July 1 Dateline

Birthdays

1646 - Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz (sometimes spelled Leibnitz), German polymath, logicians, mathematician and natural philosopher of the Enlightenment. His most prominent accomplishment was conceiving the ideas of differential and integral calculus, independently of Isaac Newton's contemporaneous developments. Mathematical works have consistently favored Leibniz's notation as the conventional expression of calculus. It was only in the 20th century that Leibniz's law of continuity and transcendental law of homogeneity found mathematical implementation (by means of non-standard analysis). He became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators. In philosophy, Leibniz is most noted for his optimism, i.e. his conclusion that our universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could have created, an idea that was often lampooned by others such as Voltaire. Leibniz, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, was one of the three great 17th-century advocates of rationalism.  He made major and significant contributions to science and technology especially in applied science, linguistics, and computer science. (Gottfried Biography. mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk. Accessed July 1, 2010.) 

1804 - George Sand (Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin), French novelist and memoirist, equally well-known for her romantic affairs with with artists, including the composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin and the writer Alfred de Musset.  (George Sand: Life and Works. Uploaded by Literature forever. Accessed July 1, 2017. The Novel & Idealism: George Sand's 'Francois le champi' - Professor Belinda Jack. Uploaded by Gresham College. Accessed July 1, 2019.)

1899 - Charles Laughton, English stage and film actor. He played a wide range of classical and modern parts, making an impact in Shakespeare at the Old Vic. His film career took him to Broadway and then Hollywood, but he also collaborated with Alexander Korda on notable British films of the era, including The Private Life of Henry VIII, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character. Among Laughton's biggest film hits were The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ruggles of Red Gap, Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Big Clock, and Witness for the Prosecution. In his later career, he took up stage directing.in which he also starred.

1916 - Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, DBE, American-British-French actress whose film career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films, was one of the leading actors of her time, a movie star of the "Golden Age" of Classical Hollywood. (Olivia de Havilland - Documentary. Uploaded by WikiVidi Documentaries. Accessed July 1, 2018.)

1931 - Leslie Caron (born Leslie Claire Margaret Caron), French-American actress and dancer. Her autobiography, Thank Heaven, was published in 2010 in the UK and US, and in 2011 in a French version. Veteran documentarian Larry Weinstein's Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 28 June 2016. Caron is best known for the musical films An American in Paris her film debut, Lili, Daddy Long Legs, and Gigi, and for the nonmusical films Fanny, The L-Shaped Room, and Father Goose. She received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. In 2006, her performance in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series.

1952 - Dan Edward Akroyd, Canadian actor, producer, comedian, musician, and filmmaker who was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on Saturday Night Live. A musical sketch he performed with John Belushi on SNL, the Blues Brothers, turned into an actual performing band and into the film The Blues Brothers. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film Driving Miss Daisy. He starred in his own sitcom, Soul Man.

1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent to the British throne, and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana's activism and glamour made her an icon worldwide and earned her an enduring popularity as well as an unprecedented public scrutiny, exacerbated by her tumultuous private life.

Leftie:
Actor Dan Aykroyd

More birthdays and historical events today, 1 July - On This Day.

Historical Events

1796 - Edward Jenner inoculates 8-year-old James Phipps with smallpox. The boy had been previously vacinated with cowpox and so was immune to the deadly smallpox virus.

1801 - Ludwig van Beethoven writes his friend Carl Amenda: "... you should know that my most precious gift, my hearing, has much deteriorated ..." He passed away 26 years later,  in 1827, March 26.

June 30 Dateline

Birthdays

1685 - John Gay, English poet and playwright, member of the Scriblerus Club, an informal association of authors based in London, that came together in the early 18th century. The club members were prominent figures in the Augustan Age of English letters. The nucleus of the club included the satirists Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. John Gay is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera, a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names. ("Over the Hills and Far Away" with Laurence Olivier as Captain Macheath and Dorothy Tutin in Peter Brook's 1953 version of John Gay's "Beggar's Opera". Uploaded by Allan Janus. Accessed June 30, 2010.)

1722 - Georg Anton Benda (Czech: Jiří Antonín Benda), Czech composer, violinist and Kapellmeister of the classical period. His most important contribution lies in the development of the German melodramas, a form of musical stage entertainment which influenced Mozart. Ariadne auf Naxos is generally considered his best work. At its debut in 1775, the opera received enthusiastic reviews in Germany and afterwards, in the whole of Europe, with music critics calling attention to its originality, sweetness, and ingenious execution. Benda also wrote instrumental pieces including sinfonias, keyboard sonatas & concertos, violin concertos and a smaller number of trio sonatas, violin and flute sonatas. (Benda : Sonatina in A minor for Piano. YouTube, uploaded by Sheetmusic2print. Accessed June 30, 2021.)
 

1917 - Lena Horne, American singer, dancer, actress. Her career spanned over 70 years, appearing in film, television, and theater. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of 16 and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.

1919 - Susan Hayward (born (born Edythe Marrenner), American actress and model. She was best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories. After working as a fashion model, Hayward traveled to Hollywood in 1937 to audition for the role of Scarlett O'Hara. She secured a film contract and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. By the late 1940s, she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for her performance as an alcoholic in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman. Her success continued through the 1950s as she received nominations for My Foolish Heart, With a Song in My Heart,  and I'll Cry Tomorrow, winning the award for her portrayal of death row inmate Barbara Graham in I Want to Live!. For her performance in I'll Cry Tomorrow she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. (With a Song in my Heart (1952) Theatrical Trailer - Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne. YouTube, uploaded by Biggest Trailer Database. Accessed June 30, 2019). The movie is a biographical film which tells the story of actress and singer Jane Froman.

 
1926 - Paul Berg, American Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids.

1942 - Robert Duane Ballard, American oceanographer, retired United States Navy Officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks.

