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216th day of 2010 - 149 remaining
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
WALLENBERG DAY
It was 1912, the scene was Stockholm, Sweden. The event was the birth of a child named Raoul Wallenberg. Three decades later, Raoul made his mark in history.
Wallenberg grew up to become an architect but this was not how he became famous. The upper-class Swedish gentleman also imported luxury goods from Hungary; and in his business dealings, learned of the plight of Hungarian Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
Unlike others of his stature and position in society during World War II, Wallenberg went to work to save thousands ... ultimately rescuing at least 100,000 Jews from certain death ... 65,000 of them from the Budapest ghetto. Were his motives purely humanitarian? This is one question that will never be answered. In 1945, Soviet troops entered Budapest and arrested Wallenberg. Although no one actually knows what happened to this brave individual, Tass, the Soviet press agency, reported that he died in prison two years after his arrest.
Raoul Wallenberg has been honored posthumously by the U.S. government. In 1981 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to award Mr. Wallenberg with honorary American citizenship, only the second person ever to receive such recognition (Winston Churchill was the first). He has also been immortalized in books, film and in a miniseries on television.
Events August 4
1753 - George Washington became a Master Mason on this day.
1790 - U.S. Coast Guard had its beginnings this day. Congress authorized the President to build and equip ten boats to collect revenue, and provide for a complement of officers and men to operate them. This early service known as the Revenue Marine (later the Revenue Cutter Service) represented an attempt to counter a serious smuggling problem that had tremendous financial impact on the nation’s ability to enforce its laws at sea.
1821 - The Saturday Evening Post was published as a weekly for the first time.
1922 - Every telephone in the U.S. and Canada went dead as the Bell System shut down all its switchboards and switching stations for one minute in memory of Alexander Graham Bell, who had died two days earler. During this time, none of the 13 million telephones in operation could be used.
1927 - Radio station 2XAG, later named WGY, the General Electric station in Schenectady, NY, began experimental operations from a 100,000-watt transmitter. Later, the FCC regulated the power of AM radio stations to not exceed 50,000 watts on ‘clear channels’ (where few, if any, stations would cause interference with each other).
1927 - Singer Jimmie Rodgers recorded his first sides for Victor Records in Bristol, TN. He sang Sleep Baby Sleep and Soldier’s Sweetheart.
1934 - Mel Ott became the first major-league baseball player to score six runs in a single game.
1940 - Crime Doctor introduced a new kind of radio hero to audiences. The CBS radio program presented Dr. Benjamin Ordway, the show’s main character, who was a victim of amnesia. He once was a criminal, but got hit on the head, and suddenly began to work as a crime fighter. Nice twist.
1944 - Nazi police discovered Anne Frank and her family, hiding in secret quarters above her father’s factory in Amsterdam, Holland. Miss Frank was 13 years old and had kept a diary of her feelings, thoughts and fears during the two years of hiding from the Nazis. Anne and her sister were taken to a concentration camp following the arrest. Anne Frank died at Bergen-Belsen. Her diary was found later and has since been translated into 30 different languages, adapted as a dramatic play and a Hollywood film. Her diary is a symbol of the strength of the human spirit. She wrote: “I keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be and what I could be, if there weren’t any other people living in the world.”
1954 - A prototype of Great Britain’s first supersonic fighter plane, the English Electric Lightning P-1, made its maiden flight on this day.
1956 - Wilhelm Herz was clocked at 210 miles per hour at Wendover, UT. He became the first person to race a motorcycle over 200 mph.
1957 - Juan Fangio won his final auto race and captured the world auto driving championship -- for the fifth consecutive year.
1958 - This was a grand day in Grand Forks, ND. The first potato flake plant was completed there.
1963 - After two months out of the lineup due to a broken left foot, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees got a tie-breaking, pinch-hit, home run in the ninth inning to lead the Yankees to a win over the Baltimore Orioles.
1964 - The murdered bodies of three civil rights workers were found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had disappeared June 21, not long after they had been held for six hours in the Neshoba County, MS jail on charges of speeding. Their burned car was discovered on June 23, prompting a search by the FBI for the three young men.
1968 - A private Cessna 150 collided with a North Central Airlines Convair 580 airliner near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The impact of the crash left the wrecked Cessna embedded in the forward baggage compartment of the airliner. The North Central Airlines plane managed to land safely with no fatalities, but three people on the Cessna were killed in the collision.
