Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 4: Actress Barbara Rush ("Peyton Place") is 97. Actress Dyan Cannon is 87. British jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin is 82. Country singer Kathy Forester of the Forester Sisters is 69.

Today in History for Jan. 12: On this date: In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died. In 1598, the Marquis de La Roche was awarded a fur trading monopoly in the New World by the King of France.

Today in History for Jan. 13: On this date: In 1691, Englishman George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, died. In 1695, satirist Jonathan Swift, author of "Gulliver's Travels," was ordained an Anglican priest in Ireland.

Today in Music History for Jan. 13: In 1501, Christianity's first vernacular hymnal was printed in Prague, capital of the present-day Czech Republic. It contained 89 hymns in the Czech language.

Today in Music History for Jan. 12: In 1905, cowboy singer Tex Ritter was born in Texas. Most people remember him singing the title song for the Academy Award-winning film "High Noon" in 1952.

Today in History for Jan. 10: On this date: In A.D. 236, Fabian was elected pope of the early Christian Church.

Today in Music History for Jan. 11: In 1848, Edward Fisher, founder of the Toronto Conservatory of Music, was born in Jamaica, Vt. He directed the conservatory from its opening in 1887 until his death in 1913.

Today in Music History for Jan. 9: In 1939, producer Alfred Lion recorded boogie-woogie pianists Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons at a session in New York.

Today in Music History for Jan. 10: In 1917, legendary record producer Jerry Wexler was born in The Bronx, N.Y.

Today in Music History for Jan. 8: In 1921, Canadian soprano Beatrice LaPalme, one of the most sought-after artists of her generation, died in Montreal at the age of 42.