Leftie:
Oceanographer Robert D. Ballard

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 30 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1905 - Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". It is the first paper to mention special relativity, the theory that will change modern physics.

1934 - Adolf Hitler, German Fuehrer, orders the murder of hundreds of senior Nazis in the Night of the Long Knives.

1936 - The book Gone with the Wind by American author Margaret Mitchell is published by Macmillan. (Movie soundtrack suite - here) 

June 29 Dateline

Birthdays

1900 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, Comte de Saint-Exupéry), French writer, poet, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and also won the United States National Book Award. He is best remembered for his French novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) and for his lyrical aviation writings, including Wind, Sand and Stars and Night Flight. In the heart-warming and lyrical classic The Little Prince, (a children's book for adults really), the little prince represents the open-mindedness of children. He is a wanderer who restlessly asks questions and is willing to engage the invisible, secret mysteries of the universe. The novel suggests that such inquisitiveness is the key to understanding and to happiness. The fox teaches the Little Prince three important life lessons: "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." "It's the time you spent on your rose (symbolizing love & beauty, could also be vain & demanding) that makes your rose so important." and "You become responsible for what you've tamed." After he is tamed, the Little Prince realizes that his rose is unique, because she is his rose, and he cares for her. A lovely novella to be read and re-read... a strange and lovely parable, written as much for adults as for children. (The Little Prince and The Fox. YouTube, uploaded by Aristotle Go. Accessed June 29, 2013. The Little Prince - Stories with values for kids. YouTube, uploaded by Smile and Learn - English. Accessed June 29, 2021.)

1901 - Nelson Eddy, American baritone and actor, who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. In his day, he was the highest paid singer in the world. He earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.(Nelon Eddy sings "Just a Song at Twilight" (more popularly known as "Love's Old Sweet Song"), and "Indian Love Call" with Jeanette MacDonald. Uploaded by Mac&EddyMagic. Accessed June 29, 2014.

1908 -Leroy Anderson, American composer of light popular music, and conductor. Many of his short, light concert pieces, of which many were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music." (Here's L Anderson's most popular "Blue Tango" played by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, uploaded by Nayer-Nagui. Accesed June 29, 2022.)

1911 - Bernard Herrmann (born Max Herman), American composer and conductor, best known for composing for motion pictures. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. An Academy Award-winner (for The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941; later renamed All That Money Can Buy), Herrmann is known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver. He worked in radio drama, composed the scores for several fantasy films, and for many TV programs. (North by Northwest Soundtrack Suite. YouTube, updated by Soundtracl Fred. Accessed June 29, 2021.)

1914 - Rafael Kubelik, KBE (born Rafael Jeroným Kubelík) Czech-Swiss conductor and composer.  Son of of well-known violinist, Jan Kubelík, he made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at 19 years old. Having maintained a career in Czechoslovakia under the Nazi occupation, he refused to work under what he considered a "second tyranny" after the Communist Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, and took refuge in Britain. He became a Swiss citizen in 1967. Kubelík was music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, musical director of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and was a frequent guest conductor for leading orchestras in Europe and America. He composed in a neo-romantic idiom.

1920 - Ray Harryhausen (born Raymond Frederick Harryhausen), American-British dual citizenship  artist, designer, visual effects creator, writer and producer who created a form of stop-motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for Mighty Joe Young, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects; his first color film, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad; and Jason and the Argonauts, which featured a sword fight with seven skeleton warriors. His last film was Clash of the Titans, after which he retired. His innovative style of special effects in films inspired numerous filmmakers. In November 2016 the BFI compiled a list of those present-day famous celebrity filmmakers who claim to have been inspired by Harryhausen. 

1924 - Ezra Laderman, American composer and professor of classical music. His film scores for 'The Eleanor Roosevelt Story' and 'Black Fox' won him an Oscar. During the weeks after the war was over, Laderman composed his Leipzig Symphony, his work that brought him recognition within the army, and subsequently he was assigned as orchestrator of the GI Symphony Orchestra.

1944 - Gary Busey, American actor. As a character actor, he has appeared in over 150 films. For portraying Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Busey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

1963 - Anne-Sophie Mutter, German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan, and has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, John Williams and others. Though her repertoire includes many classical works, Mutter is particularly known for her performances of contemporary music. She owns two Stradivarius violins: The Emiliani of 1703, and the Lord Dunn-Raven Stradivarius of 1710. She also owns a Finnigan-Klaembt dated 1999 and a Regazzi dated 2005. (Anne-Sophie Mutter – Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major: III. Rondeau. Allegro (Excerpt). YouTube, uploaded by Deutsche Grammophon -DG. Accessed June 29, 2021.)

Lefties:
None known 

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 29 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1613 - William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground after a stage cannon ignites the thatch. It is rebuilt the following year.

1944 - In bomber-besieged London, George Orwell sends to T.S. Eliot the manuscript for his Animal Farm, with a note: "This MS has been blitzed which accounts for my delay in delivering it and its slightly crumpled condition."

June 28 Dateline

Birthdays

1491 - Henry VIII, King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. He is famous for his six wives, with their fates remembered in divorces, beheading, and survival. However, he was well educated, fluent in several languages, an athlete, a soldier, and a writer. Henry VIII was a lso passionately devoted to music. He both played and collected musical instruments, and he composed masses (likely lost now) and more than thirty-five ballads, including "Pastime with Good Company", also known as "The King's Ballad" ("The Kynges Balade"), and "Departure is My Chief Pain" (King Henry VIII of England), Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature.   

1577 - Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish artist, considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition. His highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, color, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens specialized in making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.  In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist.

1703 - John Wesley, (refer to June 17 Dateline for Old Style date). English founder of Methodism. 

