main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Fun On this date in history...

Discussion in 'Fun and Games' started by Juliet316, Dec 26, 2012.

  1. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  2. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 12th:

    In 1492 (according to the Old Style calendar), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

    In 1870, General Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, VA, at age 63.

    In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt officially renamed the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.

    In 1904, author/journalist Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage, was born in La Plata, MO.

    In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium during World War I. (The night before the sentence was carried out, Cavell met with chaplain H. Stirling Gahan, who later quoted her as saying: "I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards any one.")

    Also in 1915, former President Theodore Roosevelt, speaking to the Knights of Columbus in New York, criticized native-born Americans (as opposed to naturalized citizens) who identified themselves by dual nationalities, saying that "a hyphenated American is not an American at all."

    In 1917, during World War I, the First Battle of Passchendaele took place, resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history.

    In 1921, animator Art Clokey, creator of Gumby and Davey & Goliath, was born in Detroit, MI.

    In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, OH, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.

    In 1942, during World War II, American naval forces defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance.

    Also in 1942, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced during a Columbus Day celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

    In 1960, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchevpounded his shoe on a desk at a United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe.

    In 1964, the Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1 with a three-man crew on the first mission involving more than one crew member (the flight lasted just over 24 hours). The crew consisted of Command Pilot Vladimir Komorov, Engineer Konstantin Feoktistov and physician Dr. Boris Yegorov.

    In 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated House minority leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.

    In 1974, on “Star Trek: The Animated Series”, the series finale, “The Counter-Clock Incident”, was broadcast on NBC-TV. It featured the first appearance of NCC-1701’s first C.O., Commodore Robert April (voiced by James Doohan) and first Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sarah April (voiced by Nichelle Nichols).

    In 1979, Han Solo’s Revenge by Brian Daley was published by Del Rey.

    Also in 1979, the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams and based on his radio series, was published,

    In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escaped an attempt on her life when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded at a hotel in Brighton, England, killing five people.

    In 1994, the Magellan space probe ended its four-year mapping mission of Venus, apparently plunging into the planet's atmosphere.

    In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

    In 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

    In 2005, China’s second manned space flight, Shenzhou 6 was launched carrying Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, during which the two astronauts orbited Earth for five days.

    In 2010, The Making of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ by J.W. Rinzler was published by Del Rey.
     
  3. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 13th:

    In A.D. 54, Roman Emperor Claudius I died, poisoned apparently at the behest of his wife, Agrippina.

    In 1775, the United States Navy had its origins as the Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.

    In 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

    In 1843, the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was founded in New York City.

    In 1884, The International Meridian Conference voted on a resolution to establish the meridian passing through the Observatory of Greenwich, in London, as the initial meridian for longitude.

    In 1914, during the World Series, the Boston Braves defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, at Fenway Park in Boston, completing the first World Series sweep in history.

    In 1925, comedian/satirist Lenny Bruce was born in Mineola, NY.

    In 1930, producer/director/screenwriter Bruce Geller was born in New York City. He’s best-known for creating “Mission: Impossible”, and developing “Mannix” for TV.

    In 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.

    In 1935, actor/DJ Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow was born in Brooklyn, NY.

    In 1943, during World War II, the new government of Italy sided with the Allies and declared war on Germany.

    In 1944, during World War II, American troops entered Aachen, Germany.

    In 1950, the movie version of the play “Harvey”, starring James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd and Harvey as himself, was released in the U.S.

    In 1957, CBS-TV broadcast "The Edsel Show," a one-hour live special starring Bing Crosby designed to promote the new, ill-fated Ford automobile. (It was the first special to use videotape technology to delay the broadcast to the West Coast.)

    In 1958, A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, the first appearance of Paddington Bear, was published by William Collins & Sons.

    In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon held the third televised debate of their presidential campaign (Nixon was in Los Angeles, Kennedy in New York).

    In 1965, The Who recorded “My Generation” at IBC Studios in London.

    In 1967, the first game of the original American Basketball Association was played. The Oakland Oaks beat the Anaheim Amigos 134-129.

    In 1972, a Uruguayan chartered flight carrying 45 people crashed in the Andes; survivors resorted to feeding off the remains of some of the dead in order to stay alive until they were rescued more than two months later.

    In 1981, voters in Egypt participated in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

    In 2002, actor Keene Curtis died in Bountiful, UT at age 79. Among his many roles, he played Grand Moff Tarkin in the NPR adaptation of “Star Wars”.

