Thursday, July 26, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Mick Jagger (lead singer of the Rolling Stones) (69)
• Helen Mirren (actress, The Queen, The Madness Of King George, Prime Suspect) (67)
• Sandra Bullock (actress, Demolition Man, The Proposal, Crash, Speed, A Time To Kill, Miss Congeniality 1 and 2,  Two Weeks Notice, The Blind Side) (48)
• Kevin Spacey (actor, Glengarry Glen Ross, Seven, The Usual Suspects, A Time To Kill, L.A. Confidential, American Beauty, Superman Returns) (53)
• Kate Beckinsale (actress, Pearl Harbor, Underworld, Van Helsing, Underworld: Evolution, Total Recall) (39)
• Tamyra Gray (actress-singer, American Idol, Boston Public, What I Like About You) (33)
• Roger Taylor (drummer, Queen) (63)
• Gary Cherone (former lead singer, Extreme, Van Halen) (51)
• Jeremy Piven (actor, Say Anything, Heat, Black Hawk Down, Old School, Runaway Jury, agent Ari Gold on Entourage) (47)
• Brenton Wood (singer, "Gimme Little Sign") (71)
• Darlene Love (singer-actress, the Lethal Weapon movies) (71)
• Keiko Matsui (smooth jazz keyboardist) (49, disputed)
• Dorothy Hamill (U.S. figure skater who won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics) (56)
• Taylor Momsen (actress, played Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl) (19)
• Dan Konopka (drummer, OK Go) (38)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1775 Benjamin Franklin is appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress.
• 1788New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of theUnited States.
• 1847, Africa's first sovereign, black-ruled, democratic nation was formed whenLiberia became a republic. The country was founded by freed American slaves.
• 1856 Author-playwright George Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion) is born. He dies in 1950.
• 1894 Author Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, "The Doors Of Perception," which provided the name for the Doors) is born. He dies in 1963.
• 1908 The Bureau Of Investigation is created by U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte, who assigns a group of federal investigators to the Justice Department. It's renamed the Federal Bureau Of Investigation in 1935.
• 1909 Actress Vivian Vance (I Love Lucy's Ethel Mertz) is born. She dies in 1979.
• 1922 Actor Jason Robards (All The President's Men, Melvin And Howard, Parenthood, Philadelphia) is born. He dies in 2000.
• 1922 Director/Screenwriter Blake Edwards (Pink Panther movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and 10, husband of Julie Andrews) was born today. He dies in 2010.
• 1928 Director Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut) is born. He dies in 1999.
• 1945, theU.S.,Great Britain, andChina issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the unconditional surrender ofJapan.Japan, not knowing theU.S. had the atomic bomb, refused.
• 1945, Winston Churchill resigned asBritain's prime minister after his Conservatives were defeated in elections by the Labor Party.
• 1948, President Harry Truman ended segregation in the military.
• 1965, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led a civil rights march on Chicago City Hall, demanding an end to racial discrimination in housing.
• 1969 "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones hits Number One on theU.K. pop chart, where it stays for five weeks.
• 1974 "It's Only Rock & Roll" by the Rolling Stones is released.
• 1975 "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc peaks at Number Two on the pop chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1975 One Of These Nights by the Eagles hits Number One on the album chart, where it stays for five weeks.
• 1979 A revised version of the Clash's debut album is released in the States. This comes two years after the disc had been issued in their nativeBritain.
• 1980 "Play The Game" by Queen peaks at Number 42 on the pop chart.
• 1980 Actor Allen "Farina" Hoskins (The Little Rascals) dies at age 59.
• 1980 Emotional Rescue by the Rolling Stones hits Number One on the album chart, where it stays for seven weeks.
• 1986 "Modern Woman" by Billy Joel peaks at Number 10 on the pop chart.
• 1986 "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel hits Number One on the pop chart. That same day, So peaks at Number Two on the album chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1988 The Van Halen album OU812 is certified gold, platinum, and double platinum.
• 1989, the stylish crime drama Miami Vice last aired on NBC.
• 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act, barring discrimination against disabled people.
• 1991, Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, was arrested for exposing himself twice while watching a pornographic movie at an adult theater inFlorida.
• 1992 Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley marries Pamela Bowen. They have since divorced.
• 1994 Kiss members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons perform "Christine Sixteen" with the Gin Blossoms on The Late Show With David Letterman.
• 2000 Coldplay's debut album, Parachutes, is nominated for theU.K.'s Mercury Music Prize only weeks after it's released.
• 2000, a federal judge inSan Francisco ordered Napster to stop allowing its millions of users to download copyrighted music for free through its Internet site. However, a stay halting the injunction allowed Napster to continue providing its popular music-sharing service for the time being while the company appealed the court order.
• 2002 Austin Powers In Goldmember, starring Mike Myers and Beyonce Knowles, opens in theatres.
• 2003 Iron Maiden drummer Michael "Nicko" McBrain is arrested and charged with assault at Jones Beach Amphitheater, onLong Island,New York, after allegedly hitting a parking attendant with his 2004 Jaguar.
• 2003 Limp Bizkit ends their set after 20 minutes at the Stickney,Illinois, stop on the Summer Sanitarium tour, after audience members boo and throw garbage at the stage.
• 2004 Courtney Love is sentenced to an 18-month stretch in a drug rehabilitation center. It doesn't need to be a full-time in-patient facility, but Love will have to go through substance-abuse counseling, and she'll be subject to random testing.
• 2006 Audioslave vocalist Chris Cornell is confirmed to co-write and sing "You Know My Name," the theme song for the new James Bond film, Casino Royale.
• 2006 Seether frontman Shaun Morgan enters rehab for unspecified substance abuse issues as the band cancels all tour plans for the rest of the year.
• 2011 Kiss bassist Gene Simmons proposes to longtime girlfriend and common law wife Shannon Tweed as part of the season finale of their A&E "reality" show, Gene Simmons' Family Jewels.