1972 - Arthur Bremer was jailed for 53 years for shooting (and paralyzing) Alabama Governor George Wallace.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy.
1983 - New York Yankee outfielder DAVE Winfield threw a baseball during warmups and accidentally killed a seagull! After the game, Toronto police surrounded the slugger and arrested him for “causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.”
1987 - A new 22-cent stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner went on sale in Oxford, MS. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924.
1987 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 4-0 to rescind the Fairness Doctrine, ruling that it violated the First Amendment rights of broadcasters. The set of obligations known as the Fairness Doctrine was adopted to promote robust discussion of controversial issues, but had not had that effect.
1991 - The Greek luxury liner Oceanos sank in heavy seas off South Africa’s southeast coast. All 402 passengers and 179 crew members survived.
1995 - Movies that opened this day (in U.S. theatres): Babe -- about a pig who learns to be a sheep dog; and Something to Talk About -- about a woman who sees her husband giving an unknown young woman a passionate kiss on his lunch hour.
1996 - On the final day of the Atlanta Olympics, Josia Thugwane became the first black South African to win a gold medal as he finished first in the marathon. The U.S. women’s basketball team defeated Brazil 111-87 to win the gold. David Reid won the only boxing gold medal for the United States. A three-hour ceremony of music, dance and light, attended by some 80,000 people, brought the games to a close.
1997 - The Teamsters went on a 15-day strike against United Parcel Service after talks broke down with the largest package delivery service in the U.S.
1997 - Jeanne Calment, at age 122 the world’s oldest person, died at a retirement home in Arles, France.
1998 - A heat wave swept over Eastern Europe, killing twenty people in Romania and sending people plunging into fountains and standing-room-only pools in search of relief.
1999 - **** opened in the U.S. The Nixon/Watergate comedy stars Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Williams, Dan Hedaya, DAVE Foley, Harry Shearer, Ana Gasteyer, Will Ferrell, Bruce Mcculloch, Rob Schneider, Teri Garr, Saul Rubinek and Jim Breuer.
1999 - Actor Victor Mature died in San Diego County, California. His illustrious film career included 55 movies. He was 84 years old.
2000 - Movies that opened this day (in U.S. theatres): Coyote Ugly -- about a 21-year-old woman who takes a job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly, the hottest spot in town; Space Cowboys -- about a group of almost-over-the-hill pilots called to undertake a space rescue mission; and Hollow Man -- about a scientist who develops a serum that induces complete invisibility (it brought in $26.41 million the first weekend -- the movie, not the serum).
2001 - Thousands of admirers turned out in London to celebrate the 101st birthday of Britain’s Queen Mother Elizabeth. (The Queen Mother died March 31, 2002.)
2002 - Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada won the presidency of Bolivia for a second time.
2003 - California Governor Gray Davis asked the state Supreme Court to delay the Oct. 7 recall election. (The court turned him down.)
2004 - Staten Island ferry pilot Richard Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the Oct 2003 crash that killed 11 commuters. Smith admitted that he had passed out at the helm after arriving at work with medication in his system.
2004 - Two-year-old conjoined twins from the Philippines, born with the tops of their heads fused together, were separated at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. (And the twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre, are reported to be doing well.)
2005 - A mini-submarine carrying seven Russians became caught on an underwater Antenna 600 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean; the men were rescued three days later with help from a British vessel.
2006 - Floods in India brought on by heavy monsoon rains swept people away and destroyed homes in the southern coastal area of Andhra Pradesh. 31 people had died in two days of flooding.
2007 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 755th home run tying the record set by Hank Aaron. (The Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 12 innings.)
2007 - NASA launched the Phoenix Mars Lander robotic dirt and ice digger, for a May 25, 2008 landing on the Red Planet.
2008 - Alaska sued the U.S. saying the government’s listing of polar bears as a threatened species would hurt oil exploration and tourism.
2009 - The Chaos Experiment opened in U.S. movie theatres. The thriller stars Val Kilmer, Armand Assante, Eric Roberts, Megan Brown, Patrick Muldoon, Eve Mauro, Quinn Duffy and Cordelia Reynolds.
2009 - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il on a surprise visit to Pyongyang. Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the release of Americans who had been arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in “hostile acts.” Shortly after Clinton was photographed with Kim Jong Il, wire services reported that Pyongyang had pardoned Lee and Ling.
