MILESTONES: January 28, birthdays for Rick Ross, Elijah Wood, Sarah McLachlan

January 28, 2019 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Rick Ross. Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Alan Alda, who was born in 1936; actor John Beck, who was born in 1943; Olympic heptathlete Jessica Ennis, who was born in 1986; actress Susan Howard, who was born in 1943; actress Harley Jane Kozak, who was born in 1957; singer Sarah McLachlan, who was born in 1968; actress Kathryn Morris, who was born in 1969; artist Claes Oldenburg, who was born in 1929; rapper Rick Ross, who was born in 1976; former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy, who was born in 1955; U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who was born in 1947; and actor Elijah Wood, who was born in 1981.

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‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’ WAS PUBLISHED ON THIS DAY IN 1813. Jane Austen’s second novel was published on this date by Thomas Egerton, in London, England. The author was 37 years old. Of her six published novels, “Pride and Prejudice” became her most famous and beloved. Its opening line is often quoted: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The novel was an immediate success, selling out its first printing before autumn.

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JACKSON POLLOCK WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1912. In postwar New York, Pollock placed his canvases on the floor and developed signature “drip” paintings, controversially incorporating the ideas of gravity and chance into the creation process. Pollock was killed in an automobile accident in 1956, in East Hampton.

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THE CHALLENGER SPACE SHUTTLE EXPLODED ON THIS DAY IN 1986. At 11:39 a.m. the space shuttle Challenger STS-51L exploded, 74 seconds into its flight and about 10 miles above the earth. Hundreds of millions around the world watched television replays of the horrifying event that killed seven people. The billion-dollar craft was destroyed, all shuttle flights suspended and much of the US manned space flight program temporarily halted. Killed were teacher Christa McAuliffe (who was to have been the first ordinary citizen in space) and six crew members: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair and Gregory B. Jarvis.

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THE ISRAELI SIEGE OF SUEZ CITY ENDED ON THIS DAY IN 1974. The Israeli army lifted its siege of Suez City, freed encircled Egyptian troops and turned over 300,000 square miles of Egyptian territory to the United Nations, thereby ending the occupation that started during the October 1973 war.

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

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“Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” — Jackson Pollock, who was born on this day in 1912.