440 International Those Were the Days
November 8
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Events on This Day   

1864 - Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was re-elected this day. He defeated Democrat George B. McClellan and carried all but three states, getting 212 of 233 electoral votes with 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes. “I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day’s work will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country,” Lincoln told supporters.

1880 - Sarah Bernhardt made her American stage debut. Bernhardt appeared in Adrienne Lecouvreur in New York City.

1889 - The Treasure State, or Montana, entered the United States of America as number 41. And, it turned out to be quite a treasure. Coal, copper, lead, zinc and silver have all been mined in Montana. Helena is the capital of Montana; the western meadowlark is the state bird and the bitterroot is the state flower. Of course, this has nothing to do with some of Montana’s bitter history, its most notorious event: The Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer’s Last Stand).

1892 - In a rerun of the 1888 U.S. election, it was Harrison against Cleveland. This time, however, former President Grover Cleveland defeated incumbent President Benjamin Harrison, becoming the first -- and only -- chief executive to win non-consecutive terms in the White House. Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.

1895 - Scientist Wilhelm Roentgen (Röntgen) took the first X-ray pictures on this day. He had been experimenting with electricity but failed to turn off the machine. The device he was working with overheated and emitted rays. After a number of hours of head-scratching, writing equations and much hypothesis, Roentgen came upon the scientific principle that would allow him to take X-ray pictures. Other X-rays had been observed before this; but Roentgen was the only one to have performed repeated experiments -- proving that his machine worked. Roentgen may have been a clever scientist; but he had no business savvy. He never patented his X-ray machine and never received any money for it. Tell that to your dentist or doctor when you get the bill for your X-rays. Features Spotlight

1904 - Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, who had succeeded the assassinated William McKinley, was elected to a term in his own right this day. He defeated Democrat Alton B. Parker, 7,628,461 votes to 5,084,223 and 336 Electoral College votes to 140. Roosevelt had become know as Teddy, a name he was not crazy about, but which he kept for public purposes.

1910 - William H. Frost of Spokane, Washington patented the insect exterminator (zzzzk! zzzzk!) As you can see (zzzzzk!) by the purple light and snapping (zzzzk!) sound, the unit here (zzzk!) is working (zzzzk!) just swell. Someday, we’ll get rid of (zzzk!) all these bugs.

1932 - The team of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II debuted with their show, Music in the Air. The Broadway production continued for 342 performances.

1932 - New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated incumbent President Herbert Hoover to become the 32nd President of the United States. Roosevelt captured 22,821,857 votes to incumbent President Hoover’s 15,761,841 and 472 Electoral College votes to 59.

1935 - United Mine Workers president John L. (Llewellyn) Lewis and several other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization as part of the American Federation of Labor.

1939 - This day marked Frank Sinatra’s last recording session with the Harry James Band. Sides recorded were Every Day of My Life and Ciribiribin.

1939 - Life With Father premiered on Broadway in New York City. Eight years later, the show broke the existing record for longest-running stage production.

1942 - Operation Torch began, as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.

1944 - The Hungarian government coralled more than 76,000 Jews -- men, women, and children -- in the Ujlaki brickyards in Obuda. From there, they were forced to march on foot to camps in Austria. Thousands were shot and thousands more died as a result of starvation or exposure to the bitter cold. The prisoners who survived the Death March from Budapest did not reach Austria until late December 1944.

1950 - The first jet-plane battle took place as Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, flying an Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star, shot down a North Korean MiG-15.

1954 - The American League approved the transfer of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team to Kansas City, MO. Charles O. Finley of Chicago would later tire of Kansas City and move the A’s to Oakland, California.

1956 - The Ford Motor Company decided to name its upcoming new automobile the Edsel, in honor of Henry Ford’s only son. The company turned down 18,000 suggested names, including Utopian Turtletop, Andante Con Moto, Turcotinga, Intelligent Bullet and Mongoose Civique. Edsel Ford shared control of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 till his death in 1943. The Edsel lasted only three years on the market (model years 1958-1960).

1959 - The ‘Big E’, Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scored 64 points and set a National Basketball Association scoring mark. The Lakers beat Boston 136-115.

