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192nd day of 2010 - 173 remaining
Sunday, July 11, 2010
BOWDLERIZE DAY
To bowdlerize means to self-righteously remove or modify passages one considers vulgar or objectionable. A medical doctor by the name of Thomas Bowdler, whose birthday was this day in 1754, gave new meaning to expurgation.
Dr. Bowdler gave up his medical practice to practice surgery on the works of William Shakespeare. He removed all those words “...which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family” or which are “...unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies.” He removed all the words and expressions which he considered to be indecent or impious from his ten volumes of Shakespeare’s writings.
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Bowdler. He moved on to Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and then he boldly bowdlerized the Old Testament. In doing so, he irritated a lot of people - so many that his name became synonymous with these acts.
Events July 11
1804 - Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton to death in their famous duel. Samuel Broadhurst, a relative of Burr’s, had tried to negotiate a settlement between the two, but Burr offered the challenge and the duel ensued. Burr won by drawing first blood with his swift sword, a gun, in this case. (Kids: please don’t try this at home. Thank you...)
1914 - Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. Ruth made $2,900 his rookie season. Just six years later, his paycheck was worth $125,000 when he became a member of the New York Yankees.
1916 - One of America’s great race horses died. Dan Patch was the celebrated horse that had never lost a race. Dan Patch first became known for promoting his owner’s feed company in Savage, Minnesota. Interestingly, Mr. Savage died several days after his beloved trotter died.
1918 - Enrico Caruso bypassed opera for a short time to join the war (WWI) effort. Caruso recorded Over There, the patriotic song written by George M. Cohan.
1923 - The first railroad signal system of continuous cab signals was installed at Sunbury, PA. It was the first installation where cab signals were used instead of wayside signals.
1934 - The first appointments to the newly created Federal Communications Commission were made. The governing body of the American broadcasting industry was first served by seven men named as commissioners.
1936 - The Triborough Bridge, linking Manhattan, Bronx & Queens, opened. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the keynote address which was broadcast by radio across the nation.
1937 - George Gershwin, one of the world’s greatest composers of popular music, died in Beverly Hills, California of a brain tumor. He was just 38 years old. Gershwin wrote his first hit, "Swanee", in 1918 for the Broadway show, Sinbad, starring Al Jolson. George Gershwin wrote the scores for such Broadway shows as Funny Face, Porgy and Bess and Of Thee I Sing (he first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize [1932]). Gershwin played the piano at the premiere of his widely acclaimed Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, accompanied by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Gershwin’s song hits included The Man I Love, ’S Wonderful, Summertime and Love Is Here to Stay. The lyrics for many of his songs were written by his brother Ira.
1940 - Henri-Philippe Petain was declared head of the Vichy government, in the wake of its defeat by Nazi Germany. Petain established a Fascist-oriented government that became notorious for its collaboration with the Third Reich.
1950 - Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams suffered a broken elbow during the All-Star baseball game in Chicago.
1955 - The first class of 306 cadets was sworn in at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, the temporary home of the U.S. Air Force Academy. A bill establishing the Academy had been signed by President Eisenhower on April 1, 1954. The Cadet Wing moved to the academy’s permanent home north of Colorado Springs, CO in 1958.
1964 - 18-year-old Millie Small was riding high on the pop music charts with My Boy Lollipop (#2, 7/04/64). Listen carefully to the tune and you’ll hear Rod Stewart playing harmonica. Millie Small was known as the ’Blue Beat Girl’ in Jamaica, her homeland.
1967 - Kenny Rogers formed The First Edition just one day after he and members Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle and Terry Williams left The New Christy Minstrels. The First Edition hosted a syndicated TV variety show in 1972. Hits made popular by the group include: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), But You Know I Love You, Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, Ruben James, and Something’s Burning.
1970 - Ron Clarke of Australia announced his retirement from track competition. He retired, however, for just a few weeks.
1973 - Tennis stars Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs announced their forthcoming (September, 1973) Battle of the Sexes. The winner would take home $100,000. The event would be staged at the Houston Astrodome in Texas (before 30,472 spectators, as it turned out; the largest crowd ever for a tennis match) and broadcast on national TV. Who would win? Hint: The female sex.
1977 - The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony.
1979 - Skylab, in orbit since 1973, made a spectacular return to Earth. The abandoned U.S. space station burned up in the atmosphere and showered debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
1981 - Hubert Johnson, a member of The Contours, committed suicide in Detroit. The Contours took their feverish dance tune Do You Love Me to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 (1962).