1712 - Jean Jacques Rousseau, Swiss, a Genevan social philosopher, music critic, composer, and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic and educational thought. Jean-Jacques Rousseau strongly believed in the innate goodness of man and in basic human rights founded upon universal natural law; in addition, he believed that both rulers and the citizens have natural human rights as well as obligations to each other which should be bound in a social contract.

 

1867 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. His works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written in Sicilian. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre." He was an Italian nationalist and supported Fascism in a moderate way, at one point giving his Nobel Prize medal to the Fascist government to be melted down as part of the 1935 Oro alla Patria ("Gold to the Fatherland") campaign during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. 

1902 - Richard Rodgers, American composer of music, with over 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals, leaving a legacy as one of the most significant composers of 20th-century American music. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. His compositions have had a significant impact on popular music. Rodgers was the first person to win what are considered the top American entertainment awards in television, recording, movies and Broadway – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award — now known collectively as an EGOT. In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of only two people to receive all five awards (Marvin Hamlisch is the other). Composer  (The Rodgers-Hammerstein duo is considered the greatest musical partnership including The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, and more hits. (Richard Rodgers - Kennedy Center Honors. 1978. Uploaded by John Randolph. Accessed June 28, 2017.)

1909 - Eric Ambler, OBE,  influential English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels and Screenwriter, who introduced a new realism to the genre of spy novels. Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.

1926 - Mel Brooks (born Melvyn Kaminsky), American director, writer, actor, comedian, producer and composer. He is known as a creator of broad film farces and comedic parodies. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows alongside Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. Together with Carl Reiner, he created the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man. He wrote, with Buck Henry, the hit television comedy series Get Smart. Brooks became one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s, with many of his films being among the top 10 moneymakers of the year they were released.

1948 - Kathy Doyle Bates,  American actress and director, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Her performance as Annie Wilkes in the horror film Misery, marked her Hollywood breakthrough, winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her TV work has resulted in 14 Emmy Award nominations, including two for her leading role on the NBC series Harry's Law. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her appearance on the ninth season of Two and a Half Men and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of Delphine LaLaurie on the third season of American Horror Story. Her directing credits include several episodes of the HBO television series Six Feet Under and the television film Ambulance Girl.

1966 - John Cusack,  American actor, producer, screenwriter and activist. He began acting in films during the 1980s and has since starred in more than 85 movies, including Better Off Dead (1985), Say Anything..., Bullets over Broadway, Grosse Pointe Blank, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, 1408, Igor, 2012, The Raven and Love & Mercy.

1966 - Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress. She has starred in the films At Close Range, Some Kind of Wonderful, Chances Are, Fried Green Tomatoes and Benny & Joon. She won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1989 film Immediate Family, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the 2003 Broadway revival of Nine.

Lefties:
Actress Mary Stuart Masterson
Artist Peter Paul Rubens

 

More birthdays aand historical events today, 28 June - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1914 - The Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophia, are killed in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. The beginning of WWI in Sarajevo. The archduke was relatively unpopular in Bosnia, Herzegovina, which had been annexed by Austria-hungary in 1908. This displeased the large Serbian community who wantaed to be unified with Serbia. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited this day in 1914, a plan was hatched to assassinate him. 

1919 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed ending World War I with Germany, but imposes harsch sanctions. Germany's economy is destroyed, setting the ground for the rise of Nationalism which will see the Nazis rise to power in 1933.

June 27 Dateline

Birthdays

1850 - Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Japanese name: Koizumi Yahumo), Greek-Irish writer, later a naturalised Japanese citizen, traveler and expert on Japanese culture. He is best remembered for his books about Japanese culture, especially his collections of legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. His writings about Japan offered the Western world a glimpse into a largely unknown but fascinating culture at the time. In the United States, he is also known for his writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay there.

1880 - Helen Adams Keller, American educator, author and political activist. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was made famous by Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, and its adaptations for film and stage, The Miracle Worker. Her June 27 birthday is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in Pennsylvania. A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled and outspoken in her convictions. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971 and was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.

1955 - Isabelle Adjani (born Isabelle Yasmina Adjani) French film actress and singer. She is the only actress or actor in history to win five César Awards. She was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 2010, and a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2014. Adjani's performance as Adèle Hugo in The Story of Adele H. earned her the first of two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her second nomination—for Camille Claudel—made her the first French actress to receive two nominations for foreign-language films. She won Best Actress at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival for her performances in Possession and Quartet, and, later, she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival for Camille Claudel.

Lefties:
Author and Humanitarian Helen Keller
Businessman/Former presidential candidate Ross Perot

More birthdays today, 27 June - On This Day.

Features:

Claude Debussy's  "L'enfant prodigue."  YouTube, uploaded by robertocovatta. Accessed June 27, 2018.   Composer: Claude Debussy (1862-1918) L'enfant prodigue, L. 57 (1884).  Lia: Jessye Norman, soprano Azaël: José Carreras, tenore Siméon: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritono. Direttore: Gary Bertini 1981. Stuttgart Radio Symphony.

Historical Events

1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie escapes to the Isle of Skye dressed as a maid, after the failed second Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 and the disastrous Battle of Culloden.

1884 - French composer Claude Debussy's cantata L'Enfant prodigue is first performed in Paris, and also wins him the prestigious Prix de Rome.

June 26 Dateline

Birthdays

1892 - Pearl Buck, American writer and novelist, 1938 Nobel Prize winner in Literature. As the daughter of missionaries, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. (Pearl S. Buck Biography, Influence on American & Chinese Culture and Literary History (1937). Uploaded by Remember This. Accessed June 26, 2016.) 

1898 - Willy Messerschmitt (born Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt), German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most important fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe as Germany rearmed prior to World War II. Messerschmitt's firm also produced the first jet-powered fighter to enter service — the Messerschmitt Me 262.

1902 - Bill Lear (born William Powell Lear), American inventor and industrialist, best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the 8-track cartridge, an audio tape system. Throughout his career of 46 years, Lear received over 120 patents.