2009 - Antigua’s highest mountain, Boggy Peak, officially became Mount Obama as the small Caribbean nation celebrated the American president on his birthday and saluted him as a symbol of black achievement.
Birthdays August 4
1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley
lyric poet: Prometheus Unbound, Epipsychidion, The Witch of Atlas, Hellas, Adonais, A Defence of Poetry, Ode to the West Wind; died July 8, 1822
1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto
Japanese Admiral during WWII: planned attack on Pearl Harbor; killed when U.S. 13th Air Force shot down his plane Apr 18, 1943
1900 - Elizabeth Angela Marguerite
Britain’s Queen Mother; died Mar 31, 2002
1901 - (Daniel) Louis Armstrong
Satchmo: jazz musician: trumpet; Grammy Award-winning singer: Hello, Dolly! [1964], Lifetime Achievement Award [1971]; It’s a Wonderful World, Mack the Knife, Blueberry Hill; appeared in films: The Five Pennies, The Glenn Miller Story, Hello Dolly!, High Society; American ambassador of good will; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1990]; died July 6, 1971
1904 - Harry Cooper
‘Lighthorse’: World Golf Hall of Famer: Vardon Trophy winner [1937]; Canadian Open champion [1932,1937]; Bing Crosby Pro Am [1942]; died Oct 17, 2000
1909 - Glenn Cunningham
Kansas Ironman: National Track & Field Hall of Famer: Sullivan Award [1933]: world record [1934]: mile [4:06.8]; Olympic silver medalist [1936]; 1932 Olympic team member; director of physical education: Cornell College, Iowa; Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch; died Mar 10, 1988
1910 - Anita Page
actress: Our Dancing Daughters, Our Modern Maidens, Our Blushing Brides, Bob’s Night Out, Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood, Sunset After Dark, Hitch Hike to Heaven, Soldiers of the Storm; died Sep 6, 2008
1910 - William Schuman
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer: Secular Cantata No. 2, A Free Song [1943]; President: Julliard School of Music, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; died Feb 15, 1992
1912 - Raoul Wallenberg
humanitarian; died in a Russian prison July 17, 1947; see Wallenberg Day [above]
1913 - Wesley Addy
actor: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Kiss Me Deadly, Seconds; died Dec 31, 1996
1915 - Luke Easter
Luscious Luke: baseball: Cleveland Indians; died Mar 29, 1979
1919 - Ted Kroll
golf: champ: San Diego Open [1952]; died Apr 23, 2002
1920 - Helen Thomas
journalist: UPI White House correspondent [from Kennedy to Clinton: 1961-2000]; author: Front Row at the White House
1921 - Herb (Mitchell) Ellis
musician: guitarist, singer: group: Soft Winds: I Told You I Love You, Now Get Out; Oscar Peterson Trio; died Mar 28, 2010
1921 - Maurice Richard
Hockey Hall of Famer: 18 NHL seasons [1942 - 1960] w/Montreal Canadiens: Hart Trophy [1947]; eight Stanley Cup championships; first player to score 500 career goals [1957]; died May 27, 2000
1929 - Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini)
Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization [1968–2004], President of the Palestinian National Authority [1993–2004]; received the Nobel Peace Prize [w/Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres for negotiation of 1993 Oslo Peace Accord; died Nov 4, 2004
1934 - (George) Dallas Green
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators, NY Mets; mgr.: NY Yankees, NY Mets, Chicago Cubs
1934 - Joe Leonard
Motorsports Hall of Fame motorcycle racer: Grand National Championship [1954, 1956, 1956]; race car driver: Indy 500 [1967, 1968], USAC titles [1971, 1972]
1938 - Hayes Jones
National Track & Field Hall of Famer: Olympic gold medalist [1964]: 110-meter hurdles [:13.6]; New York City’s Director of Recreation
1939 - Frankie Ford (Guzzo)
singer: Sea Cruise; in film: American Hot Wax
1940 - Timi (Rosemarie) Yuro
singer: Hurt, What’s A Matter Baby [Is It Hurting You], Gotta Travel On, Down in the Valley; died Mar 30, 2004
1942 - Cleon (Joseph) Jones
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1969, 1973/all-star: 1969], Chicago White Sox
1943 - David Carr
musician: keyboards: group: The Fortunes: You’ve Got Your Troubles
1944 - Richard Belzer
comedian, actor: Mad Dog and Glory, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Big Picture, The Groove Tube
