ON THIS DAY:
1880 Actor-comedian W.C. Fields was born. He died in 1946.
1886, the first successful gasoline-powered car, built by Karl-Friedrich Benz, was patented. Its top speed was 15 mph.
1958 Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married.
1963 Poet Robert Frost died at age 88.
1964 The Beatles record a German-language version of their song "She Loves You" called "Sie Liebt Dich" in Paris.
1964 The movie Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and James Earl Jones, opened.
1966 "As Tears Go By" by the Rolling Stones peaks at Number Six on the pop chart.
1977 "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith peaks at Number 10 on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks.
1977 Actor-comedian Freddie Prinze (Chico And The Man) died at age 22.
1979 Teenager Brenda Spencer took the rifle her father gave her for Christmas and used it to shoot into an elementary school across from her San Diego home. One adult and eight children were wounded, and two men lost their lives trying to protect the kids. When asked why she did it, she says, "Because I don't like Mondays." This inspires Bob Geldof to write "I Don't Like Mondays" for the Boomtown Rats.
1980 Actor-comedian Jimmy Durante died at age 86.
1992 Blues legend Willie Dixon died at age 76.
2002, President George W Bush delivered the first post-9/11 State Of The Union address, in which he labeled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea an "axis of evil."