>>Today In History On this day: In 1743, Handels Messiah premiered in London. In 1775, Patrick Henry made his famous Give me liberty, or give me death speech to the Virginia Provincial Convention. In 1794, Josiah Pierson patented the rivet machine. In 1840, the term O-K was used in print for the first time in the New York publication, The New Era. The Greeks say the term comes from the phrase ols kala, which means everything is good or alright. In 1858, Eleazer Gardner of Philadelphia patented the cable street car. In 1912, the Dixie Cup was invented. In 1929, the first telephone was installed in the White House. In 1940, Truth or Consequences was first heard on radio. It later became the most popular radio quiz show. In 1950, Beat The Clock premiered on CBS Television. In 1965, astronaut John Young became the first man to eat a corned beef sandwich in space. He smuggled the sandwich on board. In 1973, the game show Concentration left the air after 15 years on NBC Television. The show was hosted by Hugh Downs, who later went on to host ABCs 20/20 program. In 1981, officials at CBS decided to reduce Captain Kangaroo to a 30-minute show. The move was aimed at dedicating more time to morning news programming. In 1983, Dr. Barney Clark died at the age of 62. He was the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. He lived 112 days with the manmade heart. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan first proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative. This technology to intercept enemy missiles became known as Star Wars. In 1985, singer Billy Joel married supermodel Christie Brinkley. They divorced in 1994. In 1985, We Are The World debuted on the charts at number 21. In 1990, the movie Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere opened in theaters across the U.S. In 1994, Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd goal to move past Gordie Howe into the top spot on the NHL all-time goal scoring list. In 1998, the blockbuster film Titanic won eleven Academy Awards, tying the record set by Ben Hur in 1959. In 2002, following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to oust the oppressive Taliban regime, girls in Afghanistan celebrated their return to school for the first time in years. In 2003, Iraqi state-run media showed interview footage of American prisoners. Broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network, the footage also showed vivid pictures of dead U.S. soldiers. President Bush urged Iraq to treat captured coalition soldiers in accordance with rules established by the Geneva Convention. In 2003, the movie musical Chicago was a big winner at the 75th Annual Academy Awards. Chicago won six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones. Other winners included Best Actress Nicole Kidman who won for her work in the movie The Hours; actor Adrian Brody was named Best Actor for his role in the critically-acclaimed drama The Pianist; Brodys Pianist director Roman Polanski was named Best Director; and rapper Eminem won the Oscar for Best Song. In 2004, a day after the assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Khaled Meshall, the chief of the groups politburo, was named to replace Yassin as the overall leader of the Palestinian militant group. In 2004, an independent commission investigating the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States opened a hearing in Washington DC featuring testimony from key figures from the White House administrations under President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton. In 2007, Rachel Smith of Tennessee was crowned Miss USA 2007 at the Miss USA Pageant at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The 21-year-old was selected from a field of 51 contestants. Smiths win ended the reign of embattled Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner who became the subject of scandal after reports about her hard-partying ways came to light. In 2008, tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered under a downpour at St. Peters Square at the Vatican to hear Pope Benedicts Easter message. The pop called for an end to hatred and injustice in Iraq, Tibet and the Darfur region of Sudan. He then wished the world Happy Easter in more than 60 languages. In 2009, CBS Late Show talk show host David Letterman announced during his show that he and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko had tied the knot a few days earlier on March 19th, 2009 at a courthouse near their Montana ranch. Letterman and Lasko began dating in 1986 and welcomed a son they named Harry in 2003. The talk show host was previously married to Michelle Cook from 1969 to 1977. In 2011, Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor died on this date after a battle with congestive heart failure. She was 79. The legendary actress was as much known for eight marriages as she was for her film career that dated back to her days as a child star. Taylor was also known for her philanthropy, particularly for her work with raising awareness for HIV and AIDS. In 2012, the movie The Hunger Games opened to much anticipation and fanfare on this date. Based on the first book of Suzanne Collins future-set trilogy of the same name, the film generated 152-point-five-million dollars in ticket sales during its opening weekend to become the third highest grossing film debut.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:20:39 +0000
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