1947 - Rick Derringer
musician: guitar, singer: group: The McCoys: Hang On Sloopy
1949 - John Riggins
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Washington Redskins running back: NFL Individual Record: touchdowns [24] scored in a season [1983]: Super Bowl XVII, XVIII; NY Jets
1952 - Kristoffer Tabori (Siegel)
actor: Chicago Story, Seventh Avenue
1955 - Billy Bob Thornton
actor: One False Move, Tombstone, On Deadly Ground, Primary Colors, Armageddon, Pushing Tin, Franky Goes to Hollywood
1958 - Mary Decker
track: AP & Sullivan Award: U.S. outstanding amateur athlete [1982]; U.S. record holder: 800-meters [1:56.9], 1500-meters [3:57.12], 1,000-meters [2:34.8], 1-mile [4:16.71], 3,000-meters [8:29.69]
1960 - Dean Malenko
pro wrestler/actor: WCW Saturday Night, Raw Is War, WWF Smackdown!, Survivor Series
1961 - Barack Obama
44th U.S. President [2009- ], first African American to be elected U.S. President; U.S. Senator from Illinois [2005-2009]; Illinois State Senator [1997-2004]; president of Harvard Law Review [1990]; married [Jun 1989] to Michelle Robinson; two daughters: Malia Ann and Natasha [‘Sasha’]
1961 - Lauren Tom
actress: The Joy Luck Club, When a Man Loves a Woman, Grace Under Fire, DAG, Max Steel
1962 - (William) Roger Clemens
baseball: pitcher: Boston Red Sox [3-time Cy Young Award winner: 1986, 1987, 1991/World Series: 1986/all-star: 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992/Baseball Writer’s Award: 1986]
1964 - Patrick Robert Smith
actor: Joy Ride, A League of Old Men, Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story, In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man With One Eye Is King, Major League II
1964 - B.J. Surhoff
baseball: Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves
1971 - Jeff Gordon
four-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series auto racing champ
1971 - Yo Yo (Yolanda Whittaker)
rapper: One for the Cuies, Steady Risin’, How Can I Be Down, Ibwin’ Wit My Crewin’, Mackstress, Letter to the Pen, Make Way for the Motherlode
1973 - Bob Howry
baseball [pitcher]: Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians
1975 - Eric Milton
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Maryland; Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds
1976 - Jamie Anderson
actress: Young, Single and Angry, Scorched, Catch Me If You Can, A Midsummer Night’s Rave, Dish Dogs, Kiss Toledo Goodbye
1976 - Scott Linebrink
baseball [pitcher]: Houston Astros, SF Giants, SD Padres
1978 - Kurt Busch
NASCAR racing champ: Nextel Cup Series [2004]
1981 - Jamie Croft
actor: Hercules [2005], Blurred, The Farm, The Real Macaw, Joey, Sun on the Stubble, Passion, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
ABA Birthdays Today
denalibabe , ferdinando (73) , hillbillie54 (56) , sepeb2005 (54) , phili123 (49) , vtman (46) , evoabqt (40) , askwil20 (40) , tony2tx (39) , polaris7296 (38) , jhood (36) , ccastro (32)
Chart Toppers August 4
1952I’m Yours - Don Cornell
Delicado - Percy Faith
Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart - Vera Lynn
Are You Teasing Me - Carl Smith
1961Tossin’ and Turnin’ - Bobby Lewis
I Like It Like That - Chris Kenner
Dum Dum - Brenda Lee
Heartbreak U.S.A. - Kitty Wells
1970(They Long to Be) Close to You - Carpenters
Make It with You - Bread
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours - Stevie Wonder
Wonder Could I Live There Anymore - Charley Pride
1979Bad Girls - Donna Summer
Good Times - Chic
The Main Event/Fight - Barbra Streisand
You’re the Only One - Dolly Parton
1988Roll with It - Steve Winwood
Hands to Heaven - Breathe
Make Me Lose Control - Eric Carmen
Don’t We All Have the Right - Ricky Van Shelton
1997I’ll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) - Backstreet Boys
Mo Money Mo Problems - The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Mase
Carrying Your Love with Me - George Strait
2006Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Me & U - Cassie
The World - Brad Paisley
B hunter
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
WALLENBERG DAY
It was 1912, the scene was Stockholm, Sweden. The event was the birth of a child named Raoul Wallenberg. Three decades later, Raoul made his mark in history.
