June 17
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Events on This Day
1775 - Question of the day: On what hill was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought? You could answer this one in your sleep, right? Wrong, historical head! A little background: Anger and hatred between British and American colonists exploded into brutal fury at the top of Breed’s Hill (near Boston) on this day. The British charged the Americans three times before finally overrunning and chasing them to -- you guessed it -- Bunker Hill (and it was all over but the whimpering by the time they got to Bunker Hill). The redcoats did win this battle, but it fired up the colonists and they continued to fight, eventually driving the British back to Britain. Class dismissed.1837 - Charles Goodyear got a patent for rubber, the squishy, bouncy stuff.
1856 - The first national convention of the Republican Party was held in Philadelphia, PA.
1871 - Captain Martin Bates and Anna Swan were married in London. It turned out to be a tall order for the couple. He was 7'2" tall and she was 7'11" (without her high heels). Imagine the size of the wedding cake!
1880 - John Monte Ward tossed the second perfect game in major-league history as he and Providence blanked Buffalo 5-0.
1912 - Talk about long shots: Wishing Ring won at Latonia race track in Kentucky. Most people didn’t even notice because the horse had been a non-performer until then. A $2 wager to win paid an incredible $1,185.50 for a few, very lucky ticket holders.
1913 - A Chicago Cubs pitcher set a baseball record for the longest appearance by a reliever in a game. George ‘Zip’ Zabel came in from the bull pen with two outs in the first inning of a game at Ebbets Field in New York. George kept pitching until the 19th inning when the Cubs finally beat the Dodgers 4-3.
1919 - Barney Google, the cartoon strip by Billy DeBeck, premiered. Google was a pint-sized hero who epitomized the sporting life in the ‘Roaring Twenties’.
1928 - The first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean did so this day. She became celebrated as the greatest aviatrix of the time. Amelia Earhart was a passenger aboard a Fokker tri-motor aircraft that was piloted by Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon.
1941 - WNBT-TV, channel 4 in New York City, was granted the first construction permit to operate a commercial TV station in the United States. (WNBT signed on the air on July 1, 1941 at 1:29 p.m.) Owned by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the station later changed its call letters to WRCA. As RCA developed the NBC Television Network and, especially, TV in ‘living’ color in the early 1950s, WRCA, as well as its TV counterpart in Los Angeles, KRCA-TV 4 (channel 4), changed call letters once again. To reflect the impact of network television, the station became WNBC-TV. On the west coast, KRCA was changed to KNBC-TV. Both stations remain the flagships of NBC television and are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the television network. And both are truly commercial TV stations, as are all network TV stations these days (along with cable TV stations that, as we remember it, were originally supposed to be non-commercial).
1942 - Suspense, known as radio’s outstanding theatre of thrills, debuted on CBS radio. The program kept millions of loyal listeners in suspense for the next 20 years.
1942 - The Army weekly newspaper, Yank, coined the term “G.I. Joe” in a comic strip drawn by Dave Breger.
1944 - Iceland declared its independence from Denmark, and established the Republic of Iceland at Thingvallir.
1947 - Pan Am became the first airline to operate a scheduled round-the-world service. The first globe circumnavigating passenger airliner left New York on this day. The fare to travel around the world was $1700.
1948 - A United Air Lines DC-6 crashed near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. All 43 people on board were killed. The dead included Earl Carroll, the Hollywood nightclub impresario and former Broadway producer and Mrs. Venita Varden Oakie, a former Ziegfeld Follies star and the former wife of actor-comedian Jack Oakie. All but one of Mount Carmel’s fire engines were attending a fire convention and parade in Sunbury, 30 miles away.
1950 - Dr. Richard H. Lawler performed the first kidney transplant in a 45-minute operation in Chicago, IL.
1954 - Rocky Marciano successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title by defeating former champion Ezzard Charles.
1956 - Golda Mabovitz became Israel’s foreign minister. About the same time, she adopted the Hebrew name Meir (which means to illuminate or to burn brightly).
1959 - Éamon de Valera was elected president of Ireland.
1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools.
1967 - The Peoples Republic of China announced that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
1969 - Boris Spassky became chess champion of the world after checkmating former champion Tigran Petrosian in Moscow.
1969 - Jazz musician Charles Mingus came out of a two-year, self-imposed retirement to make a concert appearance at the Village Vanguard in New York City.