1933 - Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor. He conducted many of the world’s greatest orchestras.(Claudio Abbado conducts Bruckner's Symphony Nr 4 Es Dur 'Romantische' with Wiener Philharmoniker, uploaded by some oane. Accessed June 26, 2014. Maestro Abbado beautifully interprets Bruckner's works, here, S4.) 

Lefties:
None known.   

More birthdays and historical events today, 26 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1770 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart receives the Order of the Golden Spur from the Pope in Rome; a title he never used.

1870  - Richard Wagner's opera Walküre is first staged at the Court Opera, in Munich. The libretto is by the composer himself. (Listen to this 1992 performance of  Walküre from Bayreuth, with Daniel Barenboim conducting. Artists:  Brünnhilde - Anne Evans Wotan - John Tomlinson Siegmund - Poul Elming Sieglinde - Nadine Secunde Hunding - Matthias Hölle Fricka - Linda Finnie Gerhilde - Eva Johansson Ortlinde Ruth Floeren Waltraute - Shirley Close, YouTube, uploaded by latos orf. Accesed June 26, 2018.)

June 25 Dateline

Birthdays

1860 - Gustave Charpentier, French opera composer, best known for his opera Louise.  (Renee Fleming sings Charpentier'sLouise, "Depuis le jour". Uploaded by Thewisemonkey9. Accessed Jun 25, 2014.)

1900 - Louis Mountbatten, Viceroy of India, Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was a British Royal Navy officer and statesman, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II.

1903 - George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), English author, creator of 1984 and Animal Farm. He is  novelist and essayist, journalist and critic, whose work is characterised by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.  (Literature - George Orwell. Uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed June 25, 2018. George Orwell's Animal Farm ~ 1954 Animation [full movie]. Uploaded by Glenn Copeland. Accessed June 25, 2019. )

1945 - Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She first rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), "You Belong To Me" (No. 6), "Coming Around Again" (No. 18), and her four Gold certified singles "Jesse" (No. 11), "Mockingbird" (No. 5, a duet with James Taylor), "You're So Vain" (No. 1), and "Nobody Does It Better" (No. 2) from the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me.(Carly Simon - Anticipation. Accessed June 25, 2011)

1963 - George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou), English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist. Michael sold over 80 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He achieved seven number one songs on the UK Singles Chart and eight number one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. He was widely known for his success in the 1980s and 1990s, including Wham! singles such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Last Christmas" and solo singles such as "Careless Whisper" and "Faith".

1963 - Yann Martel, Spanish-born French Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi, published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, among many other best-selling lists. It was adapted for a film, garnering four Oscars including Best Director and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Martel is also author of other bestselling novels, stories (The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios), and a collection of letters to Canada's Prime Minister 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. He has won a number of literary prizes. 

Lefties:
George Michael, Singer
Carly Simon, Singer

More birthdays and historical events today, 25 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1840 - Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 52, "Lobgesang" (or Hymn of Praise), a symphony-cantata, is first performed, in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. (Listen to a performance of Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" conducted by Sir Mark Elder, with Halle Orchestra.  Uploaded by Duncan Wilson, from 2009 BBC Proms. (Note: "Lobgesang" or "Hymn of Praise" was  composed by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing, along with the less-known Festgesang "Gutenberg Cantata". The composer's description of the work was 'A Symphony-Cantata on Words of the Holy Bible, for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra'. Structurally, it consists of three purely orchestral movements followed by 11 movements for chorus and/or soloists and orchestra, and lasts approximately 65--70 minutes. Resource: Wikipedia.org.)  

1857 - Gustave Flaubert goes on trial for public immorality. His tragic novel, Madame Bovary, is described as obscene at the time, depicting a woman who embarks on a series of affairs in a search for meaning.

June 24 Dateline

Birthdays

1842 - Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, American short-story writer, journalist and poet. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature". Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States, and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction.

1901 - Harry Partch, American composer and music theorist. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales. He built custom-made instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music.

1915 - Sir Fred Hoyle, FRS, English mathematician and astronomer, who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. He also held controversial stances on other scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term coined by him on BBC radio, and his promotion of panspermia as the origin of life on Earth. He wrote science fiction novels, short stories and radio plays, and co-authored twelve books with his son, Geoffrey Hoyle.

1930 - Claude Henri Jean Chabrol, French film director and a member of the French New Wave (nouvelle vague) group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Chabrol was a critic for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma before becoming a film maker.

1952 -  Dave Willetts, English singer and actor known for his lead roles in West End musicals. (Dave Willetts - Music of the Night, from 'The Phantom Of The Opera', uploaded by davewillettsofficial. Accessed June 24, 2015. Dave Willetts - Make Them Hear You, from "Ragtime", uploaded by davewillettsofficial. Accessed June 24, 2016.)

Lefties:
None known

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 24 June - On This Day. 

Historical Events

1314 - The Bannockburn Day, where the battle in 1314 ends. Robert I of Scotland known as Robert the Bruce, defeats the English forces under Edward II.    

1340 - The Battle of Sluys, with thee fleet personally led by Edward III, takes place at sea, the first battle of the Hundred Years' War against the French. He also goes on to win the Battle of Crecy six years later, supporting his claim to France and establishing sovereignty over the English channel. 

June 23 Dateline

Birthdays

1763 - Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais (born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie), the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the first Empress of the French after he proclaimed himself Emperor. Her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she was imprisoned in the Carmes Prison until five days after his execution. Her two children by Beauharnais became significant to royal lineage. Through her daughter, Hortense, she was the maternal grandmother of Napoleon III. Through her son, Eugène, she was the great-grandmother of later Swedish and Danish kings and queens. The reigning houses of Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg also descend from her. She did not bear Napoleon any children and as a result, he divorced her in 1810 to marry Marie Louise of Austria. Joséphine was the recipient of numerous love letters written by Napoleon, many of which still exist. Her Château de Malmaison was noted for its magnificent rose garden, which she supervised closely, owing to her passionate interest in roses, collected from all over the world.(Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais. Updated by KaiserineFrederick. Accessed June 23, 2019.)

