Jody Victor : Here's some interesting happenings from history on this day, April 27th.

1805 - The worst steamship disaster in the history of the United States occurred on this day. The Sultana, carrying approximately 2,300 passengers, the majority being freed Union POWs, exploded while en route to Cairo, IL. Neither the cause of the explosion nor the final count of the dead (estimated at between 450 and 2,000) was ever determined. Today, the Sultana disaster remains the worst of its kind.

1880 - Francis Clarke and M.G. Foster patented the electrical hearing aid.

1899 -The Western Golf Association was founded - in Chicago, IL.

1938 - Geraldine Apponyi was the first American woman to become a Queen. She married King Zog of Albania.

1938 - Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded I Hadn't Anyone 'til You for Victor Records. Jack Leonard was featured as vocalist.

1947 - Organized baseball celebrated Babe Ruth Day. Major-League parks throughout the U.S. and Japan participated. A crowd of 60,000 fans honored their hero in ceremonies at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Ruth, who was dying of throat cancer, managed to put in an appearance to thank his former club.

1947 - The first broadcast of Studio One on CBS radio was broadcast. The show was full of great stars, but no sponsors. CBS dropped Studio One after a year on radio. The show, however, began a nine-year run on CBS-TV...with sponsors.

1956 - Rocky Marciano relinquished his crown as heavyweight boxing champ when he retired from boxing this day.

1959 - Lloyd Price's song, Personality, was released. Price had 10 songs that made it on the nation's pop music charts in the 1950s through early 1960s.

1960 - The submarine, Tullibee, was launched from Groton, CT. It was the first sub to be equipped with closed-circuit television.

1968 - Muhammad Ali's successor was finally decided after an eight-month runoff. Jimmy Ellis defeated Jerry Quarry of Atascadero, CA for the World Boxing Association's heavyweight title.

1973 - Steve Busby of Kansas City lead the Royals to a 3-0, no-hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers.

1976 - Maxine Nightingale received a gold record for the single, Right Back Where We Started From. Nightingale was in the productions of Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and Savages in the early '70s. Right Back Where We Started From was a number two hit for two weeks in 1976.

1981 - Former Beatle Ringo Starr married Barbara Bach at the Marylebone Registry Office in London. Paul McCartney and wife Linda, George Harrison and Harry Nilsson were in attendance.

1983 - Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros broke Walter Johnson's strikeout record. He struck out the 3,509th batter of his career. The Astros won 4-2 over Montreal. Johnson's record had been in the books for 55 years before being eclipsed by 'The Ryan Express'.

Jody Victor

 

Jody Victor : Here's what happened and who was born this day, April 20th, in history.

1792 France declared war on Austia, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.

1812 Vice President George Clinton, a former New York governor, died at age 72.

1836 The Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.

1867 Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the purchase of Alaska by the United States.

1889 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.

1902 Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.

1939 Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.

1940 RCA publicly demonstrated its new electron microscope.

1945 Allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart during World War II.

1968 Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.

1971 The United States Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.

1972 The manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.

1980 The first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.

1999 Two students went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives.

2005 President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy.

2008 Danica Patrick became the first female winner in Indy Car history, capturing the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career start.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Who was born and what happened on this day in history?

1598 The edict of Nantes grants political rights to French Huguenots.

1775 Lord North extends the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act forbids trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland.

1861 After 34 hours of bombardment, Union-held Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates.

1865 Union forces under Gen. Sherman begin their devastating march through Georgia.

1902 J.C. Penny opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

1919 British forces kill hundreds of Indian nationalists in the Amritsar Massacre.

1933 The first flight over Mount Everest is completed by Lord Clydesdale.

1941 German troops capture Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial.

1945 Vienna falls to Soviet troops.

1960 The first navigational satellite is launched into Earth's orbit.

1961 The U.N. General Assembly condemns South Africa because of apartheid.

1964 Sidney Poitier becomes the first black to win an Oscar for best actor.

1970 An oxygen tank explodes on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing and jeopardizing the lives of the three-man crew.

1976 The U.S. Federal Reserve begins issuing $2 bicentennial notes.

1979 The world's longest doubles ping-pong match ends after 101 hours.

Born on April 13

1721 John Hanson, first U.S. President under the Articles of Confederation.

1732 Frederick Lord North, British prime minister (1770-82).

1743 Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States (1801-09).

1852 Frank W. Woolworth, American retailer.

1866 Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker), American outlaw and leader of the Wild Bunch.

1899 Alfred Butts, inventor of the board game Scrabble.

1906 Samuel Beckett, playwright, Nobel Prize winner (Waiting for Godot).

1909 Eudora Welty, Southern writer (Delta Wedding, The Optimist's Daughter).

1922 John Gerard Braine, British novelist (Room at the Top).

1939 Seamus Heaney, Irish poet, Nobel laureate.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor®: What happened today in the past? Some interesting dates from history:

1199 - English King Richard I is killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.

1789 - The First U.S. Congress begins regular sessions at Federal Hall in New York City.

1814 - Granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He is allowed to keep the title of emperor.

1862 - Confederate forces attack General Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh, Tennessee.

1865 - At the Battle of Sailer's Creek, a third of Lee's army is cut off by Union troops pursuing him to Appomattox.

1896 - The Modern Olympics begin in Athens with eight nations participating.

1909 - Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first men to reach the North Pole.

1917 - The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I on Allied side.

1924 - Four planes leave Seattle on the first successful flight around the world.

1938 - The United States recognizes Nazi Germany's conquest of Austria.

1941 - German forces invade Greece and Yugoslavia.

1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes the use of ground troops in combat operations.

Birthdays :

1483 - Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), Dutch painter (Sistine Madonna).

1786 - Sacagawea (also Sacajawea), American explorer.

1905 - W Warrick Cardozo, physician, researcher of Sickle Cell anemia.

1927 - Gerry Mulligan, jazz saxophonist.

1928 - James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

1929 - Andre Previn, pianist and conductor.

1937 - Merle Haggard, American country musician.

Jody Victor®