440 International Those Were the Days
June 23
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Events on This Day   

1868 - Christopher L. Sholes of Wisconsin patented his type-writer. A Mr. Remington later turned it into a more practical typewriter.

1904 - The first American motorboat race got underway on the Hudson River in New York. Standard was the winner covering the 32-mile course with a wave-busting speed of 19.63 knots, or 22.57 statute miles, an hour.

1909 - The first transcontinental auto race ended in Seattle, WA. It was a good thing, too. Had the race gone any further, there would have been a lot of cars and drivers in Puget Sound floating to the Pacific Ocean!

1917 - The ‘Sultan of Swat’ did just that on this day ... he swatted an umpire! Babe Ruth punched an umpire with his fist after he was given the “Yer outta here, Bub!” in a baseball game between Boston and Washington. Ruth, pitching at the time, threw four pitches, all called balls by the home plate umpire. Ruth stomped off the pitcher’s mound to the plate and tongue-lashed Brick Owens with a volley of unmentionable cuss words. Ruth was ejected and fined $100. Here’s the rub. Ernie Shore came into the game and pitched what would have been the fourth perfect game in major-league baseball history as the Red Sox defeated Washington 4-0. In truth it was the only perfect game ever thrown by a relief pitcher. However, Shore came into the game with Ruth’s walk on first so the entire game was not perfect. The base runner was cut down stealing second. “How about that!”

1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off on a ’round-the-world airplane flight aboard the Winnie Mae.

1931 - A young couple, who unknowingly would become the royal family of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, married today. Anne Bledsoe and William ‘Bill’ Henry Getty France tied the knot. Together, they built NASCAR into the largest sactioning organization of auto racing in the world.

1933 - The Pepper Pot radio program welcomed a new host. Don McNeill took over the show and renamed it The Breakfast Club. The show, a huge success for the NBC Blue network and later, ABC radio, became one of the longest-running radio programs in history. The show aired with McNeill as host until December 27, 1968. The Breakfast Club was a morning show that had its share of corny jokes, visiting celebrities and lots of audience participation.

1938 - Marineland opened near St. Augustine, Florida.

1941 - Front Page Farrell was heard for the first time on Mutual radio. In 1942, the program moved to NBC radio and stayed on the air until 1954. Sally and David Farrell were the central characters. A young actor, who would become a major motion picture star, played the role of David Farrell. He was Richard Widmark.

1941 - Lena Horne recorded St. Louis Blues for Victor Records and launched an illustrious singing career in the process. She was 23 years old at the time. Horne continued performing well into her 60s.

1947 - Wendy Warren and the News debuted on CBS radio. The broadcasts continued until 1958. No, the program was not a newscast, in the traditional sense. It was a serial -- one of many of the time. The unique thing about this particular show, however, was that Wendy Warren and the News did utilize a real three-minute newscast to open the show. The newscaster, delivering the news as part of the show, chose not to stay in the entertainment side of radio, but continued to be a true journalist and a legend at CBS. That newsman was Douglas Edwards

1951 - The transatlantic ocean liner SS United States, dubbed the ‘Big U’, was christened by Mrs. Tom Connally, wife of the Senator from Texas; it was the first time a christening ceremony was televised.

1956 - The thoroughbred Swaps ran the 1-1/16 mile track at Hollywood Park, Inglewood, CA, in a blistering 1 minute, 39 seconds, setting a world record for thoroughbred race horses.

1956 - In a referendum held this day, Gamal Abdel Nasser was confirmed as president of Egypt. (Nasser had been leader of the ruling military junta in Egypt.)

1960 - Cleon Turner finally found an entrance to what would become known as Crystal Onyx Cave. Turner had been searching for the place for 30 years. He and a friend found a promising location on the side of Pruitt’s Knob (Kentucky) on this day. They had been digging and digging and digging. Finally, with the help of a little dynamite, they created the new entrance.

1961 - The Antarctic Treaty, signed by twelve nations in 1959, finally took effect on this day. The treaty guaranteed that the continent of Antarctica would be used for peaceful, scientific purposes only. The twelve original signers of the treaty were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. Since that time, 28 other nations have signed on to the pact.