Wallenberg grew up to become an architect but this was not how he became famous. The upper-class Swedish gentleman also imported luxury goods from Hungary; and in his business dealings, learned of the plight of Hungarian Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
Unlike others of his stature and position in society during World War II, Wallenberg went to work to save thousands ... ultimately rescuing at least 100,000 Jews from certain death ... 65,000 of them from the Budapest ghetto. Were his motives purely humanitarian? This is one question that will never be answered. In 1945, Soviet troops entered Budapest and arrested Wallenberg. Although no one actually knows what happened to this brave individual, Tass, the Soviet press agency, reported that he died in prison two years after his arrest.
Raoul Wallenberg has been honored posthumously by the U.S. government. In 1981 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to award Mr. Wallenberg with honorary American citizenship, only the second person ever to receive such recognition (Winston Churchill was the first). He has also been immortalized in books, film and in a miniseries on television.
Events August 4
1753 - George Washington became a Master Mason on this day.
1790 - U.S. Coast Guard had its beginnings this day. Congress authorized the President to build and equip ten boats to collect revenue, and provide for a complement of officers and men to operate them. This early service known as the Revenue Marine (later the Revenue Cutter Service) represented an attempt to counter a serious smuggling problem that had tremendous financial impact on the nation’s ability to enforce its laws at sea.
1821 - The Saturday Evening Post was published as a weekly for the first time.
1922 - Every telephone in the U.S. and Canada went dead as the Bell System shut down all its switchboards and switching stations for one minute in memory of Alexander Graham Bell, who had died two days earler. During this time, none of the 13 million telephones in operation could be used.
1927 - Radio station 2XAG, later named WGY, the General Electric station in Schenectady, NY, began experimental operations from a 100,000-watt transmitter. Later, the FCC regulated the power of AM radio stations to not exceed 50,000 watts on ‘clear channels’ (where few, if any, stations would cause interference with each other).
1927 - Singer Jimmie Rodgers recorded his first sides for Victor Records in Bristol, TN. He sang Sleep Baby Sleep and Soldier’s Sweetheart.
1934 - Mel Ott became the first major-league baseball player to score six runs in a single game.
1940 - Crime Doctor introduced a new kind of radio hero to audiences. The CBS radio program presented Dr. Benjamin Ordway, the show’s main character, who was a victim of amnesia. He once was a criminal, but got hit on the head, and suddenly began to work as a crime fighter. Nice twist.
1944 - Nazi police discovered Anne Frank and her family, hiding in secret quarters above her father’s factory in Amsterdam, Holland. Miss Frank was 13 years old and had kept a diary of her feelings, thoughts and fears during the two years of hiding from the Nazis. Anne and her sister were taken to a concentration camp following the arrest. Anne Frank died at Bergen-Belsen. Her diary was found later and has since been translated into 30 different languages, adapted as a dramatic play and a Hollywood film. Her diary is a symbol of the strength of the human spirit. She wrote: “I keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be and what I could be, if there weren’t any other people living in the world.”
1954 - A prototype of Great Britain’s first supersonic fighter plane, the English Electric Lightning P-1, made its maiden flight on this day.
1956 - Wilhelm Herz was clocked at 210 miles per hour at Wendover, UT. He became the first person to race a motorcycle over 200 mph.
1957 - Juan Fangio won his final auto race and captured the world auto driving championship -- for the fifth consecutive year.
1958 - This was a grand day in Grand Forks, ND. The first potato flake plant was completed there.
1963 - After two months out of the lineup due to a broken left foot, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees got a tie-breaking, pinch-hit, home run in the ninth inning to lead the Yankees to a win over the Baltimore Orioles.
1964 - The murdered bodies of three civil rights workers were found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had disappeared June 21, not long after they had been held for six hours in the Neshoba County, MS jail on charges of speeding. Their burned car was discovered on June 23, prompting a search by the FBI for the three young men.
1968 - A private Cessna 150 collided with a North Central Airlines Convair 580 airliner near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The impact of the crash left the wrecked Cessna embedded in the forward baggage compartment of the airliner. The North Central Airlines plane managed to land safely with no fatalities, but three people on the Cessna were killed in the collision.