1985 - Zippers for stitches were announced by Dr. H. Harlan Stone. The surgeon had used zippers on 28 patients whom he thought might require additional operations because of internal bleeding following initial operations. The zippers, which lasted between five and 14 days, were then replaced with permanent stitches.
1985 - Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first major-league pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career as he led the Astros to a 4-3 win over the New York Mets. Danny Heep, formerly of the Astros, gave Ryan his milestone by fanning on three straight pitches.
1987 - Bo Jackson signed a $7.4 million contract to play football for the LA Raiders for five years. Jackson became a two-sport player as he continued to play baseball with the Kansas City Royals.
1987 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke won a third consecutive term. He bewas the first Labor Party leader in the country’s history to be elected to three straight terms in office.
1989 - Academy Award-winning actor (Hamlet [1948]) Sir Laurence Olivier died at age 82. His film career spaned six decades.
1991 - A Nigerian Airlines DC-8 Super 61 jet carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi Arabia international airport. The jet caught fire (caused by blown tires) after take-off killing all 261 people on board.
1993 - Severe flooding shut down a water system serving 250,000 residents in Des Moines, IA.
1994 - Pioneer software writer Gary Kildall died in Monterey, CA. The founder of Digital Research, Inc. was 52 years old.
1995 - Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, a U.N. declared ‘safe area’, sending tens of thousands of Moslems fleeing for their lives.
1997 - These films debuted in the U.S.: Contact, with Jodie Foster, Matthew Mcconaughey, James Woods, John Hurt and Tom Skerritt; and A Simple Wish, starring Martin Short, Kathleen Turner, Mara Wilson, Robert Pastorelli, Francis Capra, Amanda Plummer and Teri Garr.
1997 - 91 tourists were killed when fire broke out at the Royal Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. It was Thailand's worst hotel fire.
1999 - A U.S. Air Force cargo jet, braving Antarctic winter, swept down over the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center to drop off emergency medical supplies for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the center who had discovered a lump in one of her breasts.
2000 - A Middle East summit hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton opened at Camp David. The talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat “began in a good atmosphere; the discussions have been serious ... both sides fully understand the difficulty, but understand what is ahead of them,” according to White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.
2001 - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, opened in the U.S. The movie stars Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ving Rhames and Peri Gilpin.
2002 - U.S. scientists financed by the Pentagon announced that they had synthesized a virus from scratch for the first time. They built a polio virus relying only on genetic sequence information publicly available.
2003- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen opened in U.S. theatres. The sci-fi action adventure stars Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh, Max Ryan, Tom Goodman-Hill, David Hemmings, Terry O’Neill, Rudolf Pellar, Winter Ave Zoli and Robert Willox.
2003 - CIA Director George Tenet the took blame for President George Bush’s discredited State of the Union claim that uranium from Africa had been shipped to Iraq.
2004 - Deaths on this day: Joe Gold, founder of the Gold’s Gym fitness chain, died in LA at 82 years of age; and Laurance Rockefeller, 94, conservationist, philanthropist and venture capitalist died in New York.
2005 - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina to commemorate the Srebrenica massacre and rebury 610 victims.
2005 - A psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic said some drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease may cause addiction to gambling -- and to sex.
2006 - A twelve-ton concrete slab fell from the ceiling inside one of Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ tunnels, crushing a car and killing a woman in a car that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
2006 - A series of seven explosions killed 209 people on crowded commuter trains and stations in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai. Over 700 people were injured in the attacks. Indian police said the bombings were carried out by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Students Islamic Movement of India.
2007 - Canadian businessman Edwin ‘Honest Ed’ Mirvish died at 92 years of age. Mirvish was a colorful Toronto character who restored theaters, produced musicals, and ran a huge discount store.
2007 - Lady Bird Johnson, widow of former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, died in Austin, Texas. She was an advocate for beautifying public landscapes and highways and conservation of natural resources. In her later years, Lady Bird Johnson was an entrepreneur, creating the $150-million LBJ Holdings Company.
2008 - New movies in U.S. theatres: August, starring Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, David Bowie, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn and Robin Taylor; Hellboy II: The Golden Army, starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Luke Goss, Thomas Kretschmann, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Brian Steele, Roy Dotrice and John Hurt; Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem; Meet DAVE , starring Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Elizabeth Banks, Judah Friedlander and Pat Kilbane; and The Stone Angel, with Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne, Cole Hauser, Kevin Zegers, Ellen Page, Dylan Baker and Wings Hauser.
