington, DE. Why Wilmington? The Dupont Company, the inventor of nylon, is based there.
1940 - The 40-hour work week went into effect in the U.S. under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA).
1944 - The Japanese battleship Musashi, one of the two largest battleships ever commissioned (her sister-ship was the Yamato), was sunk by planes from several American aircraft carriers. This, during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the central Philippines.
1944 - The Arisan Maru carrying 1,800 American prisoners was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine and sunk in the South China Sea. The Japanese destroyer escort rescued Japanese military and civilian personnel and left the POWs to their fate. It is estimated that only ten prisoners survived the disaster.
1945 - Vidkun Quisling, prime minister of Norway during the German occupation, was executed by firing squad in Oslo after his conviction for high treason. The word quisling became a synonym for traitor.
1945 - The United Nations charter took effect on this day -- at the San Francisco Conference -- establishing the United Nations. 51 countries came together determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war; to reaffirm faith in human rights; to promote social progress and better standards of life; to practice tolerance and live together in peace and unite their strength to maintain international peace and security. Since 1971, by unanimous request of the U.N. General Assembly (the world’s forum for discussing matters affecting world peace and security), this day has been observed throughout all U.N. member nations as a public holiday, United Nations Day.
1948 - The term ‘cold war’, in regard to the then Soviet/American relationship, gained prominence. Industrialist and statesman Bernard Baruch used the term during a speech this day before the Senate War Investigating Committee.
1951 - Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy starred in The Fourposter, which made its Broadway debut this day.
1952 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Detroit, delivered his famous speech about Korea. He promised to go to Korea and seek “an early settlement to the war” if elected President. He was -- and he did.
1956 - One day after the start of the Hungarian uprising, Soviet tanks appeared on the streets of Budapest and Imre Nagy was appointed prime minister.
1959 - Wilt ‘The Stilt’ Chamberlain launched a pro basketball record streak. Not only did he play in 799 consecutive games; he didn’t foul out in one of them.
1960 - Brenda Lee hit #1 for the second time in the year with I Want to Be Wanted. 1960 was a very good year for the young (age 15) songstress. In addition to her first #1 smash, I’m Sorry (July 18), Lee had two other songs on the charts: Sweet Nothin’s (#4, April 18) and That’s All You Gotta Do (#6, July 4).
1963 - 110 in the Shade opened for a 330-performance run at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York City. The cast included Robert Horton as Starbuck, Inga Swenson as Lizzie, and Stephen Douglass as File, with Will Geer, Lesley Ann Warren, and Gretchen Cryer in supporting roles. The sets were done by Oliver Smith and costumes created by Motley. The musical received four Tony Award nominations.
1964 - The former British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia became the independent country of Zambia.
1968 - Test pilot Bill Dana was at the controls of the North American X-15 rocket-propelled research aircraft when it made the 199th, and final, flight.
1973 - U.N. Security Council Resolution 338, mandating a cease fire, was observed by Israel. It ended the Yom Kippur War with Israeli troops 65 miles from Cairo, Egypt and 26 miles from Damascus, Syria.
1975 - Looking to name your own greatest hits album something other than Greatest Hits? Do what former Beatle John Lennon did, with his package of the best. Lennon called it, Shaved Fish.
1977 - Gary Busey began filming The Buddy Holly Story. The star was a ringer for the rock idol.
1982 - EPCOT (experimental prototype community of tomorrow) Center was dedicated by Disney Chairman, E. Cardon Walker at Walt Disney World, Florida: “May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire, and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man’s ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere.”
1987 - Thirty years after it was expelled for refusing to answer allegations of corruption, the Teamsters union was readmitted to the AFL-CIO. The move was made in a vote by the labor federation’s executive council in Miami Beach, FL.
1989 - At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the inductees included Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Kinks, The Platters, Simon and Garfunkel and The Who.
1989 - Televangelist Jim Bakker was found guilty on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy stemming from his P.T.L. ministry. Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000. (Bakker was paroled to a halfway house run by the Salvation Army in Asheville, NC on July 1, 1994; he returned to televangelism in Jun 2003 with a new Jim Bakker Show.)
