Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for July 21: Austrian-born Canadian pianist-composer Anton Kuerti is 87. Actor Leigh Lawson ("Tess") is 80. Singer Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) is 77. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau ("Doonesbury") is 77.

Celebrity Birthdays for July 26: Actor Robert Colbert is 94. Singer Darlene Love is 84. Singer Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones is 82. Movie director Peter Hyams is 82. Actress Dame Helen Mirren is 80. Drummer Roger Taylor of Queen is 76.

Today in Music History for July 31: In 1886, Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt died of pneumonia at 74. In 1877, Thomas Edison patented the first sound-recording device.

Today in Music History for July 29: In 1942, Canadian dance band leader Luigi Romanelli died in Murray Bay, Que., at age 56.

Today in History for July 27: On this date: In 1606, the first permanent French colony in Canada was established at Port Royal, N.S.

Today in History for July 31: On this date: In 1498, Christopher Columbus landed at Trinidad. In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus -- the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers -- died in Rome.

Today in Music History for July 30: In 1792, the French national anthem "La Marseillaise," by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris. In 1941, singer-songwriter Paul Anka was born in Ottawa.

Today in History for Aug. 2: On this date: In 1100, King William II of England was killed in a hunting accident. In 1610, English explorer Henry Hudson discovered Hudson Bay.

Today in Music History for July 28: In 1750, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig, in eastern Germany. In 1901, Rudy Vallee, one of the great entertainers of the late 1920s and through the 1930s, was born in Island Pond, Vt.

Today in History for July 28: On this date: In 1540, King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. In 1576, Martin Frobisher's expedition reached Labrador.