2008 - A North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean woman tourist at a mountain resort in the communist North. Park Wang-ja had strayed a half-mile into a fenced off military area and was shot twice from behind.
2008 - U.S. bank regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp Inc., a Pasadena-based mortgage lender, after withdrawals by panicked depositors led to the second-largest banking failure in U.S. history.
2009 - Death Defying Acts debuted in U.S. movie theatres. The romantic thriller stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall and Saoirse Ronan.
2009 - Two boats capsized in the Wainganga River in western Bhandara district of India, leaving 26 women farm labourers drowned.
Birthdays July 11
1754 - Thomas Bowdler
medical doctor, bowdlerizer [literary censor]: created Family Shakespeare: censored version of Shakespeare’s works; died Feb 24, 1825; see Bowdlerize Day [above]
1767 - John Quincy Adams
6th U.S. President [1825-1829]; married to Louisa Johnson [three sons, one daughter]; son of 2nd President John Adams; nickname: Old Man Eloquent; died Feb 23, 1848
1899 - E.B. (Elwyn Brooks) White
author: Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, Is Sex Necessary?, The Elements of Style; died Oct 1, 1985
1906 - Harry von Zell
radio/TV actor, announcer: Eddie Cantor, Burns and Allen programs; famous blooper: “Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States, Hoobert Heever -- I mean, Herbert Hoover.”; died Nov 21, 1981
1910 - Sally Blane
actress: Sirens of the Sea, Once a Sinner, Arabian Nights, City Limits, This is the Life, Fighting Mad, La Fuga, A Bullet for Joey, The Phantom Express; died Aug 27, 1997
1915 - Yul Brynner (Taidje Khan)
Academy & Tony Award-winning actor: The King and I [1956, 1951 resp.]; The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, Anastasia, The Brothers Karamazov, Futureworld, Westworld; died Oct 10, 1985
1922 - Gene Evans
actor: My Friend Flicka, Walking Tall, Support Your Local Sheriff, Operation Petticoat, The Concrete Cowboys; died Apr 1, 1998
1924 - Brett Somers
actress: The Odd Couple, Perry Mason; TV panelist: Match Game P.M.; died Sep 15, 2007
1928 - Carl ‘Bobo’ Olson
World/Internet Boxing Hall of Famer: middleweight champ: career record: 93-16-2 [44 KOs]; Edward J. Neil Trophy for Fighter of the Year: 1954; died Jan 16, 2002
1929 - Paul Harney
golf: PGA touring pro; owns and operates Paul Harney Golf Club, North Falmouth MA
1930 - Harold Bloom
literary critic; author: The Western Canon, The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry, Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, & Resurrection
1931 - Tab Hunter (Arthur Gelien)
singer: Young Love, Ninety-Nine Ways, Apple Blossom Time; actor: Battle Cry, **** Yankees, Island of Desire, Judge Roy Bean, Ride the Wild Surf
1932 - Billy Davis
singer, songwriter, record producer: wrote songs for The Four Tops, Jackie Wilson, Etta James, The Dells, Billy Stewart, Jackie Ross, Fontella Bass; died Sep 2, 2004
1934 - Bob Allison
baseball: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins; died Apr 9, 1995
1934 - Giorgio Armani
fashion designer: Outstanding International Designer Award [1981]
1939 - Larry Laoretti
golf: champ: U.S. Senior Open [1992]
1944 - George ‘Commander Cody’ Frayne musician: piano; singer: group Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Truck Stop Rock, Rip It Up, Back to Tennessee, Seeds and Stems [Again], Lost in the Ozone, Hot Rod Lincoln
1944 - Lou Hudson
basketball: Univ. of Minnesota, Atlanta Hawks
1946 - Beverly Todd
actress: Class of ’61, Clara’s Heart, Baby Boom, Brother John, Roots, The Redd Foxx Show, Having Babies
1947 - Jeff Hanna
musician: guitar, singer: group: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Mr. Bojangles, Modern Day Romance, Long Hard Road
1948 - Ernie Holmes
football: Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle: Super Bowl IX, X; killed in car crash Jan 17, 2008
1950 - Bruce McGill
actor: Animal House, Silkwood, Club Paradise, MacGyver, Quantum Leap, The Last Boy Scout, My Cousin Vinny, Cliffhanger, Timecop, A Dog of Flanders, Exit Wounds, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
1950 - Bonnie Pointer
