January 1 birthdays
1735 PAUL REVERE American patriot
Revere is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. After the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade.
1863 PIERRE DE COUBERTIN French educator
De Coubertin is known as the father of the modern Olympic movement. He was founder of the International
Olympic Committee and its second president.
1895 JOHN EDGAR HOOVER
American FBI director
Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924 and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935. He remained director for another 37 years until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with establishing a national fingerprint database.
1912 KIM PHILBY British spy
Philby was a British intelligence officer and double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be part of a spy ring which had divulged secrets to the Soviets during World War II. Philby defected to Moscow, where he lived until his death in 1988.
1919 J.D. SALINGER American novelist
Salinger is best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, a depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence. Before its publication, he published several short stories in Story magazine and served in World War II. Salinger was a recluse in later life.
1919 ROCKY GRAZIANO American boxer
Graziano held the World Middleweight title. He fought many of the best middleweight fighters of the era, including Sugar Ray Robinson.
Graziano’s turbulent and violent life story was the basis of the Oscar-winning 1956 film Somebody Up There Likes Me.
1942 JUDY STONE Australian singer
For much of the 1960s, Stone was a regular performer on the television program Bandstand. Her Top 20 singles on the charts included I’ll Step Down, and 4,003,221 Tears from Now.