| The comet was named for Edmond Halley, who observed it in 1682 and identified it as the same one observed in 1531 and 1607, based on its having the same elements as the previous two. Historical records show that Chinese astronomers observed the comet's appearance in 240 BC and possibly as early as 2467 BC. Habitual observations and calculations of appearances after 240 BC are recorded by Chinese, Japanese, Babylonian and Islamic astronomers. Some theologians have suggested that the comet's appearance in 12 BC might explain the Biblical story of the Star of Bethlehem. |
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| He departed on either May 2 or May 20, 1497 and sailed to Dursey Head, Ireland. From there he sailed due west to Asia - or so he thought. He landed on the coast of Newfoundland on June 24, 1497. His precise landing-place is a matter of controversy, either Bonavista or St. John's. He went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, and probably departed on July 20. |  |
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| In 1778, David Rittenhouse observed a total solar eclipse in Philadelphia. In a letter to him, dated 17 Jul 1778, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "We were much disappointed in Virginia generally on the day of the great eclipse, which proved to be cloudy." Rittenhouse (1732-1796) was not only an American astronomer, but also a mathematician and public official. He is reputed to have built the first American-made telescope and was the first director of the U.S. Mint (1792-1795). |
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| Bishop John Joseph Hughes purchased Rose Hill Manor in the Bronx, then part of Westchester County, at $30,000 for the purpose of establishing the school. Rose Hill is the name given to the site in 1787 by Robert Watts, a wealthy New York merchant, in honor of his family's ancestral home of the same name in Scotland. St. John's College opened with a student body of six on June 24, 1841. |
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| Signed in Mexico in 1853, but a very different treaty was finally ratified by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Franklin Pierce on June 24, 1854. The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande. |
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| In 1873, Samuel Clemens (the author known as Mark Twain) received a U.S. patent for a self-pasting Scrapbook. His invention was to coat the pages of the scrapbook with mucilage or adhesive. He suggested two forms. In one form, the pages would be coated with patches of adhesive with intervals of untreated paper between them. The second form was to coat the entire page. In either case, only sufficient area of the leaf is moistened that is necessary to hold the piece that is to be pasted in. |
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| Richard Higham, an umpire, banned in 1882 for conspiring to help throw a Detroit Wolverines game, after Detroit's owner hired a private investigator to check out Higham's background. The investigator found that he was a cohort of a known gambler. To date, Higham has been the only umpire banned for life. |
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| The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on June 24, 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece between 776 BC to 396 AD. The baron hoped to foster international communication and peace through the Olympic Games. |  |
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| Within three years of her start in features, Mary Pickford became one of the film industry's most successful producers. According to her Foundation, "she oversaw every aspect of the making of her films, from hiring talent and crew to overseeing the script, the shooting, the editing, to the final release and promotion of each project." She first demanded (and received) these powers in 1916, when she was under contract to Adolph Zukor's Famous Players in Famous Plays (later Paramount).She inked the first seven-figure Hollywood deal. Pickford would get $250,000 per film with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 a week against half of the profits, including bonuses and the right of approval of all creative aspects of her films. |
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| The 1922 NFL season was the 3rd regular season of what was now called National Football League (the league changed their name from American Professional Football Association on June 24). The NFL fielded 18 teams during the season, including new league teams such as the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Badgers, the Oorang Indians, the Racine Legion, and the Toledo Maroons. Meanwhile the Chicago Staleys changed their name to the Chicago Bears. |
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| In June, 1930, Lawrence A. Hyland of the NRL in the U.S. detected an airplane with this type of radar. Simple wave-interference radar can detect the presence of an object, but it cannot determine its location or velocity. That had to await the invention of pulse radar, and later, additional encoding techniques to extract this information from a CW (continuous wave) signal. |
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| Joe DiMaggio tied three major-league records in New York's 10-run 5th inning against the White Sox, hitting 2 HRs for 8 total bases. With 2 doubles, he equals the modern record of four long hits in a game. |  |
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| On May 20,1939, Pan American inaugurated the first transatlantic mail service. Under the command of Captain A. E. LaPorte, almost a ton of mail was carried from Port Washington to Marseilles, via the Azores and Lisbon in 29 hours. The same aircraft, commanded by Captain Harold Gray, opened the northern mail service to Southampton on June 24,1939. On June 28,1939 Pan American inaugurated the first regular passenger service, from New York to Southampton, via Newfoundland. |
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| The convention was held in Convention Hall, at 34th and Spruce, which is now abandoned but was less than a decade old in 1940. It could accommodate 15,000; it had a new parking lot and a laughable "air conditioning" system based on blocks of ice and fans. It would be the first televised convention, although practically no one owned a television set; the technology was new and experimental. Mostly, the TV screens served the overflow crowd in the Commercial Museum next door to Convention Hall. However, through a series of relays, pictures managed to travel a record 325 miles to Lake Placid, N.Y. |
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| In 1943, Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II jumped out of a B-17 bomber flying at 40,200 feet in order to test the emergency oxygen unit he had designed with colleagues. It was his first ever parachute jump. An unaided parachutist at such high altitude would quickly lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and unable to pull the parachute ripcord when needed. When he opened his parachute, it was the sudden deceleration of 32 g's, which knocked him unconscious. He lost a glove, and in the sub-zero (-40º F) temperature his hand became frostbitten. The oxygen unit kept him alive. He regained consciousness at a lower altitude, and landed almost 24 minutes after he bailed out. His test led to development of automatic parachute opening devices. |
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| On June 24, 1947, Arnold said he saw nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington while he was searching for a missing military aircraft in his CallAir A-2. He described the objects as almost blindingly bright when they reflected the sun's rays, their flight as "erratic" ("like the tail of a Chinese kite"), and flying at "tremendous speed". Arnold's story was widely carried by the Associated Press and other news outlets, and is usually credited as the catalyst for modern UFO interest, though many less-publicized UFO incidents preceded it. |
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| Two days later the Allies responded with an emergency airlift to relieve two million isolated West Berliners. During the Berlin Airlift, American and British planes flew about 278,000 flights, delivering 2.3 million tons of food, coal and medical supplies. A plane landed in Berlin every minute from eleven Allied staging areas in West Germany. The Soviets lifted their blockade of Berlin on May 12, 1949, however the airlift continued until September 30. |
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| On June 24, 1949, Hoppy became the first network Western television series, airing on NBC. At first NBC fashioned the shows out of the films after paying Boyd, who owned the TV rights to his films, a quarter-million dollars for them. The footage later shot for the TV series starred Boyd, with Edgar Buchanan as his sidekick "Red Connors" and numerous tie-ins. |  |
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| After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patti's choice to go solo. The Andrews Sisters had a # 1 hit with "I Wanna Be Loved" 20 years after the song was first introduced, with their March 30, 1950 recording backed by Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra. |  |
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| Arcaro won six Preaknesses and six Belmonts and was one of only two jockeys (Bill Hartack was the other) to win the Kentucky Derby five times. He was the only jockey to have won the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes) twice, on Whirlaway in 1941 and on Citation in 1948. His mounts won the Horse of the Year title eight times between 1941 and 1961. |  |
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| The future all-star of the Tigers was 18 years old. Scout Ed Katalinas signed Kaline ($35,000 bonus) right off the Baltimore sandlots and Al never played one inning in the minor leagues. On June 25, 1953, his first game, he played right field for the first time in his life. He was used sparingly by Manager Fred Hutchinson, usually as a pinch runner. His first homer came off Dave Hoskins (Cleveland) and he singled off Satchel Paige before that first season ended. |
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| Washington rookie IF Harmon Killebrew hits his first HR in an 18-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Killebrew was the Senators' first "bonus baby" in 1954, signing a week before his 18th birthday on the recommendation of a U.S. Senator from his home state of Idaho. He shuttled between the majors and minors for five years before finally getting a legitimate shot. He made the starting lineup for good in 1959 when second baseman Pete Runnels got spiked and Killebrew came through with two HR. He finished the season with a league-leading 42, the first of eight times he would top 40. |
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| In 1959 and 1960 Pat Boone continued to sell many records, although his production of top ten songs slowed down a bit. Some of his songs during this period included With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair and Twixt Twelve and Twenty. In 1961 he came back with Moody River, which was to be his fifth and final number one song. His final top forty song was a novelty record, Speedy Gonzalez in 1962. |  |
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| A marathon between the Tigers and Yankees concludes in the 22nd inning when Jack Reed's home run—his only one in the ML—gives New York and Jim Bouton a 97 victory. Reed replaced Pepitone in the 13th. For the Tigers, Phil Regan takes the loss and Rocky Colavito has seven hits. Bobby Richardson ties a mark by going to the plate 11 times. At an even seven hours, the game is the slowest extra-inning contest in league history and it is the longest game in innings in Yankee history. |
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| In 1963, the first demonstration of a home video recorder was made at the BBC News Studios in London. A Telcan fixed-head longitudinal videotape recorder intended for home-taping of television programmes was demonstrated on BBC television news. The open-reel recorder was mounted on the top of a television cabinet. Developed by Norman Rutherford and Michael Turner of Nottingham Electronic Valve Company (NEVC), the machine used quarter-inch tape running at 120 ips (10 feet/sec) past fixed heads, carrying two low-resolution black and white 15-minute tracks. The intended price was £61 19s. It never went on sale. Both Telcan and NEVC collapsed. |
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| The record company executives who worked on "Groovin'" didn't particularly like the song, but as they listened to the playback, influential New York DJ Murray the K overheard it and pronounced it a #1 record. Murray went to Atlantic Records president Jerry Wexler and demanded it be released. As the program manager and top DJ on the first FM rock station (WOR-FM), Murray the K had this kind of clout, and also the rare ability to connect with listeners and recognize what songs would become hits. |
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| When the price of silver began rising rapidly in the early 1960s, it became evident that those holding silver coins could profit greatly by selling them on the open market. This would have resulted in the disappearance of silver coins with people hoarding the precious metal, as had happened during the Civil War. To avoid this crisis, Congress stopped redeeming Silver Certificates in 1968 and began exchanging them for Federal Reserve Notes at face value. |
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| In a doubleheader with the Indians at Yankee Stadium, Bobby Murcer ties Lou Gehrig's record of four straight homers. The Yanks lose the opener 72, despite Murcer's 9th-inning home run off Sam McDowell. Murcer next connects off game 2's starter Mike Paul, hitting a solo shot in the 1st inning. A walk in the 4th, then a 2-run homer off Paul in the 5th, and a game-tying homer in the 8th, off Fred Lasher. New York scores in the bottom of the 9th to salvage a 54 win. Cleveland 1B Tony Horton hears a hoo and literally crawls back to the dugout after fanning on two of Yankee hurler Steve Hamilton's "folly floaters." Sensitive to fans' booing during the season, Horton will be hospitalized, and at 25, this is his last season. |
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| Reddy wrote "I Am Woman" because she couldn't find enough songs to include on her first album. She was looking for songs that reflected a positive self-image that she felt that she had gained from her participation in the women's liberation movement. Reddy didn't like the way the original version came out and neither did the producer (he thought she sounded "too butch"), but they put it on the album anyway. |
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| Culminating a long battle to reach pro baseball, Bernice Gera umpires the first game of a doubleheader between Auburn and Geneva (New York-Pennsylvania League). Several disputes take place and she ejects the Auburn manager. Gera resigns before the 2nd game, leaving in tears, saying resentment from the other umps was a factor in her decision. She will later work in the Mets PR department. |  |
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| Aubrey Woods performed "Candy Man" in the 1971 movie “Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory,” starring Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson. Co-writer Anthony Newley was so appalled at Woods' performance that he asked producers Stan Margulies and David Wolper to let him perform Woods' role if they could reshoot the scene, but Newley's offer was turned down. As the movie wrapped up production, Mike Curb recorded an instrumental backing for the song with Sammy Davis Jr. in mind. The former member of the Rat Pack didn't like the song at first but decided to do it anyway. |
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| The Gibb brothers wrote both “Tragedy” and "Too Much Heaven" (another American #1), in an afternoon off from making the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in which they were starring. Then in the evening they wrote another American #1 single, "Shadow Dancing" for their brother Andy Gibb. |  |
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| During the stay of the Soyuz-T 6 Visiting Expedition, the Elbrus gave visiting Frenchman Jean-Loup Chrétien "the honor" of ejecting a satellite—Salyut 7’s weekly bag of waste—from the small trash airlock. In his diary, Lebedev quoted Chrétien as saying Salyut 7 "is simple, doesn’t look impressive, but is reliable." |  |
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| Milwaukee's Don Sutton struck out Alan Bannister in the 8th inning of a 32 win over Cleveland to become the 8th pitcher in ML history with 3,000 career strikeouts. County Stadium is packed with 46,037 fans for the game, mostly to welcome back popular OF Gorman Thomas, who was traded to Cleveland earlier this month. |  |
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| Oakland's Joe Morgan hits his 265th career home run as a 2B, breaking Rogers Hornsby's major-league record for that position. Morgan, who has 267 home runs overall, connects off Frank Tanana in the first inning of the A's 42 win over Texas. |  |