Grammy Award-winning singer [w/sister Anita]: Fairy Tale; solo: Fire, Steam Heat; LPs: Bonnie Pointer, If the Price is Right; group: Pointer Sisters: Yes We Can Can, Wang Wang Doodle, How Long [Betcha Got a Chick on the Side], I’m So Excited, Jump [For My Love]; LPs: That’s a Plenty, Live at the Opera House, Steppin, Having a Party
1952 - William Barber
Hockey Hall of Famer Philadelphia Flyers: won two Stanley Cups, scored 473 goals, 518 assists; coach: Hershey Bears, Philadelphia Flyers
1952 - Stephen Lang
actor: Tombstone, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Death of a Salesman, Crime Story
1953 - Leon Spinks
boxer: world heavyweight champion [1981,83]
1956 - Sela Ward
actress: Sisters, The Fugitive, Child of Darkness, Child of Light
1957 - Peter Murphy
singer: group: Bauhaus
1958 - Mark Lester
actor: Oliver, The Prince and the Pauper, Fahrenheit 451
1959 - Richie Sambora
songwriter, singer, musician: guitar: group: Bon Jovi: Everyday, Bounce, Misunderstood, Undivided, The Distance, Right Side of Wrong, You Had Me From Hello, It’s My Life
1959 - Suzanne Vega
singer: Luka, Marlene on the Wall, Caramel, 99.9 F, Tired of Sleeping, Small Blue Thing; her song Tom’s Diner was used as a quality benchmark test track during development of the MP3 computer audio codec
1963 - Al MacInnis
hockey: Calgary Flames, SL Blues
1963 - Lisa Rinna
model, actress: Days of Our Lives, Melrose Place, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1966 - Debbe Dunning
actress: Home Improvement
1966 - Rod Strickland
basketball [guard]: DePaul Univ; NBA: NY Knicks, SA Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets
1967 - Andy Ashby
baseball [pitcher]: Crowder Jr. College; NFL: Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, SD Padres, Atlanta Braves, LA Dodgers
1967 - Jeff Corwin
TV host: Jeff Corwin Unleashed, King of the Jungle, The Jeff Corwin Experience, Going Wild With Jeff Corwin
1974 - Lil’ Kim (Kimberly Denise Jones)
rapper: No Time, Not Tonight, The Jump Off, Lady Marmalade, Crush on You, Drugs, In the Air Tonite
1974 - Gary Stills
football [linebacker]: Univ of West Virginia; NFL: KC Chiefs
1975 - Willie Anderson
football [tackle]: Univ of Auburn; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
1975 - Rick McMurray
musician: drums: group: Ash: Envy, Meltdown, Starcrossed, Lose Control, Gone the Dream, Walking Barefoot, Cherry Bomb, Wild Surf
1976 - Eduardo Najera
basketball: Univ of Oklahoma; Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets
1977 - Javier Lopez
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Virginia; Colorado Rockies Arizona Diamondbacks
1977 - Brandon Short
football [linebacker]: Penn State Univ; NFL: NY Giants, Carolina Panthers
ABA Birthdays Today
Ferb (59) , cjturn52 (57) , hamikminas (51) , dtohivsky (51) , xitrum6511 (45) , fortuna (43) , genesis2000 (40) , morphious (39) , morphious1 (39) , anthony2n (39) , singleman (33) , wass (27)
Chart Toppers July 11
1946They Say It’s Wonderful - Frank Sinatra
The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
I Don’t Know Enough About You - The Mills Brothers
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1955Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
Learnin’ the Blues - Frank Sinatra
Hard to Get - Giselle Mackenzie
A Satisfied Mind - Porter Wagoner
1964I Get Around - The Beach Boys
Memphis - Johnny Rivers
Can’t You See that She’s Mine - The DAVE Clark Five
Together Again - Buck Owens
1973Will It Go Round in Circles - Billy Preston
Kodachrome - Paul Simon
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - Jim Croce
Why Me - Kris Kristofferson
1982Don’t You Want Me - The Human League
Rosanna - Toto
Hurts So Good - John Cougar
Don’t Worry ’Bout Me Baby - Janie Fricke
1991Rush, Rush - Paula Abdul
Unbelievable - EMF
Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
Don’t Rock the Jukebox - Alan Jackson
2000It’s Gonna Be Me - ’N Sync
Bent - Matchbox Twenty
There U Go - Pink
I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack (featuring Sons of the Desert)
2009Lovegame - Lady Gaga
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
I Know You Want Me - Pitbull
Sideways - Dierks Bentley
Chart Topper July 11th, 1991...Don’t Rock the Jukebox - Alan Jackson
B hunter
192nd day of 2010 - 173 remaining
Sunday, July 11, 2010
BOWDLERIZE DAY
To bowdlerize means to self-righteously remove or modify passages one considers vulgar or objectionable. A medical doctor by the name of Thomas Bowdler, whose birthday was this day in 1754, gave new meaning to expurgation.
