On
this date in . . .
1792: The Presbyterian pioneer of congressional singing, Lowell Mason,
was born. He composed the music for a thousand hymns, including "Nearer My
God to Thee,"
"Blest
Be the Tie That Binds," and
"When
I Survey the Wondrous Cross."
1932: The low point in the Great Depression came when the Dow Jones
Industrial Average bottomed out at 41.22.
1958: The Recording
Industry Association of America presented the first gold record album. The
soundtrack "Oklahoma" had reached one million dollars in sales. The first
gold single had been presented four months earlier for Perry Como's "Catch a
Falling Star," meaning the single had sold one million copies.
1969: The U.S. government issued a patent for the
game "Twister."
1974: Tracey Ann Sawyers and Lee Williams were married before 250
witnesses at the Sunshine Park Nudist Camp in New Jersey. The Rev. Ulas Mays
and a reporter were the only ones wearing clothes.
1977: A copy of
Marvel Comics #1 sold at a New York City
convention of comic book collectors for $7,500. Shazam!
1980:
Jello Biafra filed as a candidate for mayor of San Francisco.
Jello, Klaus Flouride, and Ray Valium made up the punk group The Dead
Kennedys. Jello was not elected.
1992:
"Melrose Place" debuted on the Fox Network. At first a
"lesson"
drama, it evolved into a soap opera.
1995: With his own gravelly voice blaring from a boombox, disc jockey
Wolfman Jack was buried in Belvidere, North Carolina. The gravestone
displayed his real name, Robert Weston Smith, and the words,
"One
more time!"
1995: A Taiwan policeman, in debt from gambling on video games, was
arrested after trying to rob a bank with a toy gun. Huang Hsin-min ditched
the gun and a coat near the bank. The coat had his name in it.
1997: The Mayo Clinic warned that the diet drug
"fen-phen"
could cause heart and lung damage.
1997: County music's Marty Stuart and Connie Smith
were married.
1997:
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization.
2003:
Doctors
in Singapore separated two 29-year-old Iranian sisters who had been joined
at the head since birth but the women died during the 54-hour operation.
2004:
Enron founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay
pleaded innocent in Houston to charges related to the company's collapse. He
was convicted in 2006. He died of heart
disease in July 2006 while his case was on appeal.
Birthdays:
 |
actress Anjelica Huston 59; |
|
actress Kim Darby 62; |
|
actor Billy Crudup 42; |
|
actress Sophia Bush 28; |
|
singer-musician Beck 40; |
|
singer Ben Jelen 31; |
|
singer Steve Lawrence is 75; |
|
singer Jerry Vale 78; |
|
singer Toby Keith 49; |
|
Depeche Mode's Andy Fletcher 49; |
|
singer Drew Womack (Sons of the Desert)
40; |
|
musician Stephen Mason (Jars of Clay) 35. |
Q: You want to measure your
alligator. To get an accurate measurement, should you: (a) measure along his
back; (b) measure along his belly; or (c) measure along his side?
A: Roll him over onto his back and measure
along his belly. That’s according to Tommy Taylor, director of Billy Swamp
Safari in Clewiston, Florida. Tommy and seven helpers measured Florida’s
longest alligator, Superman, at 13-foot-7 inches.
Q:
Is Triumph International of Japan now recycling plastic bottles to make: (a)
shoes; (b) pantyhose; or (c) underwear?
A:
Underwear. Clear plastic water bottles are being recycled into lingerie.
Q: How many
people does it take to perform neck surgery on a giraffe: (a) 10; (b) 13; or
(c) 16?
A: 13, three to operate and 10 to hold
up the patient’s head. The giraffe in question was 9-year-old Brindisi at
the Dvur Kralove zoo in the Czech Republic. Brindisi damaged some neck
nerves when she poked her 18-foot neck through the bars in her pen and got
stuck.
Wisdom: You
have a right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used
against you.
51 years ago today:
|
The #1 song was "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb
Wooley.
The #1 country song was "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash.
The #1 R&B song was "Yakety Yak" by the Coasters.
|
