January 8

It’s Male Watcher’s Day and Bubble Bath Day

 

ON THIS DAY…

1297 The Grimaldi Dynasty is established in Monaco
1675 The first corporation was chartered in the U.S. – it was a New York fishing company
1790 George Washington delivers the first “State of the Union” address in New York City
1815 Major General Andrew Jackson led a small, poorly-equipped army to victory against eight thousand British troops at the Battle of New Orleans
1835 US national debt is 0 for the first and only time
1838 The first telegraph message in the U.S. in which letters were represented by dots and dashes was transmitted – the message was: “A patient waiter is no loser”.
1853 The first bronze statue in the U.S., of Andrew Jackson on a horse, was unveiled in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.
1856 Borax (hydrated sodium borate) was discovered by Dr. John Veatch near Red Bluff, CA
1877 Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory)
1901 The first tournament sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago, IL
1918 Mississippi becomes first state to ratify the 8th Amendment (prohibition)
1935 The first U.S. patent for a spectrophotometer was issued to Professor Arthur Cobb Hardy of Wellesley, MA
1938 The superfluidity of liquid helium at a temperature near absolute zero was reported in the journal Nature
1940 Britain introduces food rationing
1957 Jackie Robinson announced his retirement from baseball
1959 Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution is complete
1961 Robert Goulet made his U.S. TV debut this night on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS
1962 Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1966 The Beatles LP, “Rubber Soul”, began a 6-week reign at the top of the album chart
1979 The NBC game show Password Plus premieres, hosted by Allen Ludden
1981 The Pirates of Penzance opens on Broadway
1998 Scientists announce the identification for the first time of a key brain chemical related to nicotine addiction

BORN:

1824 Wilkie Collins, author (The Moonstone, The Woman in White)
1843 Frederick Abberline, London Metropolitan Police inspector who is best remembered for his investigations on the Jack the Ripper case
1862 Frank Nelson Doubleday, publisher
1897 Dennis Wheatley, author (The Devil Rides Out, The Shadow of Tyburn Tree)
1905 Walter E. Diemer, businessman who was working as an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Co., when in 1928 he accidentally invented bubble gum
1908 William Hartnell, actor (Doctor Who, The Mouse That Roared)
1909 José Ferrer, Academy Award-winning actor (Cyrano de Bergerac, The Greatest Story Ever Told)
1923 Larry Storch, actor (F-Troop, Airport 1975, The Ghost Busters)
1924 Ron Moody, actor (Oliver!, The Twelve Chairs, The Mouse on the Moon)
1926 Soupy Sales, comedian (The Soupy Sales Show)
1929 Gerry Spence, trial lawyer who came to prominence with the Karen Silkwood case
1931 Bill Graham, music promoter
1933 Charles Osgood, TV host
1934 Roy Kinnear, actor (Help!, The Three Musketeers)
1934 Alexandra Ripley, author (Scarlet, Charleston)
1935 Elvis Presley, actor / singer
1937 Shirley Bassey, singer (“Goldfinger,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “Big Spender”)
1937 Bill Marx, film composer / adopted son of Harpo Marx (Count Yorga, Vampire, Scream Blacula Scream)
1938 Bob Eubanks, game show host
1941 Graham Chapman, actor (Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Mønti Pythøn ik den Høli Gräilen, Yellowbeard)
1941 Boris Vallejo, illustrator / fantasy artist
1942 Stephen W. Hawking, theoretical physicist (A Brief History of Time)
1944 Terry Brooks, author (The Sword of Shannara, Magic Kingdom for Sale)
1946 Robby Krieger, musician (The Doors)
1947 David Bowie, musician / actor (The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Prestige)
1951 John McTiernan, director (Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October)
1955 Mike Reno, musician (Loverboy)
1957 Dwight Clark, NFL Football Wide Receiver (San Francisco 49ers 1979-1987, “The Catch”)
1959 Paul Hester, musician (Crowded House)
1965 Michelle Forbes, actress (Prison Break, Escape from L.A., 24)
1969 Ami Dolenz, actress / daughter of Mickey Dolenz (Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings)
1977 Amber Benson, actress (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Crush)
1979 Sarah Polley, actress (Road to Avonlea, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
1982 Gaby Hoffmann, actress (Field of Dreams, Sleepless in Seattle, 200 Cigarettes)
2005 Zahara Jolie-Pitt, adopted daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

DIED:

1324 Marco Polo, explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione, dies at 69
1642 Galileo Galilei, philosopher / astronomer / mathematician, dies at 77
1825 Eli Whitney, inventor / mechanical engineer / manufacturer, who invented the cotton gin and developed the idea and methods for mass-production of interchangeable parts, dies at 59
1894 Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, parasitologist and paleontologist who discovered the life cycle of tapeworms, dies at 84
1935 Jesse Garon Presley, stillborn twin brother of Elvis Presley
1941 Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement, dies at 83
1956 Greenleaf Whittier Pickard, electrical engineer whose invention of the crystal detector was one of the first devices widely used for receiving radio broadcasts, dies at 80
1980 John W. Mauchly, physicist and engineer, who with John P. Eckert invented (1946) the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first general-purpose electronic computer, dies at 72
1981 Matthew ‘Stymie’ Beard, actor (Our Gang / The Little Rascals), dies at 56
1990 Terry-Thomas, actor (School for Scoundrels, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines), dies at 78
1994 Pat Buttram, actor (Robin Hood, Green Acres, The Gene Autry Show) dies at 78
1998 Walter E. Diemer, businessman who was working as an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Co., when in 1928 he accidentally invented bubble gum, dies on his 93rd birthday
2002 Dave Thomas, fast food entrepreneur (Wendy’s), dies at 69
2007 Yvonne De Carlo, actress (The Munsters, Buccaneer’s Girl, The Ten Commandments), dies at 84