    In 2010, The Copiapo mining accident in Copiapo, Chile came to an end as all 33 miners arrived at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground awaiting rescue.
     
  4. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  5. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 14th:

    In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

    In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England, accused of committing treason against Queen Elizabeth I. (Mary was beheaded in February 1587.)

    In 1890, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the U.S., was born in Denison, TX.

    In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the White House as the Progressive ("Bull Moose") candidate, went ahead with a speech in Milwaukee after being shot in the chest by New York saloonkeeper John Schrank, declaring, "It takes more than one bullet to kill a bull moose."

    In 1913, the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, the United Kingdom's worst coal mining accident, occurred, and claiming the lives of 439 miners.

    In 1926, the children’s book “Winnie-the-Pooh”, written by A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard, was published by Methuen & Co., Ltd.

    In 1927, actor/director/author Roger Moore was born in Stockwell, London, England. He’d be granted sainthood, then 00 status, later on.

    In 1939, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a British battleship anchored at Scapa Flow in Scotland's Orkney Islands; 833 of the more than 1,200 men aboard were killed.

    In 1943, The Radio Corporation of America finalized the sale of the NBC Blue radio network. Edward J. Noble paid $8 million for the network that was renamed American Broadcasting Company.

    Also in 1943, prisoners at the Nazi Sobibor extermination camp in Poland revolted against the Germans, killing eleven SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp's 600 prisoners escaped, and about 50 of those survived the end of the war.

    In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face trial and certain execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

    In 1946, actress/director Katy Manning was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. She’s well-known to Whovians for playing Jo Grant during the Pertwee Era.

    In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager broke the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.

    Also in 1954, the Holiday-themed musical comedy “White Christmas” was released in the U.S. It starred Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, and featured songs by Irving Berlin.

    In 1958, the kaiju movie “Daikaiju Baran” was released in Japan. A heavily-reedited version of the movie, re-titled “Varan the Unbelievable”, would reach the U.S. in 1962.

    In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy suggested the idea of a Peace Corps while addressing an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

    In 1962, a U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot, Maj. Richard Heyser, flew over the island of Cuba and took photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba.

    In 1964, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Also in 1964, Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev was toppled from power; he was succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and by Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

    In 1968, the first live telecast to come from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7. There were six broadcasts during the 11-day mission.

    Also in 1968, Jim Hines of the U.S. became the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint in the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City with a time of 9.95 seconds.

    In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 74.

    In 1981, Vice President Hosni Mubarak was elected as the President of Egypt one week after the assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat.

    In 1987, a 58-hour drama began in Midland, TX, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center; she was rescued on October 16.

    In 1990, composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein died in New York City at age 72.

    In 2005, EON Productions, Sony Pictures and MGM announced that Daniel Craig would star in the next James Bond film, "Casino Royale."
     
  6. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    I have very very vivid memories of the Jessica McClure drama as I was watching Beauty and the Beast (the Ron Pearlman/Linda Hamilton version) with my mom when the news broke in to cover the rescue. I think I have the VHS recording I made of the movie ABC made a few years later.



    - Not sure if this contains the now - infamous 'batflip' incident or not.





     
    DaddlerTheDalek and Sarge like this.
  7. COMPNOR

    COMPNOR Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003

    Of all the giant monster movies and creature features, this is the one that I never saw on TV.
     
  8. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 15th:

    In 1783, the first manned balloon flight took place in Paris as Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier ascended in a basket attached to a tethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon, rising to about 75 feet.

    In 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette of France was tried and convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.

    In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, the deposed Emperor of the French, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5 1/2 years of his life in exile.

    In 1881, author/humorist P.G. Wodehouse, creator of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, was born in Guildford, Surrey, England.

    In 1914, the Clayton Antitrust Act, which expanded on the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.

    In 1917, Dutch dancer Mata Hari, convicted of spying for the Germans, was executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

    In 1924, actor Mark Lenard was born in Chicago. He’d later be the first actor to portray a Romulan, a Vulcan and a Klingon for some sci-fi franchise.

    In 1928, the airship Graf Zeppelin completed its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, NJ.

    In 1940, the Charlie Chaplin movie “The Great Dictator” premiered in New York City. It was the second movie to openly mock the Third Reich. (The Three Stooges short “You Nazty Spy”, released in January of 1940, was the first.)

    In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.

