October 12 Dateline

Birthdays

1725 - Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French entomologist and pharmacist. He followed the binomial nomenclature of Carl von Linné and devoted himself mainly to beetles. He was the author of Histoire abrégée des Insectes qui se trouvent aux environs de Paris. Paris : Durand Vol. 1 8 + 523 pp. 10 pls (1762) and co-author with Antoine François of Entomologia Parisiensis, sive, Catalogus insectorum quae in agro Parisiensi reperiuntur ... (1785).

1872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.

1935 - Luciano Pavarotti, Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings gaining worldwide fame for the quality of his tone, and eventually established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century, achieving the honorific title "king of the high C's". From the beginning of his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy to his final performance of "Nessun dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Pavarotti was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles, and Puccini's famous works. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. (Pavarotti sings Nessun Dorma and Torna a Surriento. YouTube, uploaded by dreamer100pre. Accessed October 12, 2015.)

1968 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men film series from 2000 to 2017, a role for which he holds the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero". Jackman is also recognised for his lead roles in romantic comedy, action and drama films. Versatile and multi-talented, Hugh Jackman has also played the roles for period romance Australia (2008), the film version of Les Misérables (2012), the thriller Prisoners (2013), and the musical The Greatest Showman (2017), for which he received a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album. For playing Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Leftie:
Actor and Film Producer Hugh Jackman

 

Death:

Singer & Songwriter John Denver (October 12, 1997). In remembrance: John Denver / Live at The Apollo Theatre, 26 October 1982. Uploaded by M masassa. Accessed Oct 12, 2018. 

 

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 12 - On This Day

Historical Events

1910 - Ralph Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony, for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra (after American poet Walt Whitman's poem of the same name), is first performed at the Leeds Festival in England.

1931 - Johnny Weismuller, Olympic swimmer, is offered the role of Tarzan by MGM after being spotted at a hotel swimming pool. He makes Tarzan movies throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

1933 - The U.S. Department of Justice acquires the Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay for use as a federal prison.

1994 - The Magellan mission to Venus of NASA ends when radio contact is lost and the spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of the planet.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush requests a special screening of the documentary of America's Most Wanted, showing 22 of the world's most dangerous terrorists.

2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in Indonesia that killed 202 people and wounded hundreds.




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 October 12, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.