TODAY IS ... 30 OCTOBER

BIRTHDAYS: 1988 - Janel Parrish - an American actress, singer, Broadway performer, songwriter and pianist. She is best known for playing Jade in the 2007 film Bratz: The Movie, she currently landed a recurring role in the hit NBC TV series Heroes as the character "May". 1960 - Diego Maradona - Maradona is best remembered for helping Argentina win the 1986 World Cup with two goals in a quarterfinal match against England; on the first he punched the ball in with his hand, a sneaky maneuver that went unseen by the referee. (Maradona wryly credited the goal to "a little bit of Maradona's head, a little bit of the hand of God.") Maradona was a goal-scoring midfielder for Argentina in four World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994) and played professionally for more than two decades. 1951 - Harry Hamlin - an American film and television actor, known for his role as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series L.A. Law. 1948 - Australian actor and comedian, Garry McDonald aka Norman Gunston, is born 1945 - Henry Winkler - Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz", a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning, but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended. OTHER EVENTS: 2008 - Rachele Brooke-Smith, Kenny Wormald and Sarah Jayne Jensen starred in Center Stage : Turn It Up had its Australian release. 2005 - British pop star Robbie Williams tops the U.K. album charts with Intensive Care. The No. 1 single is boy band Westlife’s “You Raise Me Up.” 2005 - The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project. 2003 – Jennifer Lopez unveils her new line of perfume – Still Jennifer Lopez. She describes the scent as “very true to my passions and my relationship to the public.” 2001 – Songstress Barbra Streisand releases her first holiday album in 34 years, Christmas Memories. The album is the artists first studio release since 1999’s “A Love Like Ours.” 1998 - Bryan Adams shoots the video to "When You're Gone" with Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls in New York. She sang back-up on the song. 1997 - L. A. Confidential starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce is released in Australia. 1990 - Workers digging the rail tunnel under the English Channel linked up between England and France at a point forty meters beneath the seabed. The "Chunnel", connecting Folkestone, England, with Calais, France, opened for traffic in May 1994. 1988 - Whitney Houston scores her tenth straight Top 10 single as 'One Moment in Time' moves to No. 9 1984 - Barry Manilow opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The shows sold out for $1.9 million. Manilow beat the previous record by $100,000 that was held by Diana Ross. 1972 - Elton John gives a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, making him the first rock & roller to be asked to appear in a royal variety performance since the Beatles in November 1963. 1965 - The Supremes' "I Hear a Symphony" enters the Hot 100, where in ten weeks on the chart it will become the Motown girl group's sixth Number One record of their last seven releases. It would be their last Number One hit until "You Can't Hurry Love" in August 1966 1964 - Roy Orbison's "Oh! Pretty Woman" becomes a gold record. His ninth and last Top Ten single, the song entered the Hot 100 on August 29th. The song stays on the charts for 15 weeks. 1938 - Actor Orson Welles creates panic as his radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' is taken as live action.