![\"Tatyana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Tatyana-Ali.jpg\")
Tatyana AliDan Steinberg\/Invision\/AP
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![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Lou-Retton.jpg\")
Mary Lou RettonJordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n
ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, \u201cAn Eskimo just in from a journey of nearly 400 miles appeared at Etah, a bleak native settlement far up on the west coast of Greenland, on May 7 of last year, bearing a letter. The message was written by Dr. Frederick A. Cook of Brooklyn. It was dated March 17, 1908. It came from the Arctic Ocean and contained the news that Dr. Cook was on his way to the North Pole. When the Eskimo got the letter from Dr. Cook, the explorer was forty miles from land on the polar ice pack, almost due north of Cape Thomas Hubbard, which is the extreme western point of that great island which lies to the west of Greenland, and which is divided, like so many counties, into Ellesmere Land, Grinnell Land, Great Land and King Oscar Land. That is the last that the civilized world has heard from Dr. Cook. With this letter as a clew, Dillon Wallace will start this summer to find Dr. Cook.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Eagle reported, \u201cMayor James J. Walker has accepted the honorary chairmanship of the New York Sesquicentennial Committee, it was announced yesterday by Oscar S. Straus, chairman of the committee, according to the Associated Press. Chairmen of other committees announced by Mr. Straus included Owen D. Young as head of the committee on the official participation of the City of New York, and George Gordon Battle as chairman of the committee on the official participation of New York State.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, \u201cA blizzard \u2014 heavy snows accompanied by gale-force winds \u2014 will lash the city this afternoon and continue until Sunday morning, the Weather Bureau warned today. The forecast came as the entire nation east of the Rocky Mountains was in the grip of the most severe cold wave of the Winter, with the death toll attributed to the cold placed at 104. The mercury, which climbed slowly after hitting five degrees at 2:30 a.m. and setting a new low mark for this Winter, will hover close to 15 during the storm, the bureau said. The previous low was 7.2, set last Monday. Estimates of the depth of the expected snowfall ranged from \u2018four inches up\u2019 to 15 inches. The Weather Bureau in New York declined to predict an exact figure but asserted that a \u2018heavy snow\u2019 involves a fall of more than four inches. The U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington said in a special bulletin that the storm, which was moving up the East coast from South Carolina, will bring from six to eight inches of snow in most areas and near ten in mountain sections.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ON THIS DAY IN 1955, the Eagle reported, \u201cWASHINGTON (U.P.) \u2014 President Eisenhower today asked Congress for specific authority to use United States armed forces \u2018if necessary\u2019 to defend Formosa [Taiwan] and the nearby Pescadores Islands against the threat of Red Chinese attack. Mr. Eisenhower said that as commander in chief he has the authority for some of the actions which might be required, but that he wants a congressional resolution to provide clear and public authority for the prompt employment of the armed forces if in his judgment it becomes necessary. The chief executive did not spell out the precise measures he might take. But he said the United States must be prepared to fight should the Chinese Communist forces obviously undertake a move threatening to overrun Formosa. He said his request was based on \u2018a series of provocative political and military actions\u2019 by Communist China with the announced aim of capturing Formosa.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, \u201cSpace scientists have prescribed music, exercise and a 26-hour day for Lunar astronauts during week-long flights to the Moon and back. The \u2018prescription\u2019 is based on tests conducted by the Langley Research Center (Hampton, Va.) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Results of the tests were reported at the 31st annual meeting of the Institute of Aerospace Sciences in Manhattan Wednesday. \u2018Realistic seven-day tests, employing highly skilled research pilots, found them fully capable of completing precise maneuvers needed for atmosphere entry and landing at the end of the week,\u2019 the Langley experimenters said. The study was made with the help of a simulated spacecraft in which test pilots \u2018flew\u2019 through the Lunar landing mission which Apollo astronauts are scheduled to make before 1970. \u2018The pilots exercised in a special area inside their spacecraft and maintained peak physical condition throughout the seven-day confined mission,\u2019 the report said. \u2018Recorded music was fed into the earphones of the pilot and navigator and provided a welcome relief from the tedium of the hours of coasting flight.\u2019 The 26-hour day was divided into four-hour sleep periods and two nine-hour waking periods. The experimenters found this \u2018much more satisfactory than the usual 16 awake, eight asleep pattern.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tatyana Ali
Dan Steinberg\/Invision\/AP
\nMary Lou Retton
Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n
NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond, who was born in Brooklyn in 1941; \u201cTell It Like It Is\u201d singer Aaron Neville, who was born in 1941; science fiction writer David Gerrold, who was born in 1944; \u201cTwin Peaks\u201d star Michael Ontkean, who was born in 1946; comedian and actor Yakov Smirnoff, who was born in 1951; \u201cCat People\u201d star Nastassja Kinski, who was born in 1961; \u201cMad TV\u201d star Phil LaMarr, who was born in 1967; gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton, who was born in 1968; \u201cThe Hangover\u201d star Ed Helms, who was born in 1974; actress and writer Kristen Schaal, who was born in 1978; \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air\u201d star Tatyana Ali, who was born in 1979; former San Francisco Giants pitcher Scott Kazmir, who was born in 1984; and \u201cThe O.C.\u201d star Mischa Barton, who was born in 1986.<\/p>\n
![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Neil-Diamond.jpg\")
Neil Diamond
Charles Sykes\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n
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ELEMENT OF SURPRISE: On this day in 1848, James W. Marshall, an employee of pioneer John Sutter, accidentally discovered gold while building a sawmill near Coloma, Cal. Efforts to keep the discovery a secret failed and the California Gold Rush was soon under way.<\/p>\n
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COMEDY AND TRAGEDY: John Belushi was born on this day in 1949. The Chicago native was an original cast member of \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d (1975-79), and starred in the hit films \u201cAnimal House\u201d (1978) and \u201cThe Blues Brothers\u201d (1980). He died of a drug overdose in 1982.<\/p>\n
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Special thanks to \u201cChase\u2019s Calendar of Events\u201d and Brooklyn Public Library.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Quotable:<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooklyn is not the easiest place to grow up in, although I wouldn\u2019t change that experience for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond, who was born on this day in 1941<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 23 | \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 22 | \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ultima-reader-response.png\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Brooklyn_Eagle_1936_01_23_Page_1-250x250.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 23: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle History\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Brooklyn_Eagle_1928_01_22_Page_1-250x250.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJanuary 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle History\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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