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MILESTONES: June 23, birthdays for Jason Mraz, Randy Jackson, Melissa Rauch

Brooklyn Today

June 23, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 173rd day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Randy Jackson and Frances McDormand, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a front-page article titled “Dogs, Horses Parade to Plaudits of Public.”

The article focused on Brooklyn’s first Dog and Horse Parade.

“Big dogs, little dogs, old dogs, dogs with long ears and dogs with nothing in their favor except that they were happy — these and others, their owners guiding them, did their stuff along Eastern Parkway, from Rogers Avenue to Grand Army Plaza and on to the Long Meadow of Prospect Park,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor BRYAN BROWN, who was born in 1947; former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services SYLVIA MATTHEWS BURWELL, who was born in 1965; actor JOEL EDGERTON, who was born in 1974; musician and TV personality RANDY JACKSON, who was born in 1956; pianist and conductor JAMES LEVINE, who was born in 1943; Oscar Award-winning actress FRANCES McDORMAND, who was born in 1957; singer JASON MRAZ, who was born in 1977; Olympic gymnast CHELLSIE MEMMEL, who was born in 1988; actress MELISSA RAUCH, who was born in 1980; actor TED SHACKELFORD, who was born in 1946; Olympic gymnast BRIDGET SLOAN, who was born in 1992; Supreme Court Associate Justice CLARENCE THOMAS, who was born in 1948; football player LaDANIAN TOMLINSON, who was born in 1979; professional dancer and TV personality LOIUS VAN AMSTEL, who was born in 1972; and soccer coach and former player ZINEDINE ZIDAN, who was born in 1972.

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ALAN TURING WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1912. The British mathematician, logician and cryptographer is recognized as the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence. In 1936, Turing created the “Turing Machine,” an abstract information-processing mathematical model that foreshadowed digital computers. During World War II, he was a member of the top-secret code-breaking team at England’s Bletchley Park. The decoding team saved incalculable Allied lives. Turing was made a member of the Order of the British Empire for his wartime service. In 1945, Turing designed the Automatic Computing Engine — what would have been the first digital computer had it been built. In the 1950s, Turing devised the “Turing Test” that would determine the success of an artificial intelligence machine (of whether it was thinking). Turing was stripped of his government security clearance after being convicted in 1952 for “gross indecency” — Turing was openly gay and homosexuality was a crime in England. He committed suicide in 1954 in England. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a posthumous royal pardon for his criminal conviction.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE “THE BREAKFAST CLUB” RADIO PREMIERE. “The Breakfast Club with Don McNeil,” which hit radio airwaves in 1933, had a 35-year run. It was carried by 400 affiliates, and tickets became as sought-after as those for a taping of “The Tonight Show” are today. The hour-long show included celebrities such as Fran Allison of “Kukla, Fran and Ollie” fame. Its popularity, however, stemmed mainly from regular features such as “Memory Time,” when McNeil read poems and letters from listeners. During World War II, “Prayer Time” was started. McNeil’s “Call to Breakfast,” which was announced every 15 minutes, invited listeners to get up and march around the breakfast table.

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

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“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” — mathematician Alan Turing, who was born on this day in 1912