• The Complete Directory To Prime Time Stars - Tim Brooks. He is long overdue for an update of this excellent 1987 book, but it lists all the celebrities along with their DOB, DOD if applicable, where born and died, a list of TV shows they were regular cast members on, and a short bio if any. It was published by Ballantyne Books in New York September 1987. It also has sections dedicated to the TV Academy Hall Of Fame, TV Stars Brithday Calendar, and an index of TV Stars Birthplaces.
• The Guinness Book Of World Records - Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Need I explain? Simply amazing feats.
• Celebrate Today - John Kremer, published by Prima Publishing, P.O. Box 1260BK, Rocklin, CA 95677. It's a booklet of over 4,000 holidays, celebrations, origins, and anniversaries of note. Fun to read.
• The Disney Films - Leonard Maltin. Highly recommended.
• Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia
• Hollywood Death Book - James Robert Parrish, Pioneer Books Inc, 5715 N. Balsam Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89130. This book lists the celebrities that died according to accidents, alcohol and drugs, murders, natural causes, obscurity, puzzling, and suicides. Each of those chapters has a story behind the death. A chapter on who's buried where, and a complete list of celebrities that died up through 12/31/91. May be out of print!
• World Almanac - Funk & Wagnalls, One International Blvd., Suite 444, Mahwah, NJ 07495-0017. Tons of facts about people, history, astronomy, sports, and other stuff too numerous to go further.
• Of Mice And Magic - Leonard Maltin, Penguin Books, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. A complete history of the theatrical cartoons from the well-known to the obscure.
• Rock And Pop Day By Day - Frank Laufenberg, Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. Same format as the above book, but one notable error in date is when the Monterey Pop Festival took place (it listed Jan instead of June 16). An index of names are included as well.
• The Daily Celebrity Almanac - Bob Barry, B&B Publishing Inc, P.O. Box 96, Walworth, WI 53184. Each page lists the celebrities born at the top half, and a list of events at the bottom half. It also has monthly "Memories" pages listing what happened 10, 25, and 50 years ago, lists of major award winners, sports halls of fame, and a complete index of celebrities.
• Rock On Almanac - by Norm N. Nite
• The Information Please Alamanc
• The Celebrity Almanac - Ed Lucaire
• Rock And Roll Birthday Book - Randy & Linda Rucker
• Book Of TV Lists - Gabe Essoe
• Your Birthday - Natalis Press
• Rock Movers And Shakers - Lazell
• Penguin Encyclopedia Of Popular Music - Donald Clarke
• Street And Smith's Guide To Pro Football, Pro Baseball, and Pro Basketball; lots of statistics about the players of today.
• Complete HandBook Of Pro Baseball, Football, Basketball - Zander Hollander; lots of statistics about the players of today.
• Chase's Annual Events
• Sports Illustrated Sports Alamanacs
• Chronicle Of The Cinema

Magazines, TV Shows, WWW Sites, Etc.

• RIAA Online http://www.riaa.com though July 1999
• Visit Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz's web site The Bermuda Files. You'll see more dates in Weird Al history than I can fit.
• The Major Network Web sites ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC where you can see bios of the stars and more information.
• Entertainment Tonight's daily celebrity birthdays
• Access Hollywood
• CNN Showbiz Today
• The Star tabloid
• Entertaimnent Weekly
• Actor's agents and fan clubs
• Soap Opera Digest
• Soap Opera Weekly
• Lakeside BBS's opening bulletin of Today In History
• The Fast Track - syndicated column by Cheryl Lavin
• National Enquirer Your Horoscope Tabloid Specials
• People Magazine
• USA Today
• NBC's web site
• ABC's web site
• Numerous Teen fanzines
• Metal Edge magazine
• Daily Newspapers
• Golf Almanac
• Baseball, Football, & Basketball trading cards
• and others forgotten about.

Sources of Datebooks?

Most of the sources come from many reputable sources. Not everything agrees with everything, so to make a long story short, the dates and ages are arbitarily chosen by the most sources agreeing with that particular age, which may be the wrong age in many cases. Can't we all just get along and get the facts straight?

If you have corrections to make, please tell me about it, and tell the authors who wrote some erroraneous facts to correct them.

The purpose of these DFS Today in History pages is to not only serve as an entertaining look at how history shaped up in one day, but to also encourage people to get a book and read more about it.

Reading is fundamental, so pick up one of the books I listed below and read more about the bio and achievements of the person, find out any related data for the hit that came out, and other stuff. You'll even see stuff I have no use for such as TV shows that bombed so bad nobody remembered them or unnotable events that don't ring a bell.

Nothing wrong with watching TV, mind you. TV bashers take note that TV can too make reading interesting if there are books matching the hobby of TV, movies, celebrity scoops, and music. There, the TV watcher can learn more about the people, subjects, music, and other culture involved along with TV watching. Look for related subjects according to the subject you're interested in and read more about them. Reading can be fun too, just choose the fun stuff, be it some background on a movie or the chronology of World War II.

By making reading the subject they're interested in, they can relate to what they are exposed to. Don't make a seven year old kid read in the league of William Shakespeare or Mark Twain yet, their excellent works are too dry for young developing minds yet, so let the kid read some books along the lines of what they enjoy doing or seeing on TV. Read along with the kid and discuss what the book is taking about and how it relates with the kid's interests. If a child is not interested in the subject, he won't bother to read it unless he ties it to something related to their interests.

For further reading, I recommend that you look for some of these books I listed below in your local bookstores such as Bookstar, Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks, Crown Books, your local libraries, used paperback bookstores, and mail order. Libraries may also have them. Addresses are given below where possible, so you can ask for a catalog. Call it free PR.

Morning radio personalities often use these books for program material for their local radio programs, trivia buffs and browsers get lost in the facts flowing from year to year, librarians use them for bulletin boards and displays, game shows use them for questions and answers, etc.

If you need more facts, all you have to do is get the books. Please do not e-mail me to buy my computer database. Selling of any pages you see in most web sites such as mine are prohibited. I'd like to publish a book someday, but to clear the hurdles to get them printed is too much work for me.