1889 - Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, Leading Russian poet of 20th Century, better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova. She was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in 1965 and received second-most nominations for the award the following year. Quoted from Anna Akhmatova: "Courage: Great Russian word, fit for the songs of our children's children, pure on their tongues, and free."  (Requiem by Anna Akhmatova. Uploaded by A Poetry Channel. Accessed June 23, 2016.)

1894 - Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David), King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December of that year. When it became apparent he could not marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI, father of then Princess Elizabeth. With a reign of 326 days, Edward is the shortest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Wallis in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. 

 
1894 - Alfred Charles Kinsey, American biologist, professor of entomology and zoology, and sexologist. In 1947 he founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, previously known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

1910 - Jean Anouilh, French dramatist. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's Vichy government. It is a tragedy inspired by Greek mythology and the play of the same name by Sophocles. In English, it is often distinguished from its antecedent through its pronunciation (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃tiɡɔn], approximately an-tee-gon). One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining ntegrity in a world of moral compromise.

1912 - Alan Turing, OBE FRS, English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, considered a model of a general-purpose computer. He is considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. Despite these accomplishments, he was never fully recognised in his home country during his lifetime, due to his homosexuality, which was then a crime in the UK.  During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre that produced Ultra intelligence. For a time he led Hut 8, the section that was responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. He played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic, therefore, helped win the war.  (Alan Turing - Celebrating the Life of a Genius. Uploaded by Cambridge University. Accessed June 23, 2013.)

1927 - Robert "Bob" Louis Fosse, American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sweet Charity, Pippin, and Chicago. His films include Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Lenny, All That Jazz, and Star 80.  Fosse's distinctive style of choreography included turned-in knees and "jazz hands". He is the only person ever to have won Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year. He was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning Best Director for Cabaret, and won the Palme D'Or in 1980 for All That Jazz. He won a record eight Tonys for his choreography, as well as one for direction for Pippin. (All That Jazz (Bob Fosse Tribute - w/ scenes from Chicago, Cabaret and Sweet Charity. YouTube, uploaded by Eduardo Barauna. Accessed June 23, 2018. Movie stars: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago), Liza Minnelli (Cabaret), and Sweet Charity (Shirley Maclaine). 

 

1929 - Henri Pousseur, Belgian composer, teacher and music theorist. He is considered one of the experimenters of the new music techniques during his time. (Henri Pousseur, Rhymes for Different Sound Sources, 1958. (French title: "Rimes pour differentes sources sonores"), performed in 1967 by The Rome Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Maderna. Updated by Michael Berridge. Accessed June 23, 2015.) 

1943 - James Lawrence Levine, American pianist and conductor, primarily known for his tenure as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, a position he held for 40 years.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 23 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1757 - The Battle of Plassey takes place, part of the Seven Years' War. Robert Clive (known as "Clive of India") and his force is many times outnumbered, fighting the Nawab of Bengal and French artillerymen. Despite odds, Clive pulls off an amazing victory that helps to secure the British in India denying the French their claim.

1934 - Modern forensics is born. William Bayly is convicted of murder in New Zealand, based on traces of bone and ash. It is the first murder to be proved by modern forensics.

June 22 Dateline

Birthdays

1898 - Erich Maria Remarque, German novelist, best known for his landmark anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front, about the German military experience of World War I, was an international best-seller which created a new literary genre, and was subsequently made into the film of the same name.

1906 - Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and artist, regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmaker of the Golden Age cinema of Hollywood.  Famous for The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard, and Stalag 17. (Stalag 17 Full Movie. Uploaded by Afeem Charas. Accessed June 22, 2015. Sunset Boulevard Explained: The Hollywood Nightmare. Uploaded by The Take. Accessed June 22, 2019).

1910 - Sir Peter Pears, English tenor and co-founder with Benjamin Britten, of the Aldeburgh Festival. Listen to Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten discuss Schubert's great cycle "Die Winterreise," D.911 (1968), including "Frühlingstraum", "Im Dorfe", and "Der Leiermann". Indeed, this admirable brilliant couple brought much understanding to everything they approached.

1949 - Meryl Streep (born Mary Louise Streep), American actress. Often described as the "best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accents. Nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, she has won three.

1953 - Cyndi Lauper (born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper), American singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Her album She's So Unusual was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors.

1964 - Dan Gerhard Brown, American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno and Origin. His novels feature recurring themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories. Someof them have been adapted into films. The Robert Langdon novels are deeply engaged with Christian themes and historical fact, generating controversy as a result. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a "constant spiritual journey" himself. He claims that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that it may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith."

1973 - Carson Jones Daly, American television and radio personality.  He has been involved at NBC, such as becoming host for its reality music competition The Voice in 2011, and joining NBC's morning show Today, with his role increasing in subsequent years becoming a co-host. Daly has served as a radio DJ. He also hosts a weekly top 30 countdown show The Daly Download with Carson Daly which is produced by Entercom (formerly CBS Radio and is the parent of KAMP-FM) and syndicated though Westwood One.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events today, 22 June - On This Day.

Historical Events

1377 - Richard II becomes King of England on the death of Edward III. He is ten years old. He is formally crowned in Westminster Abbey on July 16, 1377.

1633 - Rome's Vatican Holy Office forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Earth rotates around the sun, on pain of torture.

June 21 Dateline

***Midsummer's Day***

The longest day of the year in Britain. In Australia, this is the shortest day of the year.  The solstice falls within one day either side of June 21,  therefore marking the longest or shortest day of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere this makes it the summer solstice, and in the Southern Hemisphere it is the winter solstice.