1963 - How lucky we all are that Walt Disney changed his mind, and instead of opening the Bird Cafe, a Chinese restaurant with an animated, talking Chinese elder spouting Confucius-type bits of wisdom, he created the Enchanted Tiki Room. On this day, the sounds of Polynesian drums heralded the opening of Disneyland’s first Audio-Animatronic attraction. “All the birds sing words and the flowers croon, in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.” Features Spotlight

1969 - Warren E. Burger was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by the man he was succeeding: Earl Warren. Burger served until Sep 26, 1986.

1979 - Disco queen Donna Summer captured the #1 and #5 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Hot Stuff and Bad Girls. In the following weeks the two singles jockied for #1, #2 and #3 at various times, as Summer became the first solo entertainer to hold two of the top three positions simultaneously. (Her Bad Girls double-album sold over four million copies in 1979.)

1980 - Sanjay Gandhi, eldest son of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed.

1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the so-called ‘legislative veto’, which Congress had used to curtail the powers of the executive branch.

1985 - Golfer Arnold Palmer won his first victory of the year by setting a senior record. Palmer won the Senior Tournament Players Championship by 11 strokes.

1985 - All 329 people aboard an Air-India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, because of a bomb explosion. In 2003 Sikh activist Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty helping acquire materials used to make the bomb. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, both residents of British Columbia, were charged with actually making and placing the bomb on the plane. They were tried but found not guilty in 2005...

1987 - The first celebrity cover girl to grace Cosmopolitan magazine since Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 was Madonna and she did it on this day.

1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to shut down the dial-a-porn industry. The court held that Congress had gone too far when it passed a law banning sexually-oriented phone-message services.

1989 - Batman, the movie, opened in U.S. theatres. Michael Keaton plays the big guy (Batman) and Batman’s real-life self, Bruce Wayne. Jack Nicholson is at his evil best as the Joker aka former crime enforcer Jack Napier. And Kim Basinger is Vicky Vale, photo journalist on a quest to unmask the batman person. Billy Dee Williams, Jack Palance and an all-star cast made this first Batman flick a hit. It did $42.71 million at the box office the first weekend.

1990 - African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela received a tumultuous welcome in Boston during his U.S. tour.

1992 - Mafia chieftain John Gotti, convicted of racketeering charges, was sentenced in New York to life in prison. (At the end of his first decade in prison, the 61-year-old Gotti died on June 10, 2002 from complications of head and neck cancer.)

1993 - Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis with a butcher knife -- while he was sleeping. Police recovered the organ from the roadside where Lorena tossed it. It was surgically reattached to hubby John Wayne Bobbitt, who, by then, was wide awake. Lorena said that she chopped off John’s penis because he had forced himself on her.

1995 - Los Angeles Raiders media release: “The Raiders organization has chosen to relocate to Oakland.” In a deju-vu-all-over-again kind of situation, Raiders owner Al Davis made the decision to take his team back to where it had come from. And the Raiders sued the NFL, claiming it forced the team to move by insisting that a second team be allowed to play at a new stadium Davis wanted to build at Hollywood Park in suburban Inglewood. Davis said the other team would have crippled his team financially when it came to selling luxury suites and building fan loyalty. He demanded more than $1 billion for the ‘right’ to the LA market and for compensation to his team for revenue to be lost because of the failed deal. Davis and the Raiders lost the suit on May 21, 2001. Kimberly Hamilton, forewoman of the 7-man, 5-woman jury said, “I think the key for me was that the Raiders did not have enough evidence to meet the burden of proof.” An NFL spokesman said, “The notion that the Raiders ‘own’ the Los Angeles market also was entirely unsupported by the evidence in this case. The Raiders abandoned Los Angeles when they returned to Oakland in 1995, just as they deserted Oakland in 1982 when they moved to the Los Angeles Coliseum.”

1995 - Dr. Jonas Salk, the medical pioneer who developed the first vaccine to halt the crippling rampage of polio, died of congestive heart failure in La Jolla, CA. He was 80 years old.

1995 - Disney’s Pocahontas opened in the U.S. The animated musical romance features the voices of Irene Bedard, Judy Kuhn, Mel Gibson, Linda Hunt, John Kassir, Frank Welker, David Ogden Stiers, Christian Bale and Joe Baker.