1969 - The raunchy musical review Oh! Calcutta! opened in New York. Half play, half musical, the production was notable for its brazen use of full nudity -- both male and female -- on stage. Apparently, many folks did not object. The show ran for 1,314 performances. Oh! Calcutta! was revived (Sep 1976 to Aug 1989) and ran another 5,959 shows.
1973 - Johnny Miller won his first major golf title by defeating the field at the prestigious U.S. Open.
1978 - Shadow Dancing, by Andy Gibb, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts for the first of seven weeks. Gibb had two other number one hits: I Just Want to Be Your Everything and (Love is) Thicker than Water. Gibb, the youngest of the Gibb brothers who made up the Bee Gees, hosted TV’s Solid Gold in 1981-82. Andy scored nine hits on the pop music charts in the 1970s and 1980s. He died of an inflammatory heart virus in Oxford, England in 1988.
1985 - Judy Norton-Taylor, who played the role of Mary Ellen on The Waltons, saw her good-girl image tarnished as she was photographed nude for Playboy magazine.
1986 - Singer Kate Smith, whose rendition of God Bless America made her a symbol of patriotism, died in Raleigh, North Carolina at the age of 79. She was an untiring patriot and was honored by every president from Franklin Roosevelt, who called her an “American treasure,” to Ronald Reagan, who gave her the highest civilian award in the nation, the Medal of Freedom. Smith was one of the most popular entertainers on radio during the 1930s and 1940s. Her theme song was When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain.
1988 - Microsoft released MS DOS 4.0. The updated operating system featured XMS support, hard disk partition support of up to 2 GB, and a mouse-driven graphical interface called the DOS SHELL.
1991 - The Parliament of South Africa repealed the Population Registration Act. The law, the basis of all apartheid laws in South Africa, required all South Africans to be classified at birth. It was first implemented in 1950, and placed South Africans in separate categories of race: Caucasian, mixed, Asian and black. Other apartheid laws were enforced according to those categories. The Population Registration Act was the final apartheid law to be repealed, except for the one that prevented blacks from voting.
1991 - The body of U.S. President Zachary Taylor was briefly exhumed in Louisville, Kentucky, to determine if he had died of arsenic poisoning. Sophisticated tests were run but no evidence of poison was found.
1992 - U.S. President George Bush (I) and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a breakthrough arms-reduction agreement. Addressing Congress, Yeltsin pledged to find any American prisoners of war still being held in Russia.
1994 - O.J. Simpson, charged with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, could not be located and became a fugitive from justice. At about 6:45 p.m., police spotted a white Ford Bronco belonging to Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings on a Los Angeles freeway. Simpson was a passenger in the Bronco and had a gun (according to Cowlings who talked to police by phone from the Bronco). Cowlings and Simpson led the highway patrol on a 60-mile, low-speed pursuit through L.A. It was around 8:00 p.m. when the Bronco finally pulled into the driveway at Simpson’s Brentwood mansion, followed by a phalanx of patrol cars. Negotiations with police lasted less than an hour and Simpson surrendered, was arrested and taken to jail. All of the above was covered by TV cameras from helicopters and seen by a world-wide television audience. It was a gripping, if not excruciatingly slow, show.
1996 - In New Zealand Mount Ruapehu erupted.
2001 - “To be honest with you, I played as hard as I could. I tried on every shot, and there’s no regrets.” So said Tiger Woods after finishing out of the money -- and out of the top ten -- in the 101st U.S. Open at Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tiger had finished in the top ten in eight straight majors, prior to this one. Other Tiger streaks halted this day: Four majors in a row; 15 consecutive rounds in the 60s (he shot a 74 and a 71 the first two days of the Open); 19 consecutive rounds at par or better in the majors; 38 consecutive rounds at par or better; 40 consecutive events under par; 8 straight top-ten finishes (he finished tied for 12th in this one). So, if Tiger didn't win, who did? A guy named Goosen. Retief Goosen, who came back the following day (June 18) to play and beat Mark Brooks in an 18-hole playoff with an even-par 70 (to Brooks’ 72).
2001 - A five-alarm fire at a hardware store in Queens, New York City killed three firefighters and injured dozens of others.
2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Ohio law and ruled that groups do have a constitutional right to go door-to-door to promote their causes without getting permission from local officials.
