MILESTONES: August 31 birthdays for Van Morrison, Debbie Gibson, Tom Coughlin
NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Allison (The Crickets), who was born in 1939; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Van Morrison, who was born in 1945; violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman, who was born in 1945; former N.Y. Giants coach and two-time Super Bowl champion Tom Coughlin, who was born in 1946; Scorpions founder Rudolf Schenker, who was born in 1948; “Pretty Woman” star Richard Gere, who was born in 1949; “Earth Girls Are Easy” star Julie Brown, who was born in 1954; The Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock, who was born in 1957; Squeeze co-founder Glenn Tilbrook, who was born in 1957; “Lost in Your Eyes” singer Debbie Gibson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1970; “Rush Hour” star Chris Tucker, who was born in 1971; and swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Ian Crocker, who was born in 1982.
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THE PARTY’S OVER: Solidarity was founded on this day in 1980. The Polish trade union was formed at the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk. It was outlawed by the Communist government and many of its leaders were arrested. Led by Lech Walesa, Solidarity persisted in its opposition to the Communists, and on Aug. 19, 1989, Polish President Wojciech Jaruzelski astonished the world by nominating for the post of prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a former deputy in the Polish Assembly and editor in chief of Solidarity’s weekly newspaper, bringing to an end 42 years of Community Party domination.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.