1996 - Michael Johnson beat the oldest world record in the books (Italy’s Pietro Mennea’s 19.72 had stood for 17 years). Johnson ran 200 meters in 19.66 seconds to wrap up the Olympic Trials in Atlanta, Georgia.

1996 - Rusty Wallace ran out of gas while racing in the Miller 400 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. Fortunately for Wallace, his tank ran dry after he had crossed the finish line to win the race.

1997 - Betty Shabazz, 61, the widow of Malcolm X, died in New York. Shabazz was fatally burned by a fire set on June 1 by her 12-year-old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz.

1998 - Actress Maureen O’Sullivan died at the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn in Arizona at the age of 87. The Irish born beauty was Tarzan’s lovely Jane, and also starred in everything from a Marx Brothers comedy to the 1985 movie Hannah and Her Sisters, and was the mother of Mia Farrow. Besides movies, O’Sullivan also was active in Broadway and touring theater productions in the 1960s and 1970s, and was briefly a regular on the Today show in 1964.

1999 - Wayne Gretzky became the 10th and final player to have the 3-year waiting period waived by the Hockey Hall of Fame “by reason of outstanding pre-eminence and skill.” ‘The Great One’ had joined nine others by being inducted immediately after retiring (he retired April 18, 1999). Gretzky was the NHL’s all-time scoring leader with 2,857 points, 894 goals, and 1,963 assists with four teams (Edmonton Oilers, LA Kings, SL Blues, NY Rangers) in 20 seasons. Gretzky holds or shares 61 National Hockey League records: 40 for regular season, 15 for playoffs and six for all-star competition.

2000 - Me, Myself & Irene opened in the U.S. The comedy stars Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Robert Forster and Chris Cooper.

2001 - An offshore earthquake registering 7.9 in Peru killed at least 100 people. 12,500 people lost their homes.

2002 - Two wildfires in Arizona merged and approached the town of Show Low. The Rodeo-Chediski Fire grew past 375,000 acres.

2003 - Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean announced that he was running for president of the U.S.

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress could require libraries to install filters on computers to screen out pornography.

2004 - Fahrenheit 9/11 debuted in New York City (the film opened in theatres across the U.S. on June 25). The Cannes Film Festival award-winning documentary was written and directed by Academy Award-winner Michael Moore.

2004 - The U.S. issued four new first class stamps. This set was titled The Art of Disney.

2005 - The San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons 81-74 in Game 7 of the NBA finals. The victory at San Antonio clinched the Spurs’ third NBA title since 1999.

2006 - Click opened in U.S. movie theatres. The comedy drama stars Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken, Kate Beckinsale, Blake Heron, Allen Covert, Peter Dante, David Hasselhoff, Sean Astin, Rachel Dratch, Henry Winkler and Katie Cassidy. Also debuting this day was the action thriller Waist Deep, with Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good, The Game (Jayceon Taylor), Paul Terrell Clayton, Eric Lane, Larenz Tate, Arnold Vosloo and Jose Yenque.

2006 - Film and television producer Aaron Spelling died at 83 years of age. Spelling produced successful TV series from The Mod Squad (1968-1973) to Charmed in 2006. In between were Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Starsky and Hutch, Family, Hotel, The Rookies, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Vega$, Hart to Hart, Dynasty, The Colbys, T.J. Hooker, Nightingales, Kindred: The Embraced, 7th Heaven, Burke’s Law, Honey West, S.W.A.T. and about a zillion others.

2007 - Labor unions ended a strike aimed at overturning a Nigerian government fuel-price hike. The four-day work stoppage had shut down most major economic activity in Africa’s biggest oil producer. Union heads said they had accepted a government proposal to hold off on raising fuel prices for one year -- and they accepted an earlier offer to halve the price increase that had sparked the strike.

2008 - 840 wildfires sparked by ‘unprecedented’ lightning storms burned across Northern California, alarming the governor and requiring the help of firefighters from Nevada and Oregon.

2008 - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed acrapping a 54-cent tariff on imported ethanol made from sugar cane, which, he said, packs more of an energy punch than corn-based ethanol and is cheaper to produce. McCain also proposed eliminating multibillion-dollar annual government subsidies that domestic (corn) ethanol producers enjoyed.

2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters in Iran and gave his strongest support yet to their accusations that the hardline election victory was a fraud. This, while a government-orchestrated demonstration threatened the British Embassy in Tehran. And Britain expelled two Iranian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after Iran’s regime threw out two U.K. diplomats claiming they were spies.

2009 - The International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Madeira, Portugal, reported that whale watching generates far more money than whale hunting. Worldwide, the industry generated about $2.1 billion per year, it says. And the group that commissioned the report, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), said whaling countries would gain from a switch to whale watching.

2009 - TV announcer Ed McMahon died at 86 years of age in Los Angeles, California. McMahon was probably best known as Johnny Carson’s long-time announcer and side-kick on the Tonight Show. But he was also famous as a TV host (Star Search) and co-host (TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes). Ed McMahon also acted as sweepstakes spokesperson for the direct marketing company, American Family Publishers, was the long-time announcer and co-host of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon and was seen in numerous TV commercials over some six decades.

2010 - Knight and Day opened in the U.S. The action comedy stars Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Maggie Grace, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, and Viola Davis.

2010 - Illinois and U.S. officials reported that an Asian carp had been found for the first time beyond electric barriers meant to keep the voracious invasive species out of the Great Lakes. The discovery prompted calls for swift action to block their advance.

2010 - The European Union said it had fined bathroom equipment supplier Ideal Standard €326 million ($400 million) for secret deals with 16 companies to fix prices for sinks, baths, taps and fittings in six European countries.

2011 - Actor Peter Falk, star of the TV detective series Columbo (1971-1977), died in his Beverly Hills, CA home. He was 83 years old and had been fighting Alzheimer’s disease for several years. Falk’s bumbling but brilliant Lt. Frank Columbo was one of the most famous and beloved fictional detectives in TV history.

2011 - Japanese inventors said they had pushed the frontiers of technology with the ultimate companion for lonely singles, a wired torso-shaped device that could be hugged and could hug back.

2013 - National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Russia, two days after the U.S. had charged him with espionage.

2014 - The European Union announced that it was suspending all official visits to and from Thailand and postponing important agreements, to protest the recent military coup. The E.U. also put on hold the signing of an agreement to deepen political and business ties with “until a democratically elected government is in place.”

2015 - Bosnian and French police arrested 15 members of a human trafficking ring that was forcing women and children to beg and steal in cities across France. Seven suspects were arrested in Bosnia and eight in France.

2016 - Schools across China were ordered to remove running tracks made from toxic materials that had been blamed for sickening students. An investigative report by the state-run media found that dozens of companies had been using crushed vehicle tires along with other rubber items to create the materials used in the running surface of the tracks.

2016 - Solar Impulse 2 landed in Spain after completing a 71-hour flight from New York in the first ‘magical’ solo transatlantic crossing in a solar-powered airplane. The Swiss long-range experimental aircraft returned to Abu Dhabi on July 26 July, more than 16 months after it had left, completing the approximately 42,000 kilometre (26,000 mile) first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power.

2016 - The Brexit referendum was held to decide whether the U.K. should leave or remain in the European Union. Leave won by 51.9% to 48.1%. The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting. The breakdown across the UK: England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%. Wales also voted for Brexit, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the E.U. Scotland backed Remain by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted Remain and 44.2% Leave.

2017 - New in U.S. movie houses: The Bad Batch, with Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa and Jayda Fink; Ripped, starring Alex Meneses, Faizon Love and Bridger Zadina; and Tubelight, with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Zhu Zhu.

2017 - The Ferguson, Missouri city attorney said the city’s insurance company had paid $1.5 million to settle the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown, He was was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer on August 9, 2014.

2017 - French President Emmanuel Macron and four eastern European Union leaders (Visegrad-4) sought to mend ties after publicly trading barbs over their differences on issues ranging from jobs to the bloc’s fundamental values. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic said they wanted to be allowed to compete on lower prices -- just as more developed western E.U. nations compete on quality products and know-how -- to catch up after decades of communist stagnation.

2018 - A ban on single-use plastics in Mumbai, India went into effect. 132 premises were soon issued penalties, including outlets of Burger King, McDonald’s and Starbucks.

2018 - Chinese authorities blocked HBO’s website in China, after comedian John Oliver mocked censors working overtime to delete comparisons of President Xi Jinping with the Winnie the Pooh cartoon bear.