2004 - The U.S. commission investigating the Sep 11, 2001 attacks released its final report. The report found that officials, blindsided by terrorists and beset by poor communications, were so slow to react on Sep 11, 2001, that the last of four hijacked planes had crashed by the time Vice President Dick Cheney ordered hostile aircraft shot down.
2005 - The Perfect Man opened in the U.S. The romantic comedy stars Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Chris Noth, Mike O’Malley, Ben Feldman, Vanessa Lengies and Carson Kressley.
2005 - MasterCard International reported a security breach had exposed some 40 million payment cards of various brands to potential fraud. The breach was traced to Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions.
2007 - President Nicolas Sarkozy won a smaller majority than expected in French runoff elections for parliament.
2008 - Norway’s upper house of parliament passed an equality law granting gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals to marry, adopt and undergo artificial insemination.
2009 - Bank pay-back day: American Express Co. announced that it had repaid the $3.39 billion it received in the fall of 2008. American Express received the money as part of the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP] to help revive the stagnant credit and lending markets. Goldman Sachs Group said it had also had repaid the $10 billion it received as part of the bank bailout program. And JPMorgan Chase joined in by announcing the repayment of the $25 billion in loans it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. A total of ten big banks announced their repayments this day.
2010 - The Los Angeles Lakers won their 16th National Basketball Association championship, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA finals. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points (despite his 6-of-24 shooting) while winning his fifth title with the Lakers.
2011 - Motion pictures opening in U.S. theatres: Green Lantern, with Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Temuera Morrison, Jenna Craig and Jon Tenney; Mr. Popper’s Penguins, starring Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Madeline Carroll, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond, James Tupper and Philip Baker Hall; the documentary Buck, with Buck Brannaman; The Art of Getting By, starring Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Sasha Spielberg, Marcus Carl Franklin, Ann Dowd, Maya Ri Sanchez and Blair Underwood; and the documentary, Page One: Inside the New York Times, with David Carr.
2011 - Scientists at Wake Forest said they had designed a brain implant that restores lost memory function and strengthens recall of new information in laboratory rats. The implant demonstrated that a cognitive function could be improved with a device that mimics the firing patterns of neurons.
2012 - Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood claimed about 52% of the vote to defeat Ahmed Shafiq (48%) for Prime Minister of Egypt. At the same time, the military council issued an interim constitution that declared the military rulers to be the country’s lawmakers in lieu of the dissolved parliament.
2012 - 26-year-old Webb Simpson of North Carolina won the U.S. Open golf tournament. Simpson took home the trophy (and $1.44 million in prize money) by scoring one stroke over par at the foggy Olympic Club in San Francisco. It was the third time in seven years that the winner did not break par. Olympic is known as the ‘graveyard of champions’ because major winners who were poised to win the U.S. Open -- Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart -- all lost to underdogs.
2013 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship voter requirement, ruling that states must not demand proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections -- unless they get federal or court approval to do so. The decision complicated efforts (in Arizona and other states) to bar voting by people who are in the U.S. illegally.
2013 - Iran’s newly elected President Hasan Rowhani pledged to follow a “path of moderation” and promised greater openness of the country’s nuclear program.
2014 - U.S. authorities in Philadelphia arrested 89-year-old Johann Breyer after a German warrant charged him with 158 counts of complicity in the killing of Jews while he was a guard at Auschwitz in 1944. Breyer died on July 22, hours before a ruling on his extradition to Germany.
2014 - Iran and six world powers re-launched talks to revive prospects for a deal on Tehran’s nuclear activity.
2015 - The U.S. FCC fined ATT Mobility LLC $100 million for offering consumers ‘unlimited data’, but then slowing their Internet speeds after they reached a certain amount. “Consumers deserve to get what they pay for,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “Broadband providers must be upfront and transparent about the services they provide. The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure.”
2015 - A U.S. federal judge declared Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program unconstitutional. More than 700 people were kept civilly committed despite completing their prison sentences. In a scathing order, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said the program that was designed to treat offenders for their sexual disorders had instead become punitive in nature, wrongly confining untold numbers of people behind razor wire -- people who could be treated in less-restrictive community settings, such as halfway houses.
