Birthdays
1890 - Jean Rhys, CBE, mid-20th-century novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she was mainly resident in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Her books: Wide Sargasso Sea and Quartet were made into movies. (Jean Rhys - Women Writers: Voices in Transition (3/4). Uploaded by OpenLearn from the Open University. Accessed August 24, 2017. Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea. Uploaded by Vidya-Mitra. Accessed August 24,2018.)
1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, KBE, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator. He was a key figure in Spanish-language and universal literature. His best-known books, Ficciones (Fictions) and El Aleph (The Aleph), are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and influenced the magic realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.
1929 - Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini), Palestinian political leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority from 1994 to 2004.
1924 - Louis Teicher (born Louis Milton Teicher), popular duo-pianist with Arthur Ferrante. The Duo were known known for their light arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes, as well as their signature style of florid, intricate and fast-paced piano playing performances. (Ferrante & Teicher - Greatest Love Themes of the 20th Century (1973) full vinyl albums)
1947 - Paulo Coelho (born Paulo Coelho de Souza), Brazilian lyricist and novelist, best known for his novel The Alchemist. In 2014, he uploaded his personal papers online to create a virtual Paulo Coelho Foundation.
1949 - Julie Anthony (Julie Moncrief Anthony), AM OBE, Australian soprano and entertainer. She sang the Australian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Human Nature. Anthony is among the most awarded of Australian entertainers. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) (1980) and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (1989) and has been voted by her peers as "Entertainer of the Year" three times and "Best Female vocalist" 11 times. She also appeared in commercials for St.George Bank from 1974 until 1999.
1957 - Stephen Fry (Stephen John Fry), English actor, comedian and writer. He and Hugh Laurie are the comic double act Fry and Laurie. Fry's film acting roles include playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the film Wilde, a performance which saw him nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery Gosford Park, and Mr. Johnson in Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship. Besides working in television, Fry has been a prolific writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines and having written four novels and three volumes of autobiography. Fry is also known for his voice-overs, reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrating the LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel series of video games, and an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket, and a series of animations about Humanism for Humanists UK.
Leftie:
None known
More birthdays and historical events today, August 24 - On This Day
Historical Events
79 AD - Vesuvius volcano erupts in southern Italy, burying the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae under hot ash and boiling mud in particular, Pompeii. Modern excavations reveal an almost intact ancient city, including a maze of streets, theatres and a ring for gladiatorial games.
For those interested in this history, in particular, significant revelations of Pompeii, I highly recommend the books of Natasha Sheldon on discovering Pompeii: Discovering Pompeii: Three Tours Through Pompeii's History and Discovering Pompeii: Book 1: Discovering Ancient Sites. N. Sheldon is an authority in Ancient History and Archaeology.
1770 - English poet Thomas Chatterton takes arsenic in his London home and dies at age 17 years and nine months old. He was an exceptionally studious child, publishing mature work by the age of eleven.
1847 - Charlotte Bronte sends her Jane Eyre manuscript to publishing house Smith, Elder and Co.
1853 - Chef George Crum invents the potato chips. When he attempted to get back at a customer in 1853 by slicing his potatoes so thin that they couldn't be eaten with a fork, he didn't even realise that he was starting a billion-dollar industry. That's how the potato chips, or crisps as they're known in other parts of the world, were invented.
1981 - A New York judge sentences Mark David Chapman to at least 20 years in prison for shooting former Beatles member John Lennon.
1991 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev suspends the Communist Party and he also resigns as general secretary.
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
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 24, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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