By Michelle Dumas
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. He got his start playing Maurice Warfield in What’s Happening Now!! (1987–1988). He was a leading actor in the Fox television sitcom Martin, the Bad Boys franchise, and House Party, Boomerang, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Nothing to Lose, Life, Blue Streak, Big Momma’s House, Black Knight, Open Season, and Wild Hogs.
The fourth of six children, Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence was born on April 16, 1965, in Frankfurt, West Germany. His father, John Lawrence, was serving in the U.S. military at the time of his birth. Lawrence’s first and middle names were named after civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and U.S. President John F. Kennedy, respectively. When Lawrence was seven, his father left the military, and the family moved from West Germany back to the United States, settling in the Washington D.C. area in the town of Landover, Maryland. Lawrence mother had moved her and her six children into the troubled King Square housing projects where he would attend Dodge Park Elementary. Following his parents’ divorce when he was eight years old, Lawrence rarely saw his father, who was a police officer, serving as the Police Chief for the Franklin D. Roosevelt VA Medical Center in Montrose, New York. His mother, Chlora (née Bailey), worked several jobs, including as a sales representative and cashier at various department stores to support her family. Small for his size growing up in the projects, Lawrence often engaged in street fights with other kids. He stated that it was his mother and older brothers that kept him out of jail where most of his childhood friend ended up. During his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing. While living in Fort Washington, Maryland, Lawrence attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School and Friendly High School, and became a Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves boxing contender.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
1) First, absorb as much urine as possible by pressing the area with paper towels, then rinse with water.
2) Apply diluted vinegar (3 parts vinegar to 1 part water) to the spot (do not rub) and let dry. (Test a small section first to make sure that the vinegar won’t harm the carpet.) Rinse the area with water.
3) Sprinkle baking soda over the spot, let sit for several hours, and then vacuum. Repeat as necessary.
With regard to keeping cats out of a particular room (assuming the room doesn’t have a door), you’d have to either keep them penned or erect a barricade that they couldn’t vault; but one way to break a cat’s habit of urinating in a room is to dip a cotton ball in lemon extract, squeeze out the excess, and place it in an aluminum tea ball (designed to hold loose tea). Hang the tea ball by its hook in the spot where your cat is urinating — the smell should keep the cat away. Refresh the lemon once a week until the cat is trained.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Otho (Roman emperor ) –
- Mary “Molly” Brant (Native American leader) –
- Ralph Ellison (writer) –
- Robert Urich (actor) –
Born
- Ford Madox Brown (painter) –
- Anatole France (writer) –
- Herbert Baxter Adams (historian) –
- Grace Livingston Hill (author) –
- Wilbur Wright (aviator) –
- Charlie Chaplin (entertainer) –
- Henry Mancini (composer) –
- Pope Benedict XVI –
- Dusty Springfield (singer) –
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (basketball player) –
- Bill Belichick (football coach) –
- Martin Lawrence (actor) –
- Jon Cryer (actor) –
Events
- Scientist Isaac Newton was knighted–
- Agricultural College founded in Guelph, Ontario –
- Magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred west of Eureka, California–
- Annie Oakley hit 100 clay targets in a row, setting women’s record–
- Two ships exploded in harbor, Texas City, Texas–
- Toronto Maple Leafs won third consecutive NHL Stanley Cup–
- Walter Cronkite joined CBS Evening News as anchorman–
- Two giant pandas, given to the U.S. by China, arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.–
- Britain’s Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced their plans to divorce–
- Sputnik-99 launched by hand from Mir space station–
Weather
- A severe freeze from Georgia to Texas killed cotton crops–
- Snow in Dublin, New Hampshire–
- Three tornadoes struck Nashville, Tennessee–
- Heavy rainfall led to flooding and a landslide in Wilton, New Hampshire–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
