October 20, 2023
QUOTE
Life is like a dogsled race. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
--Lewis Grizzard
BIRTHDAYS
1913 – Grandpa Jones, Singer-songwriter and banjo player
1927 – Joyce Brothers, Psychologist, author, and actress
1931 – Mickey Mantle, Baseball player and sportscaster
1946 – Lewis Grizzard, Comedian and author
1950 – Tom Petty, Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
IN MEMORY
1964 – Herbert Hoover, Engineer and politician, 31st President of the United States
1977 – Ronnie Van Zant, Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer, songwriter
1977 – Steve Gaines, Lynyrd Syknyrd guitarist
1977 – Cassie Gaines Lynyrd Syknyrd vocalist (Steve’s older sister)
1977 – Dean Kilpatrick, Lynyrd Syknyrd road manager
1994 – Burt Lancaster, Actor
IN ON THIS DAY
1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
1818 – The Convention of 1818 is signed between the United States and the United Kingdom, which settles the Canada–United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
1944 – Liquefied natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland and then explodes, leveling 30 blocks and killing 130 people.
1961 – The Soviet Navy performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.
1977 – A plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in woodland in Mississippi. Six people, including three band members, are killed.