September 1 Dateline

Birthdays

1653 - Johann Pachelbel, German composer, organist, and teacher, famous for Canon in D major. (Video of Canon in D, YouTube, uploaded by Voices of Music. Accessed September 1, 2018.)

1854 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer best known for his opera Hänsel and Gretel based on the familiar fairy tale.(Video: Hänsel and Gretel Opera: "Evening Prayer" performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers, with Leonard Slatkin, conducting. YouTube, uploaded by Juanitoamericano. Accessed September 1, 2018.)

1875 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American speculative fiction writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction and fantasy genres. Among his most well-known creations include Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars (Barsoom series) and Carson Napier of Venus (Amtor series). He is also known for the hollow Earth-themed Pellucidar series, beginning with At the Earth's Core; and the lost world-themed Caspak trilogy, beginning with The Land that Time Forgot.  Burroughs' California ranch is now the center of the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles.

1935 - Seiji Ozawa, Japanese conductor, known for his advocacy of modern composers and for his work with the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he served as music director for 29 years. He is the recipient of numerous international awards. Following his cancer diagnosis, Ozawa and the novelist Haruki Murakami embarked on a series of six conversations about classical music that form the basis for the book Absolutely on Music.  In 2015, Ozawa was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors. (Khachaturian: Sabre Dance / Ozawa · Berliner Philharmoniker. YouTube, accessed September 1, 2019.)

1939 - Lily Tomlin (born Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin), American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Her breakout role was on the variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1969 until 1973. She currently stars as Frankie Bergstein on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, which debuted in 2015 and has earned her nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

1946 - Barry Gibb CBE (born Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb), British-American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, co-founder of the Bee Gees group, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music. With his younger brothers, twins Robin and Maurice Gibb, he formed a songwriting partnership. In 1994, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with his brothers. In 1997, as a member of the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. In 2007, Q magazine ranked him number 38 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers". Gibb was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for services to music and entertainment and a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music and charity. (Barry Gibb - Woman in Love. YouTube, uploaded by Gabriel Fialho. Accessed September 1, 2019.)

1957 - Gloria Estefan (born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García), Cuban-American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman. A contralto, she started her career as the lead singer in the Miami Latin Boys group, later became known as Miami Sound Machine. She had worldwide success with "Conga". The song became Estefan's signature song. She has won three Grammy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame. In 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015) and the Kennedy Center Honors (2017) for her contributions to American music and American Culture Life, and was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She is on the Top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time lists of VH1 and Billboard.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, September 1 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

 

1804 - Juno, one of the largest main-belt asteroids, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding. He also discovers three comets and catalogs 120,000 stars. A crater on the moon is named after him.

1939 - Germany attacks Poland, beginning World War 2. The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein bombards the Polish coast at Westerplatte. The German troops also broke down the turnpike at the German-Polish border. Within two days, UK and France declared war on Hitler's Germany, battling the British Empire, France and others. Japan and Italy joined Germany. Attacked by Japan in 1941, the U.S. joined the Allies. The war raged until 1945.

August 31 Dateline

Birthdays

  1741 