    In 1951, the situation comedy "I Love Lucy," starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, premiered on CBS-TV.

    In 1959, the crime drama "The Untouchables" made its debut on ABC-TV.

    In 1965, the drama “The Cincinnati Kid”, starring Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson, was released in the U.S.

    In 1994, on “Mystery Science Theater 3000” the Western “Last of the Wild Horses” was broadcast on Comedy Central. The episode includes (as part of a spoof of the “Star Trek” episode “Mirror, Mirror”) the only time Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV’s Frank appeared in the theater to riff on a movie.

    In 2003, China launched Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.
     
  9. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
  10. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  11. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 16th:

    In 1781, during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army, led by Gen. George Washington, captured Yorktown, VA after the Siege of Yorktown.

    In 1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, was beheaded.

    In 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 men in a raid on Harpers Ferry in western Virginia. (Ten of Brown's men were killed and five escaped. Brown and six followers were captured; all were executed.)

    In 1923, The Walt Disney Company was founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney.

    In 1924, actor Gerard “Gerry” Parkes was born in Dublin, Ireland. He’s best-known for playing Doc on “Fraggle Rock”, if you saw the show in the U.S. or Canada.

    In 1924, cinematographer Alan Hume was born in London. His credits include cinematographer for “Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi”.

    In 1925, actress Angela Lansbury, DBE was born in Regent’s Park, London, England. Her career includes starring in “Murder, She Wrote”, one of my Mom’s favorite TV shows.

    In 1931, lawyer/author/evangelist Charles Colson was born in Boston, MA. After serving as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon, and serving a prison sentence for his role in the Watergate scandal, he founded the ministry Prison Fellowship.

    In 1934, Chinese Communists, under siege by the Nationalists, began their "long march" lasting a year from southeastern to northwestern China.

    In 1943, Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly officially opened the city's new subway system during a ceremony at the State and Madison Street station.

    In 1946, the John Ford western “My Darling Clementine” premiered in San Francisco. A re-telling of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, it starred Henry Fonda, Victor Mature and Walter Brennan.

    In 1951, Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads recorded "Cry" (written by Churchill Kohlman) and "The Little White Cloud That Cried" (written by Ray) in New York for Okeh Records.

    In 1959, the fantasy movie “Sampo” was released in Finland, its country of origin. A re-edited, dubbed version of the movie, titled “The Day the Earth Froze”, would be memorably MSTed.

    In 1962, President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.

    In 1964, China detonated its first nuclear weapon.

    In 1965, the Beatles recorded the single “Day Tripper” at EMI Studios in London.

    In 1966, the film version of the musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, starring Zero Mostel, was released in the U.S.

    In 1968, American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos sparked controversy at the Mexico City Olympics by giving "black power" salutes during a victory ceremony after they'd won gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter race.

    In 1969, the New York Mets capped their miracle season by winning the World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3, in Game 5 played at Shea Stadium.

    In 1978, the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to be the new pope; he took the name John Paul II.

    In 1984, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of non-violent struggle for racial equality in South Africa.

    In 1987, a 58-1/2-hour drama in Midland, Texas, ended happily as rescuers freed Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well.

    In 1995, between 400,000 and 800,000 people attended the “Million Man March” gathering at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

    In 1996, Eighty-four people were killed and more than 180 injured when 47,000 football fans attempted to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.

    In 1998, former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.

    In 1999, author/humorist/actor/radio & TV personality Jean Shepherd died on Sanibel Island, FL at age 78.
     
  12. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
  13. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 17th:

    In 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, NY, in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

    In 1814, the London Beer Flood inundated the St. Giles district of the British capital as vats of beer ruptured, sending more than 320,000 gallons of liquid into the streets; up to nine people were reported killed.

    In 1914, writer Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, was born in Cleveland, OH.

    In 1919, the Radio Corp. of America was chartered.

    In 1926, actress Beverly Garland was born in Santa Cruz, CA. Years later, two of her movies would be suitable for MSTing, but she’d earn high praise for her performances therein.

    In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)

    In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

    Also in 1933, pilot/engineer/astronaut William Anders, LM Pilot for Apollo 8, was born in British Hong Kong.

    In 1939, the first part of the sci-fi serial “The Phantom Creeps”, starring Bela Lugosi, was released in the U.S.

    In 1939, the Frank Capra dramedy “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, starring James Stewart, premiered in Washington, D.C..

