February 29 Dateline

Birthdays

1792 - Gioachino Rossini (b. Gioachino Antonio Rossini), Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas. His works also include many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition at the height of his popularity, while still in his thirties. His famous comic operas include:  L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia (English: The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola, which brought to a peak the opera buffa tradition he inherited from masters such as Domenico Cimarosa. He also composed opera seria works such as Otello, Tancredi and Semiramide. All these operas attracted admiration for their innovation in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. In 1824 Rossini was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, Il viaggio a Reims (later amended for his first opera in French, Le comte Ory), revisions of two of his Italian operas, Le siège de Corinthe and Moïse, and in 1829 his last opera , Guillaume Tell.  (The Best of Rossini. Uploaded by Top Classical Music. Accessed February 29, 2020.)

1840 - John Philip Holland, American modern submarine inventor, known as the 'father of the modern submarine', who designed and built the first underwater vessel accepted by the U.S. Navy.

1896 - Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, Indian independence activist and served between 1977 and 1979 as the 4th Prime Minister of India and led the government formed by the Janata Party. During his long career in politics, he held many important posts in government such as Chief Minister of Bombay State, Home Minister, Finance Minister and 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of India.

1904 - Jimmy Dorsey (James Francis Dorsey), American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. Dorsey recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" and "It's The Dreamer In Me". His other major recordings were "Tailspin", "John Silver", "So Many Times", "Amapola", "Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil)", "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and Frances Langford, "Grand Central Getaway", and "So Rare". He played clarinet on the seminal jazz standards "Singin' the Blues" in 1927 and the original 1930 recording of the popular "Georgia on My Mind", which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1916 - Dinah Shore (born Fannye Rose Shore), American Singer, Actress, and Television Personality, and the top-charting female Vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era.  (Dinah Shore - It Had to be You. Uploaded by ssou02. Accessed February 29, 2019.)

1960 - Tony Robbins (Anthony Jay Robbins, born Anthony J. Mahavoric), American author, coach, motivational speaker, and philanthropist.  Robbins is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books Unlimited Power (published in 1987) and Awaken the Giant Within (published in 1993). His seminars are organized through Robbins Research International. 

 
Lefties:
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More birthdays and historical events, February 29 - On This Day

Historical Events

45 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar adjusts 46 B.C.E., known as the Year of Confusion, with 445 days, by fixing 365 days and six hours as a year's length, with an extra day added every four years.  

1288 - in Scotland it becomes legal for women to propose marriage to men only on this day (that is, leap year). 

1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills one third of the population of Agadir in just 15 seconds. Populace: about 12,000 people.



1964 - Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record of 58.9 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition in Sydney.

1988 - The first South African archbishop and Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu, is arrested during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.  

2004 - New Zealand director Peter Jackson's film Lord of the Rings: Return of the King wins 11 Oscars Academy award. Only two films before have achieved this record: Ben Hur (Charlton Heston) and Titanic (Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio).   




Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)

2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timestables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


(c) June 2007. Updated February 29, 2021. Tel. Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.