Dr. Bowdler gave up his medical practice to practice surgery on the works of William Shakespeare. He removed all those words “...which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family” or which are “...unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies.” He removed all the words and expressions which he considered to be indecent or impious from his ten volumes of Shakespeare’s writings.
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Bowdler. He moved on to Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and then he boldly bowdlerized the Old Testament. In doing so, he irritated a lot of people - so many that his name became synonymous with these acts.
Events July 11
1804 - Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton to death in their famous duel. Samuel Broadhurst, a relative of Burr’s, had tried to negotiate a settlement between the two, but Burr offered the challenge and the duel ensued. Burr won by drawing first blood with his swift sword, a gun, in this case. (Kids: please don’t try this at home. Thank you...)
1914 - Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. Ruth made $2,900 his rookie season. Just six years later, his paycheck was worth $125,000 when he became a member of the New York Yankees.
1916 - One of America’s great race horses died. Dan Patch was the celebrated horse that had never lost a race. Dan Patch first became known for promoting his owner’s feed company in Savage, Minnesota. Interestingly, Mr. Savage died several days after his beloved trotter died.
1918 - Enrico Caruso bypassed opera for a short time to join the war (WWI) effort. Caruso recorded Over There, the patriotic song written by George M. Cohan.
1923 - The first railroad signal system of continuous cab signals was installed at Sunbury, PA. It was the first installation where cab signals were used instead of wayside signals.
1934 - The first appointments to the newly created Federal Communications Commission were made. The governing body of the American broadcasting industry was first served by seven men named as commissioners.
1936 - The Triborough Bridge, linking Manhattan, Bronx & Queens, opened. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the keynote address which was broadcast by radio across the nation.
1937 - George Gershwin, one of the world’s greatest composers of popular music, died in Beverly Hills, California of a brain tumor. He was just 38 years old. Gershwin wrote his first hit, "Swanee", in 1918 for the Broadway show, Sinbad, starring Al Jolson. George Gershwin wrote the scores for such Broadway shows as Funny Face, Porgy and Bess and Of Thee I Sing (he first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize [1932]). Gershwin played the piano at the premiere of his widely acclaimed Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, accompanied by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Gershwin’s song hits included The Man I Love, ’S Wonderful, Summertime and Love Is Here to Stay. The lyrics for many of his songs were written by his brother Ira.
1940 - Henri-Philippe Petain was declared head of the Vichy government, in the wake of its defeat by Nazi Germany. Petain established a Fascist-oriented government that became notorious for its collaboration with the Third Reich.
1950 - Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams suffered a broken elbow during the All-Star baseball game in Chicago.
1955 - The first class of 306 cadets was sworn in at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, the temporary home of the U.S. Air Force Academy. A bill establishing the Academy had been signed by President Eisenhower on April 1, 1954. The Cadet Wing moved to the academy’s permanent home north of Colorado Springs, CO in 1958.
1964 - 18-year-old Millie Small was riding high on the pop music charts with My Boy Lollipop (#2, 7/04/64). Listen carefully to the tune and you’ll hear Rod Stewart playing harmonica. Millie Small was known as the ’Blue Beat Girl’ in Jamaica, her homeland.
1967 - Kenny Rogers formed The First Edition just one day after he and members Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle and Terry Williams left The New Christy Minstrels. The First Edition hosted a syndicated TV variety show in 1972. Hits made popular by the group include: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), But You Know I Love You, Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, Ruben James, and Something’s Burning.
1970 - Ron Clarke of Australia announced his retirement from track competition. He retired, however, for just a few weeks.
1973 - Tennis stars Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs announced their forthcoming (September, 1973) Battle of the Sexes. The winner would take home $100,000. The event would be staged at the Houston Astrodome in Texas (before 30,472 spectators, as it turned out; the largest crowd ever for a tennis match) and broadcast on national TV. Who would win? Hint: The female sex.
1977 - The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony.
1979 - Skylab, in orbit since 1973, made a spectacular return to Earth. The abandoned U.S. space station burned up in the atmosphere and showered debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
1981 - Hubert Johnson, a member of The Contours, committed suicide in Detroit. The Contours took their feverish dance tune Do You Love Me to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 (1962).
