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JANUARY BABIES by Kathy Wolfe

All kinds of famous folks were born during the month of January. This week, Tidbits brings you a few more details about these well-known people who have a January birthday.

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• Showman P.T. Barnum was responsible for discovering four-year-old Charles Sherwood Stratton in 1842 and promoting him as General Tom Thumb, the world’s best-known “midget.” Barnum was reportedly a distant relative (“half fifth cousin, twice removed”) of the tiny boy, and taught him to sing, dance, mime and do impersonations. Tom was born to normal-size parents, with a birth weight of 9 pounds, 8 ounces (4.3 kg) and grew normally for his first six months. At age 4, he had not grown at all in over three years, although he was otherwise normal and healthy, with a voracious appetite. At age 9, he began to grow once again, and at 13, he stood 2 feet, 5 inches (74 cm) tall and grew to a final adult height of 3.35 feet (102 cm), weighing 71 pounds (32 kg). At age 25, Stratton married the 32-inch-tall, 29-pound Lavinia Warren in a lavish ceremony in New York City. Following the wedding, the couple greeted 2,000 guests while standing on the Metropolitan Hotel’s grand piano, followed by a trip to meet President Lincoln at the White House. More than 10,000 people attended the funeral Tom Thumb, who died suddenly of a stroke at age 45. turn to page 5 for more January Babies!

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OVERCOMING THE ODDS:

JANUARY BOXERS

Three famous boxers claim January as their birth month — Floyd Patterson in 1935, George Foreman in 1949 and Muhammad Ali in 1942. This week, Tidbits looks into the lives of these sports heroes, all Olympic gold medalists. • Born into poverty in a North Carolina cabin, Floyd Patterson learned to box while in reform school. He was already in the limelight at 16 when he took the New York Golden Gloves title in 1951. By the following year, he had won the middleweight gold medal at the Helsinki, Finland, Olympics, and by 1953 he had turned professional. • At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight boxing championship, a title he held for nearly five years. When he retired at 37 in 1972, he had a record of 55 wins (40 knockouts), eight losses and one draw. He established an amateur boxing club, followed up by a position as New York’s State Athletic Commissioner. Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease claimed his life in 2006. • Growing up in a poor dysfunctional family, George Foreman had multiple scrapes with the law until he was enrolled in the Job Corps. His counselor there persuaded him to take up boxing, and at 21, he was a gold medal winner at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. The next year, he turned professional and won his first 40 fights, 37 by knockout. • Foreman’s first world heavyweight title came in 1973, when he knocked out the undefeated reigning champ Joe Frazier in the second round. His first defeat came in 1974 from Muhammad Ali in a fight known as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” from which Ali grabbed Foreman’s world title. • After a grueling fight in 1977, Foreman had an encounter with God and was convinced that God was asking him to change his life. He left the world of boxing, became an ordained minister and started preaching at a Houston church. In 1984, he founded the George Foreman Youth and Community Center, hoping to help dysfunctional kids as he had been helped. • When his Center began to falter financially, after 10 years away from boxing, at 38, Foreman made a comeback in order to raise money. It was a wise move, as he, at 45, became the oldest man ever to win the heavyweight title, knocking out a 26 year old. • Three-time World Heavyweight Champion, Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay Jr., a descendant of Southern slaves. His father was a billboard painter and his mother, domestic help. He nabbed the light heavyweight gold medal at Rome’s Summer Olympics in 1960. By that autumn, he had won his first professional fight. • Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after converting to Islam. In 1967, he refused to be inducted into the military because of his religious beliefs and anti-war stance. Ali was convicted of draft evasion, his title taken away, and his license suspended. Although not imprisoned, he took his appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where his conviction was reversed four years later.

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PICKS OF THE WEEK

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TOP TEN MOVIES 1. True Grit (PG-13) Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon 2. Little Fockers (PG-13) Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson 3. Season of the Witch (PG-13) Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman 4. TRON: Legacy (PG) Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund 5. Black Swan (R) Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassell 6. Country Strong (PG-13) Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw 7. The Fighter (R) Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale 8. The King’s Speech (R) Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter 9. Yogi Bear (PG) animated 10. Tangled (PG) animated

