Birthdays
1809 - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Victorian poet, famous for "Crossing the Bar" and The Lady of Shalott" (refer below). "The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by Tennyson. It tells the story of a young noble woman imprisoned in a tower on an island near Camelot. The poet wrote two versions of the poem, one published in 1833, of 20 stanzas, and the other in 1842, of 19 stanzas. (In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Lord Tennyson, read by Elizabeth Klett. Full Audio Book. Uploaded by LibriVox Audiobooks. Accessed August 6, 2018.)
1881 - Sir Alexander Fleming, FRS FRSE FRCS, Scottish scientist, Nobel laureate in Medicine or Physiology, discovered penicillin. His best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the world's first general-purpose antibiotic substance benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. Sir Fleming was knighted for his scientific achievements in 1944. In 1999, he was named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. In 2002, he was chosen in the BBC's television poll for determining the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2009, he was also voted third "greatest Scot" in an opinion poll conducted by STV, behind only Robert Burns and William Wallace.(Alexander Fleming Biography. Uploaded by CloudBiography. Accessed August 6, 2014.)
1911 - Lucille Désirée Ball, American actress, comedienne, model, studio executive and producer. She was the star and producer of sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and comedy TV specials aired under the title The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. In 1962, Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions, which produced many popular television series, including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. Ball was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning four times. In 1960, she received two stars for her work in film and television on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Some of her numerous awards include: the Television Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
1917 - Robert Mitchum (born Robert Charles Durman Mitchum, American actor, director, author, poet, composer, and singer. Mitchum rose to prominence for starring roles in several classic films noirs, and his acting is generally considered a forerunner of the antiheroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s. His best-known films include Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear, and El Dorado. Mitchum was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). He is also known for his television role as U.S. Navy Captain Victor “Pug” Henry in the epic two-part miniseries The Winds of War and sequel War and Remembrance. Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male stars of Classic American Cinema.
1928 - Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola), American artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental film Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).
1951 - Catherine Mary Hicks, American actress. She is best known for her role as Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven. Other notable roles include Dr. Faith Coleridge on the soap opera Ryan's Hope (1976–1978), her Emmy Award-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn: The Untold Story, Dr. Gillian Taylor in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Karen Barclay in Child's Play.
1972 - Geri Halliwell (born Geraldine Estelle Horner, née Halliwell), English singer, songwriter, author, actress, and philanthropist. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the pop girl group the Spice Girls. With over 85 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time. The phrase "girl power", regularly uttered by all five members, was most closely associated with Halliwell. Her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol of girl power. In 1998, Halliwell left the Spice Girls to pursue a solo career but later returned to the group when they reunited in 2007.
Lefties:
Bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming
Actress Catherine Hicks
More birthdays and historical events today, 6 August - On This Day.
"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Historical Events
1890 - Murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in an electric chair at New York's Auburn Prison.
1926 - Gertrude Ederle, an American, becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel. It takes her 14 hours and 30 minutes to complete.
