June 16 Dateline

 Birthdays

1313 - Giovanni Boccaccio,  Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio is best known for The Decameron. He wrote his literature mostly in the Italian vernacular, and other works in Latin. (Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and Bawdy Medieval Literature - Fabian Alfie. Uploaded by Humanities Seminars Program. Accessed June 16, 2018.)

1858 - John Peter Russell, Australian Impressionist painter (Of great interest is Russell's painting of his famous friend, Vincent van Gogh, credit: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation). Although V. van Gogh had been painted by other fellow artists, including Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, this one by Russell remains a personal favourite. A healthier looking Vincent, with eyes purposeful, intent.)

1890 - Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson), English actor, writer, and film director who was part of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.

1917 - Katharine Graham, American publisher and the second female publisher of a major American newspaper, following Eliza Jane Nicholson's ownership of the New Orleans Daily Picayune.  She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period: the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon. Her memoir, Personal History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

1934 - Dame Eileen (June) Atkins, CBE, DBE, English actress and occasional screenwriter. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Cranford. She is a three-time Olivier Award winner, winning Best Supporting Performance in 1988 (for Multiple roles) and Best Actress for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2004). She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.

1937 - Erich Segal, American author, screenwriter and educator. He was best known for writing the novel Love Story, a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit. (Scenes from the movie Love Story (1970), starring Ali Macgraw and Ryan O'Neal. Uploaded by Samuel. Accessed June 16, 2019. Famous quote from Love Story: "Love is never having to say you're sorry".) 

1938 - Joyce Carol Oates, American writer and University professor. Oates has published numerous novels, as well as a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel them, two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal and the Jerusalem Prize. Her novels Black Water, What I Lived For, and Blonde, and short story collections The Wheel of Love and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 16 June - On This Day.  

Historical Events

1904 - Writer James Joyce meets Nora, his future wife. Leopold Bloom, his fictional character in Ulysses, spends this day wandering around Dublin.    

1956 - English poet Ted Hughes marries American poet Sylvia Plath.

1960 - Alfred Hichcock's film Psycho opens in New York.

1963 - Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space on Vostok 6. She makes 48 orbits of the earth and is up for 71 hours.

1972 - Five White House operatives break into Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. Early the next morning they are arrested as a systematic plot to discredit the Democratic Party is revealed. As a result of the fallout, U.S. President Richard Nixon resigns on August 9, 1974. 

1977 - Leonid Brezhnev becomes President of the U.S.S.R., a role he held until his death in 1982. He oversaw increased political will to engage with the West.  

1999 - Thabo Mbeki is elected President of South Africa, the second black President after Nelson Mandela.

 

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 and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org



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