Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 18

1996
Ebonics:  The Oakland, California school board unanimously passes a resolution for the incorporating of Ebonics in the classroom.

1985
The Color Purple premiers.

1975
Amityville Horror: George and Kathleen Lutz purchased their new home. The previous year, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo murdered his parents, two brothers, and two sisters in the house. Their experiences in the house were the basis for the The Amityville Horror.

1969
On Her Majesty's Secret Service premiers in the U.S., 6th in the James Bond series, it starred George Lazenby as 007.

1936
First giant panda in the U.S.: Su-Lin arrives in San Francisco from China. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1935
$100,000 Bill:.These gold certificates are first printed. They featured a portrait of Woodrow Wilson. They were never circulated but used internally by the Federal Reserve. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1917
Prohibition: The 18th amendment prohibiting intoxicating liquors in the U.S. is sent to the states for ratification. It was in effect from 1920 to 1933.

1878
Joseph Swan demonstrates his carbon filament electric light, almost a year before Edison.

1865
13th Amendment goes into effect, abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1796
First Sunday newspaper: The Monitor of Baltimore, Maryland is published.

1787
New Jersey becomes the 3rd state.

1950
Leonard Maltin, American film critic, historian. TV: Entertainment Tonight. At age 15, he founded Film Fan Monthly.

1947
Steven Spielberg, American Oscar-winning director. Film: Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), and Schindler's List (1994, Oscar).

1943
Keith Richards, British guitarist, with the Rolling Stones.

1927
Ramsey Clark, American lawyer, U.S. Attorney General (1967-89).  In 2005, he joined the legal team defending Saddam Hussein.

1917     d. 2005
Ossie Davis (Raiford Chatman Davis), American actor, civil rights activist. TV: B.L. Stryker (Oz Jackson) and Evening Shade (Ponder Blue and narrator).

1916     d. 1973
Betty Grable (Elizabeth Ruth Grable), American actress, dancer, pin-up girl. Her legs were insured for $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London.

1890     d. 1954
Edwin Howard Armstong, American electrical engineer, invented the superheterodyne receiver (1918) and FM radio (c1935).

1886     d. 1961
Ty Cobb (Tyrus Raymond Cobb), American baseball player, "The Georgia Peach." He was the first person elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1936).

1856     d. 1940
Joseph John Thomson, English physicist. He discovered the electron (1897).

1779     d. 1837
Joseph Grimaldi, English clown, the first to wear clown makeup and a clown suit. The term "Joey," which is synonymous with the word clown, is from a character he played.

1707     d. 1788
Charles Wesley, English clergyman, helped his brother Charles establish Methodism. He wrote over 6,500 hymns including Hark, the Harold Angels Sing. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1997     b. 1964
Chris Farley, American actor, comedian.  TV: Saturday Night Live. Film: Tommy Boy (1995),  Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), and Almost Heroes (1998).

1993     b. 1919
Sam Wanamaker, American actor. Film: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and Private Benjamin (1980). He is best known for rebuilding London's famous Globe Theater.

1992     b. 1915
Mark Goodson, American producer. TV: To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, and Family Feud.

1977     b. 1898
Cyril Ritchard, Australian actor. Stage: Peter Pan (1954, Captain Hook).

1892     b. 1804
SirRichard Owen, English biologist, paleontologist.  He coined the term Dinosaur (1842). He was strongly opposed to Darwinian evolution.

1869     b. 1829
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist, composer, first internationally recognized U.S. pianist.

1829     b. 1744
Jean Baptiste Lamarck, French naturalist. He was the first to distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates and was one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. He is best known for proposing that acquired traits are inheritable (Lamarckism), which was proved wrong, but initiated interest in the idea of evolution.

1737     b. circa 1644
Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker, crafted the world's finest violins.

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