History Brooklyn Boro

May 4, birthdays for Rory McIlroy, Erin Andrews, Cesc Fabregas

Brooklyn Today

May 4, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Golf superstar Rory McIlroy celebrates his birthday today. AP Photo/Chris Carlson

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 123rd day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Jackie Jackson and Richard Jenkins, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Leyra Case to Jury, Hinges on Hypnotism.”

The article focused on a man who confessed to murdering his parents while in a hypnotic trance.

“Defense lawyer Leo Healy, summing up late yesterday, pounded away at his theory that the confession — repudiated during the trial — was drawn from the defendant by hypnotism was untrue,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include sportscaster ERIN ANDREWS, who was born in 1978; soccer player CESC FABREGAS, who was born in 1987; baseball player BEN GRIEVE, who was born in 1976; author DAVID GUTERSON, who was born in 1956; singer JACKIE JACKSON, who was born in 1951; actor RICHARD JENKINS, who was born in 1947; golfer RORY McILROY, who was born in 1989; opera singer ROBERTA PETERS, who was born in 1930; former basketball player DAWN STALEY, who was born in 1970; country musician RANDY TRAVIS, who was born in 1959; editor, columnist and baseball executive GEORGE F. WILL, who was born in 1941; and actress, singer and dancer PIA ZADORA, who was born in 1956.

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AUDREY HEPBURN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1929. The actress’ first major movie role in “Roman Holiday” won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. She made 26 movies during her career and received four additional Oscar nominations. During the latter years of her life, Hepburn served as spokeswoman for the United Nations Children’s Fund, traveling worldwide raising money for the organization. She died in 1993 in Switzerland.

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FREEDOM RIDES BEGAN ON THIS DAY IN 1961. Civil rights advocates joined James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality to conduct “freedom rides” on buses from Washington, D.C., across the Deep South to New Orleans. The trips were intended to test Supreme Court decisions and Interstate Commerce Commission regulations prohibiting discrimination in interstate travel. In several places, riders were brutally beaten by local people and police officers. On May 14, members of the Ku Klux Klan attacked the Freedom Riders in Birmingham, Alabama while local police watched. In Mississippi, Freedom Riders were jailed. They never made it to New Orleans.

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MARIA FELIX WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1914. Referred to by some as the “goddess of Mexico’s golden age of cinema,” she appeared in more than 45 films and was awarded the first Mexico City Prize for a lifetime of distinguished achievement. Felix died in 2002 in Mexico.

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TODAY IS STAR WARS DAY. It is a day celebrated worldwide by fans of the “Star Wars” series. Fans greet each other by saying “May the 4th be with you,” have lightsaber fights and hold other movie-related events connected to the fictional world created by George Lucas.

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BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK WILL HOST A COASTAL CLEANUP TODAY FROM 10 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will help remove hundreds of pounds of trash from Pier 1 salt marshes and beaches. For more information, visit brooklynbridgepark.org.

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

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“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” — Audrey Hepburn, who was born on this day in 1929