George Orson Welles  (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)

“The War of the Worlds”—Orson Welles’s realistic radio dramatization of a
Martian invasion of Earth—is broadcast on the radio on October 30, 1938.

Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater company decided
to update H.G. Wells’ 19th-century science fiction novel The War of the
Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles had been in radio for
several years, most notably as the voice of “The Shadow” in the hit
mystery program of the same name. “War of the Worlds” was not planned
as a radio hoax, and Welles had little idea of the havoc it would cause.

The show began on Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. A voice announced:
“The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present
Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in ‘War of the Worlds’
by H.G. Wells.”

Sunday evening in 1938 was prime-time in the golden age of radio, and
millions of Americans had their radios turned on. But most of these
Americans were listening to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy
“Charlie McCarthy” on NBC and only turned to CBS at 8:12 p.m. after the
comedy sketch ended and a little-known singer went on. By then, the
story of the Martian invasion was well underway.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this day in 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped
Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her
from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

Tonya Maxene Price (Harding) will be 49 in November. She was
born in Portland, Oregon.

SANDY KOZEL

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that set sail from
Southampton on this day in 1912. It sank in the North Atlantic
Ocean after colliding with an iceberg four days into her maiden
voyage to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and 
crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of modern
history’s deadliest commercial marine disasters during
peacetime.

Rare photo of the actual iceberg that sank Titanic!

Photo of Survivors in Lifeboats After Titanic sank.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a
spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.

Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.

North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the
U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.

On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a
Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented
Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the
second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television
history.

LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people
in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis,
Md.

John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)

Television host, comedian, writer, and producer Johnny Carson was 
best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
(1962–1992) on NBC. Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Television
Academy‘s 1980 Governor’s Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was
inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987 awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center
Honor in 1993.

On this day in 1998, President Bill Clinton, America’s chief
executive, was impeached on two charges of perjury and
obstruction of justice by the U.S. House of Representatives,
becoming only the second president to be ordered to stand
trial in the Senate since Andrew Johnson in 1868.

President Bill Clinton speaks about the Monica Lewinsky scandal at 
the White House on January 26, 1998 as First Lady Hillary Clinton
looks on.

On this day in 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific,
ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

The three astronauts (from left to right – Eugene Cernan, Ronald
Evans and Harrison Schmitt) get the red-carpet welcome back.