August 8 Dateline

Famous Birthdays

1857 - Cecile Chaminade, French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. Ambroise Thomas said, "This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman".  (6 Pièces Romantiques, Op.55) 

1884 - Sara Teasdale, American lyric poet. She wrote seven books of poetry in her lifetime and received public admiration for her well-crafted lyrical poetry which centered on a woman’s changing perspectives on beauty, love, and death. Many of her poems chart developments in her own life, from her experiences as a sheltered young woman in St. Louis, to those as a successful yet increasingly uneasy writer in New York City, to a depressed and disillusioned person who would commit suicide in 1933. She won the first Columbia Poetry Prize in 1918, a prize that would later be renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. (Sara Teasdale Biography & Style. Uploaded by McKenna Susemiehl. Accessed August 8, 2018. "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale. Uploaded by Uuttuubbee07. Accessed Ausut 8, 2010.

1902 - Paul Dirac, OM FRS, English theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (1933), one of the founders  of quantum physics (quantum mechanics and quantum electodynamics), known for "Dirac Equation" that predicted the existence of anti-matter in the universe. He is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. (Paul Dirac Interview, Göttingen 1982. Uploaded by nerdcoke. Accessed August 8, 2018.

1905 - André Jolivet, French composer, conductor, and composition professor. He was known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, drawing on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times. He composed in a wide variety of forms for many different types of ensembles.

1928 - Don Vernon Burrows, AO, MBE, Australian jazz and swing musician. He played the clarinet, saxophone and flute.  Burrows performed to mostly classical music audiences through tours with Musica Viva and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation concert series. He led the nationally televised show The Don Burrows Collection for six years. He mentored and was closely associated with James Morrison. He formed the Don Burrows Quartet; also worked with Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Tony Bennett, Stéphane Grappelli, Cleo Laine, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

1937 - Dustin Lee Hoffman, American actor and filmmaker. His first theatrical performance was 1961's A Cook for Mr. General as Ridzinski. He also  appeared in guest roles on TV in shows like Naked City and The Defenders. He then starred in the 1966 Off-Broadway play Eh? where his performance garnered him both a Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award. In 2012, he made his directorial debut with Quartet starring Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay. He starred in Noah Baumbach's critically acclaimed family drama The Meyerowitz Stories. Hoffman is the recipient of accolades including two Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award), four British Academy Film Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, and two Emmy Awards. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999 and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012.

1944 - Peter Lindsay Weir, AM, Australian film director. He was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement (1970–1990), with films such as the mystery drama Picnic at Hanging Rock, the supernatural thriller The Last Wave and the historical drama Gallipoli. The climax of Weir's early career was the $6 million multi-national production The Year of Living Dangerously in 1983.

1949 - Keith Ian Carradine, American actor, singer and songwriter who has had success on stage, film, and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's film Nashville, Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood, FBI agent Frank Lundy in Dexter, and US President Conrad Dalton in Madam Secretary. Carradine is a Golden Globe– and Academy Award–winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine.

1981 - Roger Federer, Swiss professional tennis player, often regarded as greatest tennis player of all time. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record total of 310 weeks (including a record 237 consecutive weeks) and was the year-end No. 1 five times, including four consecutive. Federer, who turned professional in 1998, was continuously ranked in the top 10 from October 2002 to November 2016. He is also the only player after Jimmy Connors to have won 100 or more career singles titles, as well as to amass 1,200 wins in the Open Era. Federer's all-court game and versatile style of play involve exceptional footwork and shot-making. He has received the tour Sportsmanship Award 13 times and been named the ATP Player of the Year and ITF World Champion five times. He has won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award a record five times. He is also the only person to have won the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award four times.

1988 - Princess Beatrice of York (born Beatrice Elizabeth Mary), a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is ninth in line of succession to the British throne, followed by her sister, Princess Eugenie.

Leftie:
Actor Keith Carradine

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 8 August - On This Day.

Historical Events

1786 - Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat are the first people to climb Mont Blanc in Switzerland.

1967 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is formed by the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

1974 - Facing a possible impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation on national television, effective the next day. Vice-President Gerald R. Ford was to take over and complete Nixon's term of office.

1991 - John McCarthy, British journalist, is freed after being held hostage in lebanon for more than five years by militant group Islamic Jihad. 



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. Sara Teasdale. Poetry Foundation. 
7. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org



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