Star Struck

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

FEBRUARY

22 – Drew Barrymore – 34 – Culver City, CA
22 – Jeri Ryan – 41 – Munich, West Germany
23 – Michael Dell – 44 – Houston, TX
23 – Peter Fonda – 70 – New York City, NY
25 – Sean Astin – 38 – Santa Monica, CA
26 – Fats Domino – 81 – New Orleans, LA
27 – Elizabeth Taylor – 77 – London, England
28 – Gavin MacLeod – 79 – Mount Kisco, NY

TRIVIA

MICHAEL DELL

Dell had his first encounter with a computer at the age of 15 when he broke down a brand new Apple II computer and rebuilt it, just to see if he could. Dell attended Memorial High School in Houston where he did not excel academically. During that time he did however exhibit formidable business instincts selling subscriptions for the Houston Post. Dell found $18,000 in an untapped customer base in newlyweds; those "windfall profits" earned him a BMW and a computer.

While at the University of Texas at Austin, he started a computer company called PC's Limited in his room in Dobie Center. The company became successful enough that, with the help of an additional loan from his grandparents, Dell dropped out of the university at the age of 19 to run PC's Limited, which later became Dell Computer Corporation, then ultimately Dell, Inc.