1972 - Arthur Bremer was jailed for 53 years for shooting (and paralyzing) Alabama Governor George Wallace.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy.
1983 - New York Yankee outfielder DAVE Winfield threw a baseball during warmups and accidentally killed a seagull! After the game, Toronto police surrounded the slugger and arrested him for “causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.”
1987 - A new 22-cent stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner went on sale in Oxford, MS. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924.
1987 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 4-0 to rescind the Fairness Doctrine, ruling that it violated the First Amendment rights of broadcasters. The set of obligations known as the Fairness Doctrine was adopted to promote robust discussion of controversial issues, but had not had that effect.
1991 - The Greek luxury liner Oceanos sank in heavy seas off South Africa’s southeast coast. All 402 passengers and 179 crew members survived.
1995 - Movies that opened this day (in U.S. theatres): Babe -- about a pig who learns to be a sheep dog; and Something to Talk About -- about a woman who sees her husband giving an unknown young woman a passionate kiss on his lunch hour.
1996 - On the final day of the Atlanta Olympics, Josia Thugwane became the first black South African to win a gold medal as he finished first in the marathon. The U.S. women’s basketball team defeated Brazil 111-87 to win the gold. David Reid won the only boxing gold medal for the United States. A three-hour ceremony of music, dance and light, attended by some 80,000 people, brought the games to a close.
1997 - The Teamsters went on a 15-day strike against United Parcel Service after talks broke down with the largest package delivery service in the U.S.
1997 - Jeanne Calment, at age 122 the world’s oldest person, died at a retirement home in Arles, France.
1998 - A heat wave swept over Eastern Europe, killing twenty people in Romania and sending people plunging into fountains and standing-room-only pools in search of relief.
1999 - **** opened in the U.S. The Nixon/Watergate comedy stars Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Williams, Dan Hedaya, DAVE Foley, Harry Shearer, Ana Gasteyer, Will Ferrell, Bruce Mcculloch, Rob Schneider, Teri Garr, Saul Rubinek and Jim Breuer.
1999 - Actor Victor Mature died in San Diego County, California. His illustrious film career included 55 movies. He was 84 years old.
2000 - Movies that opened this day (in U.S. theatres): Coyote Ugly -- about a 21-year-old woman who takes a job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly, the hottest spot in town; Space Cowboys -- about a group of almost-over-the-hill pilots called to undertake a space rescue mission; and Hollow Man -- about a scientist who develops a serum that induces complete invisibility (it brought in $26.41 million the first weekend -- the movie, not the serum).
2001 - Thousands of admirers turned out in London to celebrate the 101st birthday of Britain’s Queen Mother Elizabeth. (The Queen Mother died March 31, 2002.)
2002 - Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada won the presidency of Bolivia for a second time.
2003 - California Governor Gray Davis asked the state Supreme Court to delay the Oct. 7 recall election. (The court turned him down.)
2004 - Staten Island ferry pilot Richard Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the Oct 2003 crash that killed 11 commuters. Smith admitted that he had passed out at the helm after arriving at work with medication in his system.
2004 - Two-year-old conjoined twins from the Philippines, born with the tops of their heads fused together, were separated at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. (And the twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre, are reported to be doing well.)
2005 - A mini-submarine carrying seven Russians became caught on an underwater Antenna 600 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean; the men were rescued three days later with help from a British vessel.
2006 - Floods in India brought on by heavy monsoon rains swept people away and destroyed homes in the southern coastal area of Andhra Pradesh. 31 people had died in two days of flooding.
2007 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 755th home run tying the record set by Hank Aaron. (The Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 12 innings.)
2007 - NASA launched the Phoenix Mars Lander robotic dirt and ice digger, for a May 25, 2008 landing on the Red Planet.
2008 - Alaska sued the U.S. saying the government’s listing of polar bears as a threatened species would hurt oil exploration and tourism.
2009 - The Chaos Experiment opened in U.S. movie theatres. The thriller stars Val Kilmer, Armand Assante, Eric Roberts, Megan Brown, Patrick Muldoon, Eve Mauro, Quinn Duffy and Cordelia Reynolds.
2009 - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il on a surprise visit to Pyongyang. Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the release of Americans who had been arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in “hostile acts.” Shortly after Clinton was photographed with Kim Jong Il, wire services reported that Pyongyang had pardoned Lee and Ling.