1991 - Gene Rodenberry, creator of the Star Trek TV/movie empire, died in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 70 years old. Rodenberry stipulated in his will that no challenges to it would be tolerated and anyone who tried would be disinherited. Some people just have to learn the hard way. His daughter Dawn challenged and lost the $500,000 left for her.
1992 - It was the first World Series won by a team from outside of the United States. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves in the sixth game (4-3 in 11 innings) and won the Series, four games to two.
1994 - Actor Raul Julia (The Addams Family) died of a stroke in Manhasset, NY. He was 54 years old.
1995 - The United Nations celebrated its 50th anniversary. The party (Oct 22-24) was the largest gathering of world leaders ever assembled in New York.
1996 - Motown Records founder Berry Gordy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Gordy helped launch the careers Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and many others.
1997 - It was first-run day in the U.S. for these flicks: Gattaca, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Alan Arkin; A Life Less Ordinary, with Ewan Mcgregor, Cameron Diaz and Holly Hunter; Fairytale - A True Story, starring Florence Hoath, Elizabeth Earl, Paul Mcgann, Phoebe Nicholls, Peter O'Toole and Harvey Keitel.
1998 - Monica’s single, The First Night, regained the top spot from Barenaked Ladies’ One Week. Monica’s hit racked up four non-consecutive weeks at #1.
2000 - The space shuttle Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base following the 100th shuttle flight.
2001 - Two trucks crashed head-on in the St. Gotthard Tunnel, the main north-south road link through the Swiss Alps. The crash and resulting fire killed eleven people.
2002 - John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested at a Middletown, Maryland highway rest stop. The pair was charged with the sniper shootings that left ten people dead and three wounded in and around Washington DC.
2003 - The last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed at Heathrow Airport in London.
2003 - Films opening in U.S. theatres: Beyond Borders, with Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Noah Emmerich, Teri Polo and Linus Roache; Radio, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, S. Epatha Merkerson, Riley Smith and Debra Winger; and Scary Movie 3, with Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Anthony Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Peter Boyle, George Carlin, Fat Joe, William Forsythe, Macy Gray, Eddie Griffin, Regina Hall, Darrell Hammond, Ja Rule, Jenny McCarthy, Camryn Manheim, Leslie Nielsen, Jeremy Piven, Denise Richards, Simon Rex, Timothy Stack, D.L. Hughey, Brad Sihvon, Simon Cowell, Edward Moss, Link Baker, Matthew Currie Holmes, Kevin Hart, Ryan Zwick, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Method Man, Master P, Redman, Beverley Breuer, Debbie Lee Carrington, Moneca Delain, Jennifer Kitchen, Miles Meadows, Troy Yorke.
2003 - California won its first anti-spam judgment when a court fined PW Marketing of Los Angeles County $2 million for sending out millions of unsolicited e-mails telling people how to spam.
2004 - Arizona’s Emmitt Smith rushed for 100 yards in a game for the 78th time, breaking Walter Payton’s NFL record.
2004 - Colombia blew up some 23,000 stockpiled land mines, winning praise by Jordan’s visiting Queen Noor. The queen said the move took courage. Rebels, particularly FARC, had been using mines to try to protect their rural bases from police and army raids.
2005 - Rosa Parks died at her home in Detroit MI of natural causes at 92 years of age. It was Parks’ famous refusal (1955) to surrender her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama triggered a bus-boycott and the beginning of the U.S. civil rights movement.
2005 - Eleven Nepali Sherpa and seven French mountaineers were killed when their base camp was hit by a snowstorm, which triggered an avalanche, on Mount Kanguru in northwest Nepal. Four climbers survived because they happened to be outside the tents when the storm and subsequent avalanche hit on the 20,000-foot (6096-meter) mountain.
2006 - Ohio executed 56-year-old Jeffrey Lundgren, a religious cult leader who murdered a family of five in 1989. Lundgren had argued at his trial that he was prophet of God and was exempt from the death penalty.
2007 - Fires in southern California continued, consuming 1,500 homes and charring over 500,000 acres. Over half a million residents were forced to flee the area in the largest evacuation in state history.
