Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan 2: Country singer Dick Feller (a.k.a. Deena Kaye Rose) is 82. Chick Churchill, organist with Ten Years After, is 79. TV host Jack Hanna ("Jack Hanna's Into the Wild") is 78. Actress Wendy Phillips is 73.

Celebrity Birthdays for Dec. 29: Actress Barbara Steele is 87. Actor Jon Voight is 86. Singer-commedienne Dinah Christie is 82. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 78. Hall of Fame Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. is 78. Actor Ted Danson is 77.

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 4: Actress Dyan Cannon is 88. British jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin is 83. Country singer Kathy Forester of the Forester Sisters is 70. Guitarist Bernard Sumner of New Order (and Joy Division) is 69.

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

Today in History for Jan. 7: In 1450, in Scotland, the University of Glasgow was founded. In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo discovered the four satellites of Jupiter and named them Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Today in History for Jan. 10: In A.D. 236, Fabian was elected pope of the early Christian Church. He served until 250, when he became the first martyr under Decius, the emperor who initiated the Roman Empire-wide persecution of Christians.

Today in History for Jan. 9: In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.

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. 5: In 1923, Sam Phillips, owner of the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, was born in Florence, Ala. Many music historians say Sun was where rock 'n' roll began.