0054 - Claudius, Roman Emperor, dies of poison mushrooms at 63.
1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1773 - The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier .
1775 - The second Continental Congress gave the okay for its young country to acquire ships and form what is now the United States Navy.
1792 - The cornerstone of what was termed the President�s House was laid by George Washington in Washington, DC. The name, White House, was not adopted until 1818. The house, designed by James Hoban, would be three stories tall with more than 100 rooms.
1845 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
1903 - Boston defeated Pittsburgh in the first World Series.
1943 - Italy declared war on Germany, its former Axis partner, during World War II.
1951 - A football with a rubber covering was used for the first time, as Georgia Tech whipped Louisiana State 25-7. The game was played in Atlanta, GA.
1953 - An ultrasonic (sound with a frequency greater than 20,000 Hz) burglar alarm was patented by New Yorker Samuel Bagno.
1957 - Two superstars introduced a new car on ABC-TV. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra joined forces in an hourlong special that turned out to be a big ratings hit. Too bad the Edsel, the car that Ford Motor Company was introducing, didn�t fare as well.
1958 - This day was musically memorable as Warren Covington conducted the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for what would be the last big band tune to climb the pop charts. "Tea for Two Cha Cha" made it into the Top 10, peaking at #7. And that was the end of the Big Band Era. Rock �n� roll was here to stay.
1960 - After game six of the World Series, the New York Yankees had scored 46 runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates only 17, yet the Bucs had the series tied going into game seven. The final game opened with a home run by Rocky Nelson and was concluded by a historic game-winning hit by Bill Mazeroski, giving the Pirates their first world championship in thirty-five years.
1961 - A TV news icon called it quits. Howard K. Smith parted ways with CBS News. He said that �there was a difference in interpretation of network news policy.�
1962 - A young 34-year-old named Edward Albee brought his play, "Who�s Afraid of Virginia Woolf", to the stage in New York. Four years later, Albee�s play became an Academy Award-winning film (6 Oscars).
1963 - Beatlemania hit the London Palladium. The Beatles made their first appearance on a major TV show -- for the BBC. Thousands of delirious fans jammed the streets outside the theatre to voice their support of the Fab Four. A few months later, Beatlemania would sweep the U.S. as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
1965 - The British rock band The Who first records their hit, My Generation. (The WEBMASTER is a Who Fan :)
1971 - �Little� Donny Osmond received a shiny gold record for his rendition of the Steve Lawrence hit, "Go Away Little Girl". He went on to garner million-seller success with "Hey Girl" and "Puppy Love" too. Donny was quite popular with the bubblegum set, as well he should have been. Donny was only 13 years old.
1973 - The Rolling Stones� "Goat�s Head Soup" was number one album in the U.S. With the exception of "Angie", the album�s tracks were only semi-memorable: "Dancing With Mr. D", "100 Years Ago", "Coming Down Again", "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)", "Silver Train", "Hide Your Love", "Winter", "Can You Hear the Music", "Star Star".
1974 - Ed Sullivan died in New York City at age 72.
1977 - Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
1979 - Speaking of the teenage set, Michael Jackson went to #1 for the second time with "Don�t Stop �Til You Get Enough". His first number one (Oct. 14, 1972 - age 14) was a ratty little number about "Ben".
1984 - Nick Rodgers was born!!!
1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation announced that it was offering its new Netscape Navigator free to users via the Internet. The Internet browser, developed by the six-month-old Silicon Valley company led by Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and NCSA Mosaic creator Marc Andreessen, was available for free downloading by �individual, academic and research users.�
1995 - Movies opening in U.S. theatres: "Copycat", with Sigourney Weaver, Harry Connick Jr., John Rothman and Holly Hunter; "Les Miserables", starring Michel Boujenah, Alessandra Martines and Clementine Celarie; "The Scarlet Letter", starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall; "Strange Days", with Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis and Tom Sizemore.
2007 - ?????? wins the Chili Showdown!!!