    In 1956, the movie "Around the World in 80 Days," produced by Michael Todd and featuring seemingly everyone, had its world premiere in New York.

    Also in 1956, the first commercial nuclear power station was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafied, Cumbria, England.

    In addition in 1956, astronaut/physician/engineer Mae Carol Jemison born in Decatur, AL. She’d later fly aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African-American woman in orbit.

    In 1957, the Elvis movie "Jailhouse Rock" premiered in Memphis, TN.

    In 1963, the third group of NASA astronauts was selected. Of the group of fourteen, four would die in accidents, while all of the remaining ten would fly in the Apollo program.

    In 1966, the game show "Hollywood Squares" premiered on NBC-TV.

    In 1968, the crime drama “Bullitt”, starring Steve McQueen and a 1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback, was released in the U.S.

    Also in 1968, during the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, Bob Beamon set a world record in the long jump with a distance of 29 ft., 2 ½ in. (8.90 m.) The record would stand until 1991.

    In 1979, Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Also in 1979, The Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law creating the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.

    In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion worth of damage.

    In 1990, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) was created.

    In 2015, on “Doctor Who”, the episode “The Girl Who Died” was broadcast on BBC 1. It featured the first appearance of Maisie Williams as Ashildr.
     
  14. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  15. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 18th:

    In 1009, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, was completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacked the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

    In 1685, King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes that had established legal toleration of France's Protestant population, the Huguenots.

    In 1767, the Mason-Dixon Line, the boundary between colonial Pennsylvania and Maryland, was set as astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their survey.

    In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

    In 1873, the first rules for intercollegiate football were drawn up by representatives from Rutgers, Yale, Columbia and Princeton Universities.

    In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago was officially opened (it could only handle one call at a time).

    In 1922, the British Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (later the British Broadcasting Corp.) was founded.

    In 1926, singer/songwriter/musician Chuck Berry was born in St. Louis, MO.

    In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, NJ at age 84.

    In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.

    In 1954, Texas Instruments unveiled the Regency TR-1, the first commerically produced transistor radio.

    In 1960, actor/director/martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme was born in Sint-Agatha-Bercham, Brussels, Belgium.

    In 1961, the film version of the musical “West Side Story” premiered in New York City.

    In 1962, James D. Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins were honored with the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

    In 1963, Felicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat becomes the first cat launched into space. She was launched aboard the French rocket Veronique AGI 47 for a fifteen minute flight, after which she was recovered safely.

    In 1967, the Soviet unmanned probe Venera 4 reached Venus and became the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

    In 1969, the federal government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of evidence they caused cancer in laboratory rats.

    In 1974, the disaster movie “Airport 1975” was released in the U.S.

    In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.

    In 1997, a monument honoring American servicewomen, past and present, was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery.

    In 2005, actor John Hollis, known to “Star Wars” fans for playing Lobot in “Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back”, died in London at age 77.

    In 2011, part two of “The Man Who Never Was” was broadcast on CBBC. It was the final episode of “The Sarah Jane Adventures”.
     
  16. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 19th:

    In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, adopted a declaration of rights and liberties which the British Parliament ignored.

    In 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, VA, as the American Revolution neared its end.

    In 1789, John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

    In 1814, the first documented public performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" took place at the Holliday Street Theater in Baltimore.

    In 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's soldiers attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, VA; the Union troops were able to rally and defeat the Confederates.

    In 1903, actor/professional wrestler Tor Johnson was born in Kalmar, Ian, Sweden. And someone’s responsible!

    In 1914, the U.S. Post Office began delivering mail with government-owned cars, as opposed to using contracted vehicles.

    Also in 1914, the First Battle of Ypres began during World War I.

    In 1935, the Council of the League of Nations imposed sanctions against Italy for invading Abyssinia.

    In 1943, Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

    In 1944, the U.S. Navy began accepting African-American women into WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

    In 1951, President Harry S. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.

    In 1953, Arthur Godfrey, during a live radio broadcast of “Arthur Godfrey Time”, asked singer/regular cast member Julius LaRosa to sing “Manhattan”. Immediately afterwards, in a highly controversial move, Godfrey fired LaRosa on the air.

    In 1960, the United States began a limited embargo against Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.

    In 1977, the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.

    In 1979, the sci-fi/disaster movie “Meteor”, starring Sean Connery, was released in the U.S.

    In 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value, to close at 1,738.74.

    In 1990, Kevin Costner's Western epic "Dances with Wolves" had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.