2008 - New movies in the U.S.: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, with Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Matt Prokop, Justin Martin, Jemma McKenzie-Brown, Olesya Rulin, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed, Chris Warren Jr., Ryne Sanborn and KayCee Stroh; Pride and Glory, starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, Samantha Morton, Lake Bell, Jennifer Ehle and John Voight; and Saw V, with Tobin Bell, Julie Benz, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Mark Rolston, Samantha Lemole, Meagan Good, Carlo Rota, Greg Bryk and Laura Gordon.
2008 - PNC Financial Group agreed to purchase ailing Ohio-based National City Corp in a government-supported $5.6 billion deal that would create the fifth largest U.S. bank (by deposits).
2008 - The mother and brother of actress, singer Jennifer Hudson were found shot to death on Chicago’s South Side. (The body of Hudson’s nephew [7] was found in an SUV Oct 27). William Balfour, Jennifer Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law, was later charged with the murders.
2009 - Two passenger trains collided at high speed south of Cairo, Egypt killing 25 people and injuring 55. An inquiry found that a signalman had left work early and failed to warn drivers of delays because of a water buffalo on the track. And analysis of a blood sample from the driver of the first train revealed the presence of hashish.
2010 - Lady Gaga became the first singer to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. The singer had this to say on her Twitter account, “We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters! If we stick together we can do anything. I dub u kings and queens of youtube! Unite!”
2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking in Las Vegas, offered mortgage relief to hundreds of thousands of Americans. It was an attempt by Obama to ease the economic and political fallout of a housing crisis that had bedeviled him as he sought a second term.
2011 - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged another $100 million in food aid to drought-stricken East Africa amid warnings that millions of people were facing starvation for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
2012 - U.S. federal prosecutors sued the Bank of America for $1 billion alleging the bank, which acquired home mortgage lender Countrywide in 2008, had defrauded government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The complaint centered on a lending program known as ‘the Hustle’ that had been established by Countrywide, designed to process mortgages at a rapid rate without adequate checks on risk.
2012 - Iran’s intelligence chief said some 50 people had been arrested in connection with the decline in the value of the national currency and the chaos that followed the slide. Iran’s rial had lost nearly 40 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar during October 2012. Heidar Moslehi said those who were arrested had been accused of creating currency ‘disruptions’ and economic instability in co-operation with the country’s enemies.
2012 - Police in Palmdale, California arrested Akingide Cole for the theft of $1.6 million in casino chips from the Venetian resort in Las Vegas. Detectives recovered just $396,000 worth of the chips.
2013 - Germany’s Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone. Merkel said she had made it clear to U.S. President Barack Obama that spying on allies was not acceptable.
2014 - New movies in U.S. theatres included: 1,000 Times Good Night, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Juliette Binoche and Maria Doyle Kennedy; Exists, with Dora Madison Burge, Brian Steele and Denise Williamson; Force Majeure, starring Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli and Clara Wettergren; The Heart Machine, with Kate Lyn Sheil, John Gallagher Jr. and David Call; John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves, Bridget Moynahan and Willem Dafoe; Laggies, with Chloë Grace Moretz, Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell; Ouija, starring Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto and Daren Kagasoff; Stonehearst Asylum, with Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess and Brendan Gleeson; and White Bird in a Blizzard, starring Shailene Woodley, Eva Green and Christopher Meloni.
2014 - China’s president pledged to provide $81 million in aid to help fight Ebola in the three West African countries that were at the heart of the Ebola crisis.
2014 - The World Health Organization reported three more polio cases had surfaced in Pakistan, bringing the number of new cases to 220. It was a record figure that authorities blamed on attacks by insurgents targeting vaccination teams.
2015 - Maureen O’Hara, Irish-born film star, died at her home in Boise, Idaho. O’Hara’s many films included How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Man and The Parent Trap. She made five five films with John Wayne, including Rio Grande.
2015 - Tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters marched through the Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon chanting “Death to the Saud family” as their leader railed against Sunni-led Saudi Arabia. Signs of deepening hostility towards the U.S.-allied kingdom.
2016 - A man jumped from an overpass on Interstate 287 in Wanaque, New Jersey -- with his two children. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, while the children -- boys ages 2 and 4 — were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
2016 - Bobby Vee died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in Rogers, Minnesota. Born as Robert Thomas Velline in 1943, Vee was an American pop singer who became a teen idol in the early 1960s. He had thirty-eight Hot 100 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20 and six gold singles in his career.
