Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

August 16

1985
Madonna marries Sean Penn.

1984
Auto manufacturer John DeLorean is acquitted of charges of possession of 59 pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute.

1962
The Beatles: Drummer Pete Best is dropped from the group. He would be replaced by Ringo Starr.

1954
First issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.

1920
First major-league baseball player mortally wounded during a game, Ray Chapman (short stop, Cleveland Indians) is hit by a pitch and dies the next day.

1861
Civil War: Pres. Lincoln declares the inhabitants of 11 southern states in insurrection.

1858
First transatlantic telegraph message: Pres. Buchanan to Queen Victoria of England - "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men."

1812
General Hull surrenders Detroit to the British without firing a shot, during the War of 1812.

1619
Slavery: First slaves arrive in Virginia.

1960
Timothy Hutton, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: Ordinary People (1980, Oscar) and The Falcon and the Snowman (1985).

1958
Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone), American pop singer. Music: Like a Virgin (1984, #1).

1946
Lesley Ann Warren, American actress. TV: Mission: Impossible (Dana Lambert).

1935
Julie Newmar (Julie Newmeyer), American actress, one of the Catwomen on the TV series Batman.

1932
Eydie Gorme (Edith Gormezano), American Grammy-Emmy-winning singer, wife of partner Steve Lawrence.

1930
Robert Culp, American actor. TV: I Spy (Tennis playing spy Kelly Robinson).

1930
Frank Gifford, American football player, announcer for Monday Night Football.

1925
Fess Parker, American actor. TV: Disneyland (Davy Crockett) and Daniel Boone (title role).

1920     d. 1994
Charles Bukowski, German-born American poet, novelist, "Bard of Beer and Broads." His heavy drinking and hard living provided the setting for the film Barfly (1987). Writings: Flowers, Fist and Bestial Wall (1959) and Ham on Rye (1982).

1894     d. 1980
George Meany, American labor official. He was unanimously elected first president of the AFL-CIO (1955-79).

1892     d. 1982
Hal Foster (Harold Rudolf Foster), cartoonist, creator of Prince Valiant and artist for Tarzan.

1884     d. 1967
Hugo Gernsback, American publisher, pioneer science fiction author. He founded Modern Electronics (1908, the first radio magazine) and Amazing Stories (1926).

1845     d. 1921
Gabriel Lippmann, French Nobel-winning physicist. He received the Nobel Prize (1908) for producing the first color photographic plates.

1995     b. 1905
Oveta Culp Hobby, American government official. She was the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps, and the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. She was the first woman in the Army to receive the Distinguished Service Medal.

1993     b. 1913
Stewart Granger (James Leblanche Stewart), British-born American actor. Film: King Solomon's Mines (1950), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), and The Last Safari (1967).

1989     b. 1929
Amanda Blake (Beverly Louise Neill), American actress. TV: Gunsmoke (Miss Kitty Russell).

1977     b. 1935
Elvis Presley, American singer, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll." He sold more than a billion records.

1973     b. 1888
Selman Abraham Waksman, Ukrainian-born American Nobel-winning microbiologist. While a professor at Rutgers University, he and student Albert Schatz discovered streptomycin, the first antibiotic to successfully treat tuberculosis (1944). He also coined the term "antibiotic," which means "against life."

1963     b. 1890
R.B. Fuller (Ralph Briggs Fuller), cartoonist, created Oakey Doakes (1935).

1956     b. 1882
Bela Lugosi (Bela Lugosi Blasko), Hungarian-born American horror actor. Film: Dracula (1931). He was buried with his Dracula cape.

1949     b. 1900
Margaret Mitchell, American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: Gone With The Wind (1937, Pulitzer).

1948     b. 1895
Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth), American baseball legend, called "The Sultan of Swat," he hit 714 home runs. Pitched 29 2/3 scoreless innings in the 1918 World Series, a record that stood until 1961.

1921     b. 1844
Peter I, King of Serbia (1903-21).

1899     b. 1811
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist. He invented the Bunsen burner and discovered the elements caesium and rubidium.

1893     b. 1825
Jean-Martin Charcot, French physician. He and Guillaume Duchenne founded modern neurology. As one of his pupils, Sigmund Freud's interest in the psychological aspects of neurosis was initiated by his use of hypnosis.

1888     b. 1831
John Styth Pemberton, American pharmacist. He created Coca-Cola (1886), calling it "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage."

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com