440 International Those Were the Days
October 31
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Events on This Day   

1846 - The Donner party became trapped in what is now known as Donner Pass in the Sierra Mountains. The next day they began building their winter camp at Truckee (now Donner) Lake, having failed to get through the snow-filled pass...

1864 -- When conjuring up a mental image of Nevada, which entered the United States of America on this day, snow is not usually in the picture. Yet, the 36th state garnered its name from the Spanish word meaning ‘snowy’. The founding fathers must have spent a lot of time in the northern and central regions near the capital city of Carson City, and in one of today’s gambling meccas, Reno. The Silver State is also known as the entertainment and gambling capital of the United States. Nevada is the most arid state in the Union which explains why sagebrush is the state flower. The mountain bluebird, the state bird, flies over Nevada’s mountainous terrain.

1868 - Postmaster General Alexander Williams Randall approved a standard uniform for postal carriers.

1903 - The Cleveland Theatre in Chicago welcomed the youngest member of the Barrymore family to the acting fold. Young John Barrymore made his stage debut in Magda.

1926 - Harry Houdini died on this day of peritonitis. Days earlier, between performances at the Princess Theater in Montreal, Canada, as he relaxed in his dressing room, he was visited by a student athlete from Montreal’s McGill University. The young man asked Houdini if it was true that he could actually withstand punches to the stomach. Houdini replied in the affirmative, but before he could prepare himself for the stunt by tightening his stomach muscles, the student punched the magician several times in his mid-section. Houdini performed that night and several more, then headed for Detroit where he did one show, then collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. At the time, it was assumed that his appendix had been ruptured by the blows from the student. Current medical knowledge leads experts to believe that Houdini already had appendicitis and only thought that the blows to his stomach were the cause of his pain. Magicians and mediums throughout the world still gather on this night, Halloween, to honor the Great Houdini. Features Spotlight

1930 - In a rare recording, William ‘Count’ Basie sang with Bennie Moten’s orchestra, Somebody Stole My Gal, on Victor.

1941 - Mount Rushmore was ‘completed’ this day. Actually, the money ran out. Work on the monument, honoring Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, had begun August 10, 1927. It was dedicated March 3, 1933 although work continued. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum died in 1941 and his son, Lincoln, continued the project until funds ran out on this day. Since then, no additional carving has been done, nor is any further work (other than maintenance) on the memorial planned.

1942 - One of the great wartime radio shows premiered. CBS debuted Thanks to the Yanks, starring Bob Hawk. It became one of the most popular of the wartime programs.

1952 - The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. The prototype H-bomb was named Mike.

1953 - NBC presented Carmen on Opera Theatre -- the first major opera televised in color.

1955 - Princess Margaret (Rose) of England announced that she would not be marrying her love, Captain Peter Townsend. The entire world had been waiting for weeks, speculating about whether the sister of the Queen would marry a commoner.

1956 - George J. Dufek of Admiral Robert Byrd’s expedition party became the first American to land by air at the South Pole.

1957 - The musical Jamaica opened at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. Lena Horne made her Broadway debut playing Savannah, the beautiful island girl who longed to escape to New York City to live a life of modern conveniences. Also in the cast were Ricardo Montalban (as Koli) Adelaide Hall (Grandma Obeah) and Josephine Premice (Ginger). Jamaica wowed audiences for 555 performances, closing Apr 11, 1959.

1961 - The body of Joseph Stalin was removed from public display (in Stalin’s Tomb). After being on display since 1953, the body of the longtime dictator of the former Soviet Union was reburied in a simple grave. This incident was the beginning of the USSR’s ‘destalinization’ policy.

1964 - The Supremes Baby Love was the number one single (for four weeks), while Barbra Streisand’s People was #1 on U.S. album charts (for five weeks).

1966 - Mihir Sen of Calcutta, India swam the length of the Panama Canal on this day. Previously, the distance swimmer had conquered the Palk Strait from India to Ceylon, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Dardanelles.

1968 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.

1972 - Curtis Mayfield received a gold record for Freddie’s Dead from the flick, Superfly.

1979 - Western Airlines Flight 2605, a DC-10, crashed in Mexico City after the pilot attempted to land on a runway that was under construction and closed to traffic. 71 of 88 on board and three workers on the ground were killed.

1984 - Caribbean Queen became a gold record for Billy Ocean. It was Ocean’s second hit song and the only one of his 11 hits to become a million-seller. He would have two other #1 songs and a pair of #2 hits, but none as big as Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run). Billy’s from Trinidad, you know. His real name: Leslie Sebastian Charles.