1960 - Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election. The Republican insider was Richard Nixon of California, relatively young but experienced as the nation's vice-president for eight years under Dwight Eisenhower. The Democratic newcomer was John F. Kennedy, senator from Massachusetts, who at the age of 43 was the youngest person elected president. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. President, was also the first Roman Catholic to be elected president.

1964 - Judy Garland and her daughter, Liza Minnelli, appeared together at the London Palladium. The program was shown on U.S. TV; and the LP, Live at the London Palladium became a classic on Capitol Records.

1965 - “Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives...” The voice of McDonald Carey introduced the popular soap opera, Days of Our Lives, which debuted on NBC-TV this day.

1974 - Singer ‘Ivory’ Joe Hunter died of lung cancer. He was 59 years old. Hunter started in show biz on the radio at KFDM, Beaumont, Texas in the early 1940s. In 1942 he moved to the West Coast, where he started Pacific Records. He signed with MGM and recorded I Almost Lost My Mind, which topped the R&B charts in 1950. By 1954 Hunter had recorded more than a hundred songs and moved to Atlantic Records. ‘Ivory’ Joe Hunter’s first song to cross over to the pop charts and meet with widespread success was Since I Met You Baby in 1956. It was to be his only top-40 hit, reaching as high as #12.

1975 - Elton John’s album, Rock of the Westies, debuted at #1 on US album charts. It was his second album to jump on the chart at number one. "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy had debuted at #1 six months earlier. Tracks on Rock of the Westies: Medley (Yell Help, Wednesday Night, Ugly), Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future), Island Girl, Grow Some Funk Of Your Own, I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford), Street Kids, Hard Luck Story, Feed Me, Billy Bones and the White Bird.

1977 - Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, defeating seventeen other candidates vying for the position from the newly created 5th District. Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to the board.

1978 - Illustrator Norman Rockwell died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was 84 years old. Rockwell was best known for his covers of The Saturday Evening Post, but also painted covers for such forgotten magazines as Judge, Leslie’s, The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, and others.

1979 - A new late-night news program debuted on ABC-TV. The program, The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage, was expected to be on the schedule only temporarily, according to ABC News chief Roone Arledge. Instead, the program, with Ted Koppel hosting, evolved into Nightline in March of 1980.

1980 - Bruce Springsteen’s album, The River, hit #1 for four weeks in the U.S. Tracks on the album: The Ties that Bind, Sherry Darling, Jackson Cage, Two Hearts, Independence Day, Hungry Heart, Out in the Street, Crush on You, You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch), I Wanna Marry You, The River, Point Blank, Cadillac Ranch, I’m a Rocker, Fade Away, Stolen Car, Ramrod, The Price You Pay, Drive All Night, Wreck on the Highway.

1983 - Wilson Goode was elected the first black mayor of the city of Philadelphia. His support reached across racial and economic lines and he served two terms as mayor, leaving office in 1992.

1984 - The first attempt to rescue two crippled satellites took place as the space shuttle Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (The mission was accomplished on November 14th.)

1988 - Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush and running-mate Indiana Senator Dan Quayle were elected President and Vice-President of the United States. They defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and his running-mate, Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Bush was inaugurated the 41st president of the United States on January 20, 1989. He was the first incumbent vice president to win election since Martin Van Buren won in 1836.

1993 - Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was released. The operating system boasted improved support for NetWare and Windows NT, and slipped in numerous architectural changes to improve performance and stability (changes that later found their way into Windows 95).

1994 - Former pop star Sonny Bono, running as a Republican, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives -- representing the Palm Springs area of California.

1995 - Michael Jackson merged his ATV Music Publishing Company, and its catalog of Beatles songs, with Sony Music Publishing, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Jackson retained 50% ownership of the new company and received at some $110 million dollars from Sony in the deal.

1996 - These movies had U.S. debuts: Mad Dog Time, with Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Lane and Ellen Barkin; Ransom, starring Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise and Delroy Lindo.

1997 - The mighty Yangtze River (China’s largest) was successfully diverted in preparation for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. As engineers completed the dumping of 60,000 cubic meters (78,000 cubic yards) of rockfill and cement into the river, its flow was diverted through a canal. Boats on the river sounded horns and construction workers sent flares into the sky. Jiang Zemin, President of the People’s Republic of China, told the assembled crowd, “The damming of the Yangtze River is of great political and economic significance, and it proves to the whole world the Chinese people’s capability of building the world’s first-rate hydroelectric project.” The dam project’s target date for completion is 2009.

