MILESTONES: February 6, birthdays for Tom Brokaw, Tinashe, Axl Rose

February 6, 2019 Meaghan McGoldrick

Tom Brokaw. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include journalist and author Tom Brokaw, who was born in 1940; singer and actor Fabian, who was born in 1943; actor Mike Farrell, who was born in 1939; actress Gayle Hunnicutt, who was born in 1943; Tony Award-winning stage and screen actor Barry Miller, who was born in 1958; actress Kathy Najimy, who was born in 1957; actress Gigi Perreau, who was born in 1941; singer Axl Rose, who was born in 1962; actor Rip Torn, who was born in 1931; actor and director Robert Townsend, who was born in 1957; actor Michael Tucker, who was born in 1945; and actress Mamie Van Doren, who was born in 1931.

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BABE RUTH WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1895. One of baseball’s greatest heroes, he was dubbed the “Sultan of Swat.” Ruth hit 714 home runs in 22 major league seasons of play and played in 10 World Series. He died in New York in 1948.

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MARY LEAKEY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1913. The English archaeologist and paleoanthropologist is known for her discoveries that were instrumental in the scientific understanding of the pattern of human evolution. For 50 years, she worked at various excavation sites in eastern Africa, with the majority of her research taking place in Tanzania. She discovered the skull of Proconsul africanus — a 25-million-year-old common ancestor of both early humans and apes — and a 3.5-million-year-old preserved trail of hominid footprints that conclusively proved human bipedalism at that date. Leakey died in Kenya in 1996.

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RONALD REAGAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1911. The former U.S. president was the oldest and first divorced person to become president. Before he assumed office, he worked as a sportscaster, motion picture actor and served as the governor of California. The “Great Communicator” ushered in a decade of conservative policies upon his election in 1980 and was a strong critic of Communist states: he famously challenged Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” at the Berlin Wall in 1987. Reagan died in California in 2004.

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AARON BURR WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1756. The third U.S. vice president is remembered for his and Alexander Hamilton’s deadly duel. While vice president, he challenged political enemy Hamilton to a duel and mortally wounded him in 1804. In 1807 Burr was arrested, tried for treason (in an alleged scheme to invade Mexico and set up a new nation in the West) and acquitted. He died in Staten Island in 1836.

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BOB MARLEY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1945. With his group the Wailers, Marley became one of the most popular and influential performers of reggae music. He died of cancer in Florida in 1981.

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

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“Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you. You just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” — musician Bob Marley, who was born on this day in 1945