Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 13

1978
First U.S. coin to honor a woman: The Susan B. Anthony dollar is issued. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1961
The Beatles: Brian Epstein becomes the Liverpool group's manager. He had heard them play a month earlier in a local club called The Cavern.

1931
Winston Churchill: The English statesman is hit by a car while walking down Fifth Ave. in New York City.

1920
First measurement of the diameter of a star (other than the Sun): Albert Michelson, of Mount Wilson Observatory, California, using his stellar interferometer, measures Betelgeuse (the bright red star in the right shoulder of Orion). It was 260 million miles in diameter.

1918
First U.S. president to visit a European country while in office: Woodrow Wilson arrives in France for a two-month visit.

1901
First use a telephone to capture a felon in the U.S.: Kid Curry, of the Wild Bunch gang, is arrested after a Tennessee merchant spotted him and called the police.

1862
Civil War - Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Union Army loses 12,000 men in its defeat to Lee's forces.

1816
First savings bank in the U.S.: Provident Institution for Savings in Boston is chartered.

1759
First U.S. music store: A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania music store, which had opened earlier in the year, begins advertising the sale of musical instruments and supplies.

1642
New Zealand: The southern island of New Zealand is discovered, by Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman.

1577
Sir Francis Drake - Circumnavigation of the globe: The English navigator departs from Plymouth, England, beginning his voyage. He completed the trip in September of 1580.

1948
Ted Nugent, American guitarist, the "Motor City Madman." Music: Cat Scratch Fever (1977) and Little Miss Dangerous (1986).

1941
John Davidson, American singer, TV personality.  TV: host of That's Incredible! and Hollywood Squares

1929
Christopher Plummer, Canadian Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Sound of Music (1965, Baron Von Trapp) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975, Rudyard Kipling).

1925
Dick Van Dyke, American Tony-Emmy-winning actor. Film: Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Mary Poppins (1964), and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (1968). TV: The Dick Van Dyke Show (Emmy), and Diagnosis: Murder.

1920
George Pratt Shultz, U.S. Secretary of State (1982-89) under Pres. Reagan. He signed a 1998 advertisement published in the New York Times entitled "We believe the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself."

1916     d. 1994
Mark Stevens (Richard Stevens), American actor. TV: Martin Kane, Private Eye (title role) and Big Town (Steve Wilson).

1915     d. 1983
Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar), American mystery author, creator of the private eye Lew Archer.

1914     d. 1975
Larry Parks (Samuel Lawrence Klausman Parks), American actor. Film: The Jolson Story (1946, title role) and Jolson Sings Again (1949, title role).

1887     d. 1964
Sgt. York (Alvin Cullun York), American World War I hero. In 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he singlehandedly killed 25 members of a German machine-gun battalion and captured 132 others. He was originally a conscientious objector.

1835     d. 1893
Phillips Brooks, American clergyman. He wrote the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem (1868). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1818     d. 1882
Mary Todd Lincoln, American first lady, widow of Abraham Lincoln. She was declared insane and committed to an mental institution (1875), but was later released.

1797     d. 1856
Heinrich Heine, German author, poet, lyricist. Among his writings are some of Germany's best-known lyrics.

1992     b. 1899
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman, co-founder of Pan American Airways (1927) and co-producer of Gone With the Wind (1939).

1990     b. 1913
Alice Marble, American tennis player, winner of four U.S. amateur singles titles.

1986     b. 1909
Heather Angel, British actress. TV: Family Affair (Miss Faversham).

1981     b. 1904
Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham, American comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (the judge).

1961     b. 1860
Grandma Moses (Anna Robertson Moses), American artist, known for her bright pictures of American rural life. She began her painting career at age 78.

1934     b. 1854
Thomas Augustus Watson, American telephone technician and shipbuilder. He was Alexander Bell's assistant during his discovery of the telephone and was one of the founders of Bell Telephone.

1924     b. 1850
Samuel Gompers, English-born American labor leader, first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

1865     b. 1813
William Augustus Barstow, American politician, governor of Wisconsin (1854-56). After the discovery of election irregularities, he became the first U.S. governor removed from office by a state supreme court (1856).

1784     b. 1709
Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer, poet. He wrote the first major English language dictionary (1755).

1466     b. circa 1386
Donatello (Donatodi Niccolo di Betto Bardi), Italian Renaissance artist, father of modern sculpture. He created the masterpiece David.

1204     b. 1135
Maimonides, Jewish rabbi, Talmudic scholar, philosopher. His teachings greatly influenced the Christian religion. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1124     b. ????
Calixtus II, religious leader, 162nd Pope (1119-24).

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