On this date in . . .

1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

1865: American YMCA director Lewis E. Jones was born . He wrote the enduring hymn, "Power in the Blood."

1922: President Warren Harding had the first radio installed in the White House.

1960: Congress opened an investigation into widespread charges of "payola" that disc jockeys were being paid to play certain records. The accused included deejays Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Clark came through the scandal unscathed, but Freed never worked in radio again.

1968: The film "Planet of the Apes," starring Charleton Heston, Roddy McDowell, and Kim Hunter, opened through the U.S.

1986: Hosting "Saturday Night Live," Ron Reagan sang "Old Time Rock & Roll" in his shorts.

1989: A reedited version of the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" opened in New York City. Director David Lean revealed that due to an earlier editing mistake, for 20 years the camels had been moving in the wrong direction and nobody noticed.

1990: Singer Del Shannon shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California. He was 50 years old. Shannon’s first and biggest hit was "Runaway," number one in the U.S. for four weeks beginning April 24, 1961

1994: Actor Jack Nicholson attacked a car with a golf club.

1998: A rat grounded a 60-ton Swissair jetliner for two days until airline workers finally trapped it using cured ham as bait. Officials refused to say if the rat was traveling first class or coach.

2000: A man allegedly tricked Little Rock police into immediately searching for his stolen car by telling them that his daughter was asleep in the back seat. Police found the car in less than two hours. But the 30-year-old man was charged with a felony for filing a false police report. Police said he had no daughter.

2003: A romeo was stuck on the frozen roof for two hours after his romantic encounter was interrupted by his lover's husband. The naked man climbed through the bedroom window when the husband arrived unexpectedly. The window lead on to the roof and the man was too scared to jump down so he was stuck for two hours in the middle of the night until a neighbor spotted him and called police.

2004: At the Grammy Awards, OutKast won album of the year for "Speakerboxxx-The Love Below" and Beyonce took home five Grammies, tying the record for female performers held by Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keyes and Norah Jones.

Birthdays:

• journalist Ted Koppel is 70;
• author John Grisham 55;
• actor Nick Nolte 69;
• actress Mary Steenburgen 57;
• actress Karle Warren ("Judging Amy") 18;
• actor Gary Coleman 42;
• actor Seth Green 36;
• musician Vince Neil 49;
• coach John Fox 55;
• NBA center Alonzo Mourning 40.

     Q: Was child actor Gary Coleman’s first TV role in the Norman Lear flop: (a) "The Little Jeffersons;" (b) "The Little Rascals;" or (c) "The Little People?"
     A: The remake of "The Little Rascals." When it failed, Lear developed "Diff’rent Strokes" specifically for Gary.

     Q: Your risk of being in an auto accident increases 34% if you: (a) listen to Howard Stern; (b) have a cell phone in your car; or (c) are under 21 years old?
     A: Have a cell phone in your car (Rochester Institute of Technology, New York).

15 years ago today:

• The #1 song was "Creep" by TLC.
• The #1 country song was "(If You're Not in it For Love) I'm Outta Here!" by Shania Twa

© 2010 by Joe Hickman. All rights reserved. ISSN 1067-9405