On This Day October 4

2004
SpaceShipOne wins the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft to make two space flights in less than 14 days.

1976
First woman anchor of a network TV news program: Barbara Walters anchors her first ABC Evening News.

1976
Death penalty: The U.S. Supreme Court reinstates the death penalty after overturning its 1972 ban.

1972
First reporter jailed for not revealing his source: Peter Bridge is jailed for 21 days for refusing to reveal his source for a political corruption story printed in the Newark Evening News. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June denied reporters the right to protect confidential sources.

1959
First pictures of the far side of the Moon: The Soviet Lunik 3 is launched, taking its pictures three days later.

1957
Beginning of the Space Age: The Soviets launch the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1.

1949
The Life of Riley debuts on NBC, starring Jackie Gleason. It was not a success, and was reborn in 1953 starring William Bendix as Chester A. Riley.

1931
First nonstop transpacific flight: Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn depart from Japan arriving in Washington the following day.

1931
Dick Tracy comic strip, by Chester Gould, debuts in the Detroit Daily Mirror.

1927
Mt. Rushmore: Carving on the memorial begins. It was completed in 1941.

1582
Start of the Gregorian Calendar: Pope Gregory XIII decrees that the following day to be Friday, October 15. England and its colonies, including America, didn't convert until 1752.

1946
Susan Sarandon (Susan Tomaling), American actress. Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Janet Weiss), Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Bull Durham (1988).

1944
Patti LaBelle (Patricia Holt), American singer, Lady Marmalade (#1, 1975). Her's was the first black band to perform at New York's Metropolitan Opera House (1974).

1929 d. 1968
Scotty Beckett, American actor, one of the Little Rascals. He appeared in 15 Our Gang films. TV: Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (Winky).

1923
Charlton Heston (Charles Carter), American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Ten Commandments (1956, Moses), Ben-Hur (1959, title role, Oscar), and Planet of the Apes (1968).

1895 d. 1966
Buster Keaton (Joseph Keaton), American silent film actor. Film: The Navigator (1924) and The General (1927).

1884 d. 1946
Damon Runyon, American author, columnist. Writings: Guys and Dolls (1932). The stage version of Guys and Dolls featured characters from his various stories.

1877 d. 1923
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary. He raided Texas and New Mexico, and led revolutions against Mexico.

1858 d. 1935
Michael Pupin, Hungarian-born American physicist. He won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography From Immigrant to Inventor.

2004 b. 1927
Leroy Gordon Cooper, American astronaut, one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts. He was portrayed by Dennis Quaid in the movie The Right Stuff (1983).

1989 b. 1970
Secretariat, American thoroughbred racehorse, Triple Crown winner (1973), and the first horse to finish the Kentucky Derby in under two minutes (1:59.4).

1989 b. 1940
Graham Chapman, British comedian. TV: Monte Python's Flying Circus.

1970 b. 1943
Janice Joplin, American singer. Music: Piece of My Heart (1968) and Me and Bobby McGee (1970, #1).

1904 b. 1834
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty, using his mother as the model.

1890 b. 1829
Catherine Booth, English preacher, Mother of the Salvation Army, which she and her husband William founded (1865).

October 4

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