Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 30

1973
Watergate: G. Gordan Liddy and James McCord are convicted of breaking into and wiretapping the Democratic Party headquarters.

1973
KISS: The glitter-rock group gives their first public performance - at New York's Coventry Club.

1969
The Beatles: The Fab Four give their last public performance - atop the roof of their Apple headquarters in London. The gig ended when an accountant from the nearby Royal Bank of Scotland called the police to stop the noise.

1968
Vietnam War - Tet Offensive: North Vietnamese troops attack Saigon.

1964
First U.S. spacecraft to strike the moon: Ranger 6 is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, striking the moon on February 2. Unfortunately, its camera equipment failed to operate.

1957
Ronald Reagan: The future president guest hosts This Is Your Life.

1933
The Lone Ranger: First radio broadcast of the famous program.

1862
First Union ironclad warship: The Monitor is launched in New York. It sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina the following December.

1835
First assassination attempt on a U.S. president: Richard Lawrence tries to shoot Pres. Andrew Jackson, but his gun misfires. He was found to be insane.

1798
First brawl on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives: During an argument, Matthew Lyon (Vermont) spits in the face of Roger Griswold (Connecticut). The resulting resolution to expel Lyon failed.

1988
Monica Berg, famous birth. Her twin sister, Diana, was delivered December 23, 1987 - the longest recorded time between births of twins.

1968
Philip de Borbon, Spanish prince, heir to the throne.

1941
Dick Cheney (Richard Bruce Cheney), 46th U.S. Vice-President (2001-).

1937
Vanessa Redgrave, British Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Julia (1977, Oscar).

1934
Tammy Grimes, American Tony-winning actress. Stage: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960, Tony) and Private Lives (1970, Tony).

1931     d. 1987
Stewart B. McKinney, American politician. He was the first U.S. congressman to die from AIDS.

1930     d. 1992
Sandy Amoros (Edmundo Isasi Amoros), Cuban-born baseball player. He made one of the greatest catches of World Series history (1955).

1930
Gene Hackman, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The French Connection (1971, Oscar), Superman (1978), and Unforgiven (1992, Oscar).

1928
Ruth Brown, American jazz singer. She was Atlantic Records' best-selling artist for the 1950s. Music: Teardrops From My Eyes (1950, #1) and (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean (1953, #1).

1928
Harold Prince, American Tony-winning director, producer. Stage: West Side Story (1957), Fiddler On the Roof (1964, Tony), Cabaret (1966, Tony), Evita (1978, Tony), and The Phantom of the Opera.

1925
Dorothy Malone (Dorothy Maloney), American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Written in the Wind (1956, Oscar). TV: Peyton Place (Constance MacKenzie Carson).

1922
Dick Martin, American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (Emmy).

1914
John Ireland, Canadian-born actor. Film: My Darling Clementine (1946) and All the King's Men (1949).

1914
David Wayne (David McMeekan), American actor. TV: Dallas (Digger Barnes).

1894     d. 1943
Boris III, King of Bulgaria (1918-43). In 1935 he established a virtual dictatorship.

1882     d. 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President (1933-45). He died in office, making Vice-Pres. Harry S. Truman president.

1866     d. 1951
Frank Gelett Burgess, American author, humorist, illustrator. He wrote the famous quatrain: "I never Saw a Purple Cow, I never hope to see one; But I can tell you, anyhow, I rather see than be one." He also coined the word "blurb," to describe to the material on book jacket that praises the book.

2006     b. 1927
Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1994     b. 1912
Pierre François Boulle, French author. Writings: Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Planet of the Apes (1963).

1993     b. 1904
Taikichiro Mori, Japanese businessman, world's richest man at the time of his death. His wealth was estimated at $13 billion.

1993     b. 1946
Andre the Giant (Andre Rene Roussimoff), French 7-foot-4 520-pound wrestler. He portrayed Fessick the gentle giant in the 1989 movie The Princess Bride.

1991     b. 1908
John Bardeen, American Nobel-winning physicist, co-inventor of the transistor.

1989     b. 1910
Pegeen Fitzgerald, American radio personality. She and her husband Ed hosted their radio program for 42 years.

1958     b. 1888
Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer/manufacturer. He designed the first rocket airplane powered solely by liquid fuel.

1948     b. 1871
Orville Wright, American aviator. He and his brother Wilbur are credited with building and flying the first manned heavier-than-air flying machine (1903).

1948     b. 1869
Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand), Indian political, spiritual, and civil rights leader. He gained world honor for his advocacy of nonviolence.

1934     b. 1862
Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher.

1888     b. 1812
Edward Lear, English artist, author. Writings: Book of Nonsense (1846), which was responsible for popularizing limericks.

1838     b. 1804
Osceola, Seminole war-leader. Opposed to the removal of Seminoles from Florida, he was a principal leader of the Second Seminole War (1835-42). He died while imprisoned in South Carolina.

1836     b. 1752
Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom Ross), American flag maker. She is credited with creating the first stars-and-stripes flag for the U.S.

1730     b. 1715
Peter II, Czar of Russia (1727-30), grandson of Peter the Great. He died on of small pox on his intended wedding day.

1649     b. 1600
Charles I, King of England (1625-49). He was convicted of treason by Parliament and beheaded.

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com