2016 - Movies opening in U.S. theatres included: Central Intelligence, starring Dwayne Johnson, Aaron Paul and Kevin Hart; the animated Finding Dory, featuring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Kate McKinnon, Idris Elba, Bill Hader, Dominic West, Kaitlin Olson, Diane Keaton, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Andrew Stanton; and Tickled, with David Farrier, Dylan Reeve and David Starr.
2016 - China’s product quality agency announced that Honda Motor Company’s Chinese joint venture was recalling one million sedans and SUVs to replace possibly faulty air bags made by Takata Corp.
2016 - The United States expelled two Russian officials in response to an attack by a Russian policeman on a U.S. diplomat in Moscow.
2017 - A Pennsylvania judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on charges that Bill Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple University employee at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Prosecutors said they would seek a 2nd trial.
2017 - U.S. and Japanese vessels and aircraft searched for seven American sailors who were missing after their Navy destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with the ACX Crystal, a container ship four times its size, off the coast of Japan. The search for seven sailors was cancelled the following day after their bodies were found in the ship’s flooded compartments, including sleeping quarters.
2018 - British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to increase funding for the National Health Service -- by 20 billion pounds ($26.57 billion) after Brexit. The changes would be funded by money no longer spent on membership of the European Union and possible tax rises. Commons Health and Social Care Committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston described the idea of a Brexit dividend as “tosh.”
2018 - Israeli military aircraft struck a vehicle belonging to someone who sent burning kites into Israel from Gaza. Hours later, Israeli aircraft fired warning shots toward Palestinians who had launched arson balloons. No one was injured in the strikes.
2019 - New York State passed a law allowing undocumented migrants to obtain their driving license. The controversial move by New York was intended to thwart the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policy.
2019 - British-founded Sotheby’s announced that it was being acquired [for $3.7 billion] by French-Israeli telecoms and media mogul Patrick Drahi, one of the world’s biggest art brokers. “After more than 30 years as a public company, the time is right for Sotheby’s to return to private ownership to continue on a path of growth and success,” Domenico De Sole, chairman of the Sotheby’s board of directors, said in a statement about the sale.
2019 - France, Germany and Spain unveiled their next-generation combat jet for European air forces. The ambitious project was aimed at bringing together the continent’s disparate military forces while offering an alternative to U.S. planes. The stealth jet was part of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
2020 - 92-year-old Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, died in Manhattan. Smith was a diplomat, activist, humanitarian and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland.
2020 - PepsiCo, owner of the Quaker Oats Company, announced that Aunt Jemima, the more than 130-year-old breakfast brand image that had faced criticisms for being based on a racial stereotype, would be removed from its packaging.
2021 - President Joe Biden signed a bill to set aside Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a federal holiday. Union Major General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived at Galveston on June 19, 1865 with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were free. The next year, the newly-freed people started celebrating Juneteenth in Galveston. “I have to say to you, I've only been president for several months, but I think this will go down, for me, as one of the greatest honors I will have as president,” Biden said at the White House during the signing ceremony.
2021 - Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the COVID-19 situation was rapidly deteriorating as the city was facing new coronavirus variants that were more aggressive and infectious.
2022 - Walt Disney released the computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film Lightyear -- the story of Buzz Lightyear and his adventures to infinity and beyond -- to U.S. theatres, with characters voiced by Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn and James Brolin.
2022 - The European Commission recommended candidate status for Ukraine in its quest to become a member of the European Union. The action formally kicked off an accession process that typically lasts more than ten years. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU’s executive body, said Ukraine would need to carry out a number of reforms but had demonstrated its aspiration and determination to live up to European values and standards.
2022 - Millions of homes were underwater and at least 28 people had died as widespread flooding caused by monsoons ravaged Bangladesh and northeastern India. 15 people were killed by lightning strikes, while others died in landslides. At least nine people were killed in India’s Assam state. One Bangladeshi government expert called the flooding the region’s worst since 2004.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day June 17
1882 - Igor (Fedorovich) Stravinsky
composer: The Firebird, Petrouchka, The Rite of Spring, The Wedding, The Soldier’s Tale; died Apr 6, 19711902 - Sammy Fain (Samuel Feinberg)
Oscar-winning musician, composer: Secret Love [1953], Love is a Many-Splendored Thing [1955]; April Love, A Certain Smile, A Very Precious Love, Tender is the Night, I’ll Be Seeing You, I Can Dream Can’t I, Let a Smile be Your Umbrella [most w/Irving Kahal]; died Dec 6, 19891904 - Ralph (Rexford) Bellamy
actor: The Awful Truth, Trading Places, War & Remembrance, The Winds of War, Oh, God!, Rosemary’s Baby, Man Against Crime, The Eleventh Hour; panelist: To Tell the Truth; founder: Screen Actors’ Guild; president: Actors’ Equity; recipient of honorary Academy Award [1987]; died Nov 29, 19911910 - Red (Clyde Julian) Foley
songwriter, singer: Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy, Birmingham Bounce, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Blues in My Heart, Tennessee Saturday Night, Tennessee Polka, Peace in the Valley, Mississippi, Tennessee Border, Goodnight Irene; TV host: Ozark Jubilee; elected to Country Music Hall of Fame [1967]; actor: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; died Sep 19, 19681914 - John (Richard) Hersey
author: A Bell for Adano, Hiroshima; died Mar 24, 19931915 - Stringbean (David Akeman)
comedian: Grand Old Opry, Ozark Jubilee, Hee-Haw; Akeman and wife, Estelle, were murdered in their home by burglars Nov 10, 19731916 - (Hamilton H.) Terry Gilkyson
songwriter: The Cry of the Wild Goose [Frankie Laine], Fast Freight [The Kingston Trio]; singer: groups: The Easy Riders: Marianne; The Weavers: On Top of Old Smokey, Across the Wide Missouri; died Oct 15, 19991923 - Elroy Hirsch
‘Crazy Legs’: Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Rockets [AAFC], LA Rams [NFL] pass receiver: named all-time NFL flanker [1969]; career record: 387 catches for 7,029 yards, 60 TDs, 405 points scored; University of Wisconsin, player, athletic director; died Jan 28, 20041929 - Bud Collins
International Tennis Hall of Famer: champ: U.S. Indoor Mixed Doubles Championship [w/partner Janet Hopps: 1961]; sports writer: Boston Herald, Boston Globe; sportscaster: NBC; author: Bud Collins’ Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis; died Mar 4, 20161929 - James Shigeta
actor: Flower Drum Song, Die Hard, Mulan, The Crimson Kimono, Cage, Cage II: The Arena of Death, Bridge to the Sun, Midway, Midnight Man, Space Marines, Beverly Hills 90210, Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die; died Jul 28, 20141932 - Peter Lupus
actor: Mission: Impossible [TV], Think Big, Pulsebeat, Escapist, More! Police Squad, Muscle Beach Party1940 - Bobby Bell
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Univ. of Minnesota [All-America tackle], Kansas City Chiefs linebacker/defensive end [25 interceptions for 479 yards, six TDs]1941 - William Lucking
actor: Sons of Anarchy, Mission: Impossible, The Partridge Family, Simon & Simon, Bonanza, Kung Fu, Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk, M*A*S*H, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., Hunter, The Greatest American Hero, Murder, She Wrote, The Magnificent Seven Ride!, Erin Brockovich, Red Dragon, The Rundown, Contraband1942 - Norman Kuhlke
musician: drums: group: The Swinging Blue Jeans: Hippy Hippy Shake1943 - Steve Clark
swimmer: Olympic Gold medalist [1964]; broke nine world swimming records from 1960-65 in short-course times1943 - Newt Gingrich
politician: Republican Representative from Georgia; Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives [1995-1999]1943 - Barry Manilow (Barry Alan Pincus)
Grammy Award-winning singer: I Write the Songs [1975]; Mandy, Looks Like We Made It, Can’t Smile Without You, Copacabana1944 - Randy Johnson
football: Atlanta Falcons QB; died Sep 17, 20091945 - Art Bell
radio talk-show host: Coast to Coast AM, Dreamland; died Apr 13, 20181947 - Gregg Rolie