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| Alabamians, used to a one-party state where anybody and everybody could vote in a primary, were outraged and took out their frustrations by voting against Baxley and for Hunt, the GOP nominee. Alabama got its first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Hunt's election surprised many Alabamians since no living person had seen a Republican win the election for Alabama governor. The press paid little attention to the Republican gubenatorial primaries, fully expecting that the nominee would be the next loser in the general election. |
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| The top tax rate was lowered from 50% to 28% while the bottom rate was raised from 11% to 15% - the only time in the history of the U.S. income tax (which dates back to the passage of the Revenue Act of 1862) that the top rate was reduced and the bottom rate increased concomitantly. |  |
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| Marx shot to the top of the charts upon the release of his eponymous debut in 1987. Marx's first hit was the California rocker "Don't Mean Nothing," but his real strength lay with ballads like "Right Here Waiting," which became an adult contemporary staple in the late '80s. Richard Marx and 1989's Repeat Offender generated a string of three consecutive number one hits in America -- "Hold on to the Nights," "Satisfied," and "Right Here Waiting." |
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| Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said in a June 1992 opinion, "No holding of this Court suggests that a school can persuade or compel a student to participate in a religious exercise.... The First Amendment's Religion Clauses mean that religious beliefs and religious expressions are too precious to be either proscribed or prescribed by the State." |
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451 10th recorded perihelion passage
of Halley's Comet
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1497 John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England
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1778 David Rittenhouse observes a total solar
eclipse in Philadelphia
More ...
1841 Fordham University (then St John's College),
opens in the Bronx
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1854 Gadsden Purchase (parts of AZ, NM) from Mexico
for $10 million
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1873 Mark Twain patented a scrapbook
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1882 NL expells umpire Richard Higham for dishonesty
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1894 Decision to begin modern Olympics every 4
years
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1916 The most lucrative movie contract to the
time was signed by actress, Mary Pickford
More ...
1922 AFPA changes name to NFL, Chicago Staleys
become Chicago Bears
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1930 First radar detection of planes, Anacostia
DC
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1936 Joe DiMaggio becomes 5th to hit 2 HRs in
1 inn, Yanks beat Browns 18-4
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1939 Pan Am's first US to England flight
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1940 TV cameras were used for the first time
GOP convention in Philadelphia
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1943 High altitude (really high) parachute jump
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1947 Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier
by pilot Kenneth Arnold
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1948 The Soviet Union began a blockade of Berlin.
More ...
1949 "Hopalong Cassidy" becomes first
network western (NBC)
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1950 "I Wanna Be Loved" by the Andrews
Sisters topped the charts
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1952 Eddie Arcaro rides his 3000th winner
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1953 Al Kaline signed with the Detroit Tigers
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1955 Harmon Killebrew hits his first HR (off Billy
Hoeff)
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1961 "Moody River" by Pat Boone topped
the charts
More ...
1962 Yankee Jack Reed's 22nd inning HR wins a 7
hour game
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1963 First demonstration of home video recorder,
at BBC Studios, London
More ...
1967 "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals
topped the charts
More ...
1968 Deadline for redeeming silver certificate
dollars for silver bullion
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1970 Bobby Murcer ties record of 4 consecutive
HRs
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1972 "I Am Woman," by Helen Reddy, was
released to Radio
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1972 Baseball’s first woman umpire, Mrs.
Bernice Gera called her first game
More ...
1972 "Candy Man" by Sammy Davis, Jr.
topped the charts
More ...
1973 Marlene Raymond (15), limboes under a flaming
bar at 6 1/8"
1977 IRS reveals Jimmy Carter paid no taxes in
1976
1978 "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb topped
the charts
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1982 Soyuz T-6 carries 3 cosmonauts (1 French)
to Salyut 7 space station
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1983 Don Sutton becomes 8th pitcher to strikeout
3,000 batters
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1984 Joe Morgan sets career HR mark for 2nd basemen
with #265
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1986 Guy Hunt elected first Republican governor
of Alabama in 112 years
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1986 US Senate approves "tax reform"
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1989 "Satisfied" by Richard Marx topped
the charts
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1992 The Supreme Court prohibits
prayer as a part of graduation ceremonies.
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