Saturday, April 23, 2005

Saturday, April 23

This Day In History

  • 1616   The Spanish poet Cervantes died in Madrid.
  • 1789   President-elect George Washington and his wife moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House in New York City.
  • 1791   James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, was born in Franklin County, Pa.
  • 1896   The Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was demonstrated in New York City.
  • 1899   Author Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.
  • 1908   President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act creating the U.S. Army Reserve.
  • 1940   About 200 people died in a dance-hall fire in Natchez, Miss.
  • 1954   Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. 1969 Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
  • 1968   The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church.
  • 1971   The Rolling Stones' album ''Sticky Fingers'' was released.
  • 1985   The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, GA, made a showy, glitzy announcement that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was called "the most significant soft drink development" in the company?s history. Yeah, well, so much for history. Fans of the original Coke were instrumental in bringing Classic Coke back. The way they did it was, actually, quite ingenious. They didn't buy the new Coke and it turned out to be one of the biggest corporate flops ever.
  • 1992   McDonald's opened its first fast-food restaurant in Beijing.
  • 1993   Labor leader Cesar Chavez died at age 66.
  • 1995   Sportscaster Howard Cosell died at age 77.
  • 1998   James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he was framed, died at age 70.
  • 2003   Global health officials warned travelers to avoid Beijing and Toronto because of an outbreak of SARS.
Happy Birthday To
  • 1564   William Shakespeare (poet, playwright: Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, MacBeth and at least three dozen more plays and over 150 sonnets; died Apr 23, 1616)
  • 1791   James Buchanan (15th U.S. President [1857-1861]; never married; nickname: Old Buck [died June 1, 1868])
  • 1813   Stephen Douglas (Illinois politician who beat Abraham Lincoln for a seat in the state legislature; died June 3, 1861)
  • 1928   Shirley (Jane) Temple Black (child actress: Little Miss Marker, Curly Top, Heidi, The Little Colonel, Poor Little Rich Girl, Wee Willie Winkie, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; U.S. delegate to the United Nations and chief of protocol)
  • 1939   David Birney (actor: Oh, God! Book 2, Nightfall, Serpico [TV], St. Elsewhere, Great American TV Poll, Bridget Loves Bernie, Live Shot)
  • 1939   Lee Majors (Harvey Lee Yeary II) (actor: The Six Million Dollar Man, Big Valley, The Bionic Woman, The Covergirl Murders)
  • 1944   Sandra Dee (Alexandra Zuck) (actress: A Summer Place, Gidget, Tammy and the Doctor)
  • 1949   Joyce DeWitt (actress: Three's Company)
  • 1960   Valerie (Anne) Bertinelli (actress: One Day at a Time, Silent Witness, Ordinary Heroes, Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, Touched by an Angel)

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