“Alice in Wonderland (60th Anniversary Edition)” (G) -- Disney’s 1951 take on Lewis Carroll’s trippy classic wasn’t one of Walt’s favorite productions, but it’s still a pretty fun little film and worth having in your Disney collection. This 60th anniversary release is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s a Blu-Ray/DVD combo, so on the upside, you get an awesome high-def picture/ sound mix, and loads of new special features featuring Kathryn Beaumont, the voice of Alice -- if you have a Blu-Ray player. For DVD ownof their fate, the three use what little time left to ers, there’s nothing new here if you already own TOP TEN VIDEO, DVD of January 15, 2011 them to embrace life and love. Disney’s previous DVD release of the film. So, take that into consideration before buying. Top 10 Video Rentals “Time Bandits” (PG) -- Most fairy tales end with 1. Salt (PG-13) Angelina Jolie “Let Me In” (R) -- Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from the hero living happily ever after, not watch- 2. The Town (R) Ben Affleck “Kick-Ass”) stars as a preteen vampire in this ing his parents explode into a bajillion chunks 3. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (PG-13) American remake of the cult Swedish original because they touched Pure Evil; but when the Michael Douglas “Let the Right One In.” The story revolves around fairy tale comes from the twisted mind of writer/ 4. Resident Evil: Afterlife (R) Milla Jovovich a boy named Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), whose director Terry Gilliam (“Brazil,” “12 Monkeys”) 5. Inception (PG-13) Leonardo DiCaprio parents are divorcing and who constantly gets that’s pretty much par for the course. 6. The Other Guys (PG-13) Will Ferrell picked on at school. He befriends a girl named This 1981 classic children’s movie features 7. Despicable Me (PG) Steve Carell Abby, who just moved in next door. Little does 8. The American (R) George Clooney a star-studded cast, including John Cleese, Owen suspect that Abby is a vampire, and the 9. The A-Team (PG-13) Liam Neeson Sean Connery, Ian Holm and David Warner (to man claiming to be her father goes out every 10. Devil (PG-13) Chris Messina night killing people to bring back their blood to name but a few). The story is about a little boy named Kevin who is whisked away on a whim- Top 10 DVD Sales feed the girl. sical adventure by a band of Little People on a 1. Despicable Me (PG) (Universal) “Never Let Me Go” (R) -- Keira Knightley, Carey mission to steal artifacts from various histori- 2. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (PG-13) (Summit) Mulligan and Andrew Garfield star in this poi- cal figures. Along the way they must avoid not 3. Salt (PG-13) (Sony) gnant and chilling love story set in a dystopian only Evil Himself, but also The Supreme Being. 4. Toy Story 3 (G) (Disney) world where people live into their 100s thanks The result is a hilarious (and surprisingly edu- 5. The Town (R) (Warner Bros.) to the organ farming of their clones. It’s kind of cational) romp through time and space. 6. Inception (PG-13) (Warner Bros.) like the premise of “The Island” -- only without 7. The Other Guys (PG-13) (Sony) the explosions and Scarlett Johansson prancing 8. Family Guy: It’s a Trap! (NR) (Fox) TV SERIES around in a skin-tight cat suit. 9. The A-Team (PG-13) (Fox) “I Spy” Complete Series The film, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro 10. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (PG-13) “Airwolf” Season Four (“The Remains of the Day”), follows the lives (Fox) of three clones from their sheltered childhood “The Abbott and Costello Show: Who’s On at an English boarding school, up until young First?” adulthood, where they learn they are meant to “Best of Soul Train 2” be harvested for their organs. When they learn “Garrow’s Law” Series One

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¥ It was American astronomer, astrophysicist and author Carl Sagan who made the following sage observation: “The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” ¥ If you’re like the average American woman, you will eat 4 to 6 pounds of lipstick during your lifetime. ¥ You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Alaska is the most northern and western state in the Union, but would you believe that it’s also the easternmost state? Yep. Because the state crosses over into the Eastern Hemisphere, it’s technically farther east than Maine. ¥ In Alabama, lawmakers once thought it necessary to pass a law forbidding the operation of a vehicle while wearing a blindfold. ¥ Traffic is so bad in Tokyo that for most trips shorter than 50 minutes, it’s faster to ride a bicycle than it is to drive a car. ¥ You’re almost certainly familiar with the grouping of stars known in the U.S. as the Big Dipper, made up of the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major. You might not know, though, that other cultures call it by different names. In India, for example, the stars are known as the Seven Sages, and Mongolians call them the Seven Gods. Many in Northern England see a Butcher’s Cleaver rather than a dipper. Scandinavians think it looks like King Charles’ Wagon, those in Finland call it the Salmon Net, and the Dutch have named it the Saucepan. ¥ A shrimp’s heart is located in its head. *** Thought for the Day: “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” -- George Bernard Shaw

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JANUARY BABIES (continued):

