August 2 Dateline

Birthdays

1891 - Sir Arthur (Edward Drummond) Bliss, CH KCVO, English composer and conductor. He served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he became known as an unconventional and modernist composer, but within the decade he began to display a more traditional and romantic side in his music. In the 1920s and 1930s he composed extensively not only for the concert hall, but also for films and ballet. In the Second World War, Bliss returned to England from the US to work for the BBC becoming its director of music. After the war he resumed his work as a composer, and was appointed Master of the Queen's Music. Many of his compositions remain in the repertoire of British orchestras. Two dramatic works from this decade remain well known, the music for H. G. Wells's Things to Come, and a ballet music from Miracle in the Gorbals, a one-act ballet choreographed by Robert Helpmann to a story by Michael Benthall.(Things to Come - Sir Arthur Bliss. Uploaded by Alan Clark. Accessed August 2, 2017.)

1914 - Beatrice Whitney Straight, American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner, and Emmy Award nominee. Straight made her Broadway debut in The Possessed. Her other Broadway roles included Viola in Twelfth Night, Catherine Sloper in The Heiress and Lady Macduff in Macbeth. For her role as Elizabeth Proctor in the production of The Crucible, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For the satirical film Network, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance is the shortest ever to win an Academy Award for acting, at five minutes and two seconds of screen time. She also received an Emmy Award nomination for the miniseries The Dain Curse. Straight also appeared as Mother Christophe in The Nun's Story, Marion Hillyard in The Promise and Dr. Martha Lesh in Poltergeist.

1932 - Peter Seamus O'Toole, British stage and film actor of Irish descent. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company. He made his film debut in 1959. O'Toole achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for another seven times – for Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and Venus (2006) – holding the record for the most Academy Award nominations for acting without a win. In 2002, he was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his career achievements. In addition, he was the recipient of four Golden Globe Awards, one British Academy Film Award and one Primetime Emmy Award.(Here's Fill the World with Love -Sherborne School Tribute. Uploaded by VidBrats. Accessed August 2, 2014.This is a tribute to Sherborne School in Dorset, England, narrated by Peter O'Toole. O'Toole starred in the 1969 film version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips based on the classic James Hilton novel. The book and both films immortalized British boarding school life. Sherborne School, founded in 1550, was the setting for the fictional Brookfield Academy at which the character Arthur Chipping ("Mr. Chips") served as headmaster in the 1969 musical film adaptation. The songs "When I Am Older" and "Fill The World With Love", featured in this video, were sung by Petula Clark and Peter O'Toole, along with the boys chorus at Sherborne School. (Man of La Mancha (1972) - The Impossible Dream Scene (6/9) | Movieclips). YouTube, uploaded by MovieClips. Accessed August 2, 2014.)

1942 -  Isabel Allende, Chilean writer. Her works are known to contain aspects of the genre magical realism, in novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts, which have been commercially successful. Allende has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author.

1964 - Mary-Louise Parker, American actress and writer. She came to prominence for film roles in Grand Canyon, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Client, among others. She received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Catherine Llewellyn in David Auburn's Proof. Parker recurred as Amy Gardner on the NBC television series The West Wing, and nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2002. She received both the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Harper Pitt on the acclaimed HBO television miniseries Angels in America in 2003. Since 2007, she has contributed articles to Esquire magazine and published her memoir, Dear Mr. You. She starred as Roma Guy on the ABC television miniseries When We Rise, and she appeared as a political consultant in the show Billions on Showtime.

Lefties:
Not known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 2 August - On This Day.

 

Below is Sonata for Viola and Piano (!933) by Sir Arthur Bliss, recorded in Poston Hall, Suffolk, 2007. Interpreters: Roger Chase, viola.  Michiko Otaki, piano. Photographs from Photo-visible.com and other sources.

Historical Events

1492 - The last ships carrying Jews expelled by King Ferdinand leaves Spain. Tens of thousands died from this expulsion. Also, this day Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and reaches America by accident. He was a hopeless explorer. Believing it to be an island, he names it Santa Isla. Well, the rest is history.  

1870 - The Tower Subway opens in London, England. It's the world's first underground tube railway. On its first trip, 12 people travel 450 yards (411 m.) in 1 minute and 10 seconds.

1934 - Adolf Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany. He held this title until his death more than a decade later. His leadership resulted in the genocide of about eleven million people, including six million Jews.

1955 - George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, patents Velero. The design is an adaptation of the burdock seeds which would attach themselves to his clothing whilst walking in the Alps.      

2005 - Scientists at Stanford University, U.S., announce they have used nanotechnology to destroy cancer cells.


Video Credit:

 Bliss: Sonata for Viola and Piano. Youtube, uploaded by Stephen Baggaley. Accessed August 2, 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 Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


(c) February 2014. Updated August 2, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.