Birthdays
1694 - Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield), English statesman and man of letters, mainly remembered for his letters to his natural son Philip.
1791 - Michael Faraday, English scientist (master of chemistry and physics), regarded the "Father of Electricity", he contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis ~ known for: Faraday's law of induction, electrochemistry, Faraday effect, Faraday cage, Faraday constant, Faraday's laws of electrolysis, Faraday paradox, Faraday rotator, Faraday-efficiency effect, Faraday wave, Faraday wheel, Faraday lines of force.
1880 - Dame Christabel Pankhurst, DBE (Christabel Harriette Pankhurst), British suffragette, a co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU),
she directed its militant actions from exile in France from 1912 to 1913. In 1914 she supported the war against Germany. After the war she moved to the United States, where she worked as an evangelist for the Second Adventist movement.
1895 - Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund), Austro-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor. He was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in the Yiddish theater. During the 1930s, he was considered one of the most prestigious actors at the Warner Bros. studio, and was given the rare privilege of choosing which parts he wanted.
He made 22 films and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1936 film The Story of Louis Pasteur. He also starred in numerous Broadway plays and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in the 1955 production of Inherit the Wind.
(As
a lover of Chopin's piano music, I'll remember Paul Muni best as Prof.
Joseph Elsner in 'A Song to Remember' from a 1945 American biographical
film which tells a fictionalised life story of Polish pianist and
composer Frédéric Chopin. /Tel)
1931 - Fay Weldon, CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw), English author, essayist and playwright. Weldon's most celebrated work is her 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, which she wrote at the age of 52.
Her novel The Hearts and Lives of Men was written and published in serial form, appearing in the British magazine Woman between 1 February and 15 November 1986. Weldon serves together with Daniel Pipes as the most notable foreign members of the board of the Danish Press Freedom Society
1945 - Pete Atkin, British singer-songwriter and radio producer notable for his 1970s musical collaborations with Clive James and for producing the BBC Radio 4 series This Sceptred Isle. Atkin's musical settings drew most of their inspiration from Tin Pan Alley, although in the "Carnations on the Roof" he set a sombre description of a working class life to themes characteristic of Tamla Motown. Often Atkin turned James' intentions upside down, as with "The Last Hill That Shows You All The Valley", which James wrote as a dirge but which Atkin set to a thumping, angry rock beat. The combination worked as James' mournful cataloguing of man's inhumanity to man became a cry of protest.(The Colours of the Night: Pete Atkin and Clive James. September 22, 2018.)
1958 - Andrea Bocelli, OMRI OMDSM, Italian opera singer, songwriter, tenor and record producer. He was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma at 5 months old, and became completely blind at age 12. After performing evenings in piano bars and competing in local singing contests, Bocelli signed his first recording contract with the Sugar Music label. He rose to fame in 1994, winning the preliminary round of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing "Miserere", with the highest marks ever recorded in the newcomers section.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, September 22 - On This Day
Historical Events
1869 - Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold is first produced, in Munich, with Franz Wuellner conducting.
1980 - Iraq invades Iran, bombing several air and military supply bases, and war breaks out between the neighbouring countries. The fighting ends only when the UN organizes a ceasefire in august 1988.
