Paul McCartney’s 70th Birthday

Today (6/18/2012) is Paul McCartney’s 70th birthday. He came into the world on a Thursday in 1942 and was named after his father, James, who was named after his father. The latest James was not a junior, however. He was given the middle name Paul to distinguish him from his dad and grandpa. Two decades later, he would become world famous by that middle name.

I happened to notice on the Today in History list that When Paul was 41 in 1983, Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. I feel that, Sir Paul. Back in the day, they landed on the moon on my birthday. Talk about your birthday being overshadowed by a world event, eh? I wondered what other important events happened on Paul’s birthday. Let’s see…

One of the best things (or worst, for the French) that ever happened on his birthday was when Napoleon met his Waterloo. Of course, Paul wasn’t around then, or three years later when Napoleon abdicated for the last time either. So let’s skip to when he was.

Paul shared his 1942 debut with other babies that would become famous. One was Robert Ebert, American film critic

Paul turned 3 the day Lord Haw-Haw was charged with treason.

Paul turned 17 the day Louisiana Governor Earl Long was committed to a state mental hospital. While Paul was probably having his birthday cake, Earl Long fired the mental hospital director and got someone from his team on the job, who declared him sane and let him out.

The following year, there was a major fight between 5,000 police and just as many miners in Orgreave, South Yorkshire during the miners’ strike. Major news in the UK that day.

When Paul was 54 in 1996, Ted Kaczynski a.k.a the Unabomber, was indicted on ten criminal counts.

In 2000, when Paul was 64, the first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat was launched. In case you think Sir Paul beat me for birthday space exploration, we were actually tied now. Viking I was the first spacecraft that successfully landed on Mars and that happened on my birthday in 1976. I don’t think anyone knows what happened to KazSat, but Viking I was sighted still on Mars in 2006.

Tie-breaker: In 2009, on Sir Paul’s birthday, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA robotic spacecraft, was launched in conjunction with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, as part of the United States’s Vision for Space Exploration program.