What do Dick Clark and Jaques Barzun Have in Common?

A double dose of birthday for you, as you ponder the possibility that someone is taking out South Korean quarry workers, Munich style...

Today is somebody's birthday! Whose Birthday? Historian Jaques Barzun's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 100! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Jaques Barzun appears on 1 2007 Death Pool roster and because we're throwing you this party, we leave you with a little goody bag-

• In 2000, he finished the 800 page From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present. He has had five more works published since that time

For more on Barzun, check out the Barzun100 blog or this piece from last month's New Yorker magazine

Today is somebody's birthday! Whose Birthday? Entertainment Mogul Dick Clark's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 78! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Dick Clark appears on 9 2007 Death Pool rosters and because we're throwing you this party, we leave you with a little goody bag-

• Clark's career in show business began in 1945 when he started working in the mailroom of radio station WRUN in Utica, New York (which was owned by his uncle and managed by his father). Clark's first television hosting job was on the Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders, a country music program.

... And Many More!

The Holiday Season Brings Out the Host in People

Hosting a show for a long time can be awfully tiring. Just ask Bob Barker.

So we're happy to see Dick Clark on his feet for the third year in a row, after missing his "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" event in 2004 while recovering from a debilitating stroke.

But that's not the only familiar face you'll be seeing again in the coming weeks.

Retirement Living TV announced that Walter Cronkite would be featured on some network segments, capping months of negotiations with the 91-year-old former raising newsman.

Cronkite signed off from CBS News for the last time on March 6, 1981, he has stayed true to his parting words, "old anchormen, you see, don't fade away; they just keep coming back for more."

All three of these men were included this week on a list of "The 50 Greatest TV Icons," compiled by cable's TV Land and the writers of Entertainment Weekly magazine. It will fuel a two-hour special on the network airing Friday at 8 p.m. EST, as well as a feature story in the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Take that, Lassie.

[New York Daily News]
[Reuters]
[WTOP]