2017 - Arizona’s Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018, saying he “will no longer be complicit or silent” in the face of POTUS Trump’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior.
2017 - Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Fats Domino died in New Orleans. He was 89 years old. Antoine Dominique Domino Jr sold more than 65 million records and between 1955 and 1960, he had eleven Top 10 hits. His 1949 release The Fat Man is widely regarded as the first million-selling rock ’n’ roll record. His hits included Ain’t That a Shame (1955), Blueberry Hill (1956), I’m Walking (1957), and Walking to New Orleans (1960) and made him an icon of the early rock-and-roll era.
2018 - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. They vowed to expand economic ties between their two countries despite European Union sanctions against Russia.
2018 - The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics. This, to counter pollution in seas, fields and waterways.
2018 - A court in Germany ruled that Volkswagen’s parent company must pay 47 million euros ($54 million) in damages to investors for not making a timely disclosure of its scandal over cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
2019 - A Northern California wildfire exploded in size in Sonoma County amid dangerous winds that prompted the state’s largest utility to impose electrical blackouts to prevent fires more fires. The wind-driven wildfire forced some 2,000 people to flee homes in the wine region. The Kincade fire erupted near the base of a damaged high-voltage transmission tower owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. PG&E said it did not de-energize a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville that malfunctioned minutes before the fire erupted. The town has about 900 residents and is a popular stop for wine country tourists.
2019 - Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to expand Moscow’s influence in Africa by bragging about military aid and economic projects. At the first-ever Russia-Africa summit, Putin even offered to help mediate a growing dispute between two of the continent’s largest powers, Egypt and Ethiopia.
2020 - Any residents still hanging around in Estes Park, Colorado were told to evacuate as wind gusts fanned the second largest wildfire in state history. At the time, the East Troublesome Fire in the Rocky Mountain National Park was just 4% contained and had claimed the lives of an elderly couple.
2020 - France reported 45,422 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, a new record. 138 people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 34,645 and the total number of confirmed cases rose to 1,086,497. Reported numbers were nearly the same in Iran as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged authorities to prioritize public health above any economic or security concerns.
2021 - Microsoft said the Russian-based agency behind 2020’s massive SolarWinds cyberattack had targeted hundreds more companies and organizations in its latest wave of attacks on US-based computer systems.
2021 - San Francisco saw 4.02 inches of rain, its wettest day ever for October. (Ironically, the area was in a serious drought at the time.)
2022 - National test scores showed U.S. fourth and eighth graders had fallen behind in math and reading since 2019, in what The New York Times called “the most definitive indictment yet of the pandemic’s impact on millions of schoolchildren.” The National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, said the sample of 450,000 students in fourth and eighth grades experienced the largest declines since NAEP testing began in 1990.
2022 - The U.S. Mint issued the first U.S. currency featuring an Asian-American, silent film actress Anna May Wong. The coin is part of the American Women Quarters Program celebrating female trailblazers.
2023 - Former Donald Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis became the fourth person to plead guilty -- and accept a plea deal -- in the Georgia election interference case against Trump. Ellis admitted that she made up details about election fraud and said she regretted representing Trump.
2023 - Women in Iceland, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, went on strike to protest gender inequalities. Some 80% of workers at the National University Hospital of Iceland, the biggest in the country, are women. And strike organiser Kristín Ástgeirsdóttir said violence against women had remained a problem in Iceland, despite high levels of gender equality. “The theory was that the more gender equality, the less violence. That unfortunately does not seem to be the case,” she said, adding, “Violence against women is deeply rooted in our culture.”
and more...