1998 - French actor Jean Marais died at age 84. His films include the 1946 La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast).

1999 - M.I.T. received a $100 million gift from software billionaire and alumnus Kenan Sahin.

1999 - Lester Bowie died of liver cancer. He was 58 years old. The jazz trumpeter was co-founder and a president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians; and founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

2000 - A statewide recount began in Florida, which emerged as critical in deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election. Early in the day, Al Gore telephoned George W. Bush to concede, but called back about an hour later to retract his concession.

2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) delivered an address from the World Congress Center in Atlanta. Reflecting on the two months that had passed since the World Trade Center attacks of Sep 11, the president said, “We’re ... a nation awakened to service, and citizenship, and compassion.”

2002 - 8 Mile opened in the U.S. The musical drama stars Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Eugene Byrd, Omar Benson Miller and Taryn Manning.

2003 - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean announced that he would opt out of the system for publicly financing elections, and its imposed limits, to better compete against U.S. President George Bush (II).

2003 - The new $188-million Carquinez (Alfred Zampa Memorial) Bridge in Vallejo, CA was dedicated. The bridge, including approaches, cost $340 million to build. The bridge was named for bridge worker Al Zampa.

2004 - A four-year study of the Arctic by international scientists confirmed that the region is warming at nearly twice the rate as the rest of the planet.

2005 - French President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency on the 12th day of the civil unrest. Chirac’s action followed the reactivation of a 1955 law allowing local authorities to impose curfews.

2005 - Australian police announced the disruption of a large-scale terrorist attack. 17 suspects were arrested in Melbourne and Sydney following raids. New South Wales police Commissioner Ken Moroney said more than 400 police officers were involved in the raids, which he credited for preventing a “catastrophic” attack.

2006 - Daniel Ortega was re-elected Nicaragua’s president, winning 38% of the Nov 5 vote with a 9-point lead over Eduardo Montealegre. Ortega called for reconciliation, stability and a renewed fight against poverty.

2006 - U.S. President George Bush (II) announced the resignation of his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Bush named Robert Gates, president of Texas A&M University, to succeed Rumsfeld.

2006 - The UN General Assembly voted to urge the U.S. to end its 45-year-old trade embargo against Cuba.

2007 - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, joined by 14 other states, sued the George Bush (II) administration over its refusal to let them enforce bigger auto emissions cuts than those required by the federal government.

2007 - Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein opened on Broadway at the Hilton Theatre. The musical starred Fred Applegate as Inspector Kemp, Roger Bart as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor, Sutton Foster as Inga and Shuler Hensley as the Monster. "Young Frankenstein" played through Jan 4, 2009 (485 performances).

2008 - The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear submarine accidentally turned on as the sub was being tested in the Sea of Japan. The system spewing chemicals that suffocated 20 people and sent 21 others to the hospital. The dead included 17 civilians and 3 seamen.

2009 - Brazil’s private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, expelled 20-year-old Geisy Arruda for wearing a short, pink dress to class, publicly accusing her of immorality. In October 2010, the university was ordered by a Brazilian court to pay Arruda more than $20,000 in compensation.

2010 - The Carnival Splendor luxury liner, carrying nearly 3,300 passengers and almost 1,200 crew members, became crippled after fire erupted in its engine room. The blaze crippled the ship‘s propulsion system, leaving the vessel dead in the water and forcing Carnival Cruise Lines to cancel the rest of the voyage. The next day the nuclear-powered "USS Ronald Reagan" began delivering supplies to the marooned vessel while plans were made to tow the ship to San Diego.

2011 - Ohio voters overturned a divisive anti-union law that restricted collective bargaining rights for more than 360,000 public employees, among other provisions. Opposition to the legislation had inspired large protests from residents around the state.

2011 - A French court decided that the News of the World had violated the privacy of former world motorsport chief Max Mosley when it published photographs of him in a sadomasochistic orgy. Mosley (71) had already won a case in a British court against News Group, after the News of the World published a front-page story in March 2008 entitled F1 (Formula 1) boss has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers.

2012 - New York property damage from Superstorm Sandy reached $33 billion. The storm killed at least 119 people and caused significant damage to 15 U.S. states. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said an additional $9 billion would be needed for preventive measures.

2013 - Motion pictures opening in the U.S.: Thor: The Dark World, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston; Great Expectations, with Toby Irvine, Jason Flemyng and William Ellis; The Motel Life, starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff and Kris Kristofferson; the documentary, People of a Feather; The Book Thief, starring Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson; and About Time, with Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy.

2013 - More than 6,300 people were killed in the Philippines as Typhoon Haiyan, one of the worst storms ever recorded, unleashed ferocious winds and giant waves that washed away homes. 1,000 people were missing after the storm; many were never found.

2014 - Pope Francis removed American Cardinal Raymond Burke as head of the Holy See’s supreme court. Burke had championed campaigns to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who supported legalized abortion.

2015 - Pope Francis told followers in St. Peter’s Square that the theft of documents describing financial malfeasance inside the Holy See was a crime. But the pontiff pledged to continue reforms of its administration.

2016 - Donald Trump was elected 45th U.S. president: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all swung for Donald Trump with margins of one percent or less. Many observers thought the election would be decided by Donald Trump’s polarizing rhetoric, history of behavior toward women and questionable qualifications for the office. But exit polls suggested it was more a Clinton loss than a Trump victory. She won a lot of minority votes, but not enough to overcome her deficit with white voters. Clinton’s gender may also have been a factor in the outcome. And the Oct 28 announcement by FBI Director James Comey about a review of “new information” roiled the election in ways that took campaigns, pollsters, and analysts by surprise, swaying some voters away from Clinton.

2016 - U.S. voters rendered a split decision on gun control measures in the election, approving universal background checks for private firearms sales in Nevada while narrowly rejecting them in Maine. California residents backed a referendum that bans large-capacity ammunition magazines and requires some people to undergo background checks in order to buy ammunition. The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the “right to bear arms,” and gun rights advocates fiercely contest any attempt to restrict it. Opponents had said the background check laws were not clear and would do nothing to stop criminals.

2017 - Germany’s highest court said people must be allowed to be entered in official records as neither male nor female, ruling that authorities create a third identity or drop gender designations altogether.

2018 - Australia launched a multi-billion dollar fund to counter China’s rising influence in the region. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would invest in telecommunications, energy, transport and water projects in the region. In 2006, China had started to offer Pacific nations large amounts of money as it worked to build up its political influence across the region. The Australian move came as the Pacific slowly morphed from a calm expanse of water dominated by Western interests into a choppy ocean churned by global headwinds.

2018 - 30,000 people fled for their lives as the Camp Fire exploded to more than 20,000 acres in Butte County in northern California. The community of Paradise was destroyed.

2019 - Motions pictures debuting in U.S. theatres included: Doctor Sleep, starring Rebecca Ferguson, Ewan McGregor and Carel Struycken; Last Christmas, with Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson and Henry Golding; Midway, starring Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson and Luke Evans; Playing with Fire, starring Judy Greer, John Cena and Brianna Hildebrand; Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, with Travis Fimmel, Richard Roxburgh and Luke Bracey; Honey Boy, with Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges and Noah Jupe; and the animated, Klaus, featuring characters voiced by Joan Cusack, Rashida Jones, J.K. Simmons, Jason Schwartzman, Tucker Meek, Mila Brener, Sydney Brower and Sky Alexis.

2019 - Police in Georgia arrested more than 25 people after ultra-nationalist protesters attempted to derail the premiere of And Then We Danced clashed with security forces. The movie about gay love had received a fifteen-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

2019 - Chow Tsz-lok, a student who fell from the third to the second floor of a Hong Kong parking lot in the early hours of Nov 4 died. Vigils mourning his death quickly spiraled into street fires, bursts of tear gas and cat-and-mouse clashes between pro-democracy protesters and police.

2020 - 80-year-old Alex Trebek, host of TV quiz show "Jeopardy!" since 1984, died in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer. Trebek hosted more than 8,000 episodes of Jeopardy! -- and a number of other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, High Rollers, Battlestars, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth. He also made many appearances, usually as himself, in films and television series.

2020 - The Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) made a far-reaching admission of guilt for its failure to do more to help Jews during and after World War II. PKN chairman Rene de Reuver said the church’s actions began long before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. He said the PKN now recognizes that the church “laid the ground under which anti-Semitism and hatred could flourish.”

2020 - The United States became the first country to surpass 10 million COVID-19 infections. That record was reached on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.

2021 - President Biden restored protections to three U.S. national monuments, including two that saw their size drastically reduced by former POTUS Trump, saying Americans must protect the country together. Biden reinstated -- and slightly expanded -- the 1.3 million acre boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument. He restored the original 1.8 million acre boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. And he restored protections covering the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine monument, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.

2021 - California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a measure requiring high school students in the state to complete one semester of ethnic studies before graduation -- starting in 2029. The legislation was designed to focus attention on the four ethnic and racial groups whose history and stories had been traditionally overlooked and had been the focus of college ethnic studies courses: Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans. The model curriculum says that while encouraging schools to include discussions on the ethnic heritage and the legacies of students in their communities, it includes lesson plans on Sikh, Jewish, Arab and Armenian Americans, which were added after those groups objected to being left out in earlier drafts.

2021 - The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia the Nobel Peace Prize. Muratov dedicated the Peace Prize to six of his paper’s journalists who had been murdered because of their work.

2022 - The U.S. reopened its borders to vaccinated non U.S. citizens after more than 18 months -- lifting restrictions imposed because of COVID-19.

2022 - The fight for House control remained close, with Republicans picking up a narrow majority but falling short of the “red wave” they had hoped for. “I think we pick up 10-to-15 seats in the House,” one Republican operative said. “It's looking a lot more, let’s say modest, than I was hoping for.”

and more...
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Jump to Top Birthdays on This Day    November 8

1656 - Edmund Halley
astronomer: first to observe the great comet of 1682 [known to us as Halley’s Comet]; died Jan 14, 1742

1847 - Bram (Abraham) Stoker
author: Dracula; died Apr 20, 1912

1900 - Margaret Mitchell
Pulitzer Prize-winning author: Gone with the Wind [1937]; died Aug 16, 1949

1912 - June Havoc
actress: Brewster’s Millions, Gentlemen’s Agreement, Sing Your Worries Away, Willy; died Mar 28, 2010

1913 - Frank McGuire
basketball coach: St. John’s Univ [103-35], North Carolina Univ [164-58], South Carolina Univ [283-142]; first coach to win 100 games at three different colleges; NBA: Philadelphia Warriors; died Nov 11, 1994

1914 - Norman Lloyd
actor: St. Elsewhere, Journey of Honor, Jaws of Satan, Saboteur, The Southerner; died May 11, 2021

1920 - Esther Rolle
Emmy Award-winnning actress: Summer of My German Soldier [1979]; Good Times, Maude, Scarlett, Driving Miss Daisy, A Raisin in the Sun, The Mighty Quinn; died Nov 17, 1998

1921 - Gene Saks
actor: A Fine Romance, Prisoner of Second Avenue, A Thousand Clowns; director: Barefoot in the Park, Mame, The Odd Couple, Cactus Flower; died Mar 28, 2015

1921 - Walter Mirisch
Academy Award-winning producer: The Apartment [1960]; died Feb 24, 2023

1922 - Christiaan Barnard
surgeon, medical pioneer: performed first known heart transplant [1967]; author: Good Life, Good Death: A Doctor’s Case for Euthanasia and Suicide; died Sep 2, 2001

1924 - Johnny Bower
Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender: AHL: Cleveland Barons Providence Reds; NHL New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs [1962, 1963, 1964 Stanley Cup winners]; died Dec 26, 2017

1924 - Joe Flynn
actor: The Tim Conway Show, McHale’s Navy, The Joey Bishop Show, The George Gobel Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Superdad, Million Dollar Duck, The Barefoot Executive, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes; died July 19, 1974

1927 - Patti Page (Clara Ann Fowler)
singer: Tennessee Waltz, Old Cape Cod, I Went to Your Wedding, Doggie in the Window, Allegheny Moon, Steam Heat, Cross over the Bridge; in film: Elmer Gantry; died Jan 1, 2013; more

1927 - Chris Connor
singer: I Miss You So, Trust in Me; died Aug 29, 2009

1929 - Bobby Bowden
football coach: Florida State Univ [1976-present], Samford Univ [record of 31-6], South Georgia Jr. College [1956-1958], West Virginia Univ [record of 42-26]; died Aug 8, 2021

1931 - Morley Safer
TV correspondent: CBS News: 60 Minutes; died May 19, 2016

1935 - Alain Delon
actor: The Leopard, Nouvelle Vague, The Concorde: Airport ’79, Gypsy, Red Sun, Is Paris Burning?, Honor Among Thieves, Rocco and His Brothers, Sois Belle et Tais-Toi

1941 - Rodney Slater
musician: saxophone, trumpet: group: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: I’m the Urban Spaceman, Look at Me I’m Wonderful, Bad Blood, Straight from My Heart

1942 - Angel Cordero Jr.
National Horse Racing Hall of Famer: Jockey of the Year [1982, 1983]; winner of Breeder’s Cup [1985 Distaff, 1988 Juvenile Fillies, 1988 & 1989 Sprint), Kentucky Derby [1974, 1985], Preakness [1976, 1980, 1984], Belmont [1976]

1944 - Bonnie Bramlett
songwriter, singer: group: Delaney and Bonnie and Friends: Never Ending Song of Love, Only You Know and I Know

1944 - Ed Kranepool
baseball: NY Mets [only player to have played in each of Mets’ first 17 seasons; holds Mets’ record for most games played: 1853]

1945 - Don Murray
musician: drums: group: The Turtles: Happy Together, It Ain’t Me Babe, You Baby; died Mar 22, 1996

1946 - Roy Wood (Ulysses Adrian Wood)
musician, singer, songwriter: formed Electric Light Orchestra: 10538 Overture; group: Wizzard: See My Baby Jive, Angel Fingers, Dear Elaine, Forever

1947 - Minnie (Julia) Riperton
singer: Lovin’ You; LP: Come to My Garden, Adventure in Paradise; group: Wonderlove; died July 12, 1979

1949 - Alan Berger
musician: bass: group: Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes: I Don’t Wanna Go Home, The Fever, This Time It’s for Real, Love on the Wrong Side of Town, When You Dance, Hearts of Stone

1949 - Charles ‘Boobie’ Clark
football: Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Oilers; died Oct 25, 1988

1949 - Bonnie Raitt
Grammy Award-winning singer [1990]: Runaway, The Boy Can’t Help It, Something to Talk About, Sweet Forgiveness; actress: Urban Cowboy; musician: guitar; daughter of actor, John Raitt

1950 - Mary Hart
TV host: Entertainment Tonight

1952 - Christie Hefner
magazine executive: Playboy; daughter of magazine’s founder Hugh Hefner

1952 - Alfre Woodard
Emmy Award-winning actress: Hill Street Blues: Alice in Wonderland [1983-1984]; guest performance: L.A. Law [1986-1987]; St. Elsewhere, Tucker’s Witch, Cross Creek, Miss Firecracker, Grand Canyon, Passion Fish, Bopha, Heart and Souls

1954 - Ricki Lee Jones
singer: Chuck E.’s in Love, On Saturday Afternoons in 1963

1956 - Randi Brooks
actress: The Man with Two Brains, Deal of the Century, Favorite Son, Hamburger... The Motion Picture, The Ratings Game, The Cartier Affair, Mancuso, FBI

1958 - Terry Lee Miall
musician: drums: group: Adam & The Ants: Goody Two-Shoes, Apollo Nine

1959 - Chi Chi La Rue (Larry David Paciotti)
director [1989-2012]: X-rated films; flamboyant plus-size drag queen who specializes in directing gay/bisexual hard-core films and video

1961 - Leif Garrett
actor: Spirit of ’76, Thunder Alley, Kid Vengeance, Three for the Road; singer: I Was Made for Dancin’

1966 - Gordon Ramsay
celebrity restaurateur, chef, TV host: Hell’s Kitchen, The F Word, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, Hotel Hell

1967 - Courtney Thorne-Smith
actress: Melrose Place, Fast Times, Day by Day, Breach of Conduct, Side Out, Welcome to 18, Summer School, Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerds in Paradise, Lucas

1968 - Parker Posey
actress: Broken English, Party Girl, The Daytrippers, You’ve Got Mail, Scream 3, Best in Show

1968 - Zara Whites
actress [1989-1999]: X-rated films: As Dirty as She Wants to Be, Titillation 3, Mark of Zara, Buttman’s Award Winning Orgies, Incesto, L'

1969 - Shane Halter
baseball: Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, Anaheim Angels, Chicago Cubs

1969 - Roxana Zal
Emmy Award-winning actress: Something about Amelia [1984]; Shattered Spirits, Under the Boardwalk, Goodbye, Miss 4th of July, River’s Edge, Testament, Table for Five

1972 - Gretchen Mol
actress: Life on Mars, The Magnificent Ambersons, Donnie Brasco, Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground, Rounders, Finding Graceland, The Thirteenth Floor

1973 - Edgardo Alfonzo
baseball: New York Mets, San Francisco Giants

1973 - David Muir
TV news anchor: ABC’s World News Tonight; TV co-host: 20/20

1974 - Masahi Kishimoto
Japanese manga [comic, cartoon] artist: created the acclaimed Naruto series

1975 - Brevin Knight
basketball [guard]: Stanford Univ; NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats

1975 - Tara Reid
actress: The Big Lebowski, American Pie series, Body Shots, Dr. T & the Women, Josie and the Pussycats

1977 - Nick Punto
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins

1978 - Maurice Evans
basketball [guard]: Univ of Texas; NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers

1979 - Dania Ramirez
actress: Entourage, Heroes, The Sopranos, X-Men: The Last Stand, Premium Rush, The Fifth Commandment, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, She Hate Me

1981 - Azura Skye
actress: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buck Naked Arson, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Sexual Life

1987 - Sam Bradford
football [quarterback]: Univ of Oklahoma: 2008 Heisman Trophy winner; NFL: St. Louis Rams [2010-2014], Philadelphia Eagles [2015], Minnesota Vikings [2016–2017], Arizona Cardinals [2018]

1994 - Lauren Alaina
songwriter, singer: Road Less Traveled, What Ifs [duet w/Kane Brown]; in 2022 was the youngest [age 27] member of the Grand Ole Opry

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Jump to Top Hit Music on This Day    November 8

1949That Lucky Old Sun (facts) - Frankie Laine
You’re Breaking My Heart (facts) - Vic Damone
I Can Dream, Can’t I? (facts) - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (vocal: Jack Leonard)
Slipping Around (facts) - Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely

1958It’s All in the Game (facts) - Tommy Edwards
It’s Only Make Believe (facts) - Conway Twitty
Topsy II (facts) - Cozy Cole
City Lights (facts) - Ray Price

1967To Sir with Love (facts) - Lulu
Soul Man (facts) - Sam & Dave
It Must Be Him (facts) - Vikki Carr
You Mean the World to Me (facts) - David Houston

1976Rock’n Me (facts) - Steve Miller
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (facts) - Gordon Lightfoot
Love So Right (facts) - Bee Gees
Cherokee Maiden (facts) - Merle Haggard

1985Part-Time Lover (facts) - Stevie Wonder
Miami Vice Theme (facts) - Jan Hammer
Head Over Heels (facts) - Tears For Fears
Some Fools Never Learn (facts) - Steve Wariner

1994I’ll Make Love to You (facts) - Boyz II Men
All I Wanna Do (facts) - Sheryl Crow
Secret (facts) - Madonna
Livin’ on Love (facts) - Alan Jackson

2003Baby Boy (facts) - Beyoncé Knowles featuring Sean Paul
Here Without You (facts) - 3 Doors Down
Stacy’s Mom (facts) - Fountains of Wayne
Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me (facts) - Keith Urban

2012One More Night (facts) - Maroon 5
Gangnam Style (facts) - PSY
Some Nights (facts) - fun.
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (facts) - Taylor Swift

2021Easy on Me (facts) - Adele
Stay (facts) - The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
Industry Baby (facts) - Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow
Fancy Like (facts) - Walker Hayes

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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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

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