It’s April 20. What else happened today?

by admin

So it is that time of year again, April 20, where we all celebrate that which binds us. If you don’t know what I mean, please Google 4/20 and get back to us. Likely you are in the wrong spot.

With this “holiday” of sorts coming every year it is often quite easy to determine what happens today, and for most of our viewers, last year, the year before, etc. But what got us interested this year what what ELSE happened on this most momentous of days? I mean certainly SOMETHING else must have happened right? Today we examine a few of those things. Some are pretty important, others, well, your original plans were probably much more exciting

0295 - 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet

1702 - Comet C/1702 H1 approaches within 0.0437 AUs of Earth

1792 - France declared war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.

1836 - The Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.

1865 - Safety matches were first advertised this day.

1889 - Supreme Asshole Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.

1902 - Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.

1931 - Louis Armstrong recorded the classic, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, for Okeh Records. Satchmo would use the tune as his theme song for decades. The song was waxed in Chicago, IL.

1934 - One of America’s most beloved child stars made her debut. Shirley Temple debuted in Stand Up and Cheer, which opened in New York City. Moviegoers would rave about her song and dance routine, Baby, Take a Bow, for many years.

1940 - RCA publicly demonstrated its new electron microscope.

1945 - Allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart during World War II.

1947 - Comedian Fred Allen of Allen’s Alley fame didn’t find things so funny when censors cut him off the air during his radio broadcast. Allen was telling a joke about a mythical network vice-president when he was suddenly taken off the air.

1959 - Desilu Playhouse on CBS-TV presented a two-part show titled, The Untouchables starting this night. Robert Stack starred in the program and became a major television star when The Untouchables become a weekly network series in the fall of 1959.

1961 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave approval for FM stereo broadcasting. It would be another five or six years before FM stations went ‘underground’ or ‘progressive’ to attract listeners who were tired of the lack of audio quality on AM stations. FM stations to that time had broadcast in glorious monaural sound.

1972 - The manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.

1980 - The first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.

1985 - The British pop music group Wham!, featuring George Michael, became the first to release cassettes in the People’s Republic of China. Selections from two of the group’s albums were packaged and sold on the tape.

1987 - Starlight Express posted the largest week’s gross in Broadway history. The roller-skating musical earned $606,081 at the box office. The revival of The King and I starring Yul Brynner had been the previous leader (1985).

1999 - Two seriously disturbed students went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives.

2005 - President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy. (Figures that this guy would do that)

2008 - Super hottie Danica Patrick became the first female winner in IndyCar history, capturing the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career start.

April 20th, 2009  |   2:04 pm