MILESTONES: January 7, birthdays for Katie Couric, Nicolas Cage, Jann Wenner

January 7, 2019 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Katie Couric AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Nicolas Cage, who was born in 1964; actor David Caruso, who was born in 1956; journalist Katie Couric, who was born in 1957; actor Brett Dalton, who was born in 1983; former baseball player Eric Gagne, who was born in 1976; actress Erin Gray, who was born in 1950; racing driver Lewis Hamilton, who was born in 1985; singer Kenny Loggins, who was born in 1948; U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who was born in 1963; actor Jeremy Renner, who was born in 1971; former baseball player Alfonso Soriano, who was born in 1976; U.S. Sen. John R. Thune, who was born in 1961; and co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone Jann Wenner, who was born in 1946.

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THE TRANSATLANTIC PHONE CALL WAS INTRODUCED ON THIS DAY IN 1927. Commercial transatlantic telephone service between New York and London was inaugurated. There were 31 calls made the first day.

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ZORA NEALE HURSTON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1891. One of the most important African-American writers of the 20th century, Hurston was born in Alabama to a preacher and former schoolteacher. After a childhood in Eatonville, Florida, Hurston attended Barnard College and then became an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Hurston published four novels in her lifetime, including the classic “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” as well as important anthropological works, short stories, plays and a moving memoir. She was a trailblazer in collecting regional black folklore. Hurston in Florida in 1960.

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WILLIAM BLATTY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY 1928. The American writer and filmmaker was born in New York and attended Brooklyn Preparatory in Crown Heights. His best-known work is the “The Exorcist,” for which he later wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay. He worked in the Psychological Warfare Division of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Information Agency in Beirut. He died in Maryland in 2017.

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THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS FIRST PLAYED ON THIS DAY IN 1927. Basketball promoter Abe Saperstein’s “New York Globetrotters” took the floor on this date in Hinckley, Illinois. Despite the “New York” in their name, the Globetrotters (who included Inman Jackson, Lester Johnson and Walter Wright) hailed from Chicago’s South Side. The talented African-American players — unable to play in white professional leagues — barnstormed the nation in serious basketball promotional events. They changed to “Harlem Globetrotters” in the 1930s and added humor to their games in the 1940s.

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

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“Those that don’t got it, can’t show it. Those that got it, can’t hide it.” — Zora Neale Hurston, who was born on this day in 1891.