BROWNNOSE
BOOTLICKER
298th day of 2010 - 67 remaining
Monday, October 25, 2010
BLANDA DAY
It all started on this, a fall football day in 1970.
George Blanda, who had played pro football for the Chicago Bears for ten years, retired and then returned to the game as starting quarterback for the Houston Oilers. He led the Oilers to two AFC championships, earning the title of AFC Player of the Year in 1961. By 1966 he was no longer the starter for the team, but was the team’s kicker, leading the league with 116 points. Blanda was then traded to the Oakland Raiders, primarily as a kicker.
That’s when George Blanda became a legend in his own time. As we said, it happened on this day in 1970. That’s when Blanda, 43 years old, replaced Daryle Lamonica, the Raiders injured quarterback. Blanda tossed three touchdown passes (19, 43 and 44 yards), taking the Raiders to an easy victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers (31-14). And that was only the beginning.
The following week, George Blanda kicked a field goal 48 yards to tie the Raiders with Kansas City -- with only three seconds left to play. The next week, Blanda replaced Lamonica in the last quarter. Oakland was down by one touchdown. With one minute and fourteen seconds remaining, Blanda threw a 14-yard touchdown, tied the game, then kicked a 52-yard field goal in the last three seconds.
Another week, another game and another Blanda heroic ending -- with only four minutes left to play. Denver was in the lead over Oakland by two points. Blanda drove for 80 yards, then threw a touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff. Oakland won. His heroics continued the following week. With four seconds remaining, the game tied at 17, Blanda kicked a 16-yard field goal and San Diego went home the loser. Oakland won the division championship and Blanda became AFC Player of the Year and AP male athlete of the year. That’s why George Blanda is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame!
Events October 25
1760 - George III ascended the British throne upon the death of his grandfather, King George II.
1825 - The Erie Canal, America’s first man-made waterway, was completed. The canal linked the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
1854 - At 11 a.m. this day, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ (as memorialized by Lord Alfred Tennyson), took place during the Crimean War. An English brigade charged the Russian army against hopeless odds and suffered heavy losses. In what was actually called the Battle of Balaclava, 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded.
1870 - The first U.S. trademark was awarded -- to the Averill Chemical Paint Company of New York City.
1902 - The Santa Maria (Guatemala) volcano erupted violently. Some 5,000 people were killed.
1937 - Radio’s Stella Dallas made her debut on the NBC Red network. Stella hung out on NBC until 1955 with Anne Elstner in the title role for the entire run. Stella Dallas was “A continuation on the air of the true-life story of mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella saw her own beloved daughter, Laurel, marry into wealth and society, and realizing the difference in their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel’s life.”
1940 - Cabin in the Sky opened for the first of 156 shows. Taking a Chance on Love is the one big hit that came from the musical.
1943 - Benny Carter and his orchestra recorded Poinciana on the Capitol label. The real title, incidentally, is Poinciana (Song of the Tree).
1945 - The Japanese surrendered Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek.
1945 - U.S. President Harry S Truman issued Executive Order 9646, laying out the design of the coat of arms of the President. The new seal featured an American eagle facing to the right, the Direction of honor; and toward the olive branches in its’ right talon, symbolizing peace. The former design, first used in 1880 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, featured the eagle facing toward arrows in its left talon, symbolizing war.
1951 - England’s Labour Party lost to the Conservatives in the general election. Winston Churchill was elected prime minister, and Anthony Eden became foreign secretary.
1955 - The microwave oven was introduced in Mansfield, Ohio at the corporate headquarters of the Tappan Company. The manufacturer put a $1,200 price tag on the new stove that could cook eggs in 22 seconds, bacon in 90 seconds.
1960 - The Bulova Watch Company introduced its high-tech Accutron electronic wrist watch. Ten years after it was introduced (as the watch the astronauts wear), it sold in jewelry stores for about $200.
1962 - Author John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.”
1964 - “And now, rrrrright here on this stage....” The Rolling Stones were introduced to American audiences on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV.
1969 - Canada’s The Guess Who got a gold record for the single, Laughing.
1974 - The single, Skin Tight, by The Ohio Players, went gold on this day.
1975 - Elton John’s Los Angeles concert was sold out at Dodger Stadium. 110,000 people saw the two shows, on October 25 and 26, 1975, the first in that stadium since The Beatles played there in 1965. John’s weekend stand in L.A. was the finale to his concert tour of the western U.S.
1980 - Barbra Streisand’s Woman in Love, from the number one album, Guilty, was the number one song in the U.S. Both the album and the single were #1 for three weeks.
1983 - 2,000 U.S. Marines invaded Grenada to take control away from the Soviet-Cubans. A political coup just one week earlier had made the tiny Caribbean Island a Soviet-Cuban colony.
1984 - John Cougar Mellencamp reached the two-million-dollar sales mark with his album, Uh-Huh. Also, country group Alabama went to the three-million-dollar mark with two albums this day: Feels So Right and Mountain Music.
