MILESTONES: May 13, birthdays for Lena Dunham, Stephen Colbert, Stevie Wonder

May 13, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

Lena Dunham. Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Franklyn Ajaye, who was born in Brooklyn in 1949; actress Frances Barber, who was born in 1957; former basketball player Mike Bibby, who was born in 1978; TV host Stephen Colbert, who was born in 1964; U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who was born in 1977; actress Lena Dunham, who was born in 1986; former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who was born in 1952; actor Harvey Keitel, who was born in 1939; actor Robert Pattinson, who was born in 1986; actress Julianne Phillips, who was born in 1960; Hall of Fame basketball player Dennis Rodman, who was born in 1961, singer Darius Rucker, who was born in 1966; former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who was born in 1950 and singer Stevie Wonder, who was born in 1950.

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LOVERS OF MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD have an excuse to chow down on hummus on May 13, which is National Hummus Day. In its most basic form, the mashed chickpea spread is spiked with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, but in recent years, hummus producers have come up with an ever-expanding variety of add-ins from jalapeños to olives to beets.

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ON THIS DAY in 1914, boxing champion Joe Louis was born in 1914 near LaFayette, Alabama. Louis, who was nicknamed the “Brown Bomber,” was world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He died in 1981, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the only person ever interred at the burial ground who did not meet its eligibility rules.

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HE WAS THE VERY MODEL of a modern composer — on this date in 1842, Arthur Sullivan, who wrote 14 comic operas with librettist W.S. Gilbert, was born. Best known for “The Mikado,” “The Pirates of Penzance” and “H.M.S. Pinafore,” Gilbert and Sullivan’s names are closely associated with London’s Savoy Theatre, built in 1881 by Richard D’Oyly Carte especially to stage their creations. Sullivan died in 1900.

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MOTOWN GREAT Mary Wells was born on this date in 1943 in Detroit. Wells popularized such songs as “My Guy” and “You Beat Me to the Punch.” She died in Los Angeles in 1992.

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

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“Thankfully, dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.” — Stephen Colbert, who was born on this date in 1964