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MILESTONES: August 24 birthdays for Ava DuVernay, Dave Chappelle, Brett Gardner

August 24, 2020 Brooklyn Eagle History
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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Classical Gas” composer Mason Williams, who was born in 1938; “Fatal Attraction” star Anne Archer, who was born in 1947; “Ender’s Game” author Orson Scott Card, who was born in 1951; former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, who was born in 1952; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was born in 1955; former heavyweight boxer Gerry Cooney, who was born in 1956; “Three Men and a Baby” star Steve Guttenberg, who was born in Brooklyn in 1958; Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., who was born in 1960; Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin, who was born in 1965; Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was born in 1965; “Selma” director Ava DuVernay, who was born in 1972; “Chappelle’s Show” star Dave Chappelle, who was born in 1973; “One Tree Hill” star Chad Michael Murray, who was born in 1981; N.Y. Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, who was born in 1983; and “Harry Potter” star Rupert Grint, who was born in 1988. 

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FIRE IN THE SKY: Mount Vesuvius erupted on this day in A.D. 79. The volcano in southern Italy destroyed the cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum. Pliny the Younger, who escaped the disaster, wrote of it to the historian Tacitus: “Black and horrible clouds, broken by sinuous shapes of flaming winds, were opening with long tongues of fire.”

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ANARCHY IN THE U.S.A.: British forces briefly invaded and raided Washington, D.C., on this day in 1814. The soldiers burned the White House, the Capitol and most other public buildings. President James Madison and other high U.S. government officials fled to safety until the invaders departed the city two days later.

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IT’S A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL: On this day in 2006, at the annual International Astronomical Union meeting at Prague, Czech Republic, 424 astronomers voted to demote Pluto from planet status. They determined that Pluto is instead a dwarf planet.

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

 

Quotable:

 

“If your dream is only about you, it’s too small.”

— Ava DuVernay, who was born on this day in 1972

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