DAY IN HISTORY

Friday, December 13, 2019

Today is the 347th day of 2019 and the 82nd day of autumn. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1577, Sir Francis Drake left England on a three-year voyage around the world.

In 1972, American astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt began the third and final lunar excursion of the Apollo 17 mission. They remain the most recent humans to set foot on the moon.

In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston following sex abuse scandals in the archdiocese.

In 2003, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. military forces in a small underground hideout near Tikrit, Iraq.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), poet; Mary Todd Lincoln (18181882), first lady; Dick Van Dyke (1925- ), actor; Christopher Plummer (1929- ), actor; Ted Nugent (1948- ), singer-songwriter; Ben Bernanke (1953- ), economist; Steve Buscemi (1957- ), actor; Rex and Rob Ryan (1962- ), football coaches/tv analysts; Mike Tirico (1966- ), sportscaster; Jamie Foxx (1967- ), actor; Sergei Fedorov (1969- ), hockey player; Taylor Swift (1989- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT:

Jamie Foxx is one of five performers to have both a Billboard No. 1 single and an Oscar win. The others are Barbra Streisand, Cher, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2007, the “Mitchell Report” was released, indicating widespread steroid use in professional baseball and naming dozens of players involved.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

“Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet selfeffacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance.” — Heinrich Heine, “History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 6 — Mary Todd Lincoln’s age when her mother died. Abraham Lincoln’s mother died when he was 9.

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 11) and last quarter moon (Dec. 18).