Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

April 7

1989
A Soviet nuclear powered submarine carrying nuclear torpedoes catches fire and sinks about 150 miles north of Norway. Forty-two crew members were killed.

1980
Iranian Hostage Crisis: The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes an embargo on exports to Iran in retaliation for the 63 Americans hostages taken from the U.S. Embassy in Teheran the previous November.

1959
Game-show contestant hospitalized: A contestant is burned after a stunt backfires on the TV show County Fair, hosted by Bert Parks.

1947
First Tony Awards: Best Actress went to Ingrid Bergman and Helen Hayes, and Best Actor to José Ferrer and Fredric March.

1927
First U.S. demonstration of television. Bell Laboratories broadcasts a picture from Washington D.C. to New York.

1838
Telegraph: Samuel F.B. Morse files telegraph patent.

1827
First matches go on sale, invented by English chemist John Walker.

1951
Janis Ian (Janis Fink), American Grammy-winning singer. Music: Society's Child (1967) and At Seventeen (1975, Grammy).

1948
John Oats, singer.

1943
Mick Abrahams, British guitarist, with Jethro Tull. Music: Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972).

1939
Francis Ford Coppola, American director. Film: The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

1939
David Frost, English author, TV personality.

1933
Wayne Rogers, American actor. TV: M*A*S*H (Trapper John).

1928
James Garner (James Baumgarner), American actor. TV: Maverick (Bret Maverick) and The Rockford Files (Jimbo).

1918
Ronald Howard, English actor. TV: Sherlock Holmes (title role).

1915     d. 1959
Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan McKay), American blues singer, performed with Benny Goodman and Count Basie.

1905     d. 1981
Mickey Goldmill, character in the Rocky movies (Rocky Balboa's manager, as played by Burgess Meredith).

1897     d. 1972
Walter Winchell, American journalist. He coined the phrase "America, Love it or leave it" (1940), and narrated the TV series The Untouchables.

1860     d. 1951
Will Keith Kellogg, American breakfast-cereal manufacturer, philanthropist, founded the W.K. Kellogg Company (1906) to sell toasted corn flakes.

1847
Bret Maverick, character on the TV series Maverick, played by James Garner.

1786     d. 1853
William Rufus King, 13th U.S. Vice-President (1853), took oath of office in Cuba.

1652     d. 1740
Clement XII, Italian religious leader, 246th Pope (1730-40). Condemned the Freemasons (1738).

2002     b. 1921
John Agar, American actor, first husband of Shirley Temple. Film: Sands of Iwo Jima, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  B Movies: The Mole People and The Brain from Planet Arous.

1947     b. 1863
Henry Ford, American auto maker. He introduced the assembly line and the $5-a-day wage to automobile production.

1891     b. 1810
Phineas Taylor Barnum, "The Great American Showman," of Barnum and Bailey's Circus.

1498     b. 1470
Charles VIII, King of France (1483-98).

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