Happy Birthday RIP George Campbell Scott(1927–1999) Peter Boyle Jr(1935–2006) Erin Moran(1960–2017) Charles “Chuck” Berry(1926–2017) ; Dawn Wells–79 Michael Ditka(Dyczko)–78 Pamela Dawber–66 Martina Navratilova–61 Jean-Claude Van Damme(Varenberg)–57 Zachary Efron–30 ; 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day ; 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service