Today in History for 5th February 2017:
Historical Events
1919 – NL pres John Heydler dismisses charges that Hal Chase bet against his team and threw games in collusion with gamblers
1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begin broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the “BBC pips”.
1953 – Sweet rationing imposed in WWII ends in Britain
1966 – BBC opens a relay radio station on Ascension Island
1977 – “In The Mood” by Henhouse 5 Plus Too (Ray Stevens) peaks at #40
1994 – Medgar Evers’ murderer Byron De La Beckwith sentenced to life, in Jackson Miss, 30 years after the crime
Famous Birthdays
1903 – Joan Whitney Payson, owner (NY Mets and horse stables)
1912 – Zoltan Pongracz, composer
1923 – Claude King, American country music singer (Wolverton Mountain), born in Keithville, Louisiana (d. 2013)
1948 – Christopher Guest, American actor (SNL, Heartbeeps, This is Spinal Tap), born in NYC, New York
1966 – Apostolos Nanos, Greek archer
1969 – Michael Sheen, Welsh actor
Famous Deaths
1838 – Philippe Libon, composer, dies at 62
1881 – Thomas Carlyle, historian/essayist, dies in London at 85
1977 – Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist (b. 1894)
1982 – Dolores Moran, actress (Yankee Doodle Dandy), dies at 56
1993 – Marcel Léger, Quebec politician (b. 1930)
2012 – Sam Coppola, American actor, dies at 79