Birthdays on This Day October 24
1788 - Sarah Hale
poet: Mary Had a Little Lamb; magazine editor; died Apr 30, 18791830 - Belva Lockwood
women’s rights advocate, attorney, 1st woman formally nominated to run for president of the U.S.; died May 19, 19171855 - James Sherman
27th U.S. Vice President [1909-1912]; died Oct 30, 19121891 - General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina
government leader: president/dictator of Dominican Republic; assassinated May 30, 19611904 - Moss Hart
Tony Award-winning director: My Fair Lady [1957]; playwright: You Can’t Take It with You, Gentleman’s Agreement, The Man Who Came to Dinner [w/George S. Kaufman], I Married An Angel; married to actress Kitty Carlisle; died Dec 20, 19611911 - Sonny Terry (Saunders Terrell)
singer, harmonica player: LPs: Sonny’s Story, Sonny is King, At the Second Fret, At Sugar Hill, Back to New Orleans, Midnight Special, California Blues; Spirituals to Swing concerts at Carnegie Hall; died Mar 11, 19861923 - Denise Levertov
poet: The Double Image, Relearning the Alphabet, Candles in Babylon, Breathing the Water, Light Up the Cave; died Dec 20, 19971926 - Y.A. (Yelberton Abraham) Tittle
Pro Football Hall of Famer: NY Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts: quarterback; UPI Player of the Year [1957, 1962]; AP Player of the Year [1963]; died Oct 8, 20171929 - Jim (James Patrick) Brosnan
baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, SL Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961], Chicago White Sox; sportswriter; died Jun 28, 20141930 - J.P. Richardson
The Big Bopper: singer: Chantilly Lace, Big Bopper’s Wedding; songwriter: Running Bear; killed in plane crash Feb 3, 19591934 - Margie Masters
golf: LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year [1965]; died Oct 9, 20221936 - David Nelson
actor: The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Peyton Place, Cry-Baby; son of entertainers Ozzie and Harriet Nelson; brother of singer Ricky Nelson; died Jan 11, 20111936 - Bill Wyman
musician: group: The Rolling Stones: [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction, Get Off of My Cloud, Paint It, Black, Ruby Tuesday, Honky Tonk Women, Brown Sugar, Angie; solo: LP: Stone Alone; songwriter: Downtown Suzie, In Another Land; London restaurant owner: Sticky Fingers1937 - Santo Farina
musician, steel guitar: group: Santo & Johnny: Sleepwalk, Tear Drop1939 - F. Murray Abraham
Academy Award-winning actor: Amadeus [1984]; Surviving the Game, Last Action Hero, Nostradamus, Scarface, Serpico, The Sunshine Boys, All the President’s Men1944 - Randy Beisler
football: Indiana Univ. tackle; NFL: Philadephia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs1946 - Jerry Edmonton
musician: drums: group: Steppenwolf: Born to be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride, Rock Me; duo: Manbeast; killed in car crash Nov 28, 19931947 - Kevin Kline
Academy Award-winning actor: A Fish Called Wanda [1988]; Silverado, Grand Canyon, Dave, Princess Caraboo, The Big Chill, Sophie’s Choice, Search for Tomorrow1948 - Dale Griffin
musician: drums: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Way From Memphis, Honaloochie Boogie, Hymn for the Dudes, Born Late, All the Young Dudes, Roll Away the Stone1948 - James Whitmore, Jr
actor: Stringer, Firefighter, The Five of Me, Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop, The Critical List, The Boys in Company C1950 - Rawly Eastwick
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1975], SL Cardinals, NY Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, KC Royals, Chicago Cubs1951 - Jim Laslavic
football: Penn State Univ, Detroit Lions; San Diego Chargers radio color commentator; Sports Director: KNSD-TV, San Diego CA1954 - Malcolm Turnbull
politician: 29th Prime Minister of Australia [2015-2018]; Liberal Party Leader [2008-2009, 2015-2018]; MP for Wentworth in the House of Representatives [2004-2018]1960 - Ian Baker-Finch
golf: British Open Champion [1991]1960 - B.D. Wong
actor: Seven Years in Tibet, Executive Decision, Father of the Bride series, Men of War, Jurassic Park, Mystery Date, The Freshman, M. Butterfly, All-American Girl1969 - Nicole London
actress [1991-2004]: X-rated films: Malibu Blue, Tight Ends in Motion, The Fluffer, Ready, Willing and Anal, The Girls from Butthole Ridge, Leatherbound Dykes from Hell, L.A. Topless, Swinging in the Rain1969 - Kelvin Pritchett
football: University of Mississippi; NFL: Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars1969 - Arthur Rhodes
