ROSS SIMPSON

From left: John  Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The front-page headline of the Liverpool Evening Express on July 6, 1957,
read “MERSEYSIDE SIZZLES,” in reference to the heat wave then gripping
not just northern England, but all of Europe. The same headline could well
have been used over a story that received no coverage at all that day: The
story of the first encounter between two Liverpool teenagers named John
Lennon and Paul McCartney. Like the personal and professional relationship
it would lead to, their historic first meeting was a highly charged combination
of excitement, rivalry and mutual respect.

It’s easy to assume that John and Paul would eventually have met on some
other day had a mutual friend not chosen that hot and humid Saturday to
make the introduction. But as much as they had in common, the two boys
lived in different neighborhoods, went to different schools and were nearly
two years apart in age.

Only John was scheduled to perform publicly on July 6, 1957. The occasion
was the annual Woolton Parish Church Garden Fete, a parade and outdoor
fair at which John and his Quarrymen Skiffle Group had been invited to play.

SANDY KOZEL

Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place in Memphis, TN. on this day in 1954.  He recorded "That’s All Right
(Mama)" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

   
    
 
Elvis, Bill Black, Scotty Moore; Sam Phillips in foreground; Sun
Records, Memphis, TN, 1954.
        
       

TIM MAGUIRE

The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard
M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this
day in 1960.

The musical "West Side Story" opened at the Winter Garden Theatre
on this day in 1957.

The Broadway production ran for 732 performances before going on tour. It
was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957, but the
Best Musical award went to Meredith Willson‘s The Music Man.

ED DONAHUE

On this day in 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left
Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan
was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – April 27,1521)

Magellan was killed in the Philippines during the
Battle of Mactan by soldiers of  leader Lapu-Lap.

The statue of Lapu-Lapu on Mactan Island.

James Joseph "Jim" Croce
(January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973)

On this day in 1973, pop singer Jim Croce was killed along
with five others in a plane crash on his way to Sherman,
TX, for a concert. He was only 30 years old.

Croce released five studio albums and singles. His songs
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" reached
No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Croce’s chartered Beechcraft E18S crashed into a tree
during take-off from the Natchitoches Regional Airport
in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

It was on this day in 1958.

Dr. Emil A. Naclerio, member of the surgical team that operated
on the Rev. Martin Luther King, is shown at King’s bedside in
Harlem Hospital in New York on Sept. 21, 1958.
    
    

    
   
    Police officers arrest Izola Curry, King’s would-be assassin.

ROSS SIMPSON

From left: John Lennon and Paul McCartney were introduced to each other on this day in 1957.

The first All-Star baseball game was held in Chicago on this day in
1933. The American League beat the National League 4-2.

The Biafran War erupted on this day in 1967. The war lasted two-
and-a-half years. About 600,000 people died.

Late Odumegwu Ojukwu (left) leader of the breakaway Republic
of Biafra from 1967 to 1970.

One of the casualties of the war.

Mexican  painter Frida Kahlo de Rivera (Magdalena Carmen Frida
Kahlo y Calderón)  (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954)

Althea Gibson won the Wimbledon women’s singles tennis title on
this day in 1957. She was the first black athlete to win the event.

Roy Rogers (Leonard Franklin Slye)
(November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998)

Roy Rogers was one of the most popular Western stars of his
era. Known as the "King of the Cowboys", he appeared in over
100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The
Roy Rogers Show.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998. He had
been residing in Apple Valley, CA. Roy was buried at Sunset Hills 
Memorial Park in Apple Valley, as was his wife Dale Evans three 
years later.