1986 - New Jersey-based rock band Bon Jovi rose to number one in the U.S. with their Slippery When Wet album. It was the number one album for eight -- count ’em -- eight weeks. Track listing: Let It Rock, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ on a Prayer, Social Disease, Wanted Dead or Alive, Raise Your Hands, Without Love, I’d Die for You, Never Say Goodbye, Wild in the Streets.
1987 - The World Series began in a dome for the first time and the team with the best record at home happened to play in that dome. The St. Louis Cardinals were pounded in the first game, but fought back and forced the series to seven games before the Minnesota Twins could claim the championship -- their first -- on this day.
1989 - Novelist and critic Mary McCarthy died in New York. She was 77 years old. Her works included The Company She Keeps, Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood, The Group and Ideas and the Novel.
1990 - James ‘Buster’ Douglas, who had knocked out the undefeated Mike Tyson on Feb. 10, 1990 to win the world heavyweight title, was floored by Evander Holyfield in the third round this day in Las Vegas. This was to be Douglas’ only defense of that fleeting title.
1991 - Rock-and-roll impresario Bill Graham was killed in a helicopter crash in Sonoma County, Calif. Also killed were his girlfriend, Melissa Gold, and pilot, Steve Kahn.
1992 - Country Music Hall of Fame singer, songwriter, TV host Roger Miller died of throat cancer in Los Angeles at 56 years of age. During his oustanding career, Miller collected eleven Grammys, a platinum single, six gold singles, and five gold albums. Miller’s most memorable songs (written and/or performed by him) were: King of the Road, Chug-a-Lug, Little Green Apples, Dang Me, England Swings, Engine Engine Number Nine, In the Summer Time, Do-Wacka-Do, Kansas City Star, You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.
1993 - Actor Vincent Price died of lung cancer and emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 82 years old. Among his best-remembered films are House of Wax (1953), House of Usher (1960), Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).
1993 - Canada’s Liberal Party ended nine years of rule by the Progressive Conservatives. Liberal leader Jean Chretien was voted in as the 20th Prime Minister, ousting Kim Campbell.
1996 - Movies opening in U.S. theatres: The Associate, with Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Tim Daly, Bebe Neuwirth, Lainie Kazan, Austin Pendleton, George Martin and Eli Wallach; High School High, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Louise Fletcher, Mekhi Phifer, Malinda Williams and John Neville; and The Sunchaser, with Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda, Alexandra Tydings, Anne Bancroft, Talisa Soto and Victor Aaron.
1998 - Thousands were on hand in Oklahoma City for the ground-breaking ceremony of a memorial to the victims of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. “The people who died here were victims of one of the cruelest visitations of evil this nation has ever seen,” said Vice President Al Gore. “But we offer them today not pity but honor, for as much as any soldier who ever fought in any war, they paid the price for our freedom.”
1999 - Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan bolted from the GOP to mount a bid for the Reform Party nomination.
1999 - 42-year-old golfer Payne Stewart was killed, along with two agents and two pilots when their Lear Jet crashed near Mina, South Dakota. The plane had flown for hours on autopilot before it crashed. The occupants of the plane apparently had been rendered unconscious after all their oxygen had escaped from the plane’s cabin.
2000 - Divers found the first bodies from the wreckage of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk in the frigid murk of the Barents Sea. The sub sank after an explosion on Aug. 12. All 118 sailors on board were killed.
2001 - Microsoft released Windows XP. XP was Microsoft’s first operating system to combine the Windows 9x code with NT code, removing the MS-DOS layer from Windows.
2002 - These films debuted in the U.S.: All or Nothing, starring Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland, James Corden and Ruth Sheen; Ghost Ship, with Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington and Isaiah Washington; The Truth About Charlie , with Olga Sékulic, Stephen Dillane, Françoise Bertin, Thandie Newton, Sakina Jaffrey and Mark Wahlberg.
2002 - A small plane crashed in Minnesota, killing U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and five others. Wellstone’s re-election race was seen as critical to the balance of power in the Senate, where the Democrats held a 50-to-49 edge at the time.
2002 - Irish actor, singer Richard Harris died of Hodgkin’s Disease at 72 years of age. He had appeared in over 70 films, but was best known to modern audiences for his portrayal of Dumbledore, the kindly and wily head of Hogwarts School in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Harris’ greatest singing claim to fame came with his 1968 album, A Tramp Shining, which included the top-ten single, MacArthur Park, by Jimmy Webb.
2003 - World Series game 6: The Florida Marlins were all over the New York Yankees, wrapping up the series 4 games to 2.
2004 - Cuba said that U.S. dollars would no longer be accepted at island businesses and stores.
2005 - Swedish telecom manufacturer Ericsson bought most of the troubled British telecom equipment manufacturer Marconi.
2006 - President George Bush (II) conceded that the U.S. was taking heavy casualties in Iraq, saying, “I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq...”
