On this day: October 5
James Bond debuts in theaters, the Beatles release their first single, PBS is founded, and Tylenol capsules are recalled amid seven deaths from tampering, all on this day.
1795: Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the 3-year-old revolutionary government.
1795: Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the 3-year-old revolutionary government.
1829: Chester A. Arthur, who would go on to become the 21st president of the United States, is born in Fairfield, Vt.
1902: Actor and comedian Larry Fine, best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges, is born in Philadelphia.
1902: Ray Kroc, the American businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into a fast food empire, is born in Oak Park, Ill.
1905: Wilbur Wright pilots the Wright Flyer III in a circling flight of 24 miles in 39 minutes near Dayton, Ohio, a world record that would stand until 1908.
1914: French Sgt. Joseph Frantz and Cpl. Louis Quenault score the first air-to-air kill (not involving ramming) of World War I, shooting down a German Aviatik two-seater with machine gun fire from their Voisin III over northeast France. This is believed to be the first air-to-air kill in any war. Pictured is a different Voisin III captured during the war by German forces.
1919: Actor Donald Pleasence, best known for his roles in "The Great Escape," "You Only Live Twice" and the "Halloween" series, is born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England.
1921: The World Series is broadcast on the radio for the first time. The series pits the New York Giants and the New York Yankees.
1922: Cartoonist Bil Keane, known for creating the long-running newspaper comic "The Family Circus," is born in Philadelphia.
1931: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon complete the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean, touching down their plane, named the Miss Veedol, without landing gear at Fancher Field in East Wenatchee, Wash., about 41 hours after leaving Japan.
1941: Former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's highest court, suffers a heart attack and dies at age 84 in Washington, D.C.
1943: After a successful American air raid on the Japanese-occupied Wake Island in the North Pacific Ocean, 98 American civilian contractors being held as POWs are taken by Japanese forces to the northern end of the island, blindfolded, and machine-gunned. One prisoner escapes, carving the message "98 US PW 5-10-43" on a large coral rock near where the victims had been hastily buried in a mass grave. This unknown American was soon recaptured and beheaded. The remains of the murdered civilians were later exhumed and reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
1943: Musician Steve Miller, known for such hits as "The Joker," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Rock'n Me" and "Abracadabra" with the Steve Miller Band, is born in Milwaukee, Wis.
1947: The first televised White House address is given by President Harry S. Truman. The president asks Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.
1947: Brian Johnson, who replaced the late Bon Scott as the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC in 1980, is born in Dunston, Gateshead, England.
1949: The animated movie "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" premieres in theaters. The film is broken up into two segments, both based upon popular works of literature: "The Wind in the Willows" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
1951: Actress Karen Allen, best known for her roles in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Animal House," "Starman" and "Scrooged," is born in Carrollton, Ill.
1953: The first documented recovery meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Sun Valley, Calif.
1954: Bob Geldof, who would go on to be the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s and starred in Pink Floyd's 1982 film "Pink Floyd - The Wall," is born in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. Geldof is also known for his activism, including forming the supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia and organizing the charity super-concert Live Aid in 1985 and the Live 8 concerts in 2005.
1956: The epic film "The Ten Commandments," directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Charlton Heston as Moses, premieres in theaters. The film, which was DeMille's last, was a box office success and would go on to receive seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, winning only for Best Visual Effects.
1957: Actor and comedian Bernie Mac, known for roles in "Ocean's Eleven," "Mr. 3000" and "The Bernie Mac Show," is born under the birth name Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in Chicago.
1961: The romantic-comedy "Breakfast at Tiffany's," starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard and directed by Blake Edwards, premieres in theaters. Hepburn would earn her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination and the movie would also receive four other Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Original Song for "Moon River" and Best Score.
1962: "Dr. No," the first in the James Bond film series, premieres in theaters. The plot finds Sean Connery's Bond taking on Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American manned space launch with a radio beam weapon. It also features the first "Bond Girl," Ursula Andress, as the white-bikini-clad Honey Ryder.
1962: The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do," is released in the U.K. The song, which wouldn't be released in the United States until April 1964, reaches No. 17 on the U.K. singles chart.
1965: Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, is born in Montreal.
1965: Hockey goalie Patrick Roy, who led the Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche to two Stanley Cup titles each and is generally considered one of the best NHL goalies of all time, is born in Quebec City, Canada.
1967: Actor Guy Pearce, best known for his roles in "L.A. Confidential," "Memento," and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," is born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
1969: The first episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" airs on the BBC. The sketch comedy series, which made Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin famous, would produce 45 episodes before going off the air on Dec. 5, 1974.
1970: The Public Broadcasting Service, a non-profit American public broadcasting television network, is founded.
1974: David Kunst, seen here in Australia, completes the first journey around the world on foot. It took him four years and 21 pairs of shoes. He crossed four continents and walked 14,450 miles. He had started the journey from Waseca, Minn., on June 20, 1970, with his brother John and a pack mule named Willie Makeit, but his brother was shot and killed by bandits half way around the world in Afghanistan on Oct. 21, 1972, in an attack that also left David wounded.
1975: Actress Kate Winslet, a six-time Oscar-nominee who won Best Actress for 2008's "The Reader," is born in Reading, Berkshire, England. Winslet was also nominated for "Sense and Sensibility," "Titanic," "Iris," "Little Children" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
1982: Johnson & Johnson initiates a nationwide product recall in the United States for all products in its Tylenol brand after several bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules in Chicago are found to have been laced with cyanide, resulting in seven deaths. The incidents would lead to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws. The case remains unsolved and no suspects have been charged.
1983: Earl Silas Tupper, the inventor of Tupperware, dies at the age of 76. Tupper developed a method for purifying black polyethylene slag, a waste product produced in oil refinement, into a substance that was flexible, tough, non-porous, non-greasy and translucent. Second, he developed the Tupper seal, an airtight, watertight lid modeled on the lid for paint containers. Together, these innovations laid the foundations for the future success of Tupperware as a consumer product.
1983: Actor Jesse Eisenberg ("Zombieland," "The Social Network") is born in Queens, N.Y.
1988: In a debate between United States vice presidential candidates, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen famously tells Republican Dan Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy," after Quayle defends his qualifications for office by comparing his Congressional experience to President John F. Kennedy's when he first sought the presidency.
1988: Chilean President Augusto Pinochet loses a referendum that would have provided him with a new eight-year presidential term. As a result of the vote, presidential and legislative general elections were set for the following year, putting an end to Pinochet's 16-year military dictatorship.
1989: The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet.
2000: In what becomes known as the Bulldozer Revolution, protesters from all over Serbia arrive in Belgrade to demand President Slobodan Milosevic concede electoral defeat from the country's September elections. Opposition supporters use a bulldozer to help take over Serbian state television and set fire to the Yugoslav parliament building as part of the effort. Due to pressure caused by the protests, Milosevic would end up resigning on Oct. 7.
2001: The police drama "Training Day," starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, premieres in theaters. Washington would win his first Oscar, for Best Actor, for his performance as a corrupt cop in the film.
2004: Comedian and actor Rodney Dangerfield, whose films included "Caddyshack," "Back to School" (pictured) and "Easy Money" and who is also remembered for his exasperated standup routine about getting "no respect," dies at age 82 from complications from an Aug. 24, 2004, heart valve-replacement surgery.
2011: Steve Jobs, the co-founder and longtime CEO of Apple Inc., dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.
