 Also on this date, in 1776, Colonel John Nixon of Pennsylvania became the first person to publicly read aloud the Declaration of Independence to a gathering of citizens on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And in 1913, Alfred Carlton Gilbert received the patent for the erector set, which would then go on to become one of the most popular toys of all time. If it's your birthday today, you share it with celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, born in 1949, and country music star Toby Keith,