MILESTONES: April 15, birthdays for Emma Watson, Seth Rogen, Madeleine Martin

April 15, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

Emma Watson. Yoan Valat, Pool via AP

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Olympic track athlete Evelyn Ashford, who was born in 1957; producer and writer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who was born in 1947; newspaper columnist Heloise Cruse Evans, who was born in 1951; hockey player Ilya Kovalchuck, who was born in 1983; actress Madeleine Martin, who was born in 1993: actor Seth Rogen, who was born in 1982; former football player Jason Sehorn, who was born in 1971; actress Emma Thompson, who was born in 1959; actress Emma Watson, who was born in 1990; and actress Amy Wright, who was born in 1950.

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AMERICAN NOVELIST Henry James was born on this day in 1843. The author of numerous short stories, novels, novellas and essays, James’ oeuvre included such masterpieces as “The Turn of the Screw,” “Daisy Miller” and “The Portrait of a Lady. James – who is renowned for his depictions of the clash between the old world and the new — emigrated to England in 1869, eventually settling down in the seaside town of Rye. He became a British subject in 1915. He died on Feb. 28, 1916 in London and, at his request, his ashes were returned to the United States for burial in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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ON APRIL 15, 1947, Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League baseball, breaking the color barrier in his debut game against the Boston Braves. Robinson was 0-for-3 in the outing, which fundamentally changed baseball and American history.

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THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS occurred on this date in 2013. Two pressure-cooker bombs exploded at 2:49 p.m. during the running of the Boston Marathon, which takes place annually on Patriots’ Day, a Massachusetts holiday that is observed on the third Monday in April. In total, three people were killed and several hundred others were wounded, including 16 people who lost limbs. Police quickly identified two suspects, Kyrgyz-American brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The latter died in the aftermath of a shootout with police; the former was tried and convicted of 30 charges, and sentenced to die.

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IN ONE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC CATASTROPHES of all time, the luxury ocean liner RMS Titanic, which had been deemed “unsinkable” by its owners, the British White Star Line, sank at 2:27 a.m. on April 15, only a few short hours after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic during the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York. The ship carried some 2,224 passengers and crew, over 1,500 of whom died. Captain Edward Smith, who was commanding the vessel, went down with the ship.

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“Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that what have you had?” – Henry James, who was born on this day in 1843