Birthdays

1732 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer, 9th son of J.S. Bach (He should not be confused with other similarly named members of the Bach family. Listen to his Sonata in D major for piano & violoncello.)

1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, and biographer. He was a key figure in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. His work influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies, and continues to influence these disciplines. Sartre had an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir. Together, they challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyle and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, "bad faith") and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946). (Sartre in Ten Minutes. Uploaded by Eric Dodson. Accessed June 21, 2015. (PHILOSOPHY - Sartre. Uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed June 21, 2015.)

1921 - Jane Russell (born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell), American film actress and one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She moved from the Midwestern United States to California, where she had her first film role in Howard Hughes' The Outlaw. In 1947, Russell delved into music before returning to films.

1932 - Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin, Argentine-American composer, pianist, arranger and jazz-band leader. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, including the "Theme from Mission: Impossible", Bullitt, and Enter the Dragon. (Mission: Impossible / Music From The Original Television Soundtrack / (DIGITAL AUDIO). Performed by Lalo Schifrin & the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. Uploaded El papa_upa!. Accessed June 21, 2019)

1948 - Ian McEwan, English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, The Times featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 19 in its list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". “When it's gone, you'll know what a gift love was. You'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it.” - Ian McEwan, Enduring Love

1953 - Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority nation and the youngest elected leader in the Islamic world. She was the world's youngest Prime Minister, the youngest female Prime Minister ever elected. 

1982 - William, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, PC, ADC (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was made Duke of Cambridge prior to his wedding to Catherine Middleton in April 2011. The couple have three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. He became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay following his father's accession to the throne on 8 September 2022. The following day he was made Prince of Wales, the traditional title for the heir apparent to the British monarch.

 
Leftie:
 William, Prince of Wales

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 21 June - On This Day.    

Historical Events

1675 - Christopher Wren begins work on rebuilding London's St. Paul's Cathedral after it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.

1813 - The Battle of Vitoria is fought in Spain between Wellington's forces and those of Marshal Jourdan and Napoleon's brother Joseph. It is a resounding victory for Wellington and effectively ends Napooleon Bonaparte's power in Spain.

June 20 Dateline

Famous Birthdays

1819 - Jacques Offenbach, French-German composer of French light operas, famous for The Tales of Hoffmann. He's also cellist and impresario of the romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera "The Tales of Hoffmann". Offenbach was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory. Offenbach revered Mozart above all other composers. He had an ambition to present Mozart's neglected one-act comic opera Der Schauspieldirektor at the Bouffes-Parisiens, and he acquired the score from Vienna. With a text translated and adapted by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy, he presented it during the Mozart centenary celebrations in May 1856 as L'impresario.

1905 - Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter known for her success as a playwright on Broadway, as well as her political activism and left-wing sympathies, despite her denial she belonged to the Communist Party. As a playwright, she had successes on Broadway, including Watch on the Rhine, The Autumn Garden, Toys in the Attic, Another Part of the Forest, The Children's Hour and The Little Foxes. She adapted her semi-autobiographical play The Little Foxes into a screenplay.  Hellman was romantically involved with fellow writer and political activist Dashiell Hammett, author of the classic detective novels The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. The couple never married. Hellman was the first librettist of the operetta Candide (based on Voltaire's 1759 novella of the same name) with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, although since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler, faithful to Voltaire's novel, with other contributors to the text with Hellman. (Lillian Hellman - Rare 1973 TV Interview. Alan Eichler. Accessed June 20, 2019.)

1906 - Dame Catherine (Ann) Cookson, DBE, British author. Top 20 of most widely read British novelists with sales topping 100 million in her day, while retaining a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers.

1909 - Errol Flynn (born Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn), Australian-born American actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Considered the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks, he achieved worldwide fame for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, as well as frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland.

1929 - Ingrid Haebler, Austrian pianist. She studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Music Academy, Conservatoire de Musique de Genève and privately in Paris with Marguerite Long. She toured worldwide. She is best known for a series of recordings from the 1950s to 1980s. Her complete set of Mozart's piano sonatas for the Denon label is still regarded as among the finest sets. Haebler also recorded all of Mozart's piano concertos (most of them twice), often with her own cadenzas, and all of Schubert's sonatas. She was one of several Austrian musicians to experiment early with period instruments, having recorded the music of Johann Christian Bach on a fortepiano. Her recordings of Mozart and Beethoven with the violinist Henryk Szeryng are particularly prized. (I. Haebler plays Mozart Sonata No.12 in F K 332. YouTube, uploaded by gullivior. Accessed June 20, 2021.)

1931 - Martin James Landau, American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. He played regular roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999.

1949 - Lionel Richie (born Lionel Brockman Richie Jr.), American singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. His recordings with the Commodores and in his solo career made him one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s. He's one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. He won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Can't Slow Down, and his other Grammy Awards include Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Truly".  Richie has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and won one. He won the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song for "Say You, Say Me". The song also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2016, Richie received the Songwriters Hall of Fame's highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award.

1967 - Nicole Mary Kidman, AC, Australian-American actress, philanthropist and producer. Her awards include an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. She was listed among the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2006, 2018, and 2019. Time magazine twice named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2004 and 2018. Kidman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying the writer Virginia Woolf in the drama The Hours. Her other Oscar-nominated roles were as a courtesan in the musical Moulin Rouge! and emotionally troubled mothers in the dramas Rabbit Hole and Lion. Kidman has been a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006. She was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in 2006.

Lefties:
Actress Nicole Kidman

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 20 June - On This Day.   

Historical Events

1214 - The University of Oxford, U.K. is granted its charter by papal legate Nicholas de Romanis.

