Five People Born on March 10

osama-bin-laden Today is March 10, 2010 and the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 295 days left in the year 2010. According the Mayan calendar, there are 1017 days till the end of the current cycle. On this date, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful telephone call. Here are five people that share a birthday on this day:

Ferdinand II (1452-1515)
Known as Ferdinand of Aragon and Ferdinand the Catholic, he was king of Aragon, Sicily, Naples and Valencia. He is possibly best remembered in history for funding Christopher Columbus to travel west to try and find a passage to Asia. The result ended up with Columbus landing in the New World which helped set the stage for Age of Exploration and made Spain one of the chief naval empires in the world. When he obtained the title of King from his father, John II of Aragon, the different parts of what is now Spain were united under one leader, though they kept their individuality. It wouldn’t be until the 18^th century that they would be considered one country. As any student knows, Ferdinand was married to Queen Isabella, which made the joining of Spain possible. A devout Christian, Ferdinand is also responsible for the Spanish Inquisition, in which Muslims in the state of Granada and Jews were targeted. He forced them to switch to Christianity, and if they did not, they were tortured and killed. He burned over 10,000 Muslim documents during this time period and had hundreds, if not thousands of Jews and Muslims killed.

James Earl Ray (1928-1998)
American assassin responsible for killing civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. Prior to his fifteen minutes of fame, he had a lengthy criminal record that included armed robbery and mail fraud. In 1967, he escaped from prison while hiding out in a bread delivery truck. After killing Martin Luther King, Ray escaped, but was captured in England when it was discovered that he had a fake Canadian passport. The United Kingdom extradited Ray back to the United States where he stood trial for the assassination. He confessed to the crime, but recanted and instead pled guilty to avoid the death penalty. His entire life, he said that the assassination was not his doing, but he may have been “indirectly involved”. He escaped from prison again in 1977, but was recaptured and sent back. In the 1990s, the King family met with Ray and now believe that he had nothing to do with the murder and that it was possibly a conspiracy. He died in 1998 from liver and kidney disease, brought on by Hepatitis C, brought on by a blood transfusion he received from being stabbed in prison.

Dean Torrence (Born 1940)
Torrence was one half of the sixties duo, Jan and Dean. The group sang surfer rock and actually pre-dated the Beach Boys. He started singing with Jan Berry in high school and the two were soon putting out recordings made in Berry’s garage. Their first hit was “Jennie Lee” written in 1958 about a local burlesque dancer. Although most singers of the time were full time musicians, Jan and Dean took their careers as a hobby. They went to college full time and sang part time. Their hits included: Dead Man’s Curve, Surf City, and I Found A Girl. Their careers were cut short in April of 1966 when Jan Berry was in a car accident in which he ran into a truck and suffered severe head injuries. The accident occurred very near to the area known as “Dead Man’s Curve” which was the title of one of their most famous songs. Torrence would go onto release more singles in Berry’s absence. He also became a graphic designer with his own studio, Kittyhawk Graphics, designing record covers for local bands. He even won a Grammy Award in 1973 for his work on an album. Berry came back to singing, although he was partially paralyzed and his speech was slurred. They continued to sing together, though, which ended in 2004 with Berry’s death at the age of 64.

Osama bin Laden (1957-???)
The leader of al Quaida (Islamic for “The Base”), bin Laden is a world wide terrorist held responsible for the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, DC and the downing of an airliner in Pennsylvania. He is currently on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List, although not for the 9/11 attacks – he’s never been charged with these. Bin Laden comes from a very wealthy Saudi Arabian family that has had dealings with the Saudi Royal family and the Bush family. Since 2001, bin Laden and al Qaida have been the main targets of the U.S. War on Terror. He continuously has made recordings condemning the United States. It is believed he and other al Qaida leaders have been hiding out in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, but his whereabouts are unknown or if he is even still alive. Bin Laden believes in the Muslim thought that pan-Arab, communism, and socialism, and democracy must be abolished at all costs.

Chuck Norris (Born 1940)
Born Carlos Ray Norris Jr. in Ryan, Oklahoma. Half Cherokee Indian and half Irish, Norris joined the Air Force after high school. During his service, he was sent to South Korea where he began his training in the martial art of Tang Soo Do. He returned to Los Angeles in 1962 and opened a karate school, catering to such celebrities as Steve McQueen, who later encouraged Norris's acting career. In 1968, Norris became middleweight karate champion (non-contact), winning karate's triple crown in 1969. That year, he made his acting debut in the Dean Martin movie The Wrecking Crew. In 1972, he acted alongside karate competitor Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon. Numerous successful films followed throughout the 1980s, including eight by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus such as Code of Silence and Delta Force. After the genre ran its course, however, Norris faded from the limelight. He reappeared in 1993 in a starring role on the popular CBS series Walker, Texas Ranger which lasted until 2001. In recent years, he has become an internet meme with Chuck Norris jokes appearing everywhere online exclaiming the toughness of his character. He is also a staunch conservative who supported Mike Huckabee for President.