1984 - India’s Indira Ghandi was assassinated -- by her security guards, two Sikh men. Her position as prime minister was filled by her son, Rajiv.

1985 - Salvage divers located the remains of the pirate ship Whydah. The booty-laden vessel sank Feb. 17, 1717 off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

1988 - Actor and producer-director, John Houseman died. He was 86 years old. Houseman was best-known for his portrayal of a crusty law professor in The Paper Chase.

1991 - Theatrical producer Joseph Papp died in New York. He was 70 years old. Papp was the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954.

1992 - Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the church had erred in condemning Galileo Galilei, and the Roman Catholic church rehabilitated him after 359 years. Galileo had been imprisoned by the Holy Office during the Inquisition, and was forced to recant his heretical views that the earth and planets revolve around the Sun.

1993 - Actor River Phoenix died of drug-induced heart failure outside of Johnny Depp’s Viper Room, a rock nightclub in West Hollywood, CA. Phoenix had taken a mix of drugs, including cocaine and heroin. He was only twenty-three years old.

1994 - An American Eagle ATR-72, en route from Indianapolis to Chicago, went down in Roselawn, IN. The crash killed 68 people. The plane had circled for a half hour waiting to land in Chicago and ice formed on the wings causing the crew to lose control.

1996 - A Brazilian jetliner crashed into a residential neighborhood in Sao Paulo shortly after takeoff. The crash ignited a fire that engulfed several apartments, homes and cars. All 96 people on board the Fokker-100 belonging to TAM regional airlines were killed.

1997 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Critical Care, with James Spader, Kyra Sedgwick, Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft and Albert Brooks; Red Corner, starring Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford, Byron Mann and Tsai Chin; and Switchback with Danny Glover, Dennis Quaid, R. Lee Ermey and William Fichtner.

1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990, en route to Cairo from New York, crashed off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. All 217 people on board died. Some American investigators suspected a relief co-pilot deliberately put the plane into a suicide dive, causing the crash.

2000 - U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts rocketed into orbit aboard a Soyuz rocket on a quest to become the first residents of the international space station.

2002 - Authorities charged the two Washington sniper suspects (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo) with murder in a Louisiana attack that came just two days after a similar slaying in Alabama.

2002 - A strong earthquake rocked central and southern Italy. The quake trapped 61 children in a school in San Giuliano di Puglia after the building’s roof collapsed. 26 children were killed; 35 were rescued by crews using cranes, sledgehammers, blowtorches and bare hands to wade through the rubble.

2003 - The Human Stain opened in U.S. theatres. The drama stars Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Anna Deavere Smith, Wentworth Miller, Jacinda Barrett, Harry Lennix and Kerry Washington.

2004 - Candidates backed by President Hugo Chavez swept all but two of 22 governorships in regional elections in Venezuela.

2005 - U.S. President George Bush (II) nominated federal Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

2006 - Researchers reported that elephants recognize themselves in mirrors.

2008 - New movies in the U.S.: The Haunting of Molly Hartley, with Chace Crawford, Haley Bennett, AnnaLynne McCord, Jake Weber, Josh Stewart, Nina Siemaszko, Randy Wayne, Jessica Lowndes, Shannon Marie Woodward and Marin Hinkle; and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords, Jason Mewes, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Jeff Anderson, Tom Savini, Katie Morgan, Craig Robinson, Kenny Hotz, Betty Aberlin, Gerry Bednob, Ricky Mabe, Jim Norton, Anne Wade and George Drennen.

2008 - British filmmaker Danny Boyle’s Mumbai-based film Slumdog Millionaire won rave reviews as the finale screening at the London Film Festival.

2009 - Italian police arrested one of the most wanted mafia fugitives after tearing down a wall in an early-morning raid near Naples. Salvatore Russo, head of a Camorra clan carrying his name, had been sentenced to life in prison for homicide and links to organized crime and had been on the run since 1995.

2010 - China concluded the Shanghai World’s Fair with a lavish display of national pride, as organizers of the event pledged to continue pursuing more sustainable, balanced growth. Over 72 million visitors had attended the 6-month-long event, surpassing the the 1970 fair in Osaka, Japan, which drew 64 million.

2011 - Tape 407 opened in U.S. movie theatres. The sci-fi horror flick stars Abigail Schrader, Samantha Lester, James Lyons, Melanie Lyons, Brendan Patrick Connor, Ken Garcia and Samantha Sloyan.

