On this date in .
. .
597 BC: According to some archaeological
calculations, the first conquest of Jerusalem by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar occurred.
The event is recorded in the Bible in 2 Kings 24 and 2 Chronicles 36.
1963: Peter, Paul, & Mary released
"Puff, the Magic Dragon." The song reached #2 even though some radio stations
banned it, fearing it was about smoking marijuana. Composer Peter Yarrow always contended
it was "about a magic dragon named Puff."
1970: Singer Tammi Terrell collapsed
on stage and died of a brain tumor at age 23. Her biggest hits, with Marvin Gaye, included
"Your Precious Love," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Ain't
Nothing Like the Real Thing," and "Onion Song."
1970:
A bidder at Sotheby
& Company in London paid $20,000 for one glass paperweight.
1974: In Nashville Roy Acuff gave
President Nixon yo-yo lessons as the Grand Ole Opry moved from Ryman Auditorium to
Opryland.
1988: Singer Bonnie Bramlett slugged Elvis Costello
after a Stephen Stills concert in Columbus, Ohio.
1989: Federal health officials reported that apples
were safe to eat in the wake of a U.S. scare over the chemical alar. Alar was used on some
apples to preserve freshness.
1991: Actress Valerie Bertinelli and
rocker Eddie Van Halen became parents of a 7-pound 13-ounce son, Wolfgang Van Halen.
1994: Figure skater Tonya Harding
pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy for covering up the
attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan. She was fined $100,000.
1995: When a Miami bandit tried to rob
a delicatessen, the owner broke his nose with a salami. The fleeing man hid in the trunk
of what turned out to be an unmarked police car, where he wasn=t found until five days
later.
1999: After local children protested,
a Ukrainian farmer near Lviv agreed not to destroy his three-legged heifer and, instead,
made an artificial limb for the young cow.
1999:
The Nebraska
Cornhuskers beat Chicago State 50-3 in an NCAA baseball game.
2002:
A man in Nayland,
England, sold a house for 1,400 times the amount his family paid for it. Arthur Webb's
grandfather bought the three-bedroom house in 1914 for $27. It remained in the family and
was sold at auction for $385,233. Webb said the interior decor had not been touched since
the 1940s.
Birthdays:
