Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

May 13

1992
While on a walk across America to prove that people are basically good, Fred Turner is robbed and pushed off a bridge. He says he'll try again someday.

1992
Joey Buttafuoco: Joey's 17-year-old girlfriend, Amy Fisher (aka The Long Island Lolita), shoots his wife at their home.

1989
Noriega: Pres. Bush calls on the people of Panama to overthrow Gen. Manuel Noriega.

1985
Police burn down a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing 11 people and destroying more than 60 homes, as a result of bombing the heavily-armed home of the radical group "MOVE" in an attempt to end a two-day siege.

1983
Dick Cavett drops his pants to show his running shorts on The Tonight Show. Johnny Carson replies "You do things like this; no wonder your show is going off PBS."

1982
First major U.S. airline to go bankrupt, Braniff International, the nations eighth-largest.

1981
Pope John Paul II is shot, in St. Peter's Square, Rome by escaped Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca.

1943
World War II: German and Italian troops in North Africa surrender ending their effort to gain an African empire.

1940
Churchill: The English statesman declares to the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer but blood and toil and tears and sweat."

1933
Tennessee Valley Authority is established, for the development of economic growth of the Tennessee Valley region.

1925
Daily reading of the Bible becomes mandatory in Florida public schools. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1918
First U.S. airmail stamps: A 24¢ denomination picturing an airplane is issued.

1861
Civil War: England declares its neutrality. The South had been hoping for her to join as their ally. (Source: The Civil War Day by Day)

1846
Mexican War: The U.S. declares war on Mexico. After Mexico had refused to sell California the previous January, Pres. Polk ordered Gen. Zachary Taylor to enter Mexico and provoke them into war.

1607
First permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown, Va., is founded, by Captain John Smith.

1956
Manuel Padilla, Jr., American actor. TV: Tarzan (1966, Jai) and The Flying Nun (1967, Marcello).

1950
Stevie Wonder (Steveland Morris), American singer. Music: Superstition (1972, #1), Ebony and Ivory (1982, #1), and I Just Called To Say I Love You (1984, #1 and Oscar winner).

1943
Mary Wells, American soul singer. Music: The One Who Really Loves You (1962) and My Guy (1964, #1).

1941     d. 1959
Ritchie Valens (Richard Valenzuela), American singer. Music: Donna (1958, #2) and La Bamba (1959). He died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly.

1931     d. 1978
Jim Jones, American cult leader. When practices at his Guyana commune were about to be exposed (1978) he ordered the killing of California Rep. Leo Ryan, and then ordered his 900 followers to commit suicide.

1927
Herbert Ross, American director, choreographer. Film: Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), Play It Again, Sam (1972), and Steel Magnolias (1989).

1926
Beatrice Arthur (Bernice Frankel), American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Maude (Maude Findlay) and The Golden Girls (Dorothy).

1914     d. 1981
Joe Louis (Joseph Louis Barrow), American boxer, "The Brown Bomber," heavyweight champion (1937-49).

1882     d. 1963
Georges Braque, French painter, in 1907 he and Picasso founded the cubist movement and in 1962 he became the first living artist to exhibit in the Louvre.

1850     d. 1925
Oliver Heaviside, English physicist, made long-distance telephone operation practical, predicted the increase in mass of an electric charge moving at high velocity, and predicted the existence of the ionosphere.

1842     d. 1900
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, English composer, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

1792     d. 1878
Pius IX, Italian religious leader, 255th Pope (1846-78). Proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary as dogma (1854), and the infallibility of the Pope (1870).

1767     d. 1826
John VI, King of Portugal (1816-26).

1655     d. 1724
Innocent XIII, Italian religious leader, 244th Pope (1721-24).

1972     b. 1932
Dan Blocker, American actor. TV: Bonanza (Hoss Cartwright).

1962     b. 1895
Dick Calkins (Richard W. Calkins), American cartoonist, original artist for Buck Rogers (1929-47), the first science fiction comic strip.

1961     b. 1901
Gary Cooper (Frank James Cooper), American actor. Film: Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952). He originally moved to California to become a political cartoonist.

1884     b. 1809
Cyrus Hall McCormick, American inventor. He invented the modern style reaper (1831), which was largely responsible for the U.S. agricultural revolution. His company became International Harvester in 1902.

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