1985 - Zippers for stitches were announced by Dr. H. Harlan Stone. The surgeon had used zippers on 28 patients whom he thought might require additional operations because of internal bleeding following initial operations. The zippers, which lasted between five and 14 days, were then replaced with permanent stitches.
1985 - Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first major-league pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career as he led the Astros to a 4-3 win over the New York Mets. Danny Heep, formerly of the Astros, gave Ryan his milestone by fanning on three straight pitches.
1987 - Bo Jackson signed a $7.4 million contract to play football for the LA Raiders for five years. Jackson became a two-sport player as he continued to play baseball with the Kansas City Royals.
1987 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke won a third consecutive term. He bewas the first Labor Party leader in the country’s history to be elected to three straight terms in office.
1989 - Academy Award-winning actor (Hamlet [1948]) Sir Laurence Olivier died at age 82. His film career spaned six decades.
1991 - A Nigerian Airlines DC-8 Super 61 jet carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi Arabia international airport. The jet caught fire (caused by blown tires) after take-off killing all 261 people on board.
1993 - Severe flooding shut down a water system serving 250,000 residents in Des Moines, IA.
1994 - Pioneer software writer Gary Kildall died in Monterey, CA. The founder of Digital Research, Inc. was 52 years old.
1995 - Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, a U.N. declared ‘safe area’, sending tens of thousands of Moslems fleeing for their lives.
1997 - These films debuted in the U.S.: Contact, with Jodie Foster, Matthew Mcconaughey, James Woods, John Hurt and Tom Skerritt; and A Simple Wish, starring Martin Short, Kathleen Turner, Mara Wilson, Robert Pastorelli, Francis Capra, Amanda Plummer and Teri Garr.
1997 - 91 tourists were killed when fire broke out at the Royal Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. It was Thailand's worst hotel fire.
1999 - A U.S. Air Force cargo jet, braving Antarctic winter, swept down over the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center to drop off emergency medical supplies for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the center who had discovered a lump in one of her breasts.
2000 - A Middle East summit hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton opened at Camp David. The talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat “began in a good atmosphere; the discussions have been serious ... both sides fully understand the difficulty, but understand what is ahead of them,” according to White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.
2001 - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, opened in the U.S. The movie stars Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ving Rhames and Peri Gilpin.
2002 - U.S. scientists financed by the Pentagon announced that they had synthesized a virus from scratch for the first time. They built a polio virus relying only on genetic sequence information publicly available.
2003- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen opened in U.S. theatres. The sci-fi action adventure stars Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh, Max Ryan, Tom Goodman-Hill, David Hemmings, Terry O’Neill, Rudolf Pellar, Winter Ave Zoli and Robert Willox.
2003 - CIA Director George Tenet the took blame for President George Bush’s discredited State of the Union claim that uranium from Africa had been shipped to Iraq.
2004 - Deaths on this day: Joe Gold, founder of the Gold’s Gym fitness chain, died in LA at 82 years of age; and Laurance Rockefeller, 94, conservationist, philanthropist and venture capitalist died in New York.
2005 - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina to commemorate the Srebrenica massacre and rebury 610 victims.
2005 - A psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic said some drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease may cause addiction to gambling -- and to sex.
2006 - A twelve-ton concrete slab fell from the ceiling inside one of Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ tunnels, crushing a car and killing a woman in a car that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
2006 - A series of seven explosions killed 209 people on crowded commuter trains and stations in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai. Over 700 people were injured in the attacks. Indian police said the bombings were carried out by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Students Islamic Movement of India.
2007 - Canadian businessman Edwin ‘Honest Ed’ Mirvish died at 92 years of age. Mirvish was a colorful Toronto character who restored theaters, produced musicals, and ran a huge discount store.
2007 - Lady Bird Johnson, widow of former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, died in Austin, Texas. She was an advocate for beautifying public landscapes and highways and conservation of natural resources. In her later years, Lady Bird Johnson was an entrepreneur, creating the $150-million LBJ Holdings Company.
2008 - New movies in U.S. theatres: August, starring Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, David Bowie, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn and Robin Taylor; Hellboy II: The Golden Army, starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Luke Goss, Thomas Kretschmann, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Brian Steele, Roy Dotrice and John Hurt; Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem; Meet DAVE , starring Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Elizabeth Banks, Judah Friedlander and Pat Kilbane; and The Stone Angel, with Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne, Cole Hauser, Kevin Zegers, Ellen Page, Dylan Baker and Wings Hauser.
2008 - A North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean woman tourist at a mountain resort in the communist North. Park Wang-ja had strayed a half-mile into a fenced off military area and was shot twice from behind.
2008 - U.S. bank regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp Inc., a Pasadena-based mortgage lender, after withdrawals by panicked depositors led to the second-largest banking failure in U.S. history.
2009 - Death Defying Acts debuted in U.S. movie theatres. The romantic thriller stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall and Saoirse Ronan.
2009 - Two boats capsized in the Wainganga River in western Bhandara district of India, leaving 26 women farm labourers drowned.
Birthdays July 11
1754 - Thomas Bowdler
medical doctor, bowdlerizer [literary censor]: created Family Shakespeare: censored version of Shakespeare’s works; died Feb 24, 1825; see Bowdlerize Day [above]
1767 - John Quincy Adams
6th U.S. President [1825-1829]; married to Louisa Johnson [three sons, one daughter]; son of 2nd President John Adams; nickname: Old Man Eloquent; died Feb 23, 1848
1899 - E.B. (Elwyn Brooks) White
author: Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, Is Sex Necessary?, The Elements of Style; died Oct 1, 1985
1906 - Harry von Zell
radio/TV actor, announcer: Eddie Cantor, Burns and Allen programs; famous blooper: “Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States, Hoobert Heever -- I mean, Herbert Hoover.”; died Nov 21, 1981
1910 - Sally Blane
actress: Sirens of the Sea, Once a Sinner, Arabian Nights, City Limits, This is the Life, Fighting Mad, La Fuga, A Bullet for Joey, The Phantom Express; died Aug 27, 1997
1915 - Yul Brynner (Taidje Khan)
Academy & Tony Award-winning actor: The King and I [1956, 1951 resp.]; The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, Anastasia, The Brothers Karamazov, Futureworld, Westworld; died Oct 10, 1985
1922 - Gene Evans
actor: My Friend Flicka, Walking Tall, Support Your Local Sheriff, Operation Petticoat, The Concrete Cowboys; died Apr 1, 1998
1924 - Brett Somers
actress: The Odd Couple, Perry Mason; TV panelist: Match Game P.M.; died Sep 15, 2007
1928 - Carl ‘Bobo’ Olson
World/Internet Boxing Hall of Famer: middleweight champ: career record: 93-16-2 [44 KOs]; Edward J. Neil Trophy for Fighter of the Year: 1954; died Jan 16, 2002
1929 - Paul Harney
golf: PGA touring pro; owns and operates Paul Harney Golf Club, North Falmouth MA
1930 - Harold Bloom
literary critic; author: The Western Canon, The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry, Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, & Resurrection
1931 - Tab Hunter (Arthur Gelien)
singer: Young Love, Ninety-Nine Ways, Apple Blossom Time; actor: Battle Cry, **** Yankees, Island of Desire, Judge Roy Bean, Ride the Wild Surf
1932 - Billy Davis
singer, songwriter, record producer: wrote songs for The Four Tops, Jackie Wilson, Etta James, The Dells, Billy Stewart, Jackie Ross, Fontella Bass; died Sep 2, 2004
1934 - Bob Allison
baseball: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins; died Apr 9, 1995
1934 - Giorgio Armani
fashion designer: Outstanding International Designer Award [1981]
1939 - Larry Laoretti
golf: champ: U.S. Senior Open [1992]
1944 - George ‘Commander Cody’ Frayne musician: piano; singer: group Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Truck Stop Rock, Rip It Up, Back to Tennessee, Seeds and Stems [Again], Lost in the Ozone, Hot Rod Lincoln
1944 - Lou Hudson
basketball: Univ. of Minnesota, Atlanta Hawks
1946 - Beverly Todd
actress: Class of ’61, Clara’s Heart, Baby Boom, Brother John, Roots, The Redd Foxx Show, Having Babies
1947 - Jeff Hanna
musician: guitar, singer: group: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Mr. Bojangles, Modern Day Romance, Long Hard Road
1948 - Ernie Holmes
football: Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle: Super Bowl IX, X; killed in car crash Jan 17, 2008
1950 - Bruce McGill
actor: Animal House, Silkwood, Club Paradise, MacGyver, Quantum Leap, The Last Boy Scout, My Cousin Vinny, Cliffhanger, Timecop, A Dog of Flanders, Exit Wounds, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
1950 - Bonnie Pointer
