March 25 Dateline

Birthdays

1867 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, one of the most acclaimed musicians conductor of the late 18th and 19th century and renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory. He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the New York Philharmonic. Later in his career he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–54), and this led to his becoming a household name (especially in the United States) through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.

1881 - Bela Bartok, Hungarian composer and pianist. With Zoltan Kodaly, Bartok collected folksongs extensively. (Enjoy a recording of his Concerto for Orchestra (here) or Pinchas Zukerman playing Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2, First Movement, Allegro non troppo  [Part 1/4], with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta conducting - here.)

1928 - James Lovell (James Arthur Lovell Jr.), retired American astronaut, naval aviator, and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became one of the first three humans to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission which, after a critical failure en route, circled around the Moon and returned safely to Earth through the efforts of the crew and mission control. He was the first person to fly into space four times, and the also the first to fly to it twice. He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (in 1970, as one of 17 recipients in the Space Exploration group), and co-author of the 1994 book Lost Moon, on which the 1995 film Apollo 13 was based.

1934 - Gloria Marie Steinem, American feminist journalist and social political activist. Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a co-founder of Ms. magazine. In 1969, Steinem published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation", which brought her to national fame as a feminist leader. In 1971, she co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus which provides training and support for women who seek elected and appointed offices in government. Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center, an organization that "works to make women visible and powerful in the media".

1942 - Aretha Louise Franklin, American singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, and civil rights activist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she embarked on a secular-music career as a recording artist for Columbia Records. Hit songs such as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", and "I Say a Little Prayer" propelled her past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, she had come to be known as the "Queen of Soul". Franklin recorded numerous singles on Billboard, R&B entries, etc. She received numerous honours in her career. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2019 awarded Franklin a posthumous special citation "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades". In 2020, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

1943 - Paul Michael Glaser, American actor and director best known for his role as Detective Dave Starsky on the 1970's television series, Starsky & Hutch. Glaser also played Captain Jack Steeper on the NBC series Third Watch.

1965 - Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress and producer. She is known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City, for which she won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. She later reprised the role in films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010). Parker made her Broadway debut at the age of 11 in the 1976 revival of The Innocents, before going on to star in the title role of the Broadway musical Annie in 1979. She made her first major film appearances in the 1984 dramas Footloose and Firstborn. Her other film roles include L.A. Story, Honeymoon in Vegas, The First Wives Club, among others. She starred as Frances Dufresne in the HBO series Divorce, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Since 2005, she has run her own production company, Pretty Matches, which has been creating content for HBO and other channels.

1947 - Sir Elton Hercules John CH Kt CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight), English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967 on more than 30 albums, John has sold over 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100, including seven number ones in the UK and nine in the US, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in the US. His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", rewritten in dedication to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single in the history of the UK and US singles charts. He has also produced records and occasionally acted in films.

Lefties:
Astronaut James Lovell
Actor Paul Michael Glaser
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker

More birthdays and historical events, March 25 - On This Day
 

 

Historical Events

1807 - The British Parliament passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, banning the trade of human beings throughout the empire. 

1957 - France, West Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg sign the Treaty of Rome to form the European Economic Community. 

1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their first "bed-in for peace" in Amsterdam.

1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia dies. when King Faisal bent forward on the previous day to greet his nephew, Prince Musaed, the mentally unstable prince drew a pistol and shot the King in the head.

1996 - Five days prior, the British Government admits there is a link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a similar disease in humans. On this day, the European Union bans the import of British beef products.  



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



© June 2007. Updated March 25, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.