2009 - Antigua’s highest mountain, Boggy Peak, officially became Mount Obama as the small Caribbean nation celebrated the American president on his birthday and saluted him as a symbol of black achievement.
Birthdays August 4
1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley
lyric poet: Prometheus Unbound, Epipsychidion, The Witch of Atlas, Hellas, Adonais, A Defence of Poetry, Ode to the West Wind; died July 8, 1822
1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto
Japanese Admiral during WWII: planned attack on Pearl Harbor; killed when U.S. 13th Air Force shot down his plane Apr 18, 1943
1900 - Elizabeth Angela Marguerite
Britain’s Queen Mother; died Mar 31, 2002
1901 - (Daniel) Louis Armstrong
Satchmo: jazz musician: trumpet; Grammy Award-winning singer: Hello, Dolly! [1964], Lifetime Achievement Award [1971]; It’s a Wonderful World, Mack the Knife, Blueberry Hill; appeared in films: The Five Pennies, The Glenn Miller Story, Hello Dolly!, High Society; American ambassador of good will; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1990]; died July 6, 1971
1904 - Harry Cooper
‘Lighthorse’: World Golf Hall of Famer: Vardon Trophy winner [1937]; Canadian Open champion [1932,1937]; Bing Crosby Pro Am [1942]; died Oct 17, 2000
1909 - Glenn Cunningham
Kansas Ironman: National Track & Field Hall of Famer: Sullivan Award [1933]: world record [1934]: mile [4:06.8]; Olympic silver medalist [1936]; 1932 Olympic team member; director of physical education: Cornell College, Iowa; Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch; died Mar 10, 1988
1910 - Anita Page
actress: Our Dancing Daughters, Our Modern Maidens, Our Blushing Brides, Bob’s Night Out, Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood, Sunset After Dark, Hitch Hike to Heaven, Soldiers of the Storm; died Sep 6, 2008
1910 - William Schuman
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer: Secular Cantata No. 2, A Free Song [1943]; President: Julliard School of Music, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; died Feb 15, 1992
1912 - Raoul Wallenberg
humanitarian; died in a Russian prison July 17, 1947; see Wallenberg Day [above]
1913 - Wesley Addy
actor: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Kiss Me Deadly, Seconds; died Dec 31, 1996
1915 - Luke Easter
Luscious Luke: baseball: Cleveland Indians; died Mar 29, 1979
1919 - Ted Kroll
golf: champ: San Diego Open [1952]; died Apr 23, 2002
1920 - Helen Thomas
journalist: UPI White House correspondent [from Kennedy to Clinton: 1961-2000]; author: Front Row at the White House
1921 - Herb (Mitchell) Ellis
musician: guitarist, singer: group: Soft Winds: I Told You I Love You, Now Get Out; Oscar Peterson Trio; died Mar 28, 2010
1921 - Maurice Richard
Hockey Hall of Famer: 18 NHL seasons [1942 - 1960] w/Montreal Canadiens: Hart Trophy [1947]; eight Stanley Cup championships; first player to score 500 career goals [1957]; died May 27, 2000
1929 - Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini)
Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization [1968–2004], President of the Palestinian National Authority [1993–2004]; received the Nobel Peace Prize [w/Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres for negotiation of 1993 Oslo Peace Accord; died Nov 4, 2004
1934 - (George) Dallas Green
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators, NY Mets; mgr.: NY Yankees, NY Mets, Chicago Cubs
1934 - Joe Leonard
Motorsports Hall of Fame motorcycle racer: Grand National Championship [1954, 1956, 1956]; race car driver: Indy 500 [1967, 1968], USAC titles [1971, 1972]
1938 - Hayes Jones
National Track & Field Hall of Famer: Olympic gold medalist [1964]: 110-meter hurdles [:13.6]; New York City’s Director of Recreation
1939 - Frankie Ford (Guzzo)
singer: Sea Cruise; in film: American Hot Wax
1940 - Timi (Rosemarie) Yuro
singer: Hurt, What’s A Matter Baby [Is It Hurting You], Gotta Travel On, Down in the Valley; died Mar 30, 2004
1942 - Cleon (Joseph) Jones
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1969, 1973/all-star: 1969], Chicago White Sox
1943 - David Carr
musician: keyboards: group: The Fortunes: You’ve Got Your Troubles
