MILESTONES: June 18, birthdays for Paul McCartney, Blake Shelton, Willa Holland

June 18, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Paul McCartney. Steve Parsons/Pool via AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 168th day of the year.

On this day in 1938, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Babe Ruth, the most popular baseball idol in the history of the game, has been signed as coach of the Brooklyn Dodgers, it was announced today. He will make his first appearance in a Brooklyn uniform tomorrow at Ebbets Field when the Dodgers meet the Chicago Cubs in a double-header expected to attract a capacity crowd … The Babe will return to the diamond for the first time since he left the Boston Braves three years ago. He will receive a salary of $15,000 for the remainder of the current season … The Babe said he would be at Ebbets Field tomorrow bright and early to don his new uniform.”

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On this day in 1873, the Eagle reported, “The trial of Miss Susan B. Anthony, for voting at the General Election in November last, was begun in the U.S. Circuit Court at Canandaigua yesterday. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Matilda J. Gage and other ladies were present. Her counsel are Henry R. Selden and John Van Voorhis, of Rochester. A jury was impaneled with little trouble. Mr. Beverly W. James, an Inspector of Election, testified for the government to the alleged illegal voting, and ex-Judge Selden addressed the jury in an argument lasting three hours. The court adjourned.”

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On this day in 1928, the Eagle reported, “The transatlantic monoplane Friendship, carrying the first woman ever to span the Atlantic by air, landed near Burry Port, Wales, at 12:40 p.m. today (6:40 a.m. Eastern standard time), just 20 hours and 49 minutes after taking off from Trepassey, Newfoundland … It had been more than just a hop across the Atlantic for [Amelia] Earhart, for she took her turn at the stick in the long journey through mist and rain that marked most of the trip.”

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On this day in 1929, the Eagle society page announced, “Miss Elizabeth Trump, daughter of Mrs. Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Rd., Jamaica Estates, L.I., was married on Sunday to William Walter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Walter of 2312 Hughes St. The ceremony was performed at the home of the bride’s mother by the Rev. Andrew F. Magill of the First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica. Miss Trump was given in marriage by her brother, Fred Trump, and had Miss Rose Walter, sister of the bridegroom, as maid of honor. Julius Walter Jr. was best man for his brother. A reception followed. After a trip through the Middle West, the couple will reside in Hollis.”

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On this day in 1931, the Eagle reported, “The snip of golden shears at 12:30 today officially made the Manhattan Bridge the city span with the greatest automobile capacity. The shears were wielded on white tape stretched across the Brooklyn end of the new 22 1/2-foot wide, $800,000 upper deck roadway on the west side of the bridge. Mayor [Jimmy] Walker did the cutting, jocular and natty and, as usual, a little late. Previously, a similar tape had been snipped at the Manhattan end. Then, preceded by motorcycle and mounted policemen and followed by more than 30 automobiles containing Brooklyn and Manhattan civic leaders, the mayor’s car crossed the highway.”

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On this day in 1940, the Eagle reported, “Winston Churchill proclaimed today to his Parliament and people the beginning of “the battle for Britain” and declared direly that its loss would plunge even the United States ‘in the abyss of a new dark age.’ To a House of Commons echoing with wild cheers, he cried, ‘Let us brace ourselves to our duty. And so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say ‘This was their finest hour.’ … If we can stand up to Hitler, all Europe may be free, and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit plains.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Hall of Fame baseball player LOU BROCK, who was born in 1939; actor EDDIE CIBRIAN, who was born in 1973; actor DAVID GIUNTOLI, who was born in 1980; model and actress WILLA HOLLAND, who was born in 1991; actress CAROL KANE, who was born in 1952; literary critic, translator and educator DONALD KEENE, who was born in 1922; actor RICHARD MADDEN, who was born in 1986; singer and songwriter PAUL McCARTNEY, who was born in 1942; author RICHARD POWERS, who was born in 1957; model and actress ISABELLA ROSSELLINI, who was born in 1952; and country singer and TV personality BLAKE SHELTON, who was born 1976.

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GEORGE MALLORY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1886. The English explorer and mountain climber was born in Cheshire, England. He was last seen climbing through the mists toward the summit of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, on the morning of June 8, 1924. He is best remembered for his answer when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest: “Because it is there.” In 1999, Mallory’s body was found by an expedition to Mount Everest, 75 years after his death at age 37.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his army of 74,000 soldiers were defeated on this day in 1815 by a combined Anglo-Allied (68,000 troops) and Prussian army (70,000 troops) led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher. The bloody battle in a gentle valley near Waterloo — a municipality then annexed to the French Republic, now part of French-speaking Belgium — ended the French First Empire and the career of Napoleon, one of the greatest commanders and statesmen in history, and ushered in half a century of international peace and stability in Europe.

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SAMMY CAHN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1913. The Tin Pan Alley legend was born in New York City. He was nominated for 26 Academy Awards and won four times for “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “All the Way,” “High Hopes” and “Call Me Irresponsible.” In the late 1940s, he began working with composer Jimmy Van Heusen, and the two in essence were the personal songwriting team for Frank Sinatra. Cahn wrote the greatest number of Sinatra hits, including “Love and Marriage,” “The Second Time Around” and “The Tender Trap.” Cahn died in 1993 in Los Angeles.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY will host “RIP Local News?” tonight at 6:30 p.m. In an environment of rapid news cycles, digital clickbait, precarious financing, and government deregulations, where local news outlets like DNA.info, Gothamist, and The Village Voice closing or in flux, what is the future of serious local news reporting? NY1 reporter Jeanine Ramirez moderates a conversation between Gothamist publisher Jake Dobkin, former Village Voice staff writer Tom Robbins and Bklyner editor Liena Zagare. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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

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“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” — explorer and mountain climber George Mallory, who was born on this day in 1886