Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 30: Actor Gene Hackman is 95. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 88. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 88. Chess grandmaster Boris Spassky is 88. Country singer Norma Jean is 87. Horn player William King of The Commodores is 76.

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 28: Bluegrass musician Vic Mullen is 92. Actor Alan Alda is 89. Actress Susan Howard (``Dallas'') is 83. Former NHL player and 1972 Summit Series star Paul Henderson is 82. Actress Marthe Keller (``Marathon Man'') is 80.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 1: Actor-comedian Garrett Morris is 88. Arranger and jazz tenor saxophonist Rick Wilkins is 88. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 86. TV personality-singer Joy Philbin is 84.

Today in History for Feb. 7: In 1478, Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor of England during the English Reformation, was born.

Today in History for Feb. 4: In 1783, Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colony, the United States. In 1789, George Washington was elected the first president of the United States.

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.

Today in History for Feb. 5: In 1555, in the southern part of present-day Germany, the Diet of Augsburg began its final deliberations. Delegates later signed the Peace of Augsburg, granting official recognition to Lutheranism as a religion.

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 Feb. 6: In 1519, Sir Walter Raleigh left England to explore South America. In 1721, Christian Heinecker was born. At age 10 months, Heinecker was reported to have been capable of repeating every word said to him.

Today in History for Feb. 8: In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded. After attempting to restore Catholicism to Scotland and two disastrous marriages, she was forced to abdicate and fled to England in 1567.