February 23 Dateline

Birthdays

1633 - Samuel Pepys, FRS, English diarist, administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man.

1685 - George Frideric Handel (born Georg Friederich Händel⁾ [(O.S.) 23 February and (N.S.) 5 March], German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, concerti grossi and organ concertos. He is especially famous for his oratorio "Messiah". Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

1863 - Charles Joseph Chamberlain, Ph.D., American botanist, known for pioneering the use of zoological techniques on the study of plants, particularly in the realm of microscopic studies of tissues and cells; his specialty was the cycad. He made contributions to the Botanical Gazette, and was the author of Methods in Plant Histology and The Morphology of Angiosperms. In collaboration with John M. Coulter, he wrote The Morphology of Gymnosperms.

1928 - Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch in 5 April 1975. He was injured by the high acceleration of the abort and landing and was initially denied his spaceflight bonus pay, having to appeal directly to Leonid Brezhnev to receive it. Brezhnev was at the time the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lazarev held a degree in medicine and the rank of colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He never fully recovered from the injuries sustained on Soyuz 18a. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR and the Order of Lenin.

1940 - Peter Fonda, American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a part of the counterculture of the 1960s. Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Easy Rider, and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Ulee's Gold. For the latter, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. Fonda also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand.

1951 - Shigefumi Mori, Japanese mathematician, known for his work in algebraic geometry, particularly in relation to the classification of three-folds.

1994 - Dakota Fanning, American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film I Am Sam, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination at age eight, making her the youngest nominee in SAG history. Fanning played major roles in the films Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, Dreamer, and Charlotte's Web. She then followed with more mature roles. Fanning made her modelling debut in 2009 when she was featured on the cover of fashion magazines Elle, Vanity Fair, and Cosmopolitan, among others. She also appeared in the fashion week in New York in 2014 and at the opening ceremony of Fashion Week New York S/S 2015.

Leftie:
Actor Peter Fonda

 

More birthdays and historical events, February 23 -  On This Day

Feature:

 

In memory of Handel's birthday, I share two videos of Handel's most famous work, "Messiah" - one performed by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (December, 2015, with Australian sign language, AUSLAN) and another, "Hallelujah" Chorus performed as a flash mob.  Whether you are a God-believer or not, this optimistic work of Handel is universal. This wonderful and majestic music reinforces that hope is universal.



On November 13, 2010, unsuspecting shoppers got a wonderful big surprise while enjoying their lunch from this awesome Christmas Flash Mob.

 

Historical Events

1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.

1689 - Dutch Prince William III is proclaimed King of England.

1835 - The premiere of opera La Juive by French composer  Fromental Halévy (27 May 1799 - 17 March 1862), performed at the Paris Opera.  Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually referred as Fromental Halévy, is known largely for this opera.

1854 -  Hungarian composer, conductor, and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt conducts the first performance of his symphonic poem Les Preludes in Weimar. The concert was for the benefit of widows of former Court Orchestra members.

1863 - British explorers John Hanning Speke and J.A. Grant announce they have found the source of the river Nile.

1874 - A game called "sphairistike" is patented by Walter Winfield. It is now commonly known as lawn tennis.

1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.

1905 - In Chicago, Illinois, Attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1962 - One of the famous operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), was performed at the Metropolitan Opera, with Judith Raskin making her opera debut.

1987 - Supernova 1987A in LMC is first sighted, the first supernova to the visible eye since 1604 and the brightest of the 20th century.

1991 - Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, starting the ground phase of the Gulf War.


Video Credit:

 
Handel: Messiah - performed in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). YouTube, uploaded by the Sydney Opera House. Accesed February 23, 2017.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!.  Youtube, uploaded by Alphabet Photography. Accessed 23 February 2014.
  


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. Wikiprdia. en.wikipedia.org

 

(c) June 2007. Updated February 23, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.