February 17 Dateline

Birthdays

1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era, and Creator of the concerto grosso. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the pre-eminence of the violin, and as the first coalescing of modern tonality and functional harmony. (Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto in D Major Op. 6 No. 4, complete. Voices of Music; original instruments. YouTube, uploaded by Voices of Music. Accessed Februray 17, 2018.)

1862 - Ogai Mori, Japanese writer and physician, Lieutenant-General Mori Rintarō, known by his pen name Mori Ōgai, was an Army Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, poet and father of famed author Mari Mori. He obtained his medical license at a very young age and introduced translated German literary works to the Japanese public.

1864 - Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, CBE, Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around the historical village of Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Banjo Paterson is most famous for writing 'Waltzing Matilda' and 'The Man From Snowy River'. It could be said that his writing, based on his own experiences of the Australian bush life, has shaped Australia's identity. (Slim Dusty - Waltzing Matilda. YouTube, uploaded by orthodoxquaker. Note: "Waltzing" does not mean dancing but refers to walking across Australia, walking with all belongings wrapped up in a blanket attached to a long stick this Aussie carries across his shoulder - this is his "swag," hence the term "swag-man." His swag he affectionately calls "Matilda", his only companion. A "billabong" is a lake, a "billy" is a tin can for boiling water, a "jumbuck" is a sheep, and a "tucker" bag whatever else he's carrying. Accessed February 17, 2009. A.B. (Banjo) Paterson "The Man from Snowy River" Poem animation. YouTube, uploaded by poetryreincarnations. Accessed February 17, 2012.)

1888 - Otto Stern, German-American physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. He was the second most nominated person for a Nobel Prize with 82 nominations in the years 1925–1945, ultimately winning in 1943. As an experimental physicist Stern contributed to the discovery of spn quantization in the Stern-Gerlach experiment with Walter Gerlach in February 1922 at the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main; demonstration of the wave nature of atoms and molecules; measurement of atomic magnetic moments; discovery of the proton's magnetic moment; and development of the molecular beam method which is utilized for the technique of molecular beam epitaxy.

1929 - Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, DBE, British actress, comedian and singer. She is best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1993. Her film appearances include To Sir, with Love and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River. Routledge made her professional stage debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952 and her Broadway debut in How's the World Treating You in 1966. She won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Darling of the Day, and the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Candide. (Dame Patricia Routledge. Studio 10. Accessed February 17, 2018. A beautiful uplifting speech from a lovely lady, Dame Patricia Routledge! University of Chester. Accessed February 17, 2020.)

1930 - Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann), English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell's best-known creation, Chief Inspector Wexford, was the main character of many popular police stories, some of them successfully adapted for TV. A second string of works was a series of unrelated crime novels, that deeply explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims, many of them mentally afflicted or otherwise socially isolated. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.

1934 - Sir Alan Arthur Bates, CBE, English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story Whistle Down the Wind (with Hayley Mills) to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving. He performed with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Fixer, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in the film Women in Love with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson. He then starred in The Go-Between, An Unmarried Woman, Nijinsky and in The Rose with Bette Midler, also in TV dramas, including The Mayor of Casterbridge, Harold Pinter's The Collection, among others. He also appeared on the stage. (Whistle Down the Wind in Bryan Forbes 1961 Film, Part 1/2, Part 2/2, starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates. Accessed February 17, 2019.)

1941 - Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie, CBE, English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She's one of the few British performers to merit the title of "Triple Threat", she has premièred leading roles by both Sir Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she has BAFTA Award nomination for her role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields and its sequel French Fields, and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple. McKenzie has also starred in musicals, receiving a 1977 Tony Award nomination for her work in the Broadway revue, Side by Side by Sondheim. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she has twice won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; for the 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls and the 1993 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. [Wiki] (Falling in Love with Love - Julia McKenzie. Uploaded by You'reGonnaLoveTomorrow. Accessed February 17, 2018.) 

1944 - Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins,  CBE, FRAM, HonFLSW, Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus" and the Adiemus album series; Palladio; The Armed Man; and his Requiem.  Jenkins was educated in music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music (he's a fellow and an Associate). He joined the jazz-rock band Soft Machine in 1972 and became the group's lead songwriter in 1974. Jenkins continued to work with Soft Machine up to 1984, but has not been involved with any incarnation of the group since. Jenkins has composed music for advertisement campaigns and has won the industry prize twice.  

 

1954 - Rene Marie Russo,  American actress, producer, and model. She made her film debut in the comedy Major League, and rose to international prominence in a number of thrillers and action films then took a five-year break from acting. She returned to the screen as Frigga, the mother of the titular hero, in the superhero film Thor, a role she reprised in Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Endgame. In 2014, Russo starred in the acclaimed crime thriller Nightcrawler, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She has also appeared in The Intern, Just Getting Started, and Velvet Buzzsaw.

1957 - Loreena McKennitt, CM OM CD - Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (harpist, accordionist, and pianist), and composer who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear dramatic soprano vocals. (Lady of Shalott sung by Loreena McKennitt, with Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem, same name. Uploaded by Midieval Fantasy. Accessed February 17, 2015. L McKennitt Dante's Prayer with lyrics. It is a reference to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. YouTube, uploaded by HaveFaithNH. Accessed February 17, 2019.)

1981 - Paris Hilton, American socialite, actress, businesswoman, media personality, model, singer, and DJ. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Hilton began her modeling career as a teenager when she signed with New York-based modeling development agency Trump Model Management. She was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. In 2003, a leaked 2001 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris, catapulted her into global fame, and the reality television series The Simple Life, in which she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie, started its five-year run with 13 million viewers, on FOX.

Leftie:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, February 17 - On This Day.

Historical Events

1904 - Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece, Madama Butterfly premiered at Teatro alla Scala, sung in Italian. 

 

1909 - The Apache leader Geronimo dies, aged 80. The name 'Geronimo' was a nickname given by Mexican soldiers. It is synonymous with wild bravery. His real name was Goyaałé, sometimes spelled 'Goyathlay' meaning "yawner." He led the last major force of Native American Indians in resistance against the white settlers. He finally surrendered in 1886.

1930 - The Comedie Francaise performs Jean Cocteau's one-act monologue, La Voix Humaine / The Human Voice.

1949 - Chaim Weizmann is elected first president of Israel.

1959 - The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the United Nations.

1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats IBM Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.



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



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