Brooklyn Boro

July 18, birthdays for Joe Torre, Kristen Bell, Chace Crawford

Brooklyn Today

July 18, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn native and former Yankees manager Joe Torre, right, sits during pregame introductions before the Yankees annual Old Timers Day baseball game on June 16. Today is Torre's birthday. AP Photo/Kathy Willens
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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 201st day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1905, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “97 Degrees of Heat, but a Fall in Humidity.”

The article focused on heat-related deaths and suffering in Brooklyn due to record high temperatures.

“Luckily for the suffering inhabitants of the city, the rapid rise in temperature after the sun got up was accompanied by a decreasing humidity,” the Eagle reported. “If the heat of today were accompanied by last week’s humidity, the destructive effects on man and beast would be beyond calculation … Up to noon 30 horses had died from the heat in Brooklyn alone.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress KRISTEN BELL, who was born in 1980; Emmy Award-winning actor JAMES BROLIN, who was born in 1941; sportscaster and Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater DICK BUTTON, who was born in 1929; actor CHACE CRAWFORD, who was born in 1985; actor VIN DIESEL, who was born in New York City in 1967; singer DION DIMUCCI, who was born in 1939; golfer NICK FALDO, who was born in 1957; publisher and chairman of Forbes Newspapers STEVE FORBES, who was born in 1947; astronaut, first American to orbit Earth and former U.S. Sen. JOHN GLENN, who was born in 1921; former basketball player ANFERNEE “PENNY” HARDAWAY, who was born in 1972; actress MARGO MARTINDALE, who was born in 1951; actress ELIZABETH MCGOVERN, who was born in 1961; Martha and the Vandellas singer MARTHA REEVES, who was born in 1941; musician and singer RICKY SKAGGS, who was born in 1954; baseball executive and former manager and player JOE TORRE, who was born in New York City in 1940; and poet YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO, who was born in 1933.

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NELSON MANDELA was born on this day in 1918. The former South African president was the son of a Tembu tribal chieftain at Qunu. Giving up his hereditary rights, Mandela chose to become a lawyer and earned his degree at the University of South Africa. He joined the African National Congress in 1944, eventually becoming deputy national president in 1952. His activities in the struggle against apartheid resulted in his conviction for sabotage in 1964. During his 28 years in jail, Mandela remained a symbol of hope to South Africa’s non-white majority, the demand for his release a rallying cry for civil rights activists. That release finally came Feb. 11, 1990, as millions watched via satellite television. He was the 1993 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1994, Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first all-race election there. He died in 2013.

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HUNTER S. THOMPSON was born on this day in 1939. The journalist and author was one of the first practitioners of “New,” or “Gonzo,” journalism, a style that featured first-person accounts and scathing criticism of contemporary American society. His most famous work, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” published in Rolling Stone magazine in 1972, featured an alter-ego character in search of the American dream via use of hallucinogenic drugs. Long hailed as a hero of counterculture, Thompson committed suicide at his home in 2005.

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THE FIRST PERFECT score in Olympic history was given on this day in 1975. At the Montreal Olympics, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored the first “10” with her flawless performance of the compulsory exercise on the uneven bars. The scoreboard displayed a “1.00” because it could not go up to 10. Comaneci had seven total perfect scores and won five medals, including the gold for all-around performance.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL Society will host a screening of “Food, Inc.” tonight at 6:30 p.m. as part of its Reel Food Screening & Discussion series. The event will take place at 128 Pierrepont St. and the discussion will be led by Saara Nafici, executive director of Added Value Farms, a Brooklyn-based, youth-led urban farming and compost operation. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. — The late Nelson Mandela, who was born on this day in 1918. 

 

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