On This Day January 7

1991
Pete Rose: The baseball legend is released from prison after serving a five-month term for income tax evasion.

1973
Hitler: The German dictator's car is auctioned for $153,000. It was a 1940 Mercedes 770-K equipped with bullet proof glass and armor plates.

1929
Buck Rogers: The cartoon character crawls out of a mine on the outskirts of Pittsburgh and into the 25th century.

1927
The Harlem Globetrotters: The famed basketball team plays their first road game.

1926
First public demonstration of true television: By inventor John L. Baird in London.

1914
First successful navigation of the Panama Canal: It was made by a crane boat.

1830
First U.S. passenger railroad: The Baltimore & Ohio in Maryland begins taking passengers. Tickets were 9¢ for a ride from Pratt Street to the Carrollton Viaduct.

1785
First manned balloon flight across the English Channel: Jean Pierre Blanchard and Dr. John Jeffries.

1714
The typewriter is patented, by English engineer Henry Mill, although he never built one.

1610
Jupiter: Galileo discovers three of planet's moons. He discovered a 4th moon six days later.

1964
Nicolas Cage (Nicholas Coppola), American actor. Film: Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990).

1959
Kathy Valentine, American guitarist, with the Go-Go's. Music: We Got the Beat (1981) and Vacation (1982).

1952
Erin Gray, American actress. TV: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Col. Deering) and Silver Spoons (Kate).

1948
Kenny Loggins, American singer, songwriter. Music: I'm Alright (theme from Caddyshack 1980) and What a Fool Believes (1979, #1, co-writer).

1929
Terry Moore (Helen Koford), American actress. Film: Come Back Little Sheba (1952).

1928
William Peter Blatty, American Oscar-winning screenwriter. Film: The Exorcist (1973), which he finished using the $10,000 he won on You Bet Your Life.

1922 d. 1992
Vincent Gardenia (Vincent Scognamiglio), Italian Tony-Emmy-winning actor. TV: All in the Family (Frank Lorenzo).

1910 d. 1994
Orval Eugene Faubus, American politician, Governor of Arkansas (1955-67). In September of 1957 he ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine blacks from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock.

1903 d. 1988
Alan Napier (Alan Napier-Clavering), British actor. TV: Batman (Alfred the butler).

1873 d. 1976
Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-born U.S. film executive, founder of Paramount Pictures. He distributed the first feature-length film shown in the U.S. (1912, Queen Elizabeth), which was made in France and starred Sarah Bernhardt.

1827 d. 1915
Sir Sandford Fleming, Canadian railroad engineer. He was responsible for establishing time zones (1878). He also designed the first Canadian postage stamp (1851).

1800 d. 1874
Millard Fillmore, 13th U.S. President (1850-53) and 12th U.S. Vice-President (1849-50). He was responsible for the first bathtub in the White House.

1745 d. 1799
Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor. He and his brother invented the hot-air balloon (1782).

1502 d. 1585
Gregory XIII (Ugo Buoncompagni), Italian religious leader, 226th Pope (1572-85). He congratulated King Gregory IX after he ordered the killing of thousands of Huguenots throughout France (1572). He also instituted the Gregorian calendar (1582).

1989 b. 1901
Michinomiya Hirohito, 124th Japanese emperor (1926-89). His reign was designated "Showa" (Enlightened Peace). He was the first Japanese emperor to travel abroad (1971).

1988 b. 1916
Trevor Howard, English Emmy-winning actor. Film: Brief Encounter (1945) and Sons and Lovers (1960). TV: The Invincible Mr. Disraeli (1963, Emmy).

1943 b. 1856
Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor, considered America's greatest electrical engineer, credited with inventing radio, and for whom the tesla (unit of magnetic flux density) is named. He invented the first AC induction motor (1883). Noted for making incredible claims, Tesla claimed that he invented a death ray that could send concentrated beams of particles through air with the capability of bringing down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles. Biography: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius

1919 b. 1837
Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, American giant, 7' 4" tall. He and his wife, Anna Swan at 7' 5½", were billed as the "The Giants of Seville."

1655 b. 1574
Innocent X, Italian religious leader, 236th Pope (1644-55). He formally condemned Jansenism (1653).

1536 b. 1485
Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England, Henry VIII's first wife. After the Pope refused to allow to sanction the King's divorce from her, the King established the Church of England and declared himself the religious ruler for his land.

January 7

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Birthdays

Deaths