2019 - The $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor casino opened in Everett, Massachusetts. It was the state’s 3rd casino. The company behind the project, Wynn Resorts, faced several hurdles before the casino was allowed to open, including hearings about whether it was suitable to hold a license following allegations that company executives covered up allegations of misconduct against founder Steve Wynn. Linda Maloney, of the pro-casino group Everett Rising, said the benefits of the private development went beyond the more than 5,000 jobs supported by the resort. She said it was transforming a gritty part of town that featured a much maligned chemical plant. “My father grew up down the line which was right across the street,” Maloney said. “So, you know, when Monsanto was here and all of that. It was not nice. So this has made ...we’re just so happy.”

2020 - Several states saw infections surge as the U.S. recorded the second-largest increase in coronavirus cases since the COVID-19 health crisis began.

2020 - Major league baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced a 60-game season for 2020, not starting until late July.

2020 - Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, won renomination. It was her first defense of the seat she claimed in a shocking victory two years earlier when she unseated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley.

2020 - China successfully orbited its final Beidou satellite, completing a navigation network that had been decades in the making. China’s aim was to challenge the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).

2020 - Germany banned a neo-Nazi group and ordered police raids against its members. Nordadler (Northern Eagles), was the third far-Right organization to be banned in 2020 under a crackdown by Horst Seehofer, the interior minister.

2021 - The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of a Pennsylvania teenager who sued after a profane social media post got her banished from her high school’s cheerleading squad. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Brandi Levy and her parents, argued that students needed to be protected from censorship and monitoring.

2021 - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett (90) said he was resigning as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and was donating half his wealth to philanthropy. He had earlier pledged to give away the fortune he made from running Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

2022 - The U.S. Supreme Court declared (for the first time that) that there is a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self defense. The opinion struck down a century-old gun law in New York that limited licenses.

2023 - It is National Porridge Day, National Take Your Dog to Work Day, National Let It Go Day, International Women in Engineering Day, International Widows Day and International Public Service Day and others.

2023 - New motion pictures in the U.S. included: God is a Bullet, starring Maika Monroe, Jamie Foxx and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; No Hard Feelings, with Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Morales and Ebon Moss-Bachrach; Asteroid City, starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks; and Past Lives, with Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro.

and more...
HistoryOrb, HistoryPod, On-This-Day
TODAYINSCI, The day’s front pages

Jump to Top Birthdays on This Day    June 23

1876 - Irvin S. (Shrewsbury) Cobb
humorist: Old Judge Priest, Those Times and These, A Laugh a Day; autobiography: Exit Laughing; died Mar 11, 1944

1894 - Dr. Alfred Kinsey
sexual behavior researcher: The Kinsey Report, The Sexual Behavior in the Human Male; died Aug 25, 1956

1894 - Edward Patrick David
England’s Duke of Windsor/Edward VIII: only British monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne; died May 28, 1972

1905 - Mary Livingstone (Sadye Marks)
actress: The Jack Benny Show; married to Jack Benny; died June 30, 1983

1910 - Jean (-Marie-Lucien-Pierre) Anouilh
playwright: Becket, Antigone; died Oct 3, 1987

1910 - Lawson Little Jr.
golf champ: U.S. Amateur, British Amateur tourneys [1934, 1935], U.S. Open [1940]; died Feb 1, 1968

1910 - Edward P. Morgan
radio/TV reporter: ABC: Edward P. Morgan and the News; commentator: Ford Foundation-funded Public Broadcasting Laboratory; died Jan 27, 1993

1916 - Irene Worth
Tony Award-winning actress: Sweet Bird of Youth [1976], Tiny Alice [1965]; Lost in Yonkers; died Mar 10, 2002

1918 - Gilbert Dodds
track: Sullivan Award-winner [1943]; AAU indoor mile champion [1942, 1944, 1947]; 1948 world record at Wanamaker Indoor Mile [4:05.3]; died Feb 3, 1977

1925 - Larry Blyden (Ivan Lawrence Blieden)
actor: Harry’s Girls; TV moderator: What’s My Line [1972-75]; died June 6, 1975

1927 - Bob (Robert Louis) Fosse
Oscar Award-winning director: Cabaret [1972]; Tony Award-winning choreographer: Big Deal [1986], Dancin’ [1978], Sweet Charity [1966], Little Me [1963], Bob Fosse [1959], Damn Yankees [1956], The Pajama Game [1955]; director/choreographer: Pippin [1973]; Emmy Award-winning director: Singer Presents Liza with a ‘Z’ [1972-73]; autobiographical film: All That Jazz; died Sep 23, 1987

1929 - June Carter Cash
Grammy Award-winning country singer [w/husband, Johnny Cash]: Jackson, If I were a Carpenter; songwriter: Ring of Fire; died May 15, 2003

1930 - Walter Dukes
basketball: NCAA Div. I Individual Record Holder: season rebounds [734]: Seton Hall [1953]; died March 13, 2001

1940 - Adam Faith (Terence Nelhams)
singer: Somebody Else’s Baby, How about That, Lonely Pup in a Christmas Shop, The Time Has Come; actor: Minder, Down an Alley Full of Cats, Stardust, Budgie, Mix Me a Person, Beat Girl; died Mar 8, 2003

1940 - Wilma Rudolph
Olympic Hall of Famer: Gold Medalist [3]: track & field sprints [1960]; died Nov 12, 1994

1941 - Robert Hunter
lyricist: group: Grateful Dead: Truckin’, Touch of Grey, Workingman’s Dead, Skulls and Roses, American Beauty; died Sep 23, 2019

1943 - James Levine
conductor: Cleveland Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

1944 - Rosetta Hightower
singer: group: The Orlons: The Wah Watusi, Don’t Hang Up, South Street; died Aug 2, 2014

1946 - Ted Shackelford
actor: Knots Landing, Dallas

1947 - Bryan Brown
actor: Breaker Morant, Full Body Massage, Blame It on the Bellboy, F/X series, Dead in the Water, Gorillas in the Mist, Cocktail, A Town like Alice, The Thorn Birds, The Winter of Our Dreams, Palm Beach, The Irishman

1948 - Clarence Thomas
U.S. Supreme Court Justice [1991- ]

1952 - Marv Kellum
football: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker: Super Bowl IX, X

1956 - Randy Jackson
musician: bass: groups: Journey: LPs: Frontiers, Raised on Radio; Eddie Money: Can’t Hold Back; also Mariah Carey, Tracy Chapman, Destiny’s Child, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Trey Lorenz, Patti LaBelle, Madonna, NSYNC; music producer: VP A&R Columbia Records, Senior VP A&R MCA Records; TV judge: American Idol: The Search for a Superstar

1957 - Frances McDormand
actress: Fargo, Blood Simple, Mississippi Burning, The Wonder Boys, Almost Famous

1959 - Duane Whitaker
actor: Pulp Fiction, Hobgoblins, Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter, Tales from the Hood, Within the Rock, Spoiler, Tempest Eye

1962 - Billy Wirth
actor: The Lost Boys, Body Snatchers, Venus Rising, Space Marines, Relax... It’s Just Sex; producer: MacArthur Park

1965 - Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs
musician: guitar: group: Oasis: Supersonic, Morning Glory, I Hope, I Think, I Know, I Am the Walrus, Where Did It All Go Wrong?, Cigarettes and Alcohol

1969 - Martin Klebba
actor: Marty the Midget on the Howard Stern Show; Pirates of the Caribbean, Cradle 2 the Grave, All’s Faire in Love, Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds, Feast 3: The Happy Finish; stuntman: Hancock, Zombieland, Bedtime Stories, Evan Almighty, Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, Van Helsing

1970 - Chico DeBarge
singer: Soopaman Lover, Playa Hater, Virgin, Love Still Good, Long Time No See, Give You What You Want [Fa Sure]

1971 - Felix ‘The Cat’ Potvin
hockey [goalie]: Toronto Maple Leafs, NY Islanders, Vancouver Canucks, LA Kings, Boston Bruins

1972 - Selma Blair
actress: In & Out, Cruel Intentions, Kill Me Later, The Sweetest Thing

1972 - Cory Schlesinger
football [fullback]: Univ of Nebraska; NFL: Detroit Lions

1972 - Zinedine Zidane
French footballer [attacking midfielder]: France National Team: 1998 FIFA World Cup champs