    In 1994, the comedy “Clerks”, written & directed by Kevin Smith, went into limited release in the U.S.

    In 2005, Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture as his trial opened under heavy security in the former headquarters of his Baath Party in Baghdad.

    In 2015, Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was released from Pretoria Central Prison after serving twelve months of a five year jail sentence for the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp.

    Also in 2015, advance tickets for the movie “Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens” went on sale. Demand for the tickets was considerable.
     
  17. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 20th:

    In 1714, the coronation of Britain's King George I took place in Westminster Abbey.

    In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

    In 1882, actor Bela Lugosi was born in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, not in a forsaken jungle Hell!

    Also in 1882, actress/singer Margaret Dumont was born in Brooklyn. Years later, she’d be a vital part of the Marx Brothers’ film career.

    In 1913, singer/songwriter/musician Grandpa Jones was born in Niagara, KY. He’d later appear on “Hee Haw”, which my Mom and grandparents liked a lot.

    In 1935, actor Jerry Orbach was born in the Bronx, long before he started slapping the cuffs on perps.

    In 1941, actress Anneke Wills was born in Berkshire, England. She’s known to Whovians for playing Polly during the Hartnell and Troughton eras.

    In 1944, during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after saying, "I shall return."

    In 1944, a series of gas storage tank explosions and fires in Cleveland killed 130 people.

    In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.

    In 1951, during a college football game between Drake University and Oklahoma A&M, Drake quarterback Johnny Bright, an African-American, was violently assaulted by Oklahoma defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith, knocking him out three times and finally breaking his jaw.

    In 1961, The Soviet Union performed the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 rocket from a Golf-class sub.

    In 1964, Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, died in New York at age 90.

    In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, recovering from gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, pulled up his shirt and jacket to show off his abdominal scar to reporters and photographers. (Although critics were appalled by the display, Johnson later said he was trying to dispel rumors that he'd actually been operated on for cancer.)

    In 1967, on “Star Trek”, the episode “The Doomsday Machine” was broadcast on NBC-TV. It would later be nominated for a Hugo Award.

    In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

    In 1969, John Lennon told his fellow Beatles that he was leaving the group. He agreed to withhold a public announcement, so as not to hurt sales of the upcoming “Abbey Road” album.

    In 1973, in the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre," special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.

    Also in 1973, the sci-fi/adventure series "The Six Million Dollar Man," starring Lee Majors, premiered on ABC-TV.

    In 1977, three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a privately-chartered plane in Mississippi. The crash took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines.

    In 1979, on “Doctor Who”, part four of “City of Death” was broadcast on BBC 1. It’s well-remembered by Whovians for a certain couple of guest stars.

    In 1981, a bungled armored truck robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and the Weather Underground in Nanuet, NY, left a guard and two police officers dead.

    In 1983, the Holiday cartoon “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” was released in the U.K. It was the first Disney animated short to feature Mickey Mouse in thirty years. It also featured the first cartoon appearances of Wayne Allwine as Mickey and Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck, and the last appearance of Clarence Nash as Donald Duck.

    In 1989, the crime drama “Next of Kin”, starring Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson, was released in the U.S.

    In 2004, The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the AL Championship. The Red Sox had been down 3-0 in the series.

    In 2006, actress Miss Jane Wyatt died in Bel-Air, CA at age 96.

    In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, age 69, Libya's dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
     
  18. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  19. Master_Lok

    Master_Lok Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 18, 2012
    October 20th Birthdays:

    [face_party]

    1954 - the late Chueng Fu Sheng (a.k.a. Alexander Fu Sheng), Shaw Brothers most popular kung fu comedian. For me, Fu's best performance was a mostly serious dramatic turn in Sun Chung's The Avenging Eagle. Comedically, he's hilarious in Legendary Weapons of China and Cat vs. Rat, and sometimes amusing in The Deadly Breaking Sword.

     
  20. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    Oct 21, 1797, the 44 gun US Navy frigate USS Constitution was launched at a shipyard near Boston, Massachusetts. She was a lucky ship, renowned for battling Barbary Corsairs as well as the Royal Navy in the War of 1812. She was victorious over four British warships and earned the nickname Old Ironsides when 18 lb shot ricocheted off her oak hull. Still afloat today, she has sailed under her own power in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

    Yours truly at the helm:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  21. Master_Lok

    Master_Lok Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 18, 2012
    October 21st birthdays [face_party]

    Kwok Chung Fung (a.k.a. Kuo Chue, Phillip Kwok etc. 1951)- Most popular member of Shaw Brothers Acrobatic team, the Venoms mob. Still choreographing for Hong Kong TV today. Happy belated #Number Four...

