Birthdays
1759 - William Pitt the Younger, prominent British Tory statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest prime minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24 and the first prime minister of the UK of Great Britain and Ireland as of January 1801. He left office in March 1801, but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for all of his time as prime minister. He is known as "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who is customarily referred to as "William Pitt the Elder" and had previously served as prime minister.
1779 - Thomas Moore, Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, often referred to as Anacreon Moore. He is best remembered for the lyrics of "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Last Rose of Summer". As Lord Byron's named literary executor, along with John Murray, Moore was responsible for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death. (The Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore. 'Tis the Last Rose of Summer (lyrics). Uploaded by 4Stanzas. Accessed April 30, 2020.) "The Last Rose of Summer" was written by Moore in 1805 while he was at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland, said to have been inspired by a specimen Rosa 'Old Blush'. The music is a traditional tune called "Aislean an Oigfear" or "The Young Man's Dream", transcribed by Edward Bunting in 1792. The poem and the tune together were published in December 1813, Volume 5 of Moore's A Selection of Irish Melodies. (The Last Rose of Summer. Taryn Fiebig & Jayne Hockley. YouTube, by The Orchard Enterprises. Thyme & Roses ℗ 2005. Accessed May 28, 2017.)
1903 - Marguerite Monnot, French songwriter and composer, best known for having written many of the songs performed by Édith Piaf and for the music in the stage musical Irma La Douce. As a female composer of popular music in the first half of the 20th century, Monnot was a pioneer in her field. Classically trained by her father and at the Paris Conservatory (her teachers included prominent composers Nadia Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy, and Alfred Cortot), Monnot made the unusual switch to composing popular music after poor health ended her career as a concert pianist when she was eighteen. Soon after writing her first commercially successful song, "L'Étranger", she met Édith Piaf, and they became the first female songwriting team in France, remaining friends and collaborators throughout most of their lives. (Hymne a L'amour - Edith Piaf. Uploaded by Paawit Gala. Accessed April 30, 2020.)
1908 - Ian Lancaster Fleming, English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. (How Ian Fleming Created James Bond. Uploaded by moogheer. Accessed May 28, 2010.) He wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolve around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
1912 - Patrick White (born Patrick Victor Martindale White), Australian writer who published 12 novels (famous for The Eye of Storm), three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. His fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative vantage points and stream of consciousness techniques. In 1973 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature", as it says in the Swedish Academy's citation, the first and only Australian to have been awarded the prize. White was also the inaugural recipient of the Miles Franklin Award.
1935 - Anne Reid, CBE, English stage, film and television actress. She's known for her roles as Valerie Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street (1961–71); Jean in the sitcom Dinnerladies (1998–2000); and her BAFTA-nominated role as Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020). She won the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for the film The Mother (2003).
1940 - Maeve Binchy, Irish writer. Best known for her sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, her descriptive characters, her interest in human nature, and her often clever surprise endings.
1952 - Elizabeth Spires, American poet and university professor. She holds a Chair for Distinguished Achievement. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, American Poetry Review, The New Criterion, The Paris Review and many other literary magazines and anthologies.She has been the recipient of the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship, a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Ohioana Book Awards, and the Maryland Author Award from the Maryland Library Association. (Elizabeth Spires on riddles and writer's block and ends with reading "In Heaven it is Always Autumn", YouTube, uploaded by hocopolitso. Accessed May 28, 2018.)
1968 - Kylie Minogue, AO, OBE (born Kylie Ann Minogue), Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 70 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinventing herself in music and fashion, for which she is referred to by the European press as the “Princess of Pop” and a style icon. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, three Brit Awards and 17 ARIA Music Awards.
1968 - Kylie Minogue, AO, OBE (born Kylie Ann Minogue), Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 70 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinventing herself in music and fashion, for which she is referred to by the European press as the “Princess of Pop” and a style icon. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, three Brit Awards and 17 ARIA Music Awards.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events today, May 28 - On This Day.
Feature:
Edith Piaf singing the popular and loved French song "Hymne a l'amour" ("Hymn to Love"), here - with music composed by Marguerite Monnot, the lyrics written by Piaf herself, also originally performed by her. Piaf first sang this song at the Cabaret Versailles in New York on September 14, 1949. It was written to her lover and the love of her life, the French boxer, Marcel Cerdan. On October 28, 1949 Cerdan was killed in a plane crash on his way from Paris to New York to come see her. She recorded the song on 2 May 1950. Apology. Live videos are no longer available at YouTube. (April 3, 2022).
Below is a video of Hymne a L'amour sung by Piaf in English: "If you love me, really love me."
1533 - Archbishop Thomas Cranmer proclaimed the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
1961 - Amnesty international is founded by Peter Benenson.
1971 - U.S. President Richard Nixon orders John Haldeman to do more wire-tapping and political espionage against the Democrats. The orders are recorde on tape.
1982 - The Battle of Goose Green takes place during the Falklands War. Despite being out-numbered 2-to-1, the British forces are successful in routing the Argentineans after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
1987 - Mathias Rust, aged 19, lands a small private plane on a bridge near Red Square, Moscow, without having been intercepted by any Soviet air defenses. He spends 432 days in prison.
1999 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
Video Credit:
Below is a video of Hymne a L'amour sung by Piaf in English: "If you love me, really love me."
Historical Events
1533 - Archbishop Thomas Cranmer proclaimed the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
1961 - Amnesty international is founded by Peter Benenson.
1971 - U.S. President Richard Nixon orders John Haldeman to do more wire-tapping and political espionage against the Democrats. The orders are recorde on tape.
1982 - The Battle of Goose Green takes place during the Falklands War. Despite being out-numbered 2-to-1, the British forces are successful in routing the Argentineans after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
1987 - Mathias Rust, aged 19, lands a small private plane on a bridge near Red Square, Moscow, without having been intercepted by any Soviet air defenses. He spends 432 days in prison.
1999 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
Video Credit:
Edith Piaf - Hymn to Love, sung in English. YouTube, uploaded by BillsOldies. Accessed May 28, 2017.
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 and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
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 and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
(c) June 2007. Updated May 28, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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