Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

October 13

1992
Record around-the-world flight by a commercial aircraft: An Air France Concorde makes the flight in 33 hours, 1 minute.

1992
Domestic partnership: California passes an ordinance giving legal recognition to unmarried couples, including those of the same sex.

1988
Shroud of Turin: Once believed to be Christ's burial cloth, it is announced that carbon dating had determined it to be a fake created no earlier than the 13th century.

1976
A 3,300-year-old mummy is identified as King Tut's grandmother, Queen Tiy (1397-1360 BC).

1974
Longest NFL punt return: Dennis Morgan of the Dallas Cowboys ties the record with a 98-yard return against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was the third person to do so.

1972
Worst commercial air disaster in history: A Soviet jet crashes in Moscow killing all 176 persons aboard.

1972
Air crash victims eat their dead: A flight containing members of the Uruguayan Old Christians Rugby team crashes in the Andes. They would have to resort to cannibalism to survive the 70 days until their rescue.

1967
First official game of the American Basketball Association (ABA): The Oakland Oaks defeat the Anaheim Amigos (134-129).

1947
Kukla, Fran and Ollie debuts locally on Chicago's WBKB-TV. Fran Allison and the Kuklapolitan Players were picked up by NBC the following year.

1943
World War II: Italy declares war on Germany.

1903
First World Series: Boston of the American League defeats Pittsburgh of the National League five games to three.

1860
First aerial photograph of the U.S.: James Wallace Black takes a photograph of Boston from a balloon tethered 1,200 feet above the city.

1843
B'nai B'rith (Sons of the Covenant): The first Jewish fraternal society in the U.S. is formed by Henry Jones and 11 other Jewish men in New York City.

1812
War of 1812 - Battle of Queenstown Heights: 1,000 U.S. troops are injured or killed just north of Niagara Falls in battle against the British.

1807
Sodium discovered: English scientist Humphry Davy obtains atomic element 11 by electrolyzing caustic soda.

1792
White House: The Cornerstone is laid by Pres. George Washington. He is the only president to never have lived there.

1775
U.S. Navy: Congress establishes the service by authorizing the construction of two warships and appointing a Marine Committee in response to the news that the British fleet was coming.

1967
Javier Sotomayor, Cuban high jumper, first to break the 8-foot barrier (1989).

1959
Marie Osmond, American singer. Music: Paper Roses (1973, #1) and Meet Me In Montana (1985, #1). She also wrote Marie Osmond's Guide to Beauty and Dating.

1947
Sammy Hagar, American singer. Music: Bad Motor Scooter (1973) and I Can't Drive 55 (1984). In 1986, he replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen.

1946
Demond Wilson, American actor. TV: Sanford and Son (Lamont - son).

1941
Art Garfunkel, American singer with Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mrs. Robinson.

1926     d. 2002
Ray Brown, American Grammy-winning jazz string bassist, performed with Dizzy Gillespie in the late '40s.

1926     d. 1966
Lenny Bruce (Leonard A. Schneider), American "blue" comedian, author of How to Talk Dirty and Influence People: An Autobiography (1965). He was deported from Britain in 1963, arrested for obscenity on several occasions, and banned from Australia after his first performance there.

1925
Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1979-90). She was Great Britain's first woman prime minister.

1924
Nipsey Russell, American comic actor.

1921
Yves Montand (Ivo Livi), Italian-born French singer, actor. Film: The Wages of Fear (1953) and Let's Make Love (1960).

1918     d. 1951
Robert Walker, American actor. Film: Bataan (1943), The Clock (1945), and played the psychopathic killer in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951).

1917
Laraine Day (Laraine Johnson), American actress, Nurse Mary of Lamont of Dr. Kildare. After her marriage to baseball manager Leo Durocher, she took an interest in the sport and became known as "The First Lady of Baseball."

1917     d. 1985
Burr Tillstrom, American Emmy-winning puppeteer. TV: Kukla, Fran, and Ollie (creator and operator of the puppets).

1915     d. 1989
Cornel Wilde (Cornelius Wilde), American actor. Film: A Song to Remember (1945, Chopin). He quit the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team to pursue his acting career.

1821     d. 1902
Rudolf Virchow, German scientist, political leader, "Founder of Cellular Pathology."

1754     d. 1832
Molly Pitcher (Mary Hays McCauley), American Revolutionary War heroine. She risked her life to carry water to the troops during the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778) and operated her husband's cannon after he was wounded. For her bravery, Gen. Washington made her a noncommissioned officer.

1990     b. 1917
Douglas Edwards, American broadcaster. He was the first American network news TV anchorman (1948 CBS).

1977     b. 1918
Jackie Condon (John Condon), American child actor, one of the original Little Rascals. He appeared in 78 Our Gang films.

1974     b. 1901
Ed Sullivan, American Broadway columnist, TV personality, host of a "Really big shew" for 23 years.

1968     b. 1906
Bea Benaderet, American actress, voice of Betty Ruble on The Flintstones, Blanche Morton of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate Bradley of Petticoat Junction.

1945     b. 1857
Milton Snavely Hershey, American candy-maker, invented the Hershey bar (1894).

1938     b. 1894
Elzie Crisler Segar, American cartoonist, creator of Popeye the Sailor (1919). He also coined the words "jeep" and "goon."

1924     b. 1844
Anatole France (Jacques Anatole Thibault), French Nobel-winning author, Penguin Island (1908), The Gods Are Athirst (1912), and Revolt of the Angels (1913).

1825     b. 1756
Maximilian I, King of Bavaria (1806-25).

1795     b. 1726
William Prescott, American soldier. At the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775), he proclaimed, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

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