2011 - The United Nations reported the world population totaled 7 billion people. This, amid fears that mankind would not be able to cope with its exploding population indefinitely.

2012 - Argentina’s lawmakers passed legislation that lowered the voting age from 18 to 16. Voting is compulsory for Argentineans between the ages of 18 and 70, but is voluntary for 16- and 17-year-olds under the new law.

2013 - A U.S. federal appeals court ruled that most of Texas’ tough new abortion restrictions could take effect immediately. The ruling meant that as many as a dozen clinics around the state would not be able to continue performing abortions.

2014 - Nightcrawler opened in U.S. theatres. The crime drama/thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton, Rene Russo, Anne McDaniels and Ann Cusack.

2014 - Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo blew apart over the Mojave Desert in southern California after being released from a carrier aircraft. The mishap killed one pilot and seriously injured the other.

2015 - 11 people were killed when rival political parties fired on each other in local elections in the Khairpur district of the southern province of Sindh, Pakistan.

2015 - Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers and crew crashed in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula after losing radar contact and plummeting from its cruising altitude, killing all aboard. A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane.

2016 - “There’s no case here,” said Hillary Clinton, as she challenged the FBI’s email inquiry into new material that might have been related to its dormant investigation into whether classified information passed through her private email server while she served as secretary of state. As it turned out, Clinton was absolutely correct with that “There’s no case here” statement, but the damage to her run for the presidency had already been done by the FBI announcement.

2017 - A 24-hour strike by workers at the two largest airlines in Argentina caused the cancellation of dozens of flights and the grounding of tens of thousands of passengers. Unions representing state-run carrier Aerolineas Argentinas and sister company Austral Lineas Aereas demanded a 26 percent salary hike in line with the inflation rate.

2018 - A 17-year-old youth blew himself up in the lobby of an office belonging to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in the northern city of Arkhangelsk. A Moscow court later arrested a 14-year-old believed to be linked to the bombing.

2018 - Millions of people in Mexico City were without water as workers made overdue repairs to the city’s so-called Cutzamala system. It’s a 200-mile-long complex water delivery system composed of several huge lines, reservoirs and pumping stations that send water up and over the mountains ringing Mexico City. The system did not return to full capacity until November 8th.

2019 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to establish formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into POTUS Trump’s political interference in foreign aid to Ukraine.

2019 - U.S. federal prosecutors charged a 12th United Auto Workers official with corruption. Union official Edward Robinson was accused of conspiring with colleagues to embezzle more than $1.5 million in union money to fuel “lavish lifestyles,” and to defraud the United States.

2020 - The first “Bond. James Bond,” Sean Connery, died in Nassau, the Bahamas, where he had a home. He was 90 years old. Connery was the top box-office star in both Britain and the U.S. in 1965 after the success of Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). But he said he grew tired of playing Bond after the fifth film in the series, You Only Live Twice (1967). In 1967 Connery directed The Bowler and the Bunnet. He also starred in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and The Untouchables (1987), for which he won an Oscar.

2020 - In Germany the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg) opened -- nine years late and far above its original budget. Ground was broken for BER in 2006.

2020 - Britain announced expansive new restrictions to establish a national lockdown to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. This, amid vast second-wave surges in COVID-19 infections. People were ordered to stay at home unless out for essential purposes, including education, medical reasons, or to shop for groceries. Nonessential businesses were forced to close and pubs, bars and restaurants were closed except for takeout and delivery.

2021 - As they wrapped up their two-day summit in Rome (which laid the groundwork for a U.N. climate conference in Glasgow), G20 leaders made a compromise commitment to reach carbon neutrality “by or around mid-century”. They agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad, but set no target for phasing out coal domestically. It was a clear nod to coal-dependent countries including China and India, but a blow to Britain which had hoped for more solid commitments.

2022 - Twitter removed the nine members of its board and made its new owner, Elon Musk, its sole director. The previous week Musk fired Twitter’s top executives and tweeted, “the bird is freed.” He had bragged of plans to loosen restrictions on hate speech and misinformation, and make Twitter a haven of free speech.

2022 - Taylor Swift became the first artist in history to claim all top-10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. All the songs were tracks from her album Midnights. Anti-Hero was #1 -- her ninth career #1 hit.

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

Jump to Top Birthdays on This Day    October 31

1795 - John Keats
poet: On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, Endymion: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”, On a Grecian Urn, To a Nightingale, On Melancholy, To Autumn; died Feb 23, 1821

1860 - Juliette Low
youth group founder: Girl Scouts; died Jan 17, 1927

1887 - Chiang Kai-shek
First constitutional President of the Republic of China; Chinese army general; died Apr 5, 1975

1896 - Ethel Waters
actress: Beulah, A Member of the Wedding, Cabin in the Sky, Pinky, Mamba’s Daughters, At Home Abroad, Thousands Cheer; singer, actress: Stage Door Canteen, Rhapsody in Black, Blackbirds, Africana; ‘Sweet Mama Stringbean’; died Sep 1, 1977

1902 - Wilbur Shaw
Indianapolis Speedway Hall of Famer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1937, 1939, 1940]: 1st to win twice in a row; became president & general manager of Speedway; died Oct. 30, 1954

1912 - Dale Evans (Frances Butts)
singer, songwriter: Happy Trails to You; actress: The Roy Rogers Show, Roy Rogers movies; wife of ‘King of the Cowboys’ Roy Rogers; died Feb 7, 2001

1920 - Dick Francis
author: Decider, Break-In, Proof, Forfeit, Whip Hand; died Feb 14, 2010

1922 - Barbara Bel Geddes
Emmy Award-winning actress: Dallas [1979-80]; Vertigo, I Remember Mama; died Aug 8, 2005

1922 - Illinois (Battiste) Jacquet
musician: tenor saxophone: Flyin’ Home, I Didn’t Know About You; played with Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Count Basie; in film: Jammin’ the Blues; died Jul 22, 2004

1924 - Dee (Virgil) Fondy
baseball: Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Redlegs; died Aug 19, 1999

1925 - Lee Grant (Lyova Rosenthal)
Academy Award-winning actress: Shampoo [1975]; Emmy Award-winning actress: Peyton Place [1965-66], World Premiere Monday Night at the Movies: The Neon Ceiling [1970-71]; Fay, Backstairs at the White House, Citizen Cohen, Little Miss Marker, Airport ’77, Voyage of the Damned, Valley of the Dolls, Mod Squad, In the Heat of the Night, The Balcony, The Detective Story

1927 - Anita Kerr
musician: piano, singer, record producer: group: Anita Kerr Singers: The Sea, The Earth; Mexicali Singers; Anita & Th’ So-And-So’s: Joey Baby; composer: The Sky [w/poet, Rod McKuen and The San Sebastian Strings]; died Oct 10, 2022

1930 - Michael Collins
NASA astronaut: Apollo 11 command module pilot on first moon landing mission [he remained in lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on lunar surface]; author: Apollo 11 - First Moon Landing [Countdown to Space]; died Apr 28, 2021

1931 - Dan (Irvin) Rather Jr.
Emmy Award-winning news correspondent: CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite: The Watergate Affair [1972-73], The Agnew Resignation [10/10/73]; The CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours; HDNet: Dan Rather Reports

1933 - Phil Goyette
hockey: NHL: Montreal Royals, NY Rangers, SL Blues, Buffalo Sabres

1936 - Michael Landon (Eugene Orowitz)
actor: Bonanza, Sam’s Son, The Loneliest Runner, I was a Teenage Werewolf, God’s Little Acre; actor, writer, producer, director: Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven; screen play writer, director: Sam’s Son, Killing Stone; Television Hall of Famer [1996]; died July 1, 1991

1937 - Tom Paxton
folk singer, songwriter, musician: guitar: I Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound, The Last Thing on My Mind, Goin’ to the Zoo, The Willing Conscript, Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation, Leaving London, All the Way Home, Is This Anyway to Run an Airline, Talking Vietnam Pot-Luck Blues, Forest Lawn

1941 - Sally Kirkland
actress: Eye of the Stranger, Prime Time Murder, Heat Wave, Anna, Fatal Games, Private Benjamin, A Star is Born, The Way We Were, Cinderella Liberty, Blue

1942 - Dave (Arthur) McNally
baseball: pitcher: Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1969, 1970, 1972/World Series: 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971], Montreal Expos; died Dec 1, 2002

1942 - David Ogden Stiers
actor: The Accidental Tourist, Harry’s War, Oh, God!, M*A*S*H, North and South, Doc; died Mar 3, 2018

1943 - Brian Piccolo
football: Chicago Bears RB; subject of movie: Brian’s Song; died of cancer at age 26 June 16, 1970

1944 - Kinky (Richard) Friedman
singer, bandleader: Texas Jewboys: Let Saigons be Bygones, We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You, They Ain’t Making Jews like Jesus Anymore, Asshole from El Paso

1947 - Frank Shorter
U.S. National Track & Field and Olympic Hall of Famer: gold medalist: marathon [1972], silver medalist [1976]; Sullivan Award [1972]; founded company: designs & manufactures running apparel; TV sports commentator

1947 - Russ Ballard
singer, songwriter: musician: guitar: group: Argent: Hold Your Head Up; Roulettes, Unit 4+2

1947 - Deidre Hall
actress: Our House, Days of Our Lives; more

1948 - Mickey (John Milton) Rivers
baseball: California Angels, NY Yankees [World Series: 1976, 1977, 1978/all-star: 1976/holds individual career record for batting average in league championship series: .386 (1976-78): 22 hits in 57 at-bats in 14 games], Texas Rangers

1949 - Bob Siebenberg
musician: drums: group: Supertramp: The Logical Song, Goodbye Stranger, Breakfast in America, Bloody Well Right, Take the Long Way Home

1950 - John (Franklin) Candy
comedian, actor: Second City, The Blues Brothers, Home Alone, JFK, Little Shop of Horrors, National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1941, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Spaceballs, Splash, Stripes, Uncle Buck, Who’s Harry Crumb?; Emmy Award-winning writer: SCTV Network: The Energy Ball/Sweeps Week [1982-83]; died Mar 4, 1994; more

1950 - Jane Pauley
TV host: Today, Real Life with Jane Pauley; news anchor: NBC Weekend News, Dateline NBC; married to cartoonist, Gary Trudeau

1951 - Nick Saban
football coach: Univ of Toledo [1990], Michigan State Univ [1995-1999], LSU [2000-2004], NFL Miami Dolphins [2005-2006], Univ of Alabama [2007- ]: U.S. champs: 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017

1951 - Dan Spring
hockey: Dallas Black Hawks, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Cranbrook Royals

1952 - Bernard Edwards
musician: bass: group: Chic: Dance, Dance, Dance, Le Freak, Everybody Dance, I Want Your Love, Good Times; died Apr 18, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan: pneumonia: age 43

1952 - Mike Ranger
actor [1974-1992]: X-rated films: Ultra Flesh, The Seduction of Seka, Insatiable, Taxi Girls, Taboo, Same Time Every Year, Sexboat, Lights! Camera! Orgy!

1952 - Joe West
baseball umpire

1953 - Lynda Goodfriend
actress: Who’s Watching the Kids, Happy Days, Blansky’s Beauties

1954 - Ken Wahl
actor: Search for Grace, The Taking of Beverly Hills, The Gladiator, Fort Apache the Bronx, Jinxed!, Race for the Yankee Zephyr, Running Scared, The Wanderers

1955 - Xavier Roberts
toy mogul: created Cabbage Patch Dolls

1956 - Tony Bowers
musician: bass: group: Simply Red: Money’s Too Tight to Mention, Holding Back the Years, The Right Thing

1961 - Peter Jackson
Academy Award-winning director: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [2004]; Heavenly Creatures, Meet the Feebles, Braindead, Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners, King Kong [2005], The Lovely Bones, District 9, The Adventures of Tintin

1961 - Larry Mullen Jr.
Grammy Award-winning musician: drums: LP: The Joshua Tree; group: U2: Another Day, Stories for Boys, I Will Follow, New Year’s Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, With You or Without You

1963 - Mikkey Dee (Michael Delaouglou)
musician: drums: group: Motorhead: Ace of Spades, Bite the Bullet, Doctor Rock, Hell on Earth, Highway to Hell, Sanitarium

1963 - Johnny Marr
musician: guitar: group: The Smiths: Hand in Glove, This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, William, It Was Really Nothing, Reel Around the Fountain, Suffer Little Children

1963 - Fred (Frederick Stanley) McGriff
baseball: Toronto Blue Jays [1989 AL Home Run Champion], San Diego Padres [all-star: 1992], Atlanta Braves [all-star: 1994, 1995, 1996], Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers

1963 - Dermot Mulroney
actor: Longtime Companions, Young Guns, My Best Friend's Wedding

1963 - Rob Schneider
actor: Saturday Night Live, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Beverly Hillbillies, Down Periscope, Men Behaving Badly, The Waterboy, Big Daddy, Muppets From Space

1965 - Blue Edwards
basketball [guard]: East Carolina Univ; NBA: Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics, Vancouver Grizzlies, Miami Heat; more

1965 - Annabella Lwin (Myant Aye)
singer: group: Bow Wow Wow: C30, C60, C90, Go!, Wild in the Country, Louis Quatorze

1966 - Adam Horovitz
musician: guitar; rapper: Beastie Boys; son of playwright Israel Horowitz

1966 - Mike O’Malley
actor: The Good Place, Glee, Yes, Dear, Deep Impact, Pushing Tin

1967 - Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle)
singer: Ice Ice Baby; 1st rap singer to have a #1 song on the Billboard singles chart

1968 - Antonio Davis
basketball [forward, center]: NBA: Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks; president of the NBA Players Association

1969 - Lee Woodall
football [linebacker]: NFL: San Francisco 49ers, Carlina Panthers, Denver Broncos

1970 - Malin Berggren
singer: group: Ace of Base: All That She Wants, The Sign, Don’t Turn Around, Cruel Summer, Beautiful Life, Lucky Love

1970 - Steve Trachsel
baseball [pitcher]: Long Beach State Univ; Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets

1975 - Johnny Whitworth
actor: Factory Girl, Kiss the Bride, The Anarchist Cookbook, Valentine, Me and Will, Hell’s Kitchen, The Rainmaker

1976 - Piper Perabo
actress: Notorious, Covert Affairs, Looper, Coyote Ugly, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Lost and Delirious, Cheaper by the Dozen [2003, 2005], The I Inside, Perfect Opposites, George and the Dragon, The Cave, Imagine Me & You, Edison, The Prestige, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, House

1977 - Séverine Ferrer
actress: Les Secrets du volcan, Ca reste entre nous, Un arbre dans la tete, Beaumarchais, l’insolent, L’Annamite; singer: La coco-dance

1980 - Samaire Armstrong
actress: Dirty Sexy Money, Stay Alive, The O.C., It’s a Boy Girl Thing, The Staircase Murders, Around June, The Last Harbor, The Mentalist

1980 - Eddie Kaye Thomas
actor: Scorpion, American Pie series, On the Road With Judas, Kettle of Fish, Venus and Vegas, Dirty Love, Weekends, Taboo, Freddy Got Fingered

1981 - Mike Napoli
baseball [catcher]: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim [2006–2010]; Texas Rangers [2011–2012]; Boston Red Sox [2013–2015]: 2013 World Series champs; Cleveland Indians [2016]; Texas Rangers [2017]

1982 - Justin Chatwin
actor: Shameless, War of the Worlds, Traffic, Taking Lives, The Chumscrubber, Smallville, Lost, Evolution, Funkytown

1992 - Vanessa Marano
actress: Without a Trace, Gilmore Girls, Ghost Whisperer, Scoundrels, The Young and the Restless, Marry Me, Boys Are Stupid, Girls Are Mean, Switched at Birth

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

Jump to Top Hit Music on This Day    October 31

1950Goodnight Irene (facts) - The Weavers
All My Love (facts) - Patti Page
Harbor Lights (facts) - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Tony Alamo)
I’m Moving On (facts) - Hank Snow

1959Mack the Knife (facts) - Bobby Darin
Mr. Blue (facts) - The Fleetwoods
Don’t You Know (facts) - Della Reese
The Three Bells (facts) - The Browns

1968Hey Jude (facts) - The Beatles
Little Green Apples (facts) - O.C. Smith
Those Were the Days (facts) - Mary Hopkin
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (facts) - Eddy Arnold

1977You Light Up My Life (facts) - Debby Boone
Nobody Does It Better (facts) - Carly Simon
That’s Rock ’N’ Roll (facts) - Shaun Cassidy
Heaven’s Just a Sin Away (facts) - The Kendalls

1986True Colors (facts) - Cyndi Lauper
Typical Male (facts) - Tina Turner
I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On (facts) - Robert Palmer
Cry (facts) - Crystal Gayle

1995Fantasy (facts) - Mariah Carey
Gangsta’s Paradise (facts) - Coolio featuring L.V.
Runaway (facts) - Janet Jackson
Dust on the Bottle (facts) - David Lee Murphy

2004Lose My Breath (facts) - Destiny’s Child
Breakaway (facts) - Kelly Clarkson
Just Lose It (facts) - Eminem
I Hate Everything (facts) - George Strait

2013Royals (facts) - Lorde
Wrecking Ball (facts) - Miley Cyrus
Roar (facts) - Katy Perry
That’s My Kind of Night (facts) - Luke Bryan

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


Those Were the Days, the Today in History feature
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