2006 - New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve the same privileges as heterosexuals. At the same time the court said, “lawmakers must determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.”
2007 - The Airbus 380, the world’s largest jetliner, completed its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 471 passengers (and crew of 30), some of them traveling in luxury suites with double beds.
2007 - The U.S. government issued a flurry of product-safety recalls affecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made children’s toys and jewelry.
2008 - Arkansas KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly (26) died in Little Rock. She had been found beaten in her home. On Nov 26, 28-year-old Curtis Lavelle Vance was arrested and charged with her murder.
2009 - The New York Yankees won their first American League pennant in six years (their 40th pennant overall), beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the AL championship series.
Birthdays October 25
1340 - Geoffrey Chaucer
poet: Canterbury Tales; actual date of birth unknown; died Oct 25, 1400
1825 - Johann Strauss
‘The Waltz King’: composer: On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Emperor Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Wine, Women and Song; operettas: Die Fledermaus, A Night in Venice, The Gypsy Baron; died June 3, 1899
1838 - Georges Bizet
composer: Carmen, The Pearl Fishers, The Young Girl of Perth; died June 3, 1875
1881 - Pablo Picasso
artist: founder of cubism: Guernica, Ma Jolie; died Apr 8, 1973
1886 - Leo G. Carroll
actor: The Prize, The Parent Trap, North by Northwest, Father of the Bride, Forever Amber, Bahama Passage, Topper, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Going My Way, Life with Luigi; died Oct 16, 1972
1888 - Richard E. (Evelyn) Byrd
polar explorer: first to see North Pole; died Mar 11, 1957
1912 - Minnie Pearl (Sarah Ophelia Colley)
Country Music Hall of Fame comedienne: “Howdee!”: On Stage America, Hee Haw, Grand Ole Opry; singer: Giddyup Go-Answer; CMA Hall of Famer; died Mar 4, 1996
1924 - Billy Barty
comedian: The Spike Jones Show, Ford Festival, Club Oasis; actor: Circus Boy, Snow White, Willow, Tough Guys, Rumpelstiltskin, Roustabout, The Amazing Dobermans, Day of the Locust; died Dec 23, 2000
1924 - Earl Palmer
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [drums: La Bamba [Ritchie Valens], The Fat Man [Fats Domino], Tutti Frutti [Little Richard], Lawdy Miss Clawdy [Lloyd Price], also played w/Frank Sinatra, Phil Spector, Rick Nelson, Ray Charles, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Dizzy Gillespie, Basie, Earl Palmer’s Rock Party, DAVE Bartholomew’s Band; died Sep 19, 2008
1926 - Jimmy Heath
musician: reeds: group: Heath Brothers: LP: Marchin’ On, Passin’ Thru, Live at the Public Theatre, In Motion, Expressions of Life, Brotherly Love; band leader: LP: The Thumper, Really Big, The Quota, Triple Threat, Swamp Seed, On the Trail
1926 - (William) Biff McGuire
actor: The Thomas Crown Affair [1968], The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Serpico, Midway, In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, The Last Word
1927 - Barbara Cook
Tony Award-winning actress, singer: The Music Man [1957]; Flahooley, Oklahoma, Carousel, Plain and Fancy, Candide, The Gay Life, She Loves Me, Any Wednesday, Funny Girl, The Gershwin Years
1927 - BUD (Franklin) Held
National Track & Field Hall of Famer: 1st [1953] to throw javelin more than 260 feet; his record: 268’ 2 1/2" [1955]; javelin designer
1928 - Tony Franciosa (Anthony Papaleo)
actor: A Hatful of Rain, Death Wish 2, The Drowning Pool, A Face in the Crowd, The Long Hot Summer, Stagecoach, The Name of the Game, Matt Helm, Wheels, Valentine’s Day, Search, Finder of Lost Loves; died Jan 19, 2006
1928 - Marion Ross
actress: Happy Days, Brooklyn Bridge, Mr. Novak, Life with Father, The Gertrude Berg Show, Forever Female, Grand Theft Auto
1934 - Earl Ingarfield
hockey: Vancouver Canucks, NY Rangers, Cleveland Barons, Pittsburgh Penguins, Oakland Seals, California Golden Seals; head coach: NY Islanders
1937 - Jeanne (Gloria) Black
singer: He’ll Have to Stay
1937 - Zelmo Beaty
basketball: Atlanta Hawks; all-star [1966]
1940 - Bobby Knight
Basketball Hall of Famer: coach: Indiana University, West Point; Pan-American games; player: Ohio State University NCAA championship team
1941 - Helen Reddy
singer: I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone [Ruby Red Dress], Peaceful, Keep on Singing, Angie Baby, You & Me Against the World, I Am Woman
1941 - Ann Tyler
author: The Accidental Tourist, Searching for Caleb, Morgan’s Passing, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
1944 - Jon Anderson
singer: group: Yes: Roundabout; solo: LP: Olias of Sunhollow, Song of Seven; duo: Jon and Vangelis: I Hear You Now, I’ll Find My Way Home
1944 - James Carville
political consultant, TV analyst: Crossfire, K Street; in films: The People vs. Larry Flynt, The War Room
