MILESTONES: August 31, birthdays for Larry Fitzgerald, Chris Tucker, Van Morrison

Brooklyn Today

August 31, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Larry Fitzgerald. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

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On this day in 1954, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s front page covered the passage of Hurricane Carol through Long Island. According to the article, 50,000 Brooklyn homes lost electricity and boats in Sheepshead Bay went adrift.

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On this day in 1944, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on World War II Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s successful Allied campaign into Northern France, roundly “smashing” the Nazi forces.

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On this day in 1946, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported the annihilation of the entire Communist force in Greece on the eve of a major vote to keep the monarchy in place. With the Reds’ defeat, a monarchist victory was deemed to be certain.

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On this day in 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran a front-page story that covered U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s declaration that nations not willing to sign the Japanese Peace Treaty really wanted war. Also on that page was a photo of the new Miss Brooklyn, a lovely young Irish woman from Crown Heights.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include former basketball player JENNIFER AZZI, who was born in 1968; football player LARRY FITZGERALD, who was born in 1983; singer DEBBIE GIBSON, who was born in Brooklyn in 1970; Olympic skier TED LIGETY, who was born in 1984; singer VAN MORRSION, who was born in 1945; former Olympic track athlete EDWIN CORLEY MOSES, who was born in 1955; former baseball player HIDEO NOMO, who was born in 1968; violinist ITZHAK PERLMAN, who was born in 1945; actress SARA RAMIREZ, who was born in 1975; soccer player PEPE REINA, who was born in 1982; Hall of Fame baseball player FRANK ROBINSON, who was born in 1935; actor JACK THOMPSON, who was born in 1940; singer GLENN TILBROOK, who was born in 1957; and actor and comedian CHRIS TUCKER, who was born in 1972.

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WILLIAM SHAWN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1907. As editor of The New Yorker for 35 years, Shawn was a virtual dictator of editorial policy for the magazine, which in turn had an impact on the literary and reportorial styles of writers throughout the country. Shawn died in New York City in December of 1992.

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TODAY IS IN ANNIVERSARY OF THE KLONDIKE ELDORADO GOLD DISCOVERY. Two weeks after the Rabbit/Bonanza Creek claim was filed, gold was discovered on Eldorado Creek, a tributary of Bonanza, in 1896. More than $30 million worth of gold (worth $600-$700 million in today’s dollars) was mined from the Eldorado Claim that year.

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JAMES COBURN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1928. The Academy Award-winning actor rose to fame as the knife thrower in “The Magnificent Seven” and became known for his tough-guy roles in films such as “The Great Escape” and “Our Man Flint.” He also received an Oscar for his supporting role in “Affliction.” Coburn died in Los Angeles in 2002.

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PRINCESS DIANA OF WALES DIED ON THIS DAY IN 1997. The princess, along with her companion Dodi Fayed, died in a car crash in Paris. Although press photographers had been pursuing her car, French courts determined that the paparazzi were not responsible for the crash, but rather a driver operating under the influence of alcohol. Diana, a very popular British royal who worked on behalf of many charities, was mourned the world over.

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THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS BEGAN ON THIS DAY IN 1888. At 3:40 a.m., the body of Mary Ann Nichols was found in the impoverished Whitechapel district of London. This was (debatably) the first in a series of brutal murders that autumn that claimed the lives of at least five women, perhaps more, by a serial killer who has come to be known as “Jack the Ripper” because of the mutilations he inflicted on his victims. The ferocity of the Whitechapel killings created an “Autumn of Terror” in which the entire populace of London was terrified and where mobs frequently tried to mete out justice to suspects they picked. Mary Kelly, found Nov. 9, is considered the last victim. No suspect was ever tried for the murders.

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

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“To handle a language skillfully is to practice a kind of evocative sorcery.” — poet Charles Baudelaire, who died on this day in 1867