August 19 Dateline

Birthdays

1871 - Orville Wright, Aviation Pioneer, the younger of the famous Wright brothers, with older brother Wilbur, were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They invented the world's first successful airplane. The brothers successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane on December 17, 1903.  (Orville Wright Short Biography. Uploaded by Famous People Bio. Accessed August 19, 2018. The Wright Brothers, First Successful Airplane (1903). Uploaded by Simple History. Accessed August 19, 2018.)

1881 - Georges Enesco (or Enescu) - Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher. He is regarded by many as Romania's most important musician. (Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed August 19, 2019.)

1883 - Coco Chanel (born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel), French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

1919 - Malcolm Forbes (born Malcolm Stevenson Forbes), American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism and free market, and for an extravagant lifestyle, spending on parties, travel, and his collection of homes, yachts, aircraft, art, motorcycles, and Fabergé eggs.

1921 - Gene Roddenberry (born Eugene Wesley Roddenberry), American television screenwriter, producer and creator of the original Star Trek television series, and its first spin-off The Next Generation. He flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television.

1946 - Gerard Willems AM (born Gerardus Maria Willems), Dutch- Australian classical pianist and teacher. He was the first Australian pianist to record the complete series of 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven. He also recorded Beethoven's five piano concertos, the Diabelli Variations, C minor variations, Andante favori, Für Elise and the 3 Electoral "Kurfürstensonaten" sonatas as well as a reconstructed "Fantasy Sonata in D". These recordings feature the Australian designed and manufactured Stuart & Sons piano. This series of recordings constitutes the largest classical music recording project ever undertaken in Australia. Willems became the best selling classical artist in Australia's recording history. (Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto played by Gerard Willems. Antony Walker conducts Sinfonia Australis in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor", with Gerard Willems on the piano. YouTube, uploaded by ABC Classic. Accessed August 19, 2021.)

1946 - Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Clinton, né Blythe III), American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to his presidency, he served as governor of Arkansas (1979–1981 and 1983–1992) and as attorney general of Arkansas (1977–1979). A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was known as a New Democrat, and many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy. He is the husband of Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, former U.S. senator, and two-time candidate for U.S. president.

Leftie:
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 19 August - On This Day.

Historical Events

1561 - Queen Mary Stuart arrives back in Scotland after spending the previous 13 years in France.

1692 - Five people are hanged as witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The witch hunts was the basis of a 1952 play by Arthur Miller "The Crucible" drawing parallels to the McCarthyist hysteria of his time.

1952 - Alberto Ginastera's ballet Estancia is first performed, in Buenos Aires.

1957 - Leonard Bernstein's music drama West Side Story is first performed, in Washington. 

1960 - In the USSR, a three-man military tribunal sentences downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary powers to 10 years imprisonment for spying. He is later released in exchange for the U.S. release of a Soviet prisoner.

1961 - Peggy Glanville-Hick's opera Nausicaa is first staged, in Athens, Greece. 

1999 - An estimated 20,000 protesters rally in central Belgrade to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. 

2005 - First joint military exercises of Russia and China.




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 August 19, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.