MILESTONES: August 16, birthdays for Steve Carell, Madonna, Angela Bassett

August 16, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Steve Carell. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress ANGELA BASSETT, who was born in 1958; Oscar Award-winning director JAMES CAMERON, who was born in 1954; actor and comedian STEVE CARELL, who was born in 1963; TV personality and singer KATHIE LEE GIFFORD, who was born in 1953; Oscar Award-winning actor TIMOTHY HUTTON, who was born in 1960; actress LAURA INNES, who was born in 1960; Grammy Award-winning singer MADONNA, who was born in 1958; actress JULIE NEWMAR, who was born in 1933; actor and theater founder JEFF PERRY, who was born in 1955; actor REGINALD VELJOHNSON, who was born in 1952; and actress LESLEY ANN WARREN, who was born in 1946.

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TODAY IS NATIONAL ROLLER COASTER DAY. On this day in 1878, Richard Knudsen and J.G. Taylor received a U.S. patent for the first wooden roller coaster. The device consisted of two adjacent railway tracks that ran between two towers carrying four-passenger cars; the force of gravity would pull the cars down gently sloping hills. The cars were then hauled upward and into the opposite tower for the return trip. Several years later, LaMarcus Thompson was credited for building the first authentic ride of this type in Coney Island.

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ELVIS PRESLEY DIED ON THIS DAY IN 1977. One of America’s most popular singers, Presley was pronounced dead at the Memphis Baptist Hospital at 3:30 p.m. at age 42. The anniversary of his death is an occasion for pilgrimages by admirers to Graceland, his home and gravesite, in Memphis, Tennessee.

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THE KLONDIKE GOLD DISCOVERY TOOK PLACE ON THIS DAY IN 1896. According to the oral tradition of the Tagish First Nations People, Skookum Jim, Dawson Charlie and George Carmack found gold in Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River, lying “thick between the flaky slabs like cheese sandwiches.” This event, which led to the great Klondike Gold Rush, is celebrated in the Yukon each year with a public holiday, Discovery Day, observed on the nearest Monday.

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BABE RUTH DIED ON THIS DAY IN 1948. Baseball fans of all ages and all walks of life mourned when the great “Bambino” died of cancer in New York City at the age of 53. Born Feb. 6, 1895, in Baltimore, the left-handed pitcher and “Sultan of Swat” hit 714 home runs in 22 major league seasons of play and played in 10 World Series. His body lay in state at the main entrance of Yankee Stadium, where people waited in line for hours to march past the coffin. On Aug. 19, countless people surrounded St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral Mass and lined the streets along the route to the cemetery as America bade farewell to one of baseball’s greatest legends.

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

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“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.”