1988 Largest Merger to Date RJR Nabisco is purchased for $25 billion.

1954 Only known meteorite to injure a person Mrs. Ann Hodges is struck by one in Alabama.

1940 Minnie Pearl The comedienne makes her first appearance on the radio show Grand Ole Opry. She would continue making appearances for over 50 years.

1930 Fred Allen makes his radio debut.

1924 RCA demonstrates wireless transmission of pictures from London to New York.

1782 American Revolution A provisional treaty of peace is signed between Britain and the U.S.

1706 The Church of England is declared by law the official religion of South Carolina. This remained in effect until 1778.

1965 Ben Stiller American comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show.

1962 Bo Jackson American football and baseball player. He is the only player in history named to both a baseball All-Star game and a football Pro-Bowl game.

1955 Billy Idol (William Broad), British singer. Music: Dancing With Myself (1980), White Wedding (1983), Rebel Yell (1984), Eyes Without a Face (1984), and Mony Mony (1987, #1).

1936 Abbie Hoffman d. 1989 (Abbott Hoffman), American political activist of the 1960s and leader of the Yippie youth movement.

1929 Dick Clark American host. TV: American Bandstand.

1927 Robert Guillaume (Robert Peter Williams), actor. TV: Benson (Benson DuBois).

1927 Richard Crenna American Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Flamingo Kid (1984). TV: Our Miss Brooks (Walter Denton) and The Real McCoys (Luke).

1923 Efrem Zimbalist Jr American actor. TV: 77 Sunset Strip (Stuart Bailey) and The F.B.I (Lewis Erskine).

1894 Donald Ogden Stewart d. 1980 American Oscar-winning screenwriter. Film: Laughter (1930), The Prison of Zenda (1937), and The Philadelphia Story (1940, Oscar).

1889 Edgar Douglas Adrian d. 1977 1st Baron of Cambridge, English physiologist, shared the 1932 Nobel Prize in medicine with Sir Charles Sherrington for work in the field of nerve impulses.

1874 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill d. 1965 English statesman. He coined the expression "Iron Curtain" (1946).

1835 Mark Twain d. 1910 (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), American author, creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

1819 Cyrus West Field d. 1892 American financier, laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable (1858). It failed after only a month of operation. He failed again in a second attempt in 1865 before succeeding in 1866.

1810 Oliver Fisher Winchester d. 1880 American gun maker, developed the Winchester rifle (1866).

1667 Jonathan Swift d. 1745 English author. Writings: Gulliver's Travels (1726).

2007 Evel Knievel b. 1938 (Robert Craig Knievel), American motorcycle stunt rider, breaking 37 bones during his stunt career. He also won the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship (1957)

2003 Gertrude Caroline Ederle b. 1905 American swimmer. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel (1926) and winner of three medals, including a gold, in the 1924 Olympics. Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1996 Tiny Tim b. 1932 (Herbert Buckingham Khaury), American ukulele playing singer. Music: Tiptoe Through the Tulips (1968). His 1969 marriage to Miss Viki on the Tonight Show attracted 40 million viewers.

1994 Lionel Stander b. 1908 American actor. TV: Hart to Hart (Max the Chauffeur).

1990 Norman Cousins b. 1915 American publisher, political journalist, editor of Saturday Review (1942-71). Quote: Nixon's motto was, if two wrongs don't make a right, try three. Source: Fifth 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

1979 Zeppo Marx b. 1901 (Herbert Marx), American comedian, one of the Marx Brothers.

1944 Albert Bacon Fall b. 1861 American senator, first member of a president's cabinet convicted of a crime (1929). While Pres. Harding's Secretary of the Interior, he was convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $100,000.

1930 Mother Jones b. 1830 (Mary Harris Jones), Irish-born American labor leader, agitator, and advocate for striking workers.

1922 James Robert Mann b. 1856 American politician. He authored the Mann Act (1910), also known as the White Slave Act. It prohibited the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes.

1901 Edward John Eyre b. 1815 British colonial governor, explorer, governor of St. Vincent (1854-60), Antigua (1860-62), and Jamaica (1864-66), and for whom Lake Eyre in South Australia is named.

1900 Oscar Wilde b. 1854 Irish-born British author. He was imprisoned (1895-97) for his homosexuality. His last words were, "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do." Writings: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898, which described his prison experience).

1896 Henry Engelhard Steinway b. 1797 German piano maker, founder of Steinway and Sons (1853).

1830 Pius VIII b. 1761 Italian religious leader, 253rd Pope (1829-30).

1694 Marcello Malpighi b. 1628 Italian physician, founder of microscopic anatomy, and the first to view (1661) capillary circulation.

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