1944 - Taffy Danoff (Nivert)
singer: group: Starland Vocal Band: Afternoon Delight
1948 - DAVE Cowens
Basketball Hall of Famer [forward, center]: Florida State Univ; NBA: player, coach: Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks; coach: San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets
1948 - Dan Gable
Olympic Hall of Famer: lightweight wrestling division gold medalist [1972]; wrestling coach: University of Iowa
1948 - Dan Issel
Basketball Hall of Famer: Kentucky Colonels: Rookie of the Year [1970-71]; Denver Nuggets: player, head coach
1948 - Glenn Tipton
musician: guitar: group: Judas Priest: Tyrant, Victim of Changes, Ripper, Beyond the Realms of Death, Take on the World, Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law
1949 - Brian Kerwin
actor: Lobo, The Young and the Restless, The Chisholms, The Blue and the Gray, Switched at Birth, Murphy’s Romance, A Real American Hero
1950 - John Matuszak
football: Oakland Raiders defensive end: Super Bowls XI, XIV; actor: North Dallas Forty, The Ice Pirates, The Goonies, The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission; died June 17, 1989
1951 - Greg Stemrick
football: Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints
1956 - Mathias Jabs
musician: guitar: group: Scorpions: LPs: Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, Love at First Sting, World Wide Live
1958 - Mark Miller
singer: group: Sawyer Brown: Step That Step, Some Girls Do, The Walk, This Time, I Don’t Believe in Goodbye
1962 - Chad Smith
musician: drums: group: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge, Give It Away, Californication, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Suck My Kiss, By the Way
1963 - Melinda McGraw
actress: Albino Alligator, Wrongfully Accused, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Meeting Spencer, Weather Girl, Senor White, The X-Files: The Unopened File, The Big Knife, Mad Men
1963 - Tracy Nelson
actress: Father Dowling Mysteries, Square Pegs, Glitter, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Yours, Mine & Ours
1966 - Wendel Clark
hockey [left wing]: Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks
1970 - Adam Goldberg
actor: Entourage, Joey, Two Days, Deja Vu, Keeping Up With the Steins, Man About Town, Frankenstein [2004], How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
1970 - Adam Pascal
actor: Temptation, The School of Rock, SLC Punk!; Broadway: Rent
1970 - Ed Robertson
musician: guitar, songwriter, singer: founding member of Barenaked Ladies: Too Little Too Late, Wonderful Wizard of Magicland, Never Do Anything, It’s All Been Done, Testing 1,2,3, Maybe Katie
1971 - Pedro Martinez
baseball [pitcher]: LA Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets; brother of player Ramon Martinez
1971 - Midori (Goto)
musician: violin; created Midori and Friends foundation [musicians travel to NY public schools to give concerts and classes]
1974 - Frank Middleton
football: Univ of Arizona; NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins
1979 - Samatha Esteban
actress: Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Harsh Times, Training Day, A Pig’s Tale, Sunset Beach
1979 - Sarah Thompson
actress: Babysitter Wanted, Blackwater Valley Exorcism, L.A. Twister, Malibu’s Most Wanted, Cruel Intentions 2, A Wake in Providence
1984 - Katy Perry
songwriter, singer: I Kissed a Girl, Fingerprints, Hot N Cold
1985 - Kara Lynn Joyce
swimmer: 4-time Olympic silver medalist [2004: Athens; 2008: Beijing]
Chart Toppers October 25
1944I’ll Walk Alone - Dinah Shore
Is You is or is You Ain’t - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
It Had to Be You - Helen Forrest & **** Haymes
Smoke on the Water - Red Foley
1953Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford
You, You, You - The Ames Brothers
Crying in the Chapel - June Valli
I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know - The Davis Sisters
1962Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Picket
Do You Love Me - The Contours
He’s a Rebel - The Crystals
Mama Sang a Song - Bill Anderson
1971Maggie May /Reason to Believe (facts) - Rod Stewart
Yo-Yo - The Osmonds
Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels
How Can I Unlove You - Lynn Anderson
1980Woman in Love - Barbra Streisand
He’s So Shy - Pointer Sisters
Real Love - The Doobie Brothers
I Believe in You - Don Williams
1989Miss You Much - Janet Jackson
Love Song - The Cure
Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears
Living Proof - Ricky Van Shelton
1998One Week - Barenaked Ladies
The First Night - Monica
This Kiss - Faith Hill
Where the Green Grass Grows - Tim McGraw
2007Stronger - Kanye West
Rockstar - Nickelback
Apologize - Timbaland featuring OneRepublic
Love Me If You Can - Toby Keith
Enjoy All
B Hunter
Chart Topper October 25th, 1971...Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels
Monday, October 25, 2010
BLANDA DAY
It all started on this, a fall football day in 1970.