• Nearly everyone has, at one time or another, watched Bob Eubanks host a game show. He’s the only person to have hosted the same game show, “The Newlywed Game” in six different decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. Eubanks was only 28 years old when the popular program premiered in July of 1966. He had begun his career as a disk jockey and concert promoter in the Los Angeles area. In fact, he produced the Beatles’ live performances, including their Hollywood Bowl concerts for three years, as well as the Rolling Stones, Barry Manilow, Elton John, The Supremes and Merle Haggard. These days, Bob travels the country as a motivational speaker. • Although author Jack London penned 22 novels and scores of short stories, he is best known for “Call of the Wild,” “White Fang” and “Sea Wolf.” He was basically self-educated with the help of a librarian at the Oakland Public Library whom he met at age 11. Prior to his literary success, he worked 18hour days at a cannery at age 13, then signed on to a seal-hunting schooner to Japan when he was 17. At 21, he headed for the Klondike where the Gold Rush was in full force in 1897. Years later, he used the Yukon as the setting for “Call of the Wild.” At 24, he began writing in earnest, and earned the equivalent of $65,000 in today’s money in the first year. It’s long been debated whether London committed suicide at age 40, or whether he perished from the long-term effects of the scurvy he developed while in the Klondike. • There are few people who haven’t heard the satirical, humorous and often controversial essays delivered by Andy Rooney on the CBS New Program “60 Minutes,” a regular feature since 1978. Each week, this 92-year-old sits behind a walnut table, which he built himself, and entertains viewers with his thoughts on such commonplace topics as car gadgets, recycling, grammatical errors and “things I love to hate.” “I don’t pick subjects as much as they pick me,” says this CBS employee of 61 years and author of 15 books. Rooney was married for 62 years, losing his wife in 2004. • How many people can name one thing that happened during the administration of 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore? Fillmore assumed the office following the sudden death of Zachary Taylor from acute gastroenteritis and was never actually elected president. During his tenure, California became a state, and the Compromise of 1850 was signed, limiting. Continued on page 7!

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MARTIN LUTHER KING

TRIVIA

1. Who gave up the last of Hank Aaron’s 755 home runs? 2. Of George Brett and Pete Rose, who hit the most triples during his career? 3. N.C. State’s QB Russell Wilson set an NCAA record in 2009 for most passes without an interception (379). Which ACC team finally picked him off? 4. How many NBA Finals did Magic Johnson play in, and how many did his teams win? 5. How many consecutive Stanley Cup Finals have the Philadelphia Flyers lost? 6. When was the last time there was an allSouth American men’s soccer final in World Cup? 7. Against whom was Lennox Lewis’ last heavyweight boxing title fight?

This week, Tidbits honors Nobel Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., jailed more than 20 times and assaulted numerous others for his civil rights activities. • Born in January of 1929, Martin Luther King’s birth name was Michael Luther King Jr. He was named for his father, who was also Michael. When the family traveled to Europe in 1934, they visited Germany, and in honor of the German Protestant leader Martin Luther, both names were changed. • The highly intelligent King skipped the ninth and twelfth grades and enrolled at Atlanta’s Morehouse College at age 15. At 19, he already had his Bachelor of Arts in sociology and transferred to a Pennsylvania theological seminary, where he was elected president of his predominantly white class. • At age 25, King became pastor of Montgomery, Alabama’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The following year was the first of his many civil rights activities, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The 385day boycott protested segregation on the city’s bus lines, and was the result of the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. During the boycott, King was arrested and his home was bombed, but he came out of the ordeal a hero, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the laws requiring segregation on buses to be unconstitutional. • Most people have heard of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but what exactly was his dream? One of his dreams was “that one day this national will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” King delivered his speech during 1963’s March on Washington, where 250,000 gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in the capital city’s largest gathering of protesters to that date. • Also in 1963, King wrote his “letter from a Birmingham jail” from an Alabama cell, after being arrested for leading a huge non-violent protest against racial segregation. He reminded his readers, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As a result of the year’s activities, King was named “Man of the Year” by Time magazine. • In 1964, at age 35, King became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. His prize money was $54,123, which he turned over to further the civil rights movement. • In April of 1968, King was in Memphis, Tennessee, with plans to lead a protest march in support of striking city sanitation workers there. His flight had WANTdelayed TO RUN YOUR OWN BUSI NESS? already been by a bomb threat against his Publish a Pa per in Your Area plane. He delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the If You Can Provide: Sales Experience · A Computer · Mountaintop” speech on· AApril 3. Financial The next evening, Desktop Publishing Software Reasonable Investment We on provide opportunity success! as he stood thethebalcony offorhis hotel, a bullet fired by James Earl1.800.523.3096 Ray struck King and within an Call www.tidbitsweekly.com hour, the civil rights leader was dead. That establishment, the Lorraine Motel, is now the location of the National Civil Rights Museum.

1. GEOGRAPHY: In what body of water are the Seychelles Islands located? 2. MOVIES: Who directed the movies “Stagecoach” and “The Grapes of Wrath”? 3. CHEMISTRY: What element’s symbol is C? 4. MUSIC: What rock ‘n’ roll band included members Marty Balin and Paul Kantner? 5. HISTORY: What Union general captured Vicksburg, Miss., after a 40-day siege? 6. SCIENCE FICTION: What fictional character had a flying lab called Sky Queen? 7. LITERATURE: Who wrote “Riders of the Purple Sage”? 8. MYTHOLOGY: Hera was the sister and the wife of which Greek god? 9. U.S. PRESIDENTS: What U.S. president was born in West Branch, Iowa? 10. INVENTIONS: When was the ballpoint pen invented?

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1. Who sang “Seasons in the Sun” in 1974? Bonus for knowing what the song is about. 2. In the 1964 bossa nova hit “The Girl from Ipanema,” what is she doing that attracts so much attention? Bonus for knowing where Ipanema is. 3. Name the artist who first sang “Red Red Wine.” 4. Name the 1972 hit by Climax. 5. Name the Tommy Edwards hit that had a melody written by a U.S. vice president. 6. Who had hits 20 years apart with “I Think We’re Alone Now,” in 1967 and 1987?

1. Terry Jacks. The singer is dying and is saying goodbye to friends and family. The song also was covered by the Kingston Trio with different lyrics in 1963. 2. She’s walking. That’s it, just walking. Ipanema is a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 3. Neil Diamond, in 1968. He also wrote the song. The more well-known version was done reggae-style by UB40 in 1983. 4. “Precious and Few.” The song hit No. 3 on the charts. 5. “It’s All In the Game” in 1958. The 1911 melody was composed by Charles Dawes, who would be the 30th vice president. The song was used in the movie “October Sky.” 6. Tommy James and the Shondells, and then Tiffany.

TRILOGY

RESERVE NOW!

ANSWERS

Can’t Get Enough Tidbits?

1. Indian Ocean 2. John Ford 3. Carbon 4. Jefferson Airplane 5. Ulysses S. Grant 6. Tom Swift 7. Zane Grey 8. Zeus 9. Herbert Hoover 10. 1938

Information in the Tidbits® Paper is gathered from sources considered to be reliable but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed.

FLASHBACK TRIVIA

1. California’s Dick Drago, on July 20, 1976. 2. Brett hit 137 triples; Rose, 135. 3. Wake Forest. 4. He was in nine NBA Finals, winning five. 5. Six consecutive series. 6. It was 1950, when Uruguay defeated Brazil. 7. Current WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, in 2003.

ANSWERS

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JANUARY BABIES (continued)

• You may not recognize the name of A. A. Milne, born in January of 1882, but you most certainly have read his work. In 1920, his son Christopher Robin Milne was born, and Alan Milne spun a series of stories around the boy and his stuffed bear, Winnie the Pooh. The name of Winnie came from an American black bear at the London Zoo that Christopher especially enjoyed. “Winnie the Pooh” can be found in 34 different languages, including Chinese, Afrikaans, Norwegian, Hebrew, Macedonian and Latin. Christopher Milne was actually called Billy Moon by his family and friends and spent much of his life resenting his father and the books that immortalized his name. • Born in January of 1961, Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky learned to skate at the Wally Coliseum. That’s the nickname Gretzky’s father Walter gave to the rink he made in the family back yard. Walter regularly told his sons, “Skate where the puck’s going, not where it’s been.” That must have been good advice, since Gretzky is considered the greatest hockey player in the history of the NHL. He is the holder of 61 various records, including the only player to score over 200 points in one season, something he did four times. Over the course of his career, from 1979 to 1999, Gretzky played for four NHL teams — the Edmonton Oilers, L.A. Kings, St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers. His No. 99 jersey has been retired league-wide and is only the second number in all sports to earn that privilege. Following his retirement, Gretzky coached and co-owned NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes for four years, ending in 2009, and he currently owns “Wayne Gretzky’s,” a Toronto restaurant. • The first sports hero to have his uniform number retired across all league teams was Major League Baseball’s No. 42, Jackie Robinson, born in January of 1919. When Robinson started with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, he became the first black major league player of the modern era. His career included the Rookie of the Year Award, National League MVP, six World Series and six AllStar games. He went on to be baseball’s first black television commentator.

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