1789 Author James Fenimore Cooper (The Last Of The Mohicans) is born. He dies in 1851.
1890 Author Agatha Christie (Murder On The Orient Express, Death On The Nile, The Mirror Crack’d) is born. She dies in 1976.
1907 Actress Fay Wray (King Kong) is born. She died this past August 8th.
1908 Penny Singleton, who was the voice for The Jetsons‘ Jane Jetson, is born. She died last November.
1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered, by accident, the antibiotic effects of the penicillin mold.
1930 The comic strip Blondie debuted.
1935 Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped German Jews of their civil rights, and adopted the swastika symbol.
1949 The Lone Ranger premiered on ABC with Clayton Moore as the hero and Jay Silverheels as his sidekick Tonto.
1962 Brian Epstein brings the Beatles to the offices of the London Daily Mirror for an interview with Peter Jones, who concludes they are “a nothing group.”
1963 Four young girls, three 14-year-olds and one 11-year-old, were killed when a bomb exploded during Sunday services at a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, that had been a rallying point for civil rights demonstrations.
1964 At the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, the Beatles are ordered off the stage by authorities for 15 minutes so that the screaming crowd can calm down.
1965 The TV show Green Acres, starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor, debuts.
1965 Lost In Space debuted on CBS.
1965 The ground-breaking series I Spy, the first TV show to feature an African-American actor, Bill Cosby, in a major dramatic role, debuted. Actor Robert Culp co-starred in the spy show.
1971 The environmental organization Greenpeace was founded in Canada.
1973 ”Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” by Elton John peaks at Number 12 on the pop chart.
1973 ”Twisting The Night Away” by Rod Stewart, a cover of the Sam Cooke song, peaks at Number 59 on the pop chart.
1977 The TV show CHiPs, starring Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada, debuts.
1978 Muhammad Ali became the first three-time heavyweight champion with a unanimous 15-round decision over Leon Spinks.
1979 ”The Devil Went Down To Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band peaks at Number Three on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks.
1979 In Through The Out Door by Led Zeppelin, their final studio album, hits Number One on the album chart, where it stays for seven weeks.
1980 ”Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar is released.
1982 The first issue of USA Today appeared. Its lead story was Princess Grace‘s death the day before in a car accident.
1984 ”If This Is It” by Huey Lewis & the News peaks at Number Six on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks.
1988 Mark Knopfler announces Dire Straits will break up so he can concentrate on solo projects. However, the band will later release another album and tour.
1990 Bruce Hornsby begins filling in on keyboards for the Grateful Dead following the death of Brent Mydland.
1997 The diet drugs dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine — used in combination as fenphen — were taken off of the market because of evidence that they could damage patients’ hearts.
1998 In London, a notebook with Paul McCartney‘s handwritten lyrics for “Hey Jude” is auctioned for about $167,000.
1999 The movie American Beauty, starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, and Scott Bakula, premieres.
2000 The movie Almost Famous, starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, opens in wide release.
2004 David Crosby is formally sentenced in New York State Supreme Court on a gun possession charge stemming from his arrest in March, after a New York City hotel maid found a loaded .45 caliber handgun, two knives, and marijuana in a bag he forgot when he left for a nearby show with his other band, CPR.
2004 Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone dies at age 55.