George Blanda, who had played pro football for the Chicago Bears for ten years, retired and then returned to the game as starting quarterback for the Houston Oilers. He led the Oilers to two AFC championships, earning the title of AFC Player of the Year in 1961. By 1966 he was no longer the starter for the team, but was the team’s kicker, leading the league with 116 points. Blanda was then traded to the Oakland Raiders, primarily as a kicker.
That’s when George Blanda became a legend in his own time. As we said, it happened on this day in 1970. That’s when Blanda, 43 years old, replaced Daryle Lamonica, the Raiders injured quarterback. Blanda tossed three touchdown passes (19, 43 and 44 yards), taking the Raiders to an easy victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers (31-14). And that was only the beginning.
The following week, George Blanda kicked a field goal 48 yards to tie the Raiders with Kansas City -- with only three seconds left to play. The next week, Blanda replaced Lamonica in the last quarter. Oakland was down by one touchdown. With one minute and fourteen seconds remaining, Blanda threw a 14-yard touchdown, tied the game, then kicked a 52-yard field goal in the last three seconds.
Another week, another game and another Blanda heroic ending -- with only four minutes left to play. Denver was in the lead over Oakland by two points. Blanda drove for 80 yards, then threw a touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff. Oakland won. His heroics continued the following week. With four seconds remaining, the game tied at 17, Blanda kicked a 16-yard field goal and San Diego went home the loser. Oakland won the division championship and Blanda became AFC Player of the Year and AP male athlete of the year. That’s why George Blanda is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame!
Events October 25
1760 - George III ascended the British throne upon the death of his grandfather, King George II.
1825 - The Erie Canal, America’s first man-made waterway, was completed. The canal linked the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
1854 - At 11 a.m. this day, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ (as memorialized by Lord Alfred Tennyson), took place during the Crimean War. An English brigade charged the Russian army against hopeless odds and suffered heavy losses. In what was actually called the Battle of Balaclava, 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded.
1870 - The first U.S. trademark was awarded -- to the Averill Chemical Paint Company of New York City.
1902 - The Santa Maria (Guatemala) volcano erupted violently. Some 5,000 people were killed.
1937 - Radio’s Stella Dallas made her debut on the NBC Red network. Stella hung out on NBC until 1955 with Anne Elstner in the title role for the entire run. Stella Dallas was “A continuation on the air of the true-life story of mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella saw her own beloved daughter, Laurel, marry into wealth and society, and realizing the difference in their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel’s life.”
1940 - Cabin in the Sky opened for the first of 156 shows. Taking a Chance on Love is the one big hit that came from the musical.
1943 - Benny Carter and his orchestra recorded Poinciana on the Capitol label. The real title, incidentally, is Poinciana (Song of the Tree).
1945 - The Japanese surrendered Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek.
1945 - U.S. President Harry S Truman issued Executive Order 9646, laying out the design of the coat of arms of the President. The new seal featured an American eagle facing to the right, the Direction of honor; and toward the olive branches in its’ right talon, symbolizing peace. The former design, first used in 1880 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, featured the eagle facing toward arrows in its left talon, symbolizing war.
1951 - England’s Labour Party lost to the Conservatives in the general election. Winston Churchill was elected prime minister, and Anthony Eden became foreign secretary.
1955 - The microwave oven was introduced in Mansfield, Ohio at the corporate headquarters of the Tappan Company. The manufacturer put a $1,200 price tag on the new stove that could cook eggs in 22 seconds, bacon in 90 seconds.
1960 - The Bulova Watch Company introduced its high-tech Accutron electronic wrist watch. Ten years after it was introduced (as the watch the astronauts wear), it sold in jewelry stores for about $200.
1962 - Author John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.”
1964 - “And now, rrrrright here on this stage....” The Rolling Stones were introduced to American audiences on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV.
1969 - Canada’s The Guess Who got a gold record for the single, Laughing.
1974 - The single, Skin Tight, by The Ohio Players, went gold on this day.
1975 - Elton John’s Los Angeles concert was sold out at Dodger Stadium. 110,000 people saw the two shows, on October 25 and 26, 1975, the first in that stadium since The Beatles played there in 1965. John’s weekend stand in L.A. was the finale to his concert tour of the western U.S.
1980 - Barbra Streisand’s Woman in Love, from the number one album, Guilty, was the number one song in the U.S. Both the album and the single were #1 for three weeks.
1983 - 2,000 U.S. Marines invaded Grenada to take control away from the Soviet-Cubans. A political coup just one week earlier had made the tiny Caribbean Island a Soviet-Cuban colony.
1984 - John Cougar Mellencamp reached the two-million-dollar sales mark with his album, Uh-Huh. Also, country group Alabama went to the three-million-dollar mark with two albums this day: Feels So Right and Mountain Music.
