September 26 Dateline

Birthdays

1888 - T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) OM, American-born British writer and Nobel Laureate, one of the twentieth century's major poets", was also a highly distinguished essayist, publisher, playwright, editor and literary and social critic. He was a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as "The Waste Land" and "Four Quartets". T.S. Eliot is considered one of the 20th century's major poets, who attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including "The Waste Land", "The Hollow Men", "Ash Wednesday", and Four Quartets. He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry". (T.S. Eliot - A short biography. jrellim96. Accessed September 26, 2018. T.S. Eliot reads: The Waste Land. Uploaded by tim24frames. Accessed September 26, 2018.)

1898 - George Gershwin, (born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz), American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, the songs Swanee and Fascinating Rhythm, the jazz standard I Got Rhythm, and the opera Porgy and Bess which spawned the hit Summertime. Gershwin began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. The original Broadway production of the musical Of Thee I Sing (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by brother Ira Gershwin), directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441 performances, gaining critical and box office success. It has been revived twice on Broadway and in concert stagings in the U.S. and in London. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In Paris, he composed An American in Paris, returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, it came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. His compositions have been adapted for use in film and television, with several becoming jazz standards recorded.

1930 - Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich, German Lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and various lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35. (Fritz Wunderlich Sings "Un' aura amorosa," ("Der Odem der Liebe") From Wolfgang A. Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. Uploaded by Edmund StAustell. Accessed September 26, 2018.)
 
1948 - Dame Olivia Newton-John, British-Australian singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, entrepreneur and activist. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has amassed five number-one and ten other top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, and two number-one Billboard 200 albums. She has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. She starred in the 1978 musical film Grease, whose soundtrack remains one of the most successful in history and features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want" – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and "Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical", plus "Let Me Be There", "Have You Never Been Mellow", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (also from Grease), "A Little More Love" and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with Electric Light Orchestra).

1968 - James Patrick Caviezel, American actor. He portrayed Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS science-fiction crime drama series Person of Interest (2011-2016). Caviezel's other notable roles include Private Witt in The Thin Red Line, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, and Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo.

1981 - Serena Jameka Williams, Tennis champion. American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, September 26 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1580 - Sir Frances Drake circumnavigates the globe in the Golden Hind, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth. He is the first captain to do so, given that Magellan didn't complete his voyage 60 years earlier.

1847 - Shakespeare's birthplace on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon is purchased by a body of trustees to be preserved for UK.

1968 - British musical Oliver! premieres in London, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.  It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway, tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98, 2008–11 and on tour in the UK from 2011-13. Its 1968 film adaptation, directed by Carol Reed, was highly successful, winning six Academy Awards including Best Picture. Oliver! received thousands of performances in British schools, becoming one of the most popular school musicals. In 1963 Lionel Bart received the Tony Award for Best Original Score. Many songs are well known to the public.

1973 - Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic. Pilots Franchi and Gilbert Defer fly from Washington, U.S. to Orly Airport in Paris in just 3 hours and 32 minutes, half the previous world record.

1983 - Australia II, the first non-American winner in the 132-year history of the yacht race, takes out the America's Cup.The New York Yacht Club had held the Cup since 1851, the longest ever winning streak in sport.

1984 - After 150 years of British rule, the U.K. agrees to hand over the colony of  Hong Kong to China. the handover takes place midnight on July 1, 1997. 




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

 

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