MILESTONES: January 9, birthdays for Sergio Garcia, Sean Paul, Chad Johnson

January 9, 2019 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sergio Garcia AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer Joan Baez, who was born in 1941; former basketball player Muggsy Bogues, who was born in 1965; Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, who was born in 1982; actress Nina Dobrev, who was born in 1989; golfer Sergio Garcia, who was born in 1980; singer Crystal Gayle, who was born in 1951; BMX bike racer Mat Hoffman, who was born in 1972; author Judith Krantz, who was born in 1928; singer and musician Dave Matthews, who was born in 1967; actress Joely Richardson, who was born in 1965; Oscar Award-winning actor J.K. Simmons, who was born in 1955; Hall of Fame football player and former coach Bart Starr, who was born in 1934; and actress Imelda Staunton, who was born in 1956.

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SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1908. The French author who wrote both novels and treatises on ethics and feminism was known as one of the foremost Existentialist writers of the 20th century. Her novel “The Mandarins” won the highest literary award in France. “The Second Sex” lays out her theories of feminism. Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986.

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TODAY IS NATIONAL CLEAN-OFF-YOUR-DESK DAY. The day is meant to provide one day early each year for every worker to see the top of the desk and prepare for the following year’s paperwork.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ST. PETERSBURG MASSACRE. In 1905, guards at St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace opened fire on some 150,000 unarmed protesting workers, killing at least 200. This event was the major catalyst for revolution in Russia that year, prompting more strikes and uprisings.

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MURAT BERNARD “CHIC” YOUNG WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1901. He is known for creating the comic strip “Blondie” in 1930. Originally about a jazz-age flapper who marries a playboy from a socially prominent family, “Blondie” soon changed its direction: two children and a dog were added to the cast, Dagwood became a working stiff and the strip focused on middle-class family situations and problems. “Blondie” introduced America to the “dagwood,” an enormous sandwich made during Dagwood’s late-night forays in the refrigerator. He died in Florida in 1973.

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CARRIE LANE CHAPMAN CATT WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1859. The American women’s rights leader founded the National League of Women Voters in 1919. She died in 1947 in New York.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF AVIATION IN AMERICA. Jean-Pierre Francois Blanchard made the first manned free-balloon flight in America’s history in Philadelphia in 1793. The event was watched by President George Washington and many other high government officials. The hydrogen-filled balloon rose to a height of about 5,800 feet, traveled some 15 miles and landed 46 minutes later in New Jersey. Reportedly, Blanchard had one passenger on the flight — a little black dog.

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RICHARD NIXON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1913. Nixon served as 36th vice president of the U.S. under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953–1961 and was the 37th U.S. president, serving 1969–1974. He resigned while under the threat of impeachment, making him the first U.S. president to do so. Nixon died in New York in 1994.

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

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“To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.” — Simone de Beauvoir, who was born on this day in 1908