Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 24: Fiddler Doug Kershaw is 88. Singer Ray Stevens is 85. Singer Aaron Neville is 83. Singer Neil Diamond is 83. Actor Michael Ontkean (``Twin Peaks'') is 78. Country singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs is 74.

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 21: World Golf Hall-of-Famer Jack Nicklaus is 84. Opera singer Placido Domingo is 83. Actress Jill Eikenberry is 77. Guitarist Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 77. Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 74.

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 27: Actor James Cromwell (``Murder in the First,'' ''Babe``) is 84. Drummer Nick Mason of Pink Floyd is 80. Singer Nedra Talley of The Ronettes is 78.

Today in History for Jan. 30: On this date: In 1649, King Charles I was beheaded. In 1730, Russian Czar Peter II died of smallpox on his wedding day. In 1868, the Nova Scotia legislature opened its first session.

Today in Music History for Jan. 28: In 1834, Sabine Baring-Gould, Anglican clergyman and author, was born. He published numerous books on history, biography, poetry and fiction.

Today in History for Jan. 29: On this date: In 993, Ulric, bishop of Augsburg in present-day Germany from 923 to 973, was formally canonized by Pope John XV. It was the first recorded canonization by a Catholic pontiff.

Today in Music History for Feb. 2: In 1594, Giovanni da Palestrina, one of the most gifted composers of Renaissance church music, died. In 1901, violinist Jascha Heifetz was born in Vilna, Russia.

Today in History for Jan. 31: On this date: In 1561, Menno Simons, whose followers became known as Mennonites, died. Born in the Netherlands in 1496, he started his religious life as a Catholic priest.

Today in Music History for Jan. 29: In 1925, Lois Marshall, one of Canada's leading sopranos in the 1950s and '60s, was born in Toronto. She died of cancer on Feb. 19, 1997.

Today in History for Feb. 3: In 1690, the first paper money in the American colonies was issued by Massachusetts -- to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.