1837 - Victoria becomes the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. William IV dies in the night. The Lord Chamberlain and the Archbishop of Canterbury rush through the gardens to knock on the door of Kensington Palace, where 18 year-old Victoria is sleeping. The Lord Chamberlain kneels, kisses her hand and utters the words: "Your Majesty." At that point she knew the throne is hers. She was crowned 8 days later, June 28. She held the title until her death at age 81 in 1902. She is UK's longest-reigning monarch until surpassed by her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II on September 9 September 2015.

June 19 Dateline

Birthdays

1566 - James VI of Scotland, child of Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley. With Queen Elizabeth I dying childless, he becomes king of both Great Britain and Ireland.

1623 - Blaise Pascal, French philosopher, scientist, mathematician, inventor, writer and catholic theologian. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalising the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defence of the scientific method. His notable ideas: Pascal's Wager and Pascal's Triangle, and the book Pensées, a collection of fragments on theology and philosophy. His religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensées was in many ways his life's work, representing his defense of the Christian religion.  (Philosophy - Blaise Pascal. Uploaded by The Social Life. Accessed June 19, 2018.)
 
1717 - Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz, Czech composer and violist (Jan Václav Antonín Stamic (later in life, in Mannheim, Germanized as Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz). His two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, both important composers of the Mannheim school of symphonists, of which their father is considered the founding father. The Mannheim school is considered to have a profound influence in Mozart's instrumental style. Johann Stamitz music is stylistically transitional between the Baroque and Classical periods. (Johann Stamitz' Sinfonia a Quattro in D major) performed by the New Dutch Academy Chamber Orchestra, with Simon Murphy, Director. Accessed June 19, 2018.)

1945 - Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese (now Myanmar) human rights activist, politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Prize laureate. She is the leader of the National League for Democracy and the first and incumbent State Counsellor, a position akin to a prime minister. She played a vital role in the state's transition from military junta to partial democracy.

1947 - (Ahmed) Salman Rushdie FRSL, British Indian novelist and essayist. His second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two separate occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.

1954 - (Mary) Kathleen Turner, American film & stage actress, and director. Known for her distinctive gritty voice, she won two Golden Globe Awards and nominated for an Academy Award. Turner has also worked in the theatre, and nominated for the Tony Award twice for her Broadway roles as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Turner taught acting classes at New York University.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 19 June - On This Day.   

 

Historical Events

1215 - The Magna Carta is sealed by King John, though reluctantly. It limits the absolute power of the king and gives more power to his barons. Clause 39 has a wider application than anticipated and becomes a fundamental precept of British law. It states: "No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or banished or in any way molested, nor will we go upon him, nor send upon him, except by lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land."

1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, is beheaded after accusations of adultery, which were almost certainly false. Shortly thereafter, Henry marries Jane Seymour.

1899 - Sir Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations premieres in London with Hans Richter conducting.

June 18 Dateline

Famous Birthdays

1757 - Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, Austro-French composer, music publisher and piano manufacturer. Trained in music while still a very young child, he was sent in 1772 to Eisenstadt to become a pupil and lodger of Joseph Haydn. He later claimed a close, warm relationship had existed between them, and there is evidence of Haydn's esteem for his student’s compositional talents in the overture (or at least the first two movements) of Haydn's puppet opera Das abgebrannte Haus, generally accepted as being Pleyel’s work.(Pleyel's Symphony in C major, Op.66 (1803). Performed by the London Mozart Players, with Matthias Bambert, conductor. Updated by KuhlauDelfing2. Accessed June 18, 2015. Suggested reading: Pleyel symphonies, a  review from Gramophone.)

1845 - Alphonse Laveran (born Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran), French physician who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1907 for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria and trypanosomiasis. 1907 Nobel Laureate in Medicine.

1903 - Jeanette Anna MacDonald, American actress and singer, best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (The Love Parade, Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow and One Hour With You) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour with You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco), and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th century, introducing opera to film-going audiences and inspiring a generation of singers.(Jeanettte MacDonald sings "The Holy City", the song was used in the film San Francisco also starring Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable.

1932 - Dudley Herschbach, American chemist, 1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, jointly with Yuan T. Lee and John C. Polanyi "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes." Herschbach and Lee specifically worked with molecular beams, performing crossed molecular beam experiments that enabled a detailed molecular-level understanding of many elementary reaction processes. Herschbach is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

1942 - Sir (James) Paul McCartney, English singer-songwriter of the successful pop group, The Beatles, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He gained worldwide fame as the bass guitarist and singer for the rock band the Beatles, widely considered the most popular and influential group in the history of popular music. (One all-time favourite from Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band, "When I'm Sixty Four". Provided by Universal Music Group. Accessed June 18, 2019. Paul McCartney Breaks Down Hi Most Iconic Songs. CQ. Accessed June 18, 2019.)  

1952 - Carol Kane (born Carolyn Laurie Kane), American actress and comedian. She became known in the films Hester Street, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, Annie Hall, and The Princess Bride. She appeared on the TV series Taxi, as Simka Gravas, winning two Emmy Awards for her work. She the character of Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked, both in regional productions and on Broadway. From 2015 to 2020, she was a cast member on the Netflix original series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in which she played Lillian Kaushtupper.

1961 - Alison Moyet (born Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet), English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. Started as half of the duo Yazoo (or Yaz), but has since worked as a solo artist. Her worldwide album sales have reached a certified 23 million, with over 2 million singles sold. All nine of her studio albums and three compilation albums have charted in the Top 30 UK Album Chart, with two of them reaching number one. She has achieved nine Top 30 singles and five Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart. (Alison Moyet - All Cried Out. Accessed June 18, 2019.)  

1966 - Kurt Browning, CM, Canadian figure skater, choreographer and commentator. He is the first skater to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition. He is a four-time World Champion and Canadian national champion. (Kurt Browning Documentary: Life on the Edge. YouTube, uploaded by The Skating Lesson. Accessed June 18, 2022.) 

