January 11 Birthdays

First on our list is Roman Emperor Theodosius I, aka The Great. He was born in 347. He made Christianity the Official Religion Of The Empire. No idea how much money he made in licensing fees, and if his estate gets paid every time NASCAR declares something "the official 'fill in the blank with a certain niche item' of NASCAR". He probably should though. Oh, I should also mention that Theodosius was also the very last emperor to rule the entire Roman Empire, as it was shortly to be split up into the Eastern and Western Empires.

In 1755, way out in the Caribbean a boy is born. His name is Alexander Hamilton. He was, to use the technical term of the time, a "bastard", or for those of a more delicate composition, an "illegitimate child". He apparently was orphaned when still young, and in a really cool gesture, the folks of his neighborhood helped fund a move to America for a kid they recognized as having a lot of talent. And they were right! At the age of 20, he became the commander of an artillery battery in the Continental Army. He fought at Trenton, and then became one of Washington's most trusted aides. He then went on to become Secretary of the Treasury and so on. Then he got on the wrong side of Aaron Burr (as did a lot of other people). Unfortunately, Hamilton fought Burr in a duel. As you already know, Burr won.

If you're a fan of cool cars, especially Fords, and more especially Mustangs, then you'll definitely want to celebrate the 1923 birth of Carroll Shelby. During WWII, he was, not surprisingly, a test pilot.

In 1942, The Big Man himself was born, Clarence Clemons. You won't be surprised to know that he was a football player as a lad. He was offered a tryout with the Cleveland Browns, but was badly injured in an auto accident the day before. I think that was God's way of telling him he wasn't destined to be a football player.

In 1953, the comic known as John Sessions was born. He's always struck me as a long winded, kinda pretentious DB. And I gather I'm far from alone there. He's best known, to me at least, or being on the very first series of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" on the Beeb.

And again, that's that.

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