1986 - New Jersey-based rock band Bon Jovi rose to number one in the U.S. with their Slippery When Wet album. It was the number one album for eight -- count ’em -- eight weeks. Track listing: Let It Rock, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ on a Prayer, Social Disease, Wanted Dead or Alive, Raise Your Hands, Without Love, I’d Die for You, Never Say Goodbye, Wild in the Streets.
1987 - The World Series began in a dome for the first time and the team with the best record at home happened to play in that dome. The St. Louis Cardinals were pounded in the first game, but fought back and forced the series to seven games before the Minnesota Twins could claim the championship -- their first -- on this day.
1989 - Novelist and critic Mary McCarthy died in New York. She was 77 years old. Her works included The Company She Keeps, Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood, The Group and Ideas and the Novel.
1990 - James ‘Buster’ Douglas, who had knocked out the undefeated Mike Tyson on Feb. 10, 1990 to win the world heavyweight title, was floored by Evander Holyfield in the third round this day in Las Vegas. This was to be Douglas’ only defense of that fleeting title.
1991 - Rock-and-roll impresario Bill Graham was killed in a helicopter crash in Sonoma County, Calif. Also killed were his girlfriend, Melissa Gold, and pilot, Steve Kahn.
1992 - Country Music Hall of Fame singer, songwriter, TV host Roger Miller died of throat cancer in Los Angeles at 56 years of age. During his oustanding career, Miller collected eleven Grammys, a platinum single, six gold singles, and five gold albums. Miller’s most memorable songs (written and/or performed by him) were: King of the Road, Chug-a-Lug, Little Green Apples, Dang Me, England Swings, Engine Engine Number Nine, In the Summer Time, Do-Wacka-Do, Kansas City Star, You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.
1993 - Actor Vincent Price died of lung cancer and emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 82 years old. Among his best-remembered films are House of Wax (1953), House of Usher (1960), Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).
1993 - Canada’s Liberal Party ended nine years of rule by the Progressive Conservatives. Liberal leader Jean Chretien was voted in as the 20th Prime Minister, ousting Kim Campbell.
1996 - Movies opening in U.S. theatres: The Associate, with Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Tim Daly, Bebe Neuwirth, Lainie Kazan, Austin Pendleton, George Martin and Eli Wallach; High School High, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Louise Fletcher, Mekhi Phifer, Malinda Williams and John Neville; and The Sunchaser, with Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda, Alexandra Tydings, Anne Bancroft, Talisa Soto and Victor Aaron.
1998 - Thousands were on hand in Oklahoma City for the ground-breaking ceremony of a memorial to the victims of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. “The people who died here were victims of one of the cruelest visitations of evil this nation has ever seen,” said Vice President Al Gore. “But we offer them today not pity but honor, for as much as any soldier who ever fought in any war, they paid the price for our freedom.”
1999 - Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan bolted from the GOP to mount a bid for the Reform Party nomination.
1999 - 42-year-old golfer Payne Stewart was killed, along with two agents and two pilots when their Lear Jet crashed near Mina, South Dakota. The plane had flown for hours on autopilot before it crashed. The occupants of the plane apparently had been rendered unconscious after all their oxygen had escaped from the plane’s cabin.
2000 - Divers found the first bodies from the wreckage of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk in the frigid murk of the Barents Sea. The sub sank after an explosion on Aug. 12. All 118 sailors on board were killed.
2001 - Microsoft released Windows XP. XP was Microsoft’s first operating system to combine the Windows 9x code with NT code, removing the MS-DOS layer from Windows.
2002 - These films debuted in the U.S.: All or Nothing, starring Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland, James Corden and Ruth Sheen; Ghost Ship, with Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington and Isaiah Washington; The Truth About Charlie , with Olga Sékulic, Stephen Dillane, Françoise Bertin, Thandie Newton, Sakina Jaffrey and Mark Wahlberg.
2002 - A small plane crashed in Minnesota, killing U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and five others. Wellstone’s re-election race was seen as critical to the balance of power in the Senate, where the Democrats held a 50-to-49 edge at the time.
2002 - Irish actor, singer Richard Harris died of Hodgkin’s Disease at 72 years of age. He had appeared in over 70 films, but was best known to modern audiences for his portrayal of Dumbledore, the kindly and wily head of Hogwarts School in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Harris’ greatest singing claim to fame came with his 1968 album, A Tramp Shining, which included the top-ten single, MacArthur Park, by Jimmy Webb.
2003 - World Series game 6: The Florida Marlins were all over the New York Yankees, wrapping up the series 4 games to 2.
2004 - Cuba said that U.S. dollars would no longer be accepted at island businesses and stores.
2005 - Swedish telecom manufacturer Ericsson bought most of the troubled British telecom equipment manufacturer Marconi.
2006 - President George Bush (II) conceded that the U.S. was taking heavy casualties in Iraq, saying, “I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq...”
