crummyrummy
05-19-2004, 05:18 PM
Today In History
1536 - Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII of England, was
beheaded for adultery.
1588 - King Philip II's Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon on its
ill-fated attempt to conquer England.
1635 - In the Thirty Years War, France declared war on Spain.
1643 - The towns of Connecticut, Plymouth and New Haven formed a
Confederation of the United Colonies of New England as protection in the
wars with American Indians.
1796 - The first U.S. game law was approved. The measure called for
penalties for folks hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.
1849 - Irishman William Hamilton was arrested after firing blank shots
at Queen Victoria in London.
1857 - William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patented the electric
fire alarm, and it was first used in a massive scale in Boston,
Massachusetts. The original system consisted of 40 street fire alarm
boxes connected by telegraph circuits to a central office.
1911 - The first person to commit a crime and be convicted through the
use of fingerprints turned out to be Caesar Cella. He had been ‘thumbed’
in New York City.
1926 - Thomas Edison spoke at a dinner for the National Electric Light
Association in Atlantic City. When asked to speak into the microphone,
he said, “I don’t know what to say. This is the first time I ever spoke
into one of these things ... Good night.”
1952 - Yoshiro Shirai defeated flyweight champion Dado Marino in Tokyo
to become Japan’s first world-boxing champ.
1958 - The United States and Canada formally established the North
American Air Defense Command.
1960 - Radio disc jockey and TV personality, Alan Freed was arrested on
charges of commercial bribery during the industry's payola scandal.
Seven other people were also arrested. Freed was the originator of the
term "rock and roll".
1965 - Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, "King of the
Road". The song was Miller’s biggest hit record. It got to number four
(3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks. It was a number
one country music hit (3/27/65) as well. Miller, a country singer,
humorist, guitarist and composer from Forth Worth, TX and raised in
Oklahoma, went to Nashville, TN in the mid-’50s to begin a songwriting
career. He wrote songs and played drums for Faron Young in 1962, then
won what was an unprecedented, six Grammy Awards in 1965, had his own TV
show in 1966; wrote "Little Green Apples", a huge hit for O.C. Smith and
had five tunes in the top ten in 1968. To top it off, he composed the
music for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, "Big River" in 1985.
1966 - Country music came to New York’s Carnegie Hall this night. Eddy
Arnold debuted with an array of popular country artists in the Big
Apple.
1973 - Secretariat won the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown
by capturing the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland. The famed
horse later went on to win the Belmont Stakes in New York to earn the
Triple Crown with jockey Ron Turcotte as the rider.
1992 - Two doctors who performed an autopsy on John F. Kennedy confirmed
the U.S. president died from two bullets fired from above and behind.
1998 - Millions of pagers nationwide stopped working when a
communications satellite suddenly lost track of Earth.
1999 - Following months of media hype, promotional gimmicks, and
thousands of ardent fans camping out in front of theaters to buy
tickets, George Lucas's much-anticipated Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace opened in theaters across the U.S. The film starred Liam
Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman.
1536 - Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII of England, was
beheaded for adultery.
1588 - King Philip II's Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon on its
ill-fated attempt to conquer England.
1635 - In the Thirty Years War, France declared war on Spain.
1643 - The towns of Connecticut, Plymouth and New Haven formed a
Confederation of the United Colonies of New England as protection in the
wars with American Indians.
1796 - The first U.S. game law was approved. The measure called for
penalties for folks hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.
1849 - Irishman William Hamilton was arrested after firing blank shots
at Queen Victoria in London.
1857 - William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patented the electric
fire alarm, and it was first used in a massive scale in Boston,
Massachusetts. The original system consisted of 40 street fire alarm
boxes connected by telegraph circuits to a central office.
1911 - The first person to commit a crime and be convicted through the
use of fingerprints turned out to be Caesar Cella. He had been ‘thumbed’
in New York City.
1926 - Thomas Edison spoke at a dinner for the National Electric Light
Association in Atlantic City. When asked to speak into the microphone,
he said, “I don’t know what to say. This is the first time I ever spoke
into one of these things ... Good night.”
1952 - Yoshiro Shirai defeated flyweight champion Dado Marino in Tokyo
to become Japan’s first world-boxing champ.
1958 - The United States and Canada formally established the North
American Air Defense Command.
1960 - Radio disc jockey and TV personality, Alan Freed was arrested on
charges of commercial bribery during the industry's payola scandal.
Seven other people were also arrested. Freed was the originator of the
term "rock and roll".
1965 - Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, "King of the
Road". The song was Miller’s biggest hit record. It got to number four
(3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks. It was a number
one country music hit (3/27/65) as well. Miller, a country singer,
humorist, guitarist and composer from Forth Worth, TX and raised in
Oklahoma, went to Nashville, TN in the mid-’50s to begin a songwriting
career. He wrote songs and played drums for Faron Young in 1962, then
won what was an unprecedented, six Grammy Awards in 1965, had his own TV
show in 1966; wrote "Little Green Apples", a huge hit for O.C. Smith and
had five tunes in the top ten in 1968. To top it off, he composed the
music for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, "Big River" in 1985.
1966 - Country music came to New York’s Carnegie Hall this night. Eddy
Arnold debuted with an array of popular country artists in the Big
Apple.
1973 - Secretariat won the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown
by capturing the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland. The famed
horse later went on to win the Belmont Stakes in New York to earn the
Triple Crown with jockey Ron Turcotte as the rider.
1992 - Two doctors who performed an autopsy on John F. Kennedy confirmed
the U.S. president died from two bullets fired from above and behind.
1998 - Millions of pagers nationwide stopped working when a
communications satellite suddenly lost track of Earth.
1999 - Following months of media hype, promotional gimmicks, and
thousands of ardent fans camping out in front of theaters to buy
tickets, George Lucas's much-anticipated Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace opened in theaters across the U.S. The film starred Liam
Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman.