At the 1934 Academy Awards held at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, USA on 27 February 1935, the Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar went to co-stars Clark Gable (USA, 1901-1960) and Claudette Colbert (USA, b. Lily Claudette Chauchoin 1903-1996) for their performances in It Happened One Night (USA 1934).

Devin Hester (USA) playing for the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl XLI, became the first player in Super Bowl history to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown, on 5 February 2007.

The earliest refusal of an Oscar was made by Dudley Nichols (USA), screenwriter of The Informer (USA 1935) at the 1935 Academy Awards held at Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, USA, on 5 March 1936. The reason was because of a union boycott of the awards that year.

At 18 years 253 days, Sidney Crosby (b. 7 August 1987, Canada) of the Pittsburgh Penguins (USA) scored his 100th point of the season in a game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh on 17 April 2006, becoming the first rookie in National Hockey League (NHL) history to record 100 points (as well as 100 penalty minutes) in a season. Crosby finished the 2005-06 season with 102 points.

At the 1952 Academy Awards held at RKO Pantages Theatre, USA on 19 March 1953, stage actress Shirley Booth (USA, b. Thelma B. Ford 1897-1992) won Best Actress for Come Back, Little Sheba (USA 1952) based on a play she previously had performed on Broadway. Not very popular in flims – she returned to the stage, with a small stint on TV in the early 1960’s in the comedy series Hazel. When she died, it was discovered she was ten years older than most books Continue reading →

The first posthumous Oscar was awarded at the 1939 Academy Awards on 29 February 1940 to Sidney Howard for his screenplay of Gone With The Wind (USA 1939). He had been killed in a farm accident.

The first personal computer (PC), known as Simon, was released in 1950. It retailed at $600 (£214) and had a six 2-bit word memory, giving 12 bits of memory in all. It was developed by Edmund Berkeley (USA). Simon is also known as the Simon Mechanical Brain and the Simon Electromechanical Personal Computer. Berkeley outlined the idea of the Simon computer in his 1959 book Giant Brains, or Machines That Think, going on to develop his theories in a series of 13 essays published between Continue reading →

The US helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky has announced a 1 billion US dollar programme to produce the first, pilotless combat helicopter in 2011 for introduction into service by 2015 at a cost of £10.6 million each.

During the 2010 season Roy Halladay (USA) became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the regular season and a no-hitter in the same postseason. Pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies (USA), Halladay threw a perfect game against the Florida Marlins (USA) in Miami, Florida, on 29 May 2010, and a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds (USA) in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) on 6 October 2010. Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason Continue reading →

The first player in NBA history to win a title with three different franchises is John Salley (USA) while playing for the Detroit Pistons (USA, 1989-90), Chicago Bulls (USA, 1996) and Los Angeles Lakers (USA, 2000). Robert Horry (USA) has equaled Salley’s feat with championship rings from the Houston Rockets (USA, 1994-95), Los Angeles Lakers (USA, 1999-01) and San Antonio Spurs (USA, 2004). Horry is one of only twelve players with six or more championship rings.