baseball [pitcher]: Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians1970 - Raúl Esparza
actor: stage: Taboo, Company, The Homecoming, Speed the Plow, The Rocky Horror Show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; screen: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Find Me Guilty, My Soul to Take, Medium, Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Under the Dome; more1972 - Pat Williams
football: Texas A&M Univ; NFL: Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings1973 - Mike Matthews
baseball [pitcher]: St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets1974 - Corey Dillon
football [running back]: University of Washington; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots1974 - Wilton Guerrero
baseball: LA Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals1976 - Clarke Wilm
hockey [center]: NHL: Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs1980 - Monica (Arnold)
singer: The Boy Is Mine, For You I Will, Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days), Before You Walk Out of My Life, Angel of Mine1980 - Zac Posen
fashion designer: films, TV: Bringing Rain, Ugly Betty, Project Runway1983 - Adrienne Bailon
singer: groups: 3LW: LPs: 3LW, A Girl Can Mack, Naughty or Nice, Neva Get Enuf, Point of No Return; films: The Cheetah Girls, The Cheetah Girls: One World; actress: Coach Carter, Taylor Made, Buffalo Dreams, All You’ve Got, Cuttin’ da Mustard, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody1983 - Marc Leishman
golf champ: PGA Tour: 2012 Travelers Championship; 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational; 2017 BMW Championship1983 - Katie McGrath
actress: Merlin, Dracula, The Roaring Twenties, Jurassic World1983 - Brian Vickers
NASCAR racer: Busch series champ [2003]: youngest NASCAR Series champ in history [age 20]1985 - Wayne Rooney
English footballer [striker]: Premier League: Manchester United; England national team; England Player of the Year [2008, 2009]; FWA Footballer of the Year [2010]1986 - Aubrey Drake Graham
rapper [Drake]: Hotline Bling, Best I Ever Had, Successful, Over, Find Your Love, Headlines, Take Care, The Motto; actor [Aubrey Graham]: Degrassi: The Next Generation1987 - Charlie White
U.S. ice dancer: w/partner Meryl Davis, he is the 2014 Olympic Champion, a two-time (2011, 2013) World champion, 2010 Olympic silver medalist, two-time (2010, 2012) World silver medalist, five-time Grand Prix Final champion (2009–2013), three-time Four Continents champion (2009, 2011, 2013), six-time U.S. national champion (2009–2014); they also won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics1989 - Eric Hosmer
baseball [first base]: Kansas City Royals [2011–2017]: 2014 World Series, 2015 World Series champs; San Diego Padres [2018–2022]; Boston Red Sox [2022]; Chicago Cubs [2023]1998 - Daya (Grace Martine Tandon)
singer: Hide Away, Don’t Let Me Down, Feel Good, I Wanna Know
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day October 24
1952You Belong to Me (facts) - Jo Stafford
Wish You Were Here (facts) - Eddie Fisher
I Went to Your Wedding (facts) - Patti Page
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) (facts) - Hank Williams
1961Runaround Sue (facts) - Dion
Bristol Stomp (facts) - The Dovells
Big Bad John (facts) - Jimmy Dean
Walk on By (facts) - Leroy Van Dyke
1970I’ll Be There (facts) - The Jackson 5
We’ve Only Just Begun (facts) - Carpenters
Fire and Rain (facts) - James Taylor
Run, Woman, Run (facts) - Tammy Wynette
1979Rise (facts) - Herb Alpert
Pop Muzik (facts) - M
I’ll Never Love This Way Again (facts) - Dionne Warwick
All the Gold in California (facts) - Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers
1988Groovy Kind of Love (facts) - Phil Collins
What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy) (facts) - Information Society
Wild, Wild West (facts) - The Escape Club
Strong Enough to Bend (facts) - Tanya Tucker
1997Candle in the Wind 1997 (facts)/Something About the Way You Look Tonight (facts) - Elton John
You Make Me Wanna... (facts) - Usher
How Do I Live (facts) - LeAnn Rimes
How Do I Get There (facts) - Deana Carter
2006Too Little Too Late (facts) - JoJo
Far Away (facts) - Nickelback
Lips of An Angel (facts) - Hinder
Would You Go with Me (facts) - Josh Turner
2015The Hills (facts) - The Weeknd
Hotline Bling (facts) - Drake
What Do You Mean? (facts) - Justin Bieber
Strip It Down (facts) - Luke Bryan
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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