January 16 Dateline

Birthdays

1728  - Niccolo Piccinni, Italian composer. Somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera of his day, particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa. He also composed symphonies, sacred music and chamber music. (N. Piccinni's La Donna Vindicate. Uploaded by Gianni de Francia. Accessed January 16, 2019.)

1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist, primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her 1985 murder. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. The book Gorillas in the Mist, was published two years before her death, Fossey's account of her scientific study of the gorillas at Karisoke Research Center. It was adapted into a 1988 film of the same name starring Giourney Weaver. (Dian Fossey narrates her life with gorillas in this vintage footage... Upoaded by National Geographic. Accessed September 11, 2018.)

1948 - John Howard Carpenter, American film director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and composer. He is associated most commonly with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. Many of his films have come to be considered as cult classics, and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker. He composed or co-composed most of his films' music. He won a Saturn Award for Best Music for the film Vampires. Carpenter has released three studio albums, titled Lost Themes, Lost Themes II, and Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild presented Carpenter with the Golden Coach Award (Carrosse d'Or). The Directors' Guild described him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions". 

1950 - Brian Albert Castro,  Hongkong-born Australian novelist, essayist, university professor. His first novel Birds Of Passage won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. Double-Wolf  won The Age Fiction Prize, the Vance Palmer Prize and the Innovative Writing Prize at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. After China again won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award. His sixth novel, Stepper, was awarded the National Book Council Prize for Fiction. Shanghai Dancing won the Victorian Premier's Award, the NSW Premier's Award and was named NSW Book of the Year. The Garden Book won the 2006 Queensland Premier's Award and The Bath Fugues was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award, the South Australian Premier's Literary Award, the Queensland Premier's Fiction Prize and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award. In 2014 he won the Patrick White Award for Literature for his contribution to Australian Literature. His novel Blindness and Rage won the Prime Minister's Award for Poetry in 2018. (Meet the Author Part 1 and Part 2. Schwartz Media. Accessed May 3, 2014.)

1974 - Kate Moss (born Katherine Ann Moss), English model and businesswoman. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fashion icon status. She is known for her waifish figure, and role in size zero fashion. She received an award at the 2013 British Fashion Awards to acknowledge her contribution to fashion over 25 years. Moss is also a contributing fashion editor for British Vogue. Moss has had her own clothing range and has been involved in musical projects. She has won accolades for modelling. In 2007, Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, January 16 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

1739 - George F. Handel's oratorio Saul is first performed in London. (Handel's Saul, HWV 53. Jacobs). RIAS Kammerchor & Concerto Köln, Director: René Jacobs (2005). Painting: Saul attacking David, Guercino. Uploaded by scrymgeour34. Accessed January 16, 2105.)

1868 - A patent for  "ice box on wheels," a refrigerator car, is granted to William Davis, a fish dealer in Michigan, U.S.

1869 - Alexander Borodin's Symphony No. 1 is first performed in St. Petersburg.  (apology, the performing symphony and conductor aren't identified.) 



1920 - The United States introduces Prohibition, making alcohol illegal, however, instead of leading to a more orderly and peaceful society, the ban brings in huge revenues for the Mafia, an organised crime.  

1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, referred Fuehrerbunker.   

2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107; Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.  

2005 - Adriana Iliescu, at the age of sixty-six becomes the oldest woman in the world to give birth.  


Video Credits:

Borodin - Symphony 1.  YouTube, Uploaded by Sergio SC.  Accessed January 16, 2017. Here's another video of this wonderful performance of Symphony No. 1 in Eb major from the underrated composer Aleksander Borodin. Michel Plasson conducts the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. YouTube, uploaded by Sergio Canovas. Accessed January 16 2023. (Movements:  I - Adagio - Allegro - Andantino: 0:00 II - Scherzo. Prestissimo - Trio. Allegro - Prestissimo: 11:02 III - Andante: 17:34 IV - Allegro molto vivo: 25:14) 

 

Alexander Scriabin - Symphony No.1 in E-major, Op.26 (1900). YouTube, uploaded by KuhlauDilfeng2. Accessed January 16, 2015. (Mov.I: Lento 00:00 Mov.II: Allegro drammatico 07:39 Mov.III: Lento 16:33 Mov.IV: Vivace 26:46 Mov.V: Allegro 30:01 Mov.VI: Andante 37:35 Stefania Toczyska, mezzo-soprano Michael Myers, tenor Chorus: The Westminster Choir Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra Conductor: Riccardo Muti)

 


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 Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org.

 

(c) June 2007. Updated January 16, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.