1974 - Joel Edgerton
actor: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Kinky Boots, Animal Kingdom, The Thing, Warrior, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Zero Dark Thirty, The Great Gatsby

1974 - Mark Hendrickson
basketball [forward]: Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings, NJ Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers; baseball [pitcher]: Toronto Blue Jays, TB Devil Rays

1975 - Kevin Dyson
football [wide receiver]: Univ of Utah]; NFL: Tennessee Oilers/Titans, Carolina Panthers, SD Chargers, Washington Redskins

1976 - Brandon Stokley
football [wide receiver]: Louisiana-Lafayette; NFL: Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts

1976 - Emmanuelle Vaugier
actress: CSI: NY, Two and a Half Men, Smallville, Human Target, Lost Girl, Secondhand Lions, Saw II, Saw IV, 40 Days and 40 Nights; more

1977 - Jason Mraz
musician: guitar, songwriter, singer: LPs: Waiting for My Rocket to Come, Mr. A-Z, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., Love Is a Four Letter Word

1977 - Shaun O’Hara
football [center]: Rutgers Univ; NFL: Cleveland Browns, NY Giants

1979 - LaDainian Tomlinson
football running back: San Diego Chargers [2001–2009] New York Jets [2010–2011]; All-Pro six times; selected to five Pro Bowls; rushing titles [2006, 2007]; ranks in top 10 in career rushing yards

1980 - Melissa Rauch
actress: The Big Bang Theory, Kath & Kim, True Blood, Wright vs. Wrong, In Lieu of Flowers

1980 - Francesca Schiavone
tennis pro: 2010 French Open champ: first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles

1981 - Joe Taslim
actor: Fast and Furious 6, The Raid: Redemption, Dead Mine

1983 - Miles Fisher
actor: Gods and Generals, Mad Men, Lone Star Struck, Head Shot, Superhero Movie, The Cleaner

1989 - Lauren Bennett
singer: groups: Paradiso Girls, The Pussycat Dolls, LMFAO: Party Rock Anthem; G.R.L.; solo: Hurricane

and still more...
IMDb, iafd (adult), FAMOUS, NNDB
BASEBALL, BASKETBALL, HOCKEY, PRO-FOOTBALL

Jump to Top Hit Music on This Day    June 23

1946The Gypsy (facts) - The Ink Spots
All Through the Day (facts) - Perry Como
They Say It’s Wonderful (facts) - Frank Sinatra
New Spanish Two Step (facts) - Bob Wills

1955Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (facts) - Pérez Prado
Rock Around the Clock (facts) - Bill Haley & His Comets
It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie (facts) - Somethin’ Smith & The Redheads
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young (facts) - Faron Young

1964Chapel of Love (facts) - The Dixie Cups
A World Without Love (facts) - Peter & Gordon
I Get Around (facts) - The Beach Boys
Together Again (facts) - Buck Owens

1973My Love (facts) - Paul McCartney & Wings
I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby (facts) - Barry White
Will It Go Round in Circles (facts) - Billy Preston
Kids Say the Darndest Things (facts) - Tammy Wynette

1982Ebony and Ivory (facts) - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
Don’t You Want Me (facts) - The Human League
Rosanna (facts) - Toto
Slow Hand (facts) - Conway Twitty

1991Rush, Rush (facts) - Paula Abdul
Losing My Religion (facts) - R.E.M.
You’re Unbelievable (facts) - EMF
The Thunder Rolls (facts) - Garth Brooks

2000Oops… I Did It Again (facts) - Britney Spears
I Turn to You (facts) - Christina Aguilera
Try Again (facts) - Aaliyah
Yes! (facts) - Chad Brock

2009Boom Boom Pow (facts) - Black Eyed Peas
Halo (facts) - Beyoncé
Second Chance (facts) - Shinedown
Then (facts) - Brad Paisley

2018Nice for What (facts) - Drake
Psycho (facts) - Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla
I Like It (facts) - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
Meant to Be (facts) - Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line

and even more...
Billboard, Pop/Rock Oldies, Songfacts, Country


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...


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TWtD Calendar




Comments/Corrections: TWtDfix@440int.com

Written and edited by Carol Williams and John Williams
Produced by John Williams


Those Were the Days, the Today in History feature
from 440 International

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No portion of these files may be reproduced without the express, written permission of 440 International Inc.