    Carrie Fisher (1956) - Heavenly regards Princess...@};-
     
  22. Master_Lok

    Master_Lok Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 18, 2012
    One of my biggest and most epic influences in music, life and all around coolness died suddenly last night at the age of 50.

    Martin Eric Ain: Former Celtic Frost & Hellhammer bassist, vocalist, lyricist, designer etc.,

    Rest in peace, Martin. I never got to tell you how much your music and attitude still mean to me. @};-
     
  23. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ALSO ON OCTOBER 21st:

    In 1805, a British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed.

    In 1879, Thomas Edison perfected a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ.

    In 1917, members of the 1st Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, became the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I.

    In 1944, during World War II, U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen.

    Also in 1944, in what is considered the first kamikaze attack, a Japanese fighter plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacked HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

    In 1945, women in France were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time.

    In 1959, in New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.

    Also in 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

    In 1960, Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon clashed in their fourth and final presidential debate in New York.

    In 1967, the Israeli destroyer INS Eilat was sunk by Egyptian missile boats near Port Said; 47 Israeli crew members were lost.

    In 1971, the movie musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, based on the Broadway hit, premiered in a benefit performance in Amsterdam.

    In 1977, the post-apocalypse thriller “Damnation Alley” premiered in the U.S., one month after its Japanese premiere. Reportedly, earlier in the year, 20th Century Fox figured this would be its sci-fi hit for 1977, rather than that George Lucas flick.

    In 1983, principal photography was completed for “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock”.

    In 1992, the first episode of the travelogue “Pole to Pole”, featuring Michael Palin, premiered on BBC1.

    In 2016, athletic coach/broadcaster Brian Morgan passed away suddenly in Piscataway, NJ at age 46. His loss is deeply felt by his family and friends.
     
  24. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    Lest we forget...
    [​IMG]
     
    Jedi Knight Fett and Juliet316 like this.
  25. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    If I may...

    ON OCTOBER 22nd:

    In 1746, Princeton University was first chartered as the College of New Jersey.

    In 1777, during the Revolutionary War, American defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware River repulsed repeated Hessian attacks in the Battle of Red Bank.

    In 1797, French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.

    In 1836, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas.

    In 1879, using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tested the first practical electric incandescent light bulb, which lasted 13½ hours before burning out.

    In 1883, the original Metropolitan Opera House in New York held its grand opening with a performance of Gounod's "Faust."

    In 1903, was actor/comedian Curly Howard born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn? Why, soitenly!

    In 1928, Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the "American system of rugged individualism" in a speech at New York's Madison Square Garden.

    In 1934, bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was shot to death by federal agents and local police at a farm near East Liverpool, OH.

    In 1937, producer/studio executive Alan Ladd, Jr. was born in Los Angeles. Later, during his tenure at 20th Century Fox, he’d give vital support to some space movie George Lucas was making.

    In 1938, actor/director Sir Derek Jacobi, CBE was born in Leytonstone, London, England. His later roles would include a man who doesn’t want to rule Rome, and an alien who does want to rule the Universe.

    In 1939, the first televised pro football game was telecast from New York. The Brooklyn Dodgers (the football team, not Dem Bums) defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 23-14.

    In 1942, actress/singer/Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was born in Utica, NY.

    In 1949, the Western “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”, starring John Wayne, was released in the U.S. It was the second film in director John Ford’s “Cavalry Trilogy”.

    In 1953, the Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association effectively made Laos an independent member of the French Union.

    In 1962, in a nationally broadcast address, President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet-built missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the Communist island nation.

    In 1968, Apollo 7 safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting the Earth 163 times.

    In 1979, the U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment — a decision that precipitated the Iran hostage crisis.

    In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.

    In 1982, the action movie “First Blood”, starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, was released in the U.S.

    In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation.

    In 2006, the “Doctor Who” spin-off “Torchwood” premiered on BBC 3, with the episodes “Everything Changes” and “Day One”.

    In 2014, In Canada, a gunman shot to death a soldier standing guard at a war memorial, then stormed Parliament in the heart of downtown Ottawa before he was shot and killed by the usually ceremonial sergeant-at-arms.