Friday, June 11, 2004

 

Spotlight: Personality of the Day: Ray Charles -- the Father of Soul died yesterday at age 73. (story)

Word of the day: Brobdingnagian -- immense; enormous. Used yesterday in Maureen Dowd's column 'Epitaph and Epigone': "Never mind that back in 1989, the deferential Bush père couldn't wait to escape the Gipper's Brobdingnagian shadow." column -- (NYT free registration required). (© )

Holiday: King Kamehameha Day -- Hawaii honors Kamehameha the Great

Today's News:

• NATO -- will probably not send more troops to Iraq (story)
• Tony Blair -- Labour Party loses support in local elections (story)
• border collie -- German pet proves dogs can remember words (story)

Today's History:

• Henry VIII -- married Catherine of Aragon (1509)
• Margaret Thatcher -- wins third consecutive term of office (1987)
• Timothy McVeigh -- was executed by injection for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (2001)

Today's Birthdays:

• Jacques-Yves Cousteau -- underwater explorer and filmmaker (1910-1997)
• Gene Wilder -- frizzy-haired star of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein turns 69
• Joe Montana -- legendary American football quarterback turns 48