1944 - Richard Belzer
comedian, actor: Mad Dog and Glory, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Big Picture, The Groove Tube
1947 - Rick Derringer
musician: guitar, singer: group: The McCoys: Hang On Sloopy
1949 - John Riggins
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Washington Redskins running back: NFL Individual Record: touchdowns [24] scored in a season [1983]: Super Bowl XVII, XVIII; NY Jets
1952 - Kristoffer Tabori (Siegel)
actor: Chicago Story, Seventh Avenue
1955 - Billy Bob Thornton
actor: One False Move, Tombstone, On Deadly Ground, Primary Colors, Armageddon, Pushing Tin, Franky Goes to Hollywood
1958 - Mary Decker
track: AP & Sullivan Award: U.S. outstanding amateur athlete [1982]; U.S. record holder: 800-meters [1:56.9], 1500-meters [3:57.12], 1,000-meters [2:34.8], 1-mile [4:16.71], 3,000-meters [8:29.69]
1960 - Dean Malenko
pro wrestler/actor: WCW Saturday Night, Raw Is War, WWF Smackdown!, Survivor Series
1961 - Barack Obama
44th U.S. President [2009- ], first African American to be elected U.S. President; U.S. Senator from Illinois [2005-2009]; Illinois State Senator [1997-2004]; president of Harvard Law Review [1990]; married [Jun 1989] to Michelle Robinson; two daughters: Malia Ann and Natasha [‘Sasha’]
1961 - Lauren Tom
actress: The Joy Luck Club, When a Man Loves a Woman, Grace Under Fire, DAG, Max Steel
1962 - (William) Roger Clemens
baseball: pitcher: Boston Red Sox [3-time Cy Young Award winner: 1986, 1987, 1991/World Series: 1986/all-star: 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992/Baseball Writer’s Award: 1986]
1964 - Patrick Robert Smith
actor: Joy Ride, A League of Old Men, Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story, In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man With One Eye Is King, Major League II
1964 - B.J. Surhoff
baseball: Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves
1971 - Jeff Gordon
four-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series auto racing champ
1971 - Yo Yo (Yolanda Whittaker)
rapper: One for the Cuies, Steady Risin’, How Can I Be Down, Ibwin’ Wit My Crewin’, Mackstress, Letter to the Pen, Make Way for the Motherlode
1973 - Bob Howry
baseball [pitcher]: Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians
1975 - Eric Milton
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Maryland; Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds
1976 - Jamie Anderson
actress: Young, Single and Angry, Scorched, Catch Me If You Can, A Midsummer Night’s Rave, Dish Dogs, Kiss Toledo Goodbye
1976 - Scott Linebrink
baseball [pitcher]: Houston Astros, SF Giants, SD Padres
1978 - Kurt Busch
NASCAR racing champ: Nextel Cup Series [2004]
1981 - Jamie Croft
actor: Hercules [2005], Blurred, The Farm, The Real Macaw, Joey, Sun on the Stubble, Passion, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
ABA Birthdays Today
denalibabe , ferdinando (73) , hillbillie54 (56) , sepeb2005 (54) , phili123 (49) , vtman (46) , evoabqt (40) , askwil20 (40) , tony2tx (39) , polaris7296 (38) , jhood (36) , ccastro (32)
Chart Toppers August 4
1952I’m Yours - Don Cornell
Delicado - Percy Faith
Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart - Vera Lynn
Are You Teasing Me - Carl Smith
1961Tossin’ and Turnin’ - Bobby Lewis
I Like It Like That - Chris Kenner
Dum Dum - Brenda Lee
Heartbreak U.S.A. - Kitty Wells
1970(They Long to Be) Close to You - Carpenters
Make It with You - Bread
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours - Stevie Wonder
Wonder Could I Live There Anymore - Charley Pride
1979Bad Girls - Donna Summer
Good Times - Chic
The Main Event/Fight - Barbra Streisand
You’re the Only One - Dolly Parton
1988Roll with It - Steve Winwood
Hands to Heaven - Breathe
Make Me Lose Control - Eric Carmen
Don’t We All Have the Right - Ricky Van Shelton
1997I’ll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) - Backstreet Boys
Mo Money Mo Problems - The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Mase
Carrying Your Love with Me - George Strait
2006Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Me & U - Cassie
The World - Brad Paisley
B hunter
