Happy New Year !!!
The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays and it was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4,000 years ago. Early new year celebrations were observed after the first day of spring and lasted for 11 days (no more talk about a hangover from New Year's Eve please). The Roman senate in 153 BC declared January 1 as the beginning of the new year although the date bounced back and forth until our pal Julius Caesar established January 1 as the permanent date in 46 BC. HAIL CAESAR !!!
The first major city to celebrate the new year will be Sydney, Australia, given that they're 18 hours ahead of us. Sydney (sorry, New York) will also have the biggest crowd when the ball, or kiwi or whatever they use there, drops. 1.2 million will usher in 2006 down under. New York and London will average between 800,000 and a million celebrants...
We've been dropping the ball in Times Square for 100 years and this year we add an additional second of time because of a formula I still don't understand that states that somewhere we lost a second. Don't ask, just enjoy...
Dick Clark will make his first appearance since suffering a stroke a year ago and we all wish Dick well and look forward to seeing him on New Year's Eve again, as we have since 1972. And it will indeed be a happy new year for the Phillips household as my son Rob and his wife Mervin are the proud parents of a new baby girl. Allyson Mireya Phillips was born this morning at 3:52 at Long Island Jewish Hospital. Mother and baby are well and looking forward to a happy new year...
And more on the Times Square celebration follows in my commentary...
December 30 Memories...
1861) U.S. banks stop making payments in gold (bank robbers rejoice, no more hernias)...
1731) The 1st music concert is held in the U.S. in Peter Pelham's great room in Boston (entertainment provided by the J. Geils Band)...
1903) Nearly 600 die when fire breaks out in the Iroquois Theater in Chicago...
1922) The USSR was formed (Communists rejoice)...
1953) The 1st color TV sets go on sale for $1,175...
1954) The 24-second shot clock is used for the 1st time in the NBA in a game between the Celtics and Rochester...
1956) The Giants win their 3rd NFL championship, 47-7 over Chicago at a frozen Yankee Stadium. Alex Webster rushes for 2 TDs and catches 5 passes from Chuck Conerly for 76 yards. The Giants wear sneakers on the frozen field...
1962) The Green Bay Packers beat the Giants 16-7 to win the NFL championship...
1963) "Let's Make A Deal" joins the daytime lineup on NBC-TV...
1967) "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles tops the charts for the 1st of 3 weeks...
1970) Paul McCartney sues the other 3 Beatles to dissolve the partnership and gain control of his interest (4 years to the date, The Beatles are legally disbanded)...
1971) The Long Island NHL franchise is purchased. The Islanders are born...
1972) President Nixon halts the heavy bombing of North Vietnam...
1978) Ohio State University fires coach Woody Hayes (follow up of yesterday's feature story)...
1981) Wayne Gretzky scores 5 goals in an Edmonton win, bringing his season total to a record setting 50 goals in his 39th game (from this game on, Gretzky becomes known as "The Great One")...
1999) George Harrison and his wife are attacked in their West London estate. Harrison was stabbed in the chest 4 times but he and his wife somehow manage to subdue the assailant until police arrive...
2002) Diana Ross is arrested in Tucson on suspicion of drunken driving (hey c'mon, it's New Years)...
2003) The federal government bans ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1928) Bo Diddley...
1935) Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax...
1937) Paul (Peter, Paul & Mary) Stookey...
1942) Michael Nesmith (Monkees)...
1945) Davy Jones (Monkees)...
1946) Patti Smith...
1957) Matt Lauer...
1959) Tracey Ullman...
1975) Tiger Woods...
1984) LeBron James...
2005) Allyson Mireya Phillips...
Commentary...
The Times Square ball statistics:
- Over 500 Waterford crystal triangles are used for the exterior...
- measures 6 feet in diameter...
- weighs 1,070 pounds...
- travels a distance of 77 feet on a pole atop One Times Square to light up the new year, 2006...
Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...2006...
Saturday, December 31, 2005...
December 31 Memories...
1857) Britain's Queen Victoria decides to make Ottawa the capitol of Canada...
1879) Thomas Edison publicly demonstrates his electric incandescent light for the 1st time in Menlo Park, NJ...
1897) Brooklyn spends its last day as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City...
1929) Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians play "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the 1st time...
1935) Charles Darrow patents the game of Monopoly...
1943) Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater...
1946) President Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II...
1947) Many "Happy Trails" to follow as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans walk down the aisle...
1955) GM becomes the 1st U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year...
1956) The front page of The Wall Street Journal reports that in the past few months Elvis Presley merchandise has grossed $22 million in sales...
1961) The Beach Boys play a show under their name for the 1st time at a Ritchie Valens memorial concert in Long Beach, CA (they earn $300 for their efforts)...
1962) "The Match Game" debuts in daytime on NBC-TV with Gene Rayburn as host...
1966) "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees goes to #1 where it stays for 7 weeks...
1967) The Green Bay Packers beat Dallas in the "Ice Bowl" 21-17 to win the NFL championship (the wind chill was 40 below zero on the "frozen tundra")...
1972) Future Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente is killed on a mission of mercy when the cargo plane he had chartered crashes into the Caribbean (Clemente, 38, was on his way to help victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake)...
1974) Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs a $3.75 million, 5-year contract with the Yankees...
1974) Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac...
1975) Elvis Presley performs for 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan and sets a world record by earning $800,000 for a single concert by a single performer...
1976) The Cars make their debut at Pease Air Force Base in Plymouth, NH...
1985) One of America's 1st teen idols, Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash on his way to a New Year's Eve concert in Dallas, Texas. Probable cause of the crash was mechanical problems. Rick was just 45...
1986) A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, PR. kills 97 and injures 140 (3 hotel workers later plead quilty to charges in connection with the fire)...
1997) Michael Kennedy, 39-year old son of the late Bobby Kennedy, is killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado...
1999) Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigns, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is named acting president...
1999) Control of the Panama Canal reverts to Panama...
1999) Sarah Knauss dies at 119. Sarah was the world's oldest person, born on September 24, 1880...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1937) Anthony Hopkins...
1943) Ben Kingsley...
1947) The Guess Who's Burton Cummings...
1948) Donna Summer...
1958) Bebe Neuwirth...
1959) Val Kilmer...
1972) Joey McIntyre...
Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...2006!!!
Sunday, January 1, 2006...
January 1 Memories...
0404) The last gladiator competition is held in Rome (what would that fetch on pay-per-view ?)...
1785) London's oldest daily paper, "The Daily Universal Register" (later renamed "The Times" in 1788) is published for the 1st time...
1797) Albany becomes the capital of New York state, replacing New York City...
1863) Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that slaves in rebel states are free...
1892) The Ellis Island Immigrant Station opens in New York Harbor...
1898) Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are consolidated into New York City ("I'll take Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island too", etc.)...
1902) The 1st Tournament of Roses (later renamed the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game is played in Pasadena, CA (still is)...
1929) In this Rose Bowl game, California's Roy Riegels picks up a fumble and "he could go all the way", only it's in the wrong direction until a teammate turns him around. He's tackled on the 1-yard line, preventing a very embarassing safety. Georgia Tech wins the game 8-7...
1938) Stanford University's Hank Luisetti becomes the 1st college player to score 50 points as the Cardinal beat Duquesne 92-27 (Luisetti is the player who revolutionized the one-handed "runner")...
1953) Hank Williams is found dead in his car, a victim of a drug and alcohol overdose at 29...
1956) Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel" for RCA in Nashville...
1959) Fidel Castro overthrows the government of Fulgencio Batista and seizes power in Cuba...
1962) Decca Records in London passes on The Beatles (signing the immortal Brian Polle & the Tremeloes instead)...
1964) The Beach Boys record "Fun, Fun, Fun"...
1966) Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" tops the charts...
1966) Tobacco companies in the U.S. start carrying "Caution: cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health" warnings...
1966) The final episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" is filmed...
1967) The FCC starts requiring AM/FM stations to be at least 50% separate in programming...
1968) The Blue Velvets change their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival...
1971) Tobacco commercials (representing $20 million in advertising) are banned from TV and Radio...
1984) AT&T is broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement...
1985) VH-1 premieres...
1985) The 1st mandatory seat belt law goes into effect in New York...
1990) David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's 1st black mayor...
1992) ESPN starts a Radio Network...
1994) Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft and Marilyn French merg-uh, marry...
1994) NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) goes into effect...
1995) Nebraska wins the national championship by defeating Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl coming back from a 17-9 deficit (it's coach Tom Osborne's 1st title after more than 2 decades as a coach)...
1995) The last "Far Side" cartoon runs. Started in 1980 by Gary Larson, "Far Side" books and calendars continue to be published...
1999) The "euro" becomes currency for 11 member states of the European Union (coins and notes vanish after 1/1/02)...
2000) The calendar switches over to 2000 with none of the computer glitches that were predicted (thanks to computer geeks everywhere that stuck "2YK" stickers on everything that moved)...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1919) J. D. Salinger (he's out there somewhere in New Hampshire)...
1940) Frank Langella...
1942) Country Joe (Country Joe & the Fish) McDonald...
1943) Don (a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci) Novello...
Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year 2006...
Monday, January 2, 2006...
January 2 Memories...
1842) The 1st wire suspension bridge is opened to traffic, in Fairmount, PA...
1870) Construction begins on the Brooklyn Bridge...
1872) Brigham Young, 71-year old leader of the Mormon Church is arrested on a charge of bigamy for having 25 wives (what's the over/under on wives, 24 ?)...
1935) Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial in Flemington, NJ on charges of kidnapping and murdering the Lindbergh baby. Hauptmann is found guilty and executed...
1938) Simon and Schuster is founded...
1948) Channel 13 (WNDT) begins broadcasting in the New York Metropolitan area (call letters will later change to WNET)...
1960) Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination...
1962) The nighttime version of "Password" with Allen Ludden premieres on CBS-TV...
1965) Alabama quarterback Joe Namath signs a 3-year, $427,000 contract with the New York Jets (standing under the goal posts of the Orange Bowl where his team lost to Texas one day earlier)...
1968) Newark, NJ police confiscate a shipment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's LP, "Two Virgins" because it contained a nude cover...
1974) President Nixon signs legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph...
1979) The trial of ex-Sex pistol Sid Vicious for the October, 1978 murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen opens in New York City. Vicious will die from a heroin overdose and not live to hear the verdict...
1980) Larry Williams ("Short Fat Fannie", "Bony Maronie") is found dead in his Los Angeles home (the gunshot wound to his head is never confirmed as the result of a murder of suicide)...
1982) The highest scoring playoff game in NFL history goes to San Diego as they beat Miami 41-38...
1984) Bernie Kosar-led Miami beats Nebraska 31-30 for the national title as coach Tom Osborne's attempt at a 2-point conversion fails...
1987) Penn State intercepts Miami's Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde 5 times on their way to a Fiesta Bowl win (14-10) to give coach Joe Paterno his 2nd national title in 5 seasons...
1998) An autopsy of comedian Chris Farley shows he overdosed on opiates and cocaine...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1930) Julius LaRosa...
1939) TV evangelist Jim Bakker...
1964) Lynn Suzanne Phillips (my daughter now living in New Zealand)...
1967) Tia Carrere...
1968) Cuba Gooding Jr...
1969) Christy Turlington...
1972) Taye Diggs...
Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year...Happy New Year 2006...