musician: keyboard, organ; singer: founding member of Santana: Black Magic Woman; founding member of Journey: Only the Young, Don’t Stop Believin’, Wheel in the Sky, Faithfully1947 - Paul Young
singer: groups: Sad Café, Mike and the Mechanics: All I Need Is a Miracle, Over My Shoulder, Word of Mouth, The Living Years, Another Cup of Coffee; died July 15, 20001948 - Dave (David Ismael Benitez) Concepcion
baseball: shortstop [2nd base: ’87, ’88]: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976/all-star: 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982]1951 - Dave Fortier
hockey: NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs, NY Islanders, Vancouver Canucks1951 - Joe Piscopo
comedian, actor: Saturday Night Live, Sidekicks, Wise Guys, Johnny Dangerously1952 - Mike Buck
musician: drums: group: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Tuff Enuff, Twist of the Knife, Why Get Up, Got Love If You Want It, Rock This Place, Stand Back1954 - Mark Linn-Baker
actor: Noises Off, Bare Essentials, Ghostwriter, My Favorite Year, Manhattan, Comedy Zone, Perfect Strangers1957 - Stephen Shellen
actor: Casual Sex?, Murder One, Counterstrike, A River Runs Through It, The Bodyguard, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Gone in Sixty Seconds, La Femme Nikita1960 - Thomas Haden Church
actor: Wings, Tombstone, George of the Jungle, One Night Stand, Goosed, Sideways1961 - Tracie Bennett
actress: f2point8, Some Lie and Some Die, Shirley Valentine, Next of Kin1963 - Greg Kinnear
actor: Rake, What Planet Are You From?, Talk Soup, Blankman, Sabrina, As Good As It Gets, You've Got Mail, Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Invincible, Green Zone, Modern Family1965 - Dan Jansen
speed skater: Olympic gold medalist [Lillehammer (1994)]1966 - Christy Canyon
actress [1984-2011]: X-rated films: On Golden Blonde, Night of Loving Dangerously, WPINK-TV, Sore Throat, Sex Fifth Avenue, Orifice Party, Girls of Paradise, Attack of the Monster Mammaries, Kiss My Asp, Nothing Artificial1966 - Jason Patric (Miller)
actor: The Journey of August King, Geronimo: An American Legend, Rush, Frankenstein Unbound, The Beast, The Lost Boys, Solarbabies, Toughlove, Speed 2: Cruise Control1967 - Terry Davis
basketball [forward]: NBA: Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets1967 - Tori Welles
actress [1988-2013]: X-rated films: Torrid Without a Cause, Sleeping Beauty Aroused, One Wife to Give, The Invisible Girl, Head Lock, Bad Wives, Postcards from Abroad, Ice Cream Man1970 - Will Forte
actor: Saturday Night Live, Around the World in 80 Days1971 - Paulina Rubio
singer: LPs: La Chica Dorada, 24 Kilates, El tiempo es oro, Planeta Paulina, Paulina, Border Girl, Pau-Latina, Ananda, Gran City Pop, Brava!1975 - Joshua Leonard
actor: The Blair Witch Project, Men of Honor, Deuces Wild1976 - Scott Adkins
actor: The Expendables 2, The Bourne Ultimatum, Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, Undisputed III: Redemption, Holby City, Mile High, Dangerfield, Hollyoaks, The Tournament1976 - Eric Hicks
football: Univ of Maryland; NFL: Kansas City Chiefs1976 - Mike Peterson
football [linebacker]: Univ of Florida; NFL: Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars1980 - Venus Williams
tennis champ: doubles title: U.S./French Opens w/sister Serena [1999]; Grand Slam singles: Wimbledon [2000], U.S. Open [2000, 2001]; doubles: w/sister Serena: Wimbledon [2000]; fastest serve in WTA history [127 mph]1982 - Jodie Whittaker
actress: 13th [and first female] Doctor Who, Attack the Block, Broadchurch, One Day, St. Trinian’s1983 - Jamal Mixon
actor: The Nutty Professor [1996], Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Gridiron Gang, The Cookout, House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute, Beverly Hood, Bulworth, How to Be a Player1987 - Kendrick Lamar
Grammy Award-winning songwriter, rapper: LPs: Section.80, To Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Pimp a Butterfly, Damn; more1988 - Stephanie Rice
Olympic swimming champ: won three gold medals at 2008 Summer Olympics; more1993 - Dougie Hamilton
hockey [defender]: NHL: Boston Bruins [2013- ]: 2013 Stanley Cup1997 - KJ [Keneti James Fitzgerald] Apa
actor: Riverdale, A Dog’s Purpose, The Hate U Give, I Still Believe
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day June 17
1949Riders in the Sky (facts) - Vaughn Monroe
Again (facts) - Doris Day
1958
1967
1976
1985
1994
2003
2012
2021
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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