The Legendary Lucille Ball Died

April 26th, John Wilkes Booth was killed, Arnold married Maria, Chernobyl happened, and we met a real runaway bride.

1607 - CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH landed at Cape Henry, Virginia, to establish the first permanent English settlement in America.  Then he met Indian princess POCAHONTAS.

1865 - Abraham Lincoln's assassin, JOHN WILKES BOOTH, was killed by federal troops, near Port Royal, Virginia, 50 miles south of Washington.  The spot where he died is now on U.S. Highway 301.

1973 - IRENE RYAN, Granny on "The Beverly Hillbillies," died at age 71.

1977 - New York's legendary disco STUDIO 54 opened its doors behind that  velvet rope.  It's long since closed.

1978 - RINGO STARR'S TV special, "Ringo", a musical version of "The Prince and the Pauper", aired on American television!  Ringo played BOTH characters.  GEORGE HARRISON provided the narration.

1982 - ROD STEWART was mugged in Los Angeles in broad daylight, and was robbed of his $50,000 Porsche.  He wasn't hurt.

1986 - ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER married MARIA SHRIVER.

1986 - The WORST NUCLEAR REACTOR DISASTER OF THE 20TH CENTURY occurred at the CHERNOBYL Atomic Power Station.  31 Soviets were killed instantly.  The land where Chernobyl sits (Pripyat, Ukraine) is now completely useless.

1986 - "5150", the first VAN HALEN album to feature SAMMY HAGAR, topped the charts for the first of four weeks.  The album is named after the police code for involuntary psychiatric detention, and for EDDIE VAN HALEN'S recording studio.

1989 - The legendary LUCILLE BALL died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at age 77.

1994 - GRACE SLICK (of JEFFERSON STARSHIP) pleaded guilty to pointing a shotgun at police at her Tiburon, California, home on March 5th, 1994.  It wasn't loaded.

1994 - BLACKS VOTED for the first time in South Africa, and gave the power of government to the African National Congress and PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA.

1995 - COURTNEY LOVE turned down "Playboy" magazine's $1 million offer to pose nude.

2000 - GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN of Vermont signed the nation's first bill that would allow SAME-SEX COUPLES to form civil unions.

2005 - Runaway Bride Jennifer Wilbanks disappeared from her home.  When she was found a few days later, she LIED and claimed she'd been kidnapped by a Hispanic man.

Wilbanks was looking at five years in prison on the felony charge of filing a false report but, thanks to her plea bargain, she got off with just two years of probation, some community service and a $2,250 fine to repay the sheriff's department for wasting their valuable resources.

2005 - JEB BUSH signed the "Stand Your Ground" bill into Florida law making it legal to kill someone in self-defense without even trying any non-lethal options like running away.

2006 - SNOOP DOGG'S entourage started a riot in London's Heathrow Airport after they were denied entry into British Airways' first class lounge.  As a result, Snoop was BANNED FOR LIFE from British Airways AND denied a visa to even enter the country.