2006 - New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserve the same privileges as heterosexuals. At the same time the court said, “lawmakers must determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.”
2007 - The Airbus 380, the world’s largest jetliner, completed its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 471 passengers (and crew of 30), some of them traveling in luxury suites with double beds.
2007 - The U.S. government issued a flurry of product-safety recalls affecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made children’s toys and jewelry.
2008 - Arkansas KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly (26) died in Little Rock. She had been found beaten in her home. On Nov 26, 28-year-old Curtis Lavelle Vance was arrested and charged with her murder.
2009 - The New York Yankees won their first American League pennant in six years (their 40th pennant overall), beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the AL championship series.
Birthdays October 25
1340 - Geoffrey Chaucer
poet: Canterbury Tales; actual date of birth unknown; died Oct 25, 1400
1825 - Johann Strauss
‘The Waltz King’: composer: On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Emperor Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Wine, Women and Song; operettas: Die Fledermaus, A Night in Venice, The Gypsy Baron; died June 3, 1899
1838 - Georges Bizet
composer: Carmen, The Pearl Fishers, The Young Girl of Perth; died June 3, 1875
1881 - Pablo Picasso
artist: founder of cubism: Guernica, Ma Jolie; died Apr 8, 1973
1886 - Leo G. Carroll
actor: The Prize, The Parent Trap, North by Northwest, Father of the Bride, Forever Amber, Bahama Passage, Topper, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Going My Way, Life with Luigi; died Oct 16, 1972
1888 - Richard E. (Evelyn) Byrd
polar explorer: first to see North Pole; died Mar 11, 1957
1912 - Minnie Pearl (Sarah Ophelia Colley)
Country Music Hall of Fame comedienne: “Howdee!”: On Stage America, Hee Haw, Grand Ole Opry; singer: Giddyup Go-Answer; CMA Hall of Famer; died Mar 4, 1996
1924 - Billy Barty
comedian: The Spike Jones Show, Ford Festival, Club Oasis; actor: Circus Boy, Snow White, Willow, Tough Guys, Rumpelstiltskin, Roustabout, The Amazing Dobermans, Day of the Locust; died Dec 23, 2000
1924 - Earl Palmer
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [drums: La Bamba [Ritchie Valens], The Fat Man [Fats Domino], Tutti Frutti [Little Richard], Lawdy Miss Clawdy [Lloyd Price], also played w/Frank Sinatra, Phil Spector, Rick Nelson, Ray Charles, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Dizzy Gillespie, Basie, Earl Palmer’s Rock Party, DAVE Bartholomew’s Band; died Sep 19, 2008
1926 - Jimmy Heath
musician: reeds: group: Heath Brothers: LP: Marchin’ On, Passin’ Thru, Live at the Public Theatre, In Motion, Expressions of Life, Brotherly Love; band leader: LP: The Thumper, Really Big, The Quota, Triple Threat, Swamp Seed, On the Trail
1926 - (William) Biff McGuire
actor: The Thomas Crown Affair [1968], The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Serpico, Midway, In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, The Last Word
1927 - Barbara Cook
Tony Award-winning actress, singer: The Music Man [1957]; Flahooley, Oklahoma, Carousel, Plain and Fancy, Candide, The Gay Life, She Loves Me, Any Wednesday, Funny Girl, The Gershwin Years
1927 - BUD (Franklin) Held
National Track & Field Hall of Famer: 1st [1953] to throw javelin more than 260 feet; his record: 268’ 2 1/2" [1955]; javelin designer
1928 - Tony Franciosa (Anthony Papaleo)
actor: A Hatful of Rain, Death Wish 2, The Drowning Pool, A Face in the Crowd, The Long Hot Summer, Stagecoach, The Name of the Game, Matt Helm, Wheels, Valentine’s Day, Search, Finder of Lost Loves; died Jan 19, 2006
1928 - Marion Ross
actress: Happy Days, Brooklyn Bridge, Mr. Novak, Life with Father, The Gertrude Berg Show, Forever Female, Grand Theft Auto
1934 - Earl Ingarfield
hockey: Vancouver Canucks, NY Rangers, Cleveland Barons, Pittsburgh Penguins, Oakland Seals, California Golden Seals; head coach: NY Islanders
1937 - Jeanne (Gloria) Black
singer: He’ll Have to Stay
1937 - Zelmo Beaty
basketball: Atlanta Hawks; all-star [1966]
1940 - Bobby Knight
Basketball Hall of Famer: coach: Indiana University, West Point; Pan-American games; player: Ohio State University NCAA championship team
1941 - Helen Reddy
singer: I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone [Ruby Red Dress], Peaceful, Keep on Singing, Angie Baby, You & Me Against the World, I Am Woman
1941 - Ann Tyler
author: The Accidental Tourist, Searching for Caleb, Morgan’s Passing, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
1944 - Jon Anderson
singer: group: Yes: Roundabout; solo: LP: Olias of Sunhollow, Song of Seven; duo: Jon and Vangelis: I Hear You Now, I’ll Find My Way Home
1944 - James Carville
