Daily Archives: June 30, 2012

‘The Guiding Light’ debuts on CBS-TV 60 years ago this hour (1952)


Video: '1952: Guiding Light in TV'

(Monday, June 30, 1952, 2:30 p.m. EST) — Meta laments to her sister Trudy that she has left her husband Joe and her step-daughter Kathy hates her on today’s CBS television debut of The Guiding Light, a popular radio program for 15 years now. The soap opera is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television history, running 57 years until 2009.

Rommel reaches El Alamein near Alexandria 70 years ago today (1942)


Video: Rommel reaches El Alamein (at 8:15)

(Tuesday, June 30, 1942, part of Western Desert Campaign of World War II) — Following the Battle of Gazala, Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Erwin Rommel’s Panzer Army Africa today approached the British at an insignificant railway station at El Alamein, 66 miles from Alexandria, in preparation for the First Battle of El Alamein, which would begin tomorrow.