Leftie:
Songwriter/Singer Paul McCartney

More birthdays and historical events today, 18 June - On This Day.   

 

 

To celebrate Sir Paul McCartney's birthday, here's one favourite song "Yesterday" by their famous English rock band, the Beatles. The song is written by him (credited to Lenon-McCartney), first released on the album Help! in the UK, in August 1965. (Accessed June 18, 2016)

Historical Events

1429 - Joan of Arc, French religious military leader, leads troops to a victory of the English at the Battle of Patay, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1791 - Wolfgang A. Mozart composes the Motet  Ave verum corpus in D for choir, orchestra and organ, K.618.(Listen to to this immortal sacred music performed by Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leonard Bernstein conducting - here. )

1812 - The U.S. declares war against Great Britain, invading the British North American Territories. The war of 1812 ended in a stalemate, but led to the formation of Canada as a nation.

1821 - Carl Maria von Weber conducts the first performance of his opera Der Freischütz, Op. 77, J. 277  (Der Freischuetz), at the new Berlin Opera Theatre. (Anyone interested, I featured the Overture of Der Freischütz  in  'November 18 Dateline', the composer's birthday anniversary - here - performed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra, conducted by an admired Australian conductor Simone Young. No bells & whistles, but simply heartwarming, lovely performance of a favourite C.M. von Weber's work!

June 17 Dateline

Birthdays

1703 - John Wesley, English cleric, theologian and evangelist, founder of Methodism. He was leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day. He is the older brother of Charles Wesley, also English leader of the Methodist movement, but most widely known for writing about 6,500 hymns. 

1818 - Charles Gounod, French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by J.S. Bach, as well as his opera Faust. Another opera by Gounod still performed is Roméo et Juliette. Gounod's father was a painter, and his mother was a capable pianist who gave Gounod his early training in music. (Cellist Yo-Yo Ma & Pianist Kathryn Stott - Gounod's Ave Maria. Accessed June 17, 2017.  Tenor Luciano Pavarotti - Gounod's Ave Maria. Uploaded by Rodrigo Primeiro. Accessed June 17, 2018.)  

1882 - Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor, who is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. His compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913). The Rite of Spring transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure, and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary who pushed the boundaries of musical design.(Sir Simon Rattle conducts The Rite of Spring with the London Symphony Orchestra, uploaded by LSO, recorded live at the Barbican Centre on Sunday 24 September 2017. Accessed June 17, 2019.) 

1898 - M.C. Escher, (born Maurits Cornelis Escher), Dutch graphic artist, who made mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for long somewhat neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition of his work was held. (M.C. Escher Official Website)

1914 - John (Richard) Hersey, American writer and journalist, Pulitzer Prize-Winner, considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to non-fiction reportage.

1943 - Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus), American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician, producer and actor with a career that has spanned more than 50 years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Can't Smile Without You" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)". (Barry Manilow - Mandy. YouTube, Uploaded by TopPop. Could It Be Magic. Uploaded by Steve Mtloff.  Accessed June 17, 2020.)

1980 - Venus Williams (born Venus Ebony Starr Williams), American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1, Along with younger sister Serena Williams, Venus is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. Ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association on three occasions for a total of 11 weeks, she first reached the No. 1 ranking on February 25, 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era, and the second all time since Althea Gibson.
  

Leftie:
Artist M.C. Escher

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 17 June - On This Day.  

 

Historical Events

1923 - Enrico Ferrari wins his first race at Circuito del Savio in Ravenna, Italy.He meets Countess Paolina Baracca after the race who suggests he adopt her late son's emblem of the prancing horse.

1950 - Surgeon Richard Lawler performs the first kidney transplant operation at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago. Ruth Tucker, the recipient, lives for five years. 

June 16 Dateline

 Birthdays

1313 - Giovanni Boccaccio,  Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio is best known for The Decameron. He wrote his literature mostly in the Italian vernacular, and other works in Latin. (Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and Bawdy Medieval Literature - Fabian Alfie. Uploaded by Humanities Seminars Program. Accessed June 16, 2018.)

1858 - John Peter Russell, Australian Impressionist painter (Of great interest is Russell's painting of his famous friend, Vincent van Gogh, credit: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation). Although V. van Gogh had been painted by other fellow artists, including Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, this one by Russell remains a personal favourite. A healthier looking Vincent, with eyes purposeful, intent.)

1890 - Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson), English actor, writer, and film director who was part of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.

1917 - Katharine Graham, American publisher and the second female publisher of a major American newspaper, following Eliza Jane Nicholson's ownership of the New Orleans Daily Picayune.  She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period: the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon. Her memoir, Personal History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

1934 - Dame Eileen (June) Atkins, CBE, DBE, English actress and occasional screenwriter. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Cranford. She is a three-time Olivier Award winner, winning Best Supporting Performance in 1988 (for Multiple roles) and Best Actress for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2004). She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.

1937 - Erich Segal, American author, screenwriter and educator. He was best known for writing the novel Love Story, a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit. (Scenes from the movie Love Story (1970), starring Ali Macgraw and Ryan O'Neal. Uploaded by Samuel. Accessed June 16, 2019. Famous quote from Love Story: "Love is never having to say you're sorry".) 

1938 - Joyce Carol Oates, American writer and University professor. Oates has published numerous novels, as well as a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel them, two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal and the Jerusalem Prize. Her novels Black Water, What I Lived For, and Blonde, and short story collections The Wheel of Love and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 16 June - On This Day.  

Historical Events

1904 - Writer James Joyce meets Nora, his future wife. Leopold Bloom, his fictional character in Ulysses, spends this day wandering around Dublin.    

1956 - English poet Ted Hughes marries American poet Sylvia Plath.