political consultant, TV analyst: Crossfire, K Street; in films: The People vs. Larry Flynt, The War Room
1944 - Taffy Danoff (Nivert)
singer: group: Starland Vocal Band: Afternoon Delight
1948 - DAVE Cowens
Basketball Hall of Famer [forward, center]: Florida State Univ; NBA: player, coach: Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks; coach: San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets
1948 - Dan Gable
Olympic Hall of Famer: lightweight wrestling division gold medalist [1972]; wrestling coach: University of Iowa
1948 - Dan Issel
Basketball Hall of Famer: Kentucky Colonels: Rookie of the Year [1970-71]; Denver Nuggets: player, head coach
1948 - Glenn Tipton
musician: guitar: group: Judas Priest: Tyrant, Victim of Changes, Ripper, Beyond the Realms of Death, Take on the World, Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law
1949 - Brian Kerwin
actor: Lobo, The Young and the Restless, The Chisholms, The Blue and the Gray, Switched at Birth, Murphy’s Romance, A Real American Hero
1950 - John Matuszak
football: Oakland Raiders defensive end: Super Bowls XI, XIV; actor: North Dallas Forty, The Ice Pirates, The Goonies, The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission; died June 17, 1989
1951 - Greg Stemrick
football: Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints
1956 - Mathias Jabs
musician: guitar: group: Scorpions: LPs: Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, Love at First Sting, World Wide Live
1958 - Mark Miller
singer: group: Sawyer Brown: Step That Step, Some Girls Do, The Walk, This Time, I Don’t Believe in Goodbye
1962 - Chad Smith
musician: drums: group: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge, Give It Away, Californication, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Suck My Kiss, By the Way
1963 - Melinda McGraw
actress: Albino Alligator, Wrongfully Accused, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Meeting Spencer, Weather Girl, Senor White, The X-Files: The Unopened File, The Big Knife, Mad Men
1963 - Tracy Nelson
actress: Father Dowling Mysteries, Square Pegs, Glitter, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Yours, Mine & Ours
1966 - Wendel Clark
hockey [left wing]: Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks
1970 - Adam Goldberg
actor: Entourage, Joey, Two Days, Deja Vu, Keeping Up With the Steins, Man About Town, Frankenstein [2004], How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
1970 - Adam Pascal
actor: Temptation, The School of Rock, SLC Punk!; Broadway: Rent
1970 - Ed Robertson
musician: guitar, songwriter, singer: founding member of Barenaked Ladies: Too Little Too Late, Wonderful Wizard of Magicland, Never Do Anything, It’s All Been Done, Testing 1,2,3, Maybe Katie
1971 - Pedro Martinez
baseball [pitcher]: LA Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets; brother of player Ramon Martinez
1971 - Midori (Goto)
musician: violin; created Midori and Friends foundation [musicians travel to NY public schools to give concerts and classes]
1974 - Frank Middleton
football: Univ of Arizona; NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins
1979 - Samatha Esteban
actress: Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Harsh Times, Training Day, A Pig’s Tale, Sunset Beach
1979 - Sarah Thompson
actress: Babysitter Wanted, Blackwater Valley Exorcism, L.A. Twister, Malibu’s Most Wanted, Cruel Intentions 2, A Wake in Providence
1984 - Katy Perry
songwriter, singer: I Kissed a Girl, Fingerprints, Hot N Cold
1985 - Kara Lynn Joyce
swimmer: 4-time Olympic silver medalist [2004: Athens; 2008: Beijing]
Chart Toppers October 25
1944I’ll Walk Alone - Dinah Shore
Is You is or is You Ain’t - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
It Had to Be You - Helen Forrest & **** Haymes
Smoke on the Water - Red Foley
1953Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford
You, You, You - The Ames Brothers
Crying in the Chapel - June Valli
I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know - The Davis Sisters
1962Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Picket
Do You Love Me - The Contours
He’s a Rebel - The Crystals
Mama Sang a Song - Bill Anderson
1971Maggie May /Reason to Believe (facts) - Rod Stewart
Yo-Yo - The Osmonds
Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels
How Can I Unlove You - Lynn Anderson
1980Woman in Love - Barbra Streisand
He’s So Shy - Pointer Sisters
Real Love - The Doobie Brothers
I Believe in You - Don Williams
1989Miss You Much - Janet Jackson
Love Song - The Cure
Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears For Fears
Living Proof - Ricky Van Shelton
1998One Week - Barenaked Ladies
The First Night - Monica
This Kiss - Faith Hill
Where the Green Grass Grows - Tim McGraw
2007Stronger - Kanye West
Rockstar - Nickelback
Apologize - Timbaland featuring OneRepublic
Love Me If You Can - Toby Keith
Enjoy All
B Hunter
Chart Topper October 25th, 1971...Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels
