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.

Today in History for Jan. 30: 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. 30: In 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded ``Darktown Strutters' Ball.'' Some historians consider this to be the earliest commercially made jazz record.

Celebrity Birthdays for Jan. 29: Feminist author Germaine Greer is 86. Actress Katharine Ross is 85. Feminist author Robin Morgan is 84. Actor Tom Selleck is 80. Singer Bettye LaVette is 79. Actor Marc Singer is 77. Actress Ann Jillian is 75.

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 Jan. 29: 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 Dec. 29: In 1849, the Christmas hymn by Edmund Sears, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," was first published in "The Christian Register." In 1939, Radio Luxembourg was given government permission to begin broadcasting.

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.

Today in History for Jan. 28: In 814, Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, died. In 1547, Henry VIII, who split the church of England from Rome and presided over the founding of the Anglican church, died.

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.