Grammy Award-winning singer [w/sister Anita]: Fairy Tale; solo: Fire, Steam Heat; LPs: Bonnie Pointer, If the Price is Right; group: Pointer Sisters: Yes We Can Can, Wang Wang Doodle, How Long [Betcha Got a Chick on the Side], I’m So Excited, Jump [For My Love]; LPs: That’s a Plenty, Live at the Opera House, Steppin, Having a Party
1952 - William Barber
Hockey Hall of Famer Philadelphia Flyers: won two Stanley Cups, scored 473 goals, 518 assists; coach: Hershey Bears, Philadelphia Flyers
1952 - Stephen Lang
actor: Tombstone, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Death of a Salesman, Crime Story
1953 - Leon Spinks
boxer: world heavyweight champion [1981,83]
1956 - Sela Ward
actress: Sisters, The Fugitive, Child of Darkness, Child of Light
1957 - Peter Murphy
singer: group: Bauhaus
1958 - Mark Lester
actor: Oliver, The Prince and the Pauper, Fahrenheit 451
1959 - Richie Sambora
songwriter, singer, musician: guitar: group: Bon Jovi: Everyday, Bounce, Misunderstood, Undivided, The Distance, Right Side of Wrong, You Had Me From Hello, It’s My Life
1959 - Suzanne Vega
singer: Luka, Marlene on the Wall, Caramel, 99.9 F, Tired of Sleeping, Small Blue Thing; her song Tom’s Diner was used as a quality benchmark test track during development of the MP3 computer audio codec
1963 - Al MacInnis
hockey: Calgary Flames, SL Blues
1963 - Lisa Rinna
model, actress: Days of Our Lives, Melrose Place, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1966 - Debbe Dunning
actress: Home Improvement
1966 - Rod Strickland
basketball [guard]: DePaul Univ; NBA: NY Knicks, SA Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets
1967 - Andy Ashby
baseball [pitcher]: Crowder Jr. College; NFL: Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, SD Padres, Atlanta Braves, LA Dodgers
1967 - Jeff Corwin
TV host: Jeff Corwin Unleashed, King of the Jungle, The Jeff Corwin Experience, Going Wild With Jeff Corwin
1974 - Lil’ Kim (Kimberly Denise Jones)
rapper: No Time, Not Tonight, The Jump Off, Lady Marmalade, Crush on You, Drugs, In the Air Tonite
1974 - Gary Stills
football [linebacker]: Univ of West Virginia; NFL: KC Chiefs
1975 - Willie Anderson
football [tackle]: Univ of Auburn; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
1975 - Rick McMurray
musician: drums: group: Ash: Envy, Meltdown, Starcrossed, Lose Control, Gone the Dream, Walking Barefoot, Cherry Bomb, Wild Surf
1976 - Eduardo Najera
basketball: Univ of Oklahoma; Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets
1977 - Javier Lopez
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Virginia; Colorado Rockies Arizona Diamondbacks
1977 - Brandon Short
football [linebacker]: Penn State Univ; NFL: NY Giants, Carolina Panthers
ABA Birthdays Today
Ferb (59) , cjturn52 (57) , hamikminas (51) , dtohivsky (51) , xitrum6511 (45) , fortuna (43) , genesis2000 (40) , morphious (39) , morphious1 (39) , anthony2n (39) , singleman (33) , wass (27)
Chart Toppers July 11
1946They Say It’s Wonderful - Frank Sinatra
The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
I Don’t Know Enough About You - The Mills Brothers
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1955Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
Learnin’ the Blues - Frank Sinatra
Hard to Get - Giselle Mackenzie
A Satisfied Mind - Porter Wagoner
1964I Get Around - The Beach Boys
Memphis - Johnny Rivers
Can’t You See that She’s Mine - The DAVE Clark Five
Together Again - Buck Owens
1973Will It Go Round in Circles - Billy Preston
Kodachrome - Paul Simon
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - Jim Croce
Why Me - Kris Kristofferson
1982Don’t You Want Me - The Human League
Rosanna - Toto
Hurts So Good - John Cougar
Don’t Worry ’Bout Me Baby - Janie Fricke
1991Rush, Rush - Paula Abdul
Unbelievable - EMF
Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
Don’t Rock the Jukebox - Alan Jackson
2000It’s Gonna Be Me - ’N Sync
Bent - Matchbox Twenty
There U Go - Pink
I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack (featuring Sons of the Desert)
2009Lovegame - Lady Gaga
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
I Know You Want Me - Pitbull
Sideways - Dierks Bentley
Chart Topper July 11th, 1991...Don’t Rock the Jukebox - Alan Jackson
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