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November 17 Dateline

Birthdays


1906 - Soichiro Honda (Honda Sōichirō), Japanese engineer and industrialist. In 1948, he established Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and oversaw its expansion from a wooden shack manufacturing bicycle motors to a multinational automobile and motorcycle manufacturer.

1925 - Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.), American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time. A prominent heartthrob of the Golden Age of Hollywood, he achieved stardom with his role in Magnificent Obsession, followed by All That Heaven Allows and Giant, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hudson also found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day. He was also hit on television, starring in the popular mystery series McMillan & Wife. His last role was as a guest star on the fifth season (1984–1985) of the primetime ABC soap opera Dynasty, until AIDS-related illness made it impossible for him to continue.

1925 - Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC CH CBE, Australian conductor and musical director. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the SSO and Birgit Nilsson in the opening concert of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1973. Mackerras was the President of Trinity College of Music, London, and served as Music Advisor to City Opera of Vancouver. He served as the conductor for Alfred Brendel's final concert performance with the Vienna Philharmonic. His final public performance saw him conduct Mozart's Così fan tutte at Glyndebourne in the summer of 2010. (Sir Charles Mackerras: The Last Interview. Uploaded by Glyndebourne. Accessed November 17, 2011. A Tribute to Charles Mackerras. Uploaded by ABC News. Accessed November 17, 2012. Mozart Symphonies: Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras were reunited in July 2009 to record the second collection of Mozart Symphonies. Uploaded by LinnRecords. Accessed November 17, 2013.)

1942 - Martin Charles Scorsese, American-Italian filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential directors in film history. Scorsese's body of work explores themes such as Italian-American identity, Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, faith, machismo, nihilism, crime and tribalism. Many of his films are known for their depiction of violence, and the liberal use of profanity and rock music. He founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and the World Cinema Foundation. In 2017, he introduced the African Film Heritage Project.

1944 - Danny DeVito, American actor, director, and screenwriter. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi, which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present). He is known for his film roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, Throw Momma from the Train, Twins, The War of the Roses, Batman Returns, Get Shorty, among others. He is also known for his voice roles in films. DeVito and Michael Shamberg founded Jersey Films.

1947 - James Warwick, English actor and director, best known for his roles on television and London's West End and New York's Broadway theatre. He has had leading roles in UK TV including Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime (alongside Francesca Annis as the sleuthing couple Tommy and Tuppence), the detective series 'The Terracotta Horse' and the BBC serial The Nightmare Man. He also appeared in the Doctor Who serial Earthshock as Lieutenant Scott. His notable credits include: Jason King, The Onedin Line, Lillie (where he again acted with Francesca Annis), Rock Follies, Tales of the Unexpected, Howards' Way, Bergerac and Iris Murdoch's The Bell with Ian Holm.

Leftie:
Actor Rock Hudson


More birthdays and historical events, November 17 - On This Day
 
 
Below video features Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64.  In four movements: 1. Andante — Allegro con anima  2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza 3. Valse: Allegro moderato 4. Andante maestoso— Allegro vivace. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Kirill Kondrashin, conductor. Recording: Royal Festival Hall, London, 24 January 1978




Historical Events


1558 - Queen Mary I, known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants, dies of influenza at the age of 42 and Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England.

1604 - Sir Walter Raleigh, one of Queen Elizabeth I's favourites, is tried for treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. 

1888 - Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance of his Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op.64, in  S. Petersburg. This work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888 and was first performed in St Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre on November 17 of that year with Tchaikovsky himself conducting. It is dedicated to Theodor Avé-Lallemant. The fifth symphony was composed between the Manfred Symphony of 1885 and the sketches for a Symphony in E, which were abandoned in 1892 (apart from recuperating material from its first movement for an Allegro Brillante for piano and orchestra a year later). Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 was composed between Symphony No. 4, which had been completed ten years earlier, and Symphony No. 6, composed 5 years later, in the year of his death. A reviewer for the Musical Courier, March 13, 1889, wrote: "In the Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony ... one vainly sought for coherency and homogeneousness ... in the last movement, the composer's Calmuck blood got the better of him, and slaughter, dire and bloody, swept across the storm-driven score." (Here's another performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5. YouTube. The Oslo Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko conducting. Accessed November 17, 2021)

1950 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is enthroned as the Tibetan head of state at age 15.

1970 - Douglas Engelbert, American electrical engineer, receives the U.S. patent for the "X-Y position indicator for a display system" that he nicknames "mouse" because its cord hooked to computer looks like a tail.


Video Credit:
 
Tchaikovsky - Symphony №5 (RoyalPhilharmonic Orchestra). YouTube, uploaded by Ivan Andrianov.  Accessed November 17, 2020. 


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 November 17, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

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