MILESTONES: December 26, birthdays for Jared Leto, Jon Bellion, Aaron Ramsey

December 26, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Jared Leto. Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP

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Notable people born on this day include actress Beth Behrs, who was born on this day in 1985; singer and TV personality Chris Daughtry, who was born in 1979; Hall of Fame baseball player Carlton Ernest Fisk, who was born in 1947; actor Kit Harington, who was born in 1986; former tennis player Marcelo Rios, who was born in 1975; Hall of Fame baseball player Ozzie Smith, who was born in 1954; and music producer Phil Spector, who was born in New York City in 1939.

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STEVE ALLEN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1921. The American entertainer and TV pioneer was born in New York City. Allen created the original “Tonight Show” for NBC in 1953. He is also known as a composer and the author of more than 40 books. He died in California in 2000.

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THE FIRST BLACK MAN WON THE HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP ON THIS DAY IN 1908. Jack Johnson became the first black man to win the heavyweight boxing championship when he knocked out Tommy Burns in the 14th round of a fight at Sydney.

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TODAY IS BOXING DAY AT THE HEMINGWAY BIRTHPLACE. The Hemingway family celebrated Boxing Day with extended family, eating special foods and sharing literary works and poetry. The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park re-creates this holiday celebration with English tea, music and dramatic readings of Christmas tales at the writer’s birthplace in Oak Park, Illinois.

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KWANZA IS CELEBRATED TODAY. The African-American family observance was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga in recognition of traditional African harvest festivals. This seven-day festival stresses unity of the black family, with a harvest feast (karamu) on the first day and a day of meditation on the final one. Kwanzaa means “first fruit” in Swahili.

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MAO TSE-TUNG WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1893. The Chinese librarian, teacher, communist revolutionist and “founding father” of the People’s Republic of China was born in Hunan Province, China. He died in Beijing in 1976.

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HENRY MILLER WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1891. The controversial novelist was born in New York City. His first novel, “Tropic of Cancer” (1934), was banned in the U.S. and Great Britain for obscenity, as were his next two novels, “Black Spring” (1936) and “Tropic of Capricorn” (1939). Miller died in Pacific Palisades in 1980.

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

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“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” — Henry Miller, who was born on this day in 1891