On this date in . . .
1881:
Kansas became the first U.S. state
to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
1934: Comedian Bob Hope and Delores Reade were married in Erie,
Pennsylvania. The marriage lasted 69 years until Hope's death at age 100 in
2003. Bob and Delores adopted four children, Kelly, Zachary, Linda, and
Tony.
1964: A thousand pounds of Beatles wigs arrived
from England in New York City, where they sold out immediately.
1964: Simon & Garfunkel completed the original
version of "Sounds of Silence" using only acoustic guitars.
1967: In St. Louis Wilt Chamberlain
missed all nine of his free throw attempts while hitting 100% of other shots. In fact,
when the field goal streak ended nine days later, Wilt had made 35 in a row.
1974: Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
split up their act.
1977: Betty Tafat of Cuyahoga, Ohio,
completed crocheting a wool chain 11 miles long.
1977: President Ford pardoned Iva Toguri
D'Aquino, better known by her nickname "Tokyo Rose."
1984: On the final day of the Winter
Olympics at Sarajevo, American brothers Phil and Steve Mahre won the gold and silver
medals in the men's slalom.
1985: Coca-Cola introduced bottled
Cherry Coke. Soda jerks at drug store fountains had been mixing it since the
1930s.
1996: Two days before her 121st birthday,
Jeanne Clement of France became the world's oldest pop star by releasing her first CD
entitled Mistress of Time, on which she spoke over funk-rap, techno, and dance music. She
said she made the recording to earn money for a minibus for the retirement home where she
lived.
1996: At a motel near Johannesburg, South Africa,
55-year-old Maphupu Molatudi was beaten and robbed of his false teeth. Police arrested a
suspect but never recovered the teeth.
1998: A piece of the Duke and Duchess of
Windsors 60-year-old wedding cake sold for $29,900 at an auction in New York City.
1999: Actor Dennis Franz received a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2002:
A burglar left hanging upside down
from a window had to call Austrian police for help on his cell phone. The 42-year-old was
trying to break into a nursery in Linz when his foot got caught in a crack as he went
through a sloping window. Officers had to take out the window frame to free the man.
2005: Iran was reported to be preparing for a
possible U.S. attack or at least appearing to prepare for war to dissuade
Washington from such an attack.
Birthdays: