DYR Today, January 1

“Born Today”

Hank Williams (Born: September 17, 1923 / Died: January 1, 1953)
Maurice Chevalier (Born: September 12, 1888 / Died: January 1, 1972)
Grace Hopper (Born: December 9, 1906 / Died: January 1, 1992)
Cesar Romero (Born: February 15, 1907 / Died: January 1, 1994)
Townes Van Zandt (Born: March 7, 1944 / Died: January 1, 1997)
Helen Wills Moody (Born: October 6, 1905 / Died: January 1, 1998)
Ray Walston (Born: November 2, 1914 / Died: January 1, 2001)
Shirley Chisholm (Born: November 30, 1924 /Died: January 1, 2005)

1956 – Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock’ went to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time. The single is often cited as the biggest-selling vinyl rock and roll single of all time with sales over 25m.
1959 – Johnny Cash played a free concert for the inmates of San Quentin Prison, California.
1964 – The Beach Boys recorded “Fun Fun Fun” at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, California.

1966 – Simon and Garfunkel started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Sounds Of Silence’, a No.13 hit in the UK.
1968 – Billboard magazine reported that for the first time albums had outsold singles in the US with album sales reaching over 192 million units.
1969 – Marmalade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles song ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’, which features on The White Album.
1972 – Three Dog Night started the New Year with the new Adult #1–“An Old Fashioned Love Song”.
1977 – Wings flew over the U.K. chart with “Mull Of Kintyre”, a song that would go on to be #1 for nine weeks
1982 – ABBA made their final live appearance as a group when they played in Stockholm, Sweden.
1989 – Nirvana signed a one-year recording contract with Sub Pop records.
1994 – One of Mariah Carey’s last great songs, “Hero” was #1

1930 – “The Cuckoo Hour” was heard for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network, which later became ABC Radio.
1957 – BBC Television aired its new rock & roll show ‘Cool For Cats’ for the first time.
1964 – The first edition of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops was transmitted from an old church hall in Manchester, England.
1971 – Tobacco ads representing $20 million dollars in advertising were banned from TV and radio broadcast.
1985 – Although they have since strayed far, far, far away, VH-1 premiered as an adult contemporary video channel.
1992 – The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched.

1622 – The Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th). .
1840 – The first recorded bowling match was recorded in the U.S.
1863 – U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free.
1934 – Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

1934 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) began operation.
1939 – The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.
1942 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the “United Nations.”
1959 – Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba.
1968 – Evel Knievel, stunt performing daredevil, lost control of his motorcycle midway through a jump of 141 feet over the ornamental fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
1975 – The magazine “Popular Electronics” announced the invention of a person computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer.
1984 – AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Federal government.
1990 – David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
1993 – Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992.
1994 – Bill Gates, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft and Melinda French were married.

1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.
1995 – The World Trade Organization came into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade.