Today's History & Birthdays - Thurs. 08/15
LandonEx
Today is Thursday, August 15, the 227th day of 2002. There are 138 days left
in the year. On this date:
In 1057, Macbeth, the King of Scotland and inspiration for a play by William
Shakespeare, was murdered by Malcolm III, the son of King Duncan.
In 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica.
In 1859, Charles Comiskey, who would own the White Sox baseball team in the
early 1900s, was born in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1911, the Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, introduced Crisco
hydrogenated shortening.
In 1914, an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean,
officially opening the Panama Canal. The massive construction project took 10
years to complete, cost $352 million, used 61 million pounds of dynamite and
included the excavation of 232.4 million cubic yards of dirt.
In 1935, actor-humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when
their Lockheed Orion-Explorer airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces landed in southern France.
In 1945, August 15 was proclaimed "V-J Day" by the Allies, a day after Japan
agreed to surrender unconditionally.
In 1947, India became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
In 1948, the Republic of Korea was proclaimed.
In 1957, a Soviet Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-14 airliner crashed into the harbor at
Copenhagen, Denmark, after hitting the chimney of a factory, killing all 23
persons on board.
In 1961, East German workers began building the Berlin Wall.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York. (See
also "music" entry below.)
In 1971, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages,
prices and rents.
In 1979, United Nations ambassador Andrew Young resigned amid controversy over
his unauthorized meeting with a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
representative.
In 1985, South African President P.W. Botha, rejecting Western pleas to abolish
apartheid, declared, "I am not prepared to lead white South Africans and other
minority groups on a road to abdication and suicide."
In 1987, in Illinois, more than 13.5 inches of rain drenched the Chicago area,
causing more than $100 million in damage.
In 1989, 34 of the 40 persons aboard a China Eastern Airlines flight were
killed when the Antonov AN-24 airliner lost power and crashed into a river near
Shanghai, China.
In 1991, the United Nations Security Council, by a vote of 13-1, authorized
Iraq to export $1.6 billion worth of oil in a tightly controlled sale to pay
for desperately needed food and medicine.
Ten years ago (1992): While U.S. Republicans were gathering in Houston, Texas,
for their national convention, President George H.W. Bush was spending a
weekend at Camp David, his re-nomination secure. In Florida, four people were
killed and as many as 20 wounded in a shooting spree at a Caribbean nightclub
near Miami. The country of Vietnam blamed Hollywood for creating the "myth"
that U.S. servicemen are being held in Indochina.
In 1994, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," was
jailed in France after being captured in Sudan.
In 1995, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay $3.1 million to white
separatist Randall Weaver, whose wife and teenage son were killed by FBI
sharpshooters during a standoff at his Idaho cabin three years earlier.
In 1996, Frederick Martin Davidson, a graduate student at San Diego State
University, shot and killed three engineering professors; he was later
sentenced to three life terms in prison.
Five years ago (1997): The U.S. government expanded its recall of ground beef
sold under the Hudson brand name to 1.2 million pounds because of new evidence
of possible contamination by E. coli bacteria. The U.S. Justice Department
decided against prosecuting senior FBI officials in connection with an alleged
cover-up that followed the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho.
In 1998, 29 people were killed by a car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland; a
splinter group calling itself the Real IRA claimed responsibility.
In 2000, British Airways joined Air France in grounding its Concorde supersonic
jetliners in the wake of the July 25 crash near Paris that claimed 113 lives.
A group of 100 separated family members from North Korea arrived in South Korea
for temporary reunions with relatives they had not seen for half a century; a
group of 100 South Koreans visited the North.
One year ago (2001): A Texas appeals court halted the execution of Napoleon
Beazley just hours before he was scheduled to die for a murder he had committed
as a teenager; he was executed in May 2002. The U.S. Air Force gave the
go-ahead to build its new F-22 fighter jet, but said it would build fewer
planes for more money than it had once planned. A wealthy Kansas City,
Missouri, pharmacist accused of diluting chemotherapy drugs surrendered to the
FBI. Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our
own.
////////// Today in Music History:
In 1933, singer Bobby Helms was born in Bloomington, Indiana. His debut single
"Fraulein" initially flopped in January 1957, but then hit No. 1 on the Country
chart in April. In October of 1957, Helms reached No. 7 on the Pop charts with
"My Special Angel," and two months later reached No. 6 with "Jingle Bell Rock,"
which was released by Decca only two days before Christmas. He died at age 63
of emphysema at his home in Martinsville, Indiana, on June 19, 1997.
In 1946, prolific songwriter Jimmy Webb was born. He wrote the Grammy-winning
tune "Up, Up and Away" (a big hit for The Fifth Dimension) and a lot of Glen
Campbell songs, including "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and
"Galveston." Webb also wrote a song inspired by his habit of meeting his
girlfriend for lunch in a downtown Los Angeles park. The tune? "MacArthur
Park," which is an actual park on Wilshire Boulevard.
In 1958, Buddy Holly married Maria Santiago in Lubbock, Texas.
In 1965, the Beatles played New York's Shea Stadium, launching the Fab Four's
third North American tour, in a concert that generated receipts of over
$300,000 -- a world record at the time.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival opened on Max Yasgur's farm near
Bethel, New York, drawing an estimated 400,000 people for three days of music
performed by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby
Stills Nash & Young, Santana, and the Grateful Dead -- among others.
In 1980, George Harrison's autobiography, "I Me Mine," was published in London,
England. The Urgh! punk festival -- featuring X, Pere Ubu, and the Dead
Kennedys -- was held in Santa Monica, California.
In 1984, Norman Petty -- Buddy Holly's producer -- died at age 57.
In 1986, 29-year-old Connie Doerr of Hermann, Missouri, was the 30-millionth
visitor to Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1991, over 750,000 people attended a free concert by Paul Simon in New
York's Central Park. In other news, Alan Jackson and Vince Gill tied for the
most nominations -- six -- as contenders for the 25th annual Country Music
Association Awards were announced.
In 1992, about 700 Madonna fans jammed a hotel in the Detroit suburb of
Southfield, Michigan, to celebrate the pop star's 34th birthday.
In 1995, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead canceled the group's fall
tour following the death of Jerry Garcia one week earlier. In Los Angeles, a
judge ordered an alleged Madonna stalker to stand trial. The 4-year-old
daughter of rocker Vince Neil died from a very rare form of liver cancer, just
months after being diagnosed.
In 1997, Blues Traveler kicked off their tour in Charlotte, North Carolina, in
support of their sixth album, "Straight On Till Morning."
////////// Today's Birthdays (born under the sign of Leo):
-- Cooking expert and author Julia Child is 90.
-- Actress Wendy Hiller ("Separate Tables," "The Elephant Man") is 90.
-- Actor Mike Connors (TV's "Mannix") is 77.
-- Jazz musician Oscar Peterson ("Canadiana Suite") is 77.
-- Rhythm-and-blues singer Bill Pinckney (The Drifters) is 77.
-- Actress Janice Rule ("Bell, Book and Candle," "Missing") is 71.
-- Actress Abby Dalton (TV's "Falcon Crest") is 70.
-- Actress Lori Nelson ("Destry," "Revenge of the Creature") is 69.
-- Singer-producer Bobby Byrd ("Try It Again") is 68.
-- Attorney and civil rights activist Vernon Jordan is 67.
-- Actor Jim Dale ("Pete's Dragon," Broadway's "Barnum") is 67.
-- Actress Pat Priest (TV's "The Munsters") is 66.
-- Musician Pete York (Spencer Davis Group) is 60.
-- Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee (TV's "Weekend," "Our World") is 58.
-- Songwriter Jimmy Webb ("Wichita Lineman," "MacArthur Park") is 56.
-- Britain's Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise) is 52.
-- Actress Tess Harper ("Tender Mercies," "Silkwood") is 52.
-- Actor Larry Mathews (TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show") is 47.
-- Actor Zeljko Ivanek ("Our Sons," "White Squall," "Hannibal") is 45.
-- Rock singer-musician Matt Johnson (The The) is 41.
-- Actress Debi Mazar ("That's Life," TV's "L.A. Law") is 38.
-- Actress Debra Messing (TV's "Will & Grace") is 34.
-- Actor Ben Affleck ("Pearl Harbor," "Reindeer Games") is 30.
-- Singer Michael Graham (Boyzone) is 30.
-- Actress Natasha Henstridge ("The Whole Nine Yards," "Species") is 28.
////////// Thought for Today:
"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."
-- Hannah Arendt, American author and philosopher (1906-1975)
AP / Reuters / E! Online / Zap2it
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