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MILESTONES: October 25, birthdays for Katy Perry, Ciara, Craig Robinson

Brooklyn Today

October 25, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Katy Perry. Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP
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On this day in 1926, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on the freak storm that hit the New York metropolitan area, killing three and wounding a fourth — a baby who was not expected to survive. Two of the three killed were on a steamship that exploded upon capsizing … Also on the front page was a story about Republican gubernatorial candidate Ogden L. Mills’ charge that the state’s milk supply was impure. C.F. Bigler, secretary of the New York Holstein-Fresian Association and vice president of the State Agricultural Society, contested this finding, saying that his office had conducted tests proving the milk met requirements. He charged also that Mills’ statement was harming the dairy industry.

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On this day in 1940, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that Italian planes for the first time joined the Germans and other Axis powers in bombing Great Britain. Casualties were great, as the attack came during rush hour. Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force was also conducting an air raid in Berlin, destroying railways, oil plants and docks … President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking a third term, stated that if re-elected, he will complete the full four years and not resign as soon as the war crisis is over. His Republican rival, Wendell Willkie, charged back, asking, “What’s to stop the president from seeking many more terms and become a despot?” Willkie invited Roosevelt to a debate, which the Brooklyn Democratic Club would host at the Academy of Music (now called the Brooklyn Academy of Music).

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On this day in 1952, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page’s proclaimed the Presidential campaign platforms for both General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. The latter promised to continue FDR’s New Deal programs, while Eisenhower promised to end the Korean War.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include pop star Ciara, who was born in 1986; actor Brian Kerwin, who was born in 1949; former college basketball coach and player Bobby Knight, who was born in 1940; violinist Midori, who was born in 1971; singer Katy Perry, who was born in 1984; singer and songwriter Helen Reddy, who was born in 1941; actor Craig Robinson, who was born in 1972; actress Marion Ross, who was born in 1936; and author Anne Tyler, who was born in 1941.

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GEOFFREY CHAUCER DIED ON THIS DAY IN 1400. The best-known English writer and poet of the Middle Ages, Chaucer’s greatest work, “Canterbury Tales,” consists of some 17,000 poetic lines. Unfinished at his death, it tells the stories of 23 pilgrims. Among his lesser-known prose writings is a treatise on the astrolabe titled “Brede and Milke for Children” (1387), written for “little Lewis, my son.” Chaucer died in London and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

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MINNIE PEARL, THE COMEDIAN AND GRAND OLE OPRY STAR, was born in Tennessee on this day in 1912. Pearl died in Nashville in 1996.

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PABLO PICASSO WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1881. Called by many the greatest artist of the 20th century, Picasso excelled as a painter, sculptor and engraver. He is said to have commented once, “I am only a public entertainer who has understood his time.” Picasso died in 1973.

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JOHN BERRYMAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1914. He is considered one of the most innovative, important American poets of the 20th century and is best known for bringing idiomatic American English to poetry. Winner of the 1965 Pultizer Prize for “77 Dream Songs” and, later, the National Book Award for the entire “Dream Songs” collection, Berryman died in 1972 in Minnessotta.

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THIS WEEK IS INTERNATIONAL MAGIC WEEK. It is a week to celebrate the world of magic and the magicians who create it. Annually, it culminates on Oct. 31, the anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death and Magic Day.

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

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“It takes a long time to become young.” — Pablo Picasso, who was born on this day in 1881

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