Friday, July 6, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• George W. Bush (43rd U.S. President) (66)
• 50 Cent (multi-platinum rapper/actor) (37)
• Della Reese (actress and gospel singer, Touched By An Angel) (81)
• Sylvester Stallone (actor, the Rocky movies, the Rambo movies) (66)
• Burt Ward (actor, TV's Dick Grayson 'Robin' of Batman) (67)
• The Dalai Lama (Buddhist spiritual leader of the Tibetan people) (77)
• Nancy Reagan (former first lady; widow of Ronald Reagan) (91)
• Geoffrey Rush (actor, The King's Speech, Shine, Shakespeare In Love, Frida, the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies) (61)
• Nanci Griffith (folk singer-songwriter) (59)
• Ned Beatty (actor, Deliverance, Homicide: Life On The Street) (75)
• Rick Braun (jazz trumpeter) (57)
• Fred Dryer (actor, Hunter) (66)
• Jeannie Seely (country singer) (72)
• Brian Van Holt (actor, Cougar Town's Bobby) (43)
• Nic Cester (frontman, Jet) (33)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1776 The Declaration of Independence is announced on the front page of the Pennsylvania Evening Gazette.
• 1854, the Republican Party was born at a convention inJackson,Michigan.
• 1907 Mexican painter Frida Kahlo was born. She died July 13, 1954 at 47
• 1918 Actor Sebastian Cabot (Family Affair's Mr. French) is born. He dies in 1977.
• 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) was formed.
• 1925 Bill Haley of "Rock Around The Clock" fame, one of the first American rock and roll artists, is born. He dies in 1981.
• 1925 talk show host and TV producer Merv Griffin was born. He died in 2007.
• 1927 Actress Janet Leigh (Psycho; mother of Jamie Lee Curtis; former wife of Tony Curtis) is born. She dies in October of 2004.
• 1933, baseball's first All-Star Game was played atChicago'sComiskeyPark.
• 1944, a fire and ensuing stampede at a Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus big top in Hartford, Connecticut, killed 169 people, the majority of whom were children. It was dubbed "The Day the Clowns Cried."
• 1945, President Harry Truman signed an executive order establishing the Medal of Freedom to be awarded to civilians for meritorious service.
• 1947, Allen Funt debuted with The Candid Microphone on ABC Radio. The show later became a TV hit as Candid Camera.
• 1953, the game show Name That Tune debuted on NBC.
• 1957 Paul McCartney meets John Lennon at the St. Peter's Church Garden Fete in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool, where Lennon's band the Quarrymen are performing. Soon after, Lennon invites McCartney to join the band.
• 1957, New York City's Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win aWimbledon singles title.
• 1964, the Beatles' first movie, A Hard Day's Night, premiered.
• 1971, legendary jazz trumpeter Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong died in his sleep at the age of 69.
• 1976 The Damned play their first real concert, opening for the Sex Pistols atLondon's 100 Club.
• 1981 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Anwar el-Sadat, the President of Egypt, is assassinated. Sadat was reviewing a military parade when the attack by Islamic fundamentalists occurred.
• 1991 For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge by Van Halen enters the album chart at Number One.
• 1992 Megadeth releases its fifth album, Countdown To Extinction.
• 1994 The movie Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field, opens.
• 1995 In a statement, Pearl Jam says they are "disappointed" by the Justice Department's decision to drop its anti-trust probe of Ticketmaster.
• 1997 The Sojourner landrover rolls off the Mars Pathfinder onto the Martian landscape to begin inspecting the Red Planet's soil and rocks.
• 1998 Cowboy actor Roy Rogers dies at age 86.
• 2000, the German parliament offered a formal apology to Nazi-era slave and forced laborers when it passed a bill setting up a $5 billion compensation fund.
• 2000, Venus Williams beat her younger sister Serena 6-2, 7-6 (3) to reach theWimbledon final. Their singles match was the first between sisters in a Grand Slam semifinal.
• 2001 Black Sabbath cancels a series of post-Ozzfest summer tour dates because of pressure from Ozzy Osbourne's record label to complete his next solo album.
• 2001, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen plead guilty to 15 criminal counts, and agreed to give a full accounting of his spying activities for Moscow.
• 2002, Serena Williams triumphs over her sister Venus to win the Wimbledon Women's singles competition.
• 2003 Actor Buddy Ebsen (actor, The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones) dies at age 95.
• 2003 Lightning injures eight people prior to a Dave Matthews Band concert inEast Troy,Wisconsin.