Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Dec. 5: Author Calvin Trillin is 89. Actor Jeroen Krabbe ("The Fugitive") is 80. Opera singer Jose Carreras is 78. Singer-songwriter Andy Kim (born Andrew Youakim, also known as Baron Longfellow) is 78.

Celebrity Birthdays for Dec. 1: Actor-director Woody Allen is 89. Singer Dianne Lennon of the Lennon Sisters is 85. World Golf Hall-of-Famer Lee Trevino is 85. Television producer David Salzman is 81.

Today in History for Dec. 10: In 1520, in Wittenberg, northeast of Leipzig in present-day eastern Germany, religious reformer Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication.

Today in History for Dec. 8: In 1694, a French Jesuit missionary in Canada, Noel Chabanel, was murdered by a renegade Huron. He was one of the group known as the Jesuit Martyrs of North America canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930.

Today in History for Dec. 11: In 1792, France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis was convicted, and executed the following month.) In 1813, Newark, Ont.

Today in Music History for Dec. 8: In 1865, Finnish composer Jan Sibelius was born. A romantic composer, his works express an intense, mystical love of nature. Sibelius is best known for his orchestral works, such as "Finlandia.

Today in Music History for Dec. 10: In 1943, Chad Stuart of the 1960s duo "Chad and Jeremy," was born in England. Their popularity rivalled that of another British pairing of the period, "Peter and Gordon.

Today in Music History for Dec. 14: In 1836, Frances Ridley Havergal, English devotional writer, was born. In frail health most of her life, Havergal nevertheless authored such hymns as "Take My Life" and "Let It Be" and "I Gave My Life for Thee.

Today in Music History for Dec. 11: In 1882, Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "Iolanthe" was performed at the Bijou Theater in Boston, the first U.S. playhouse to be lighted exclusively by electricity.

Today in History for Dec. 12: In 1783, New Brunswick's first newspaper, the "Royal Saint John Gazette and Nova Scotian Intelligencer," was published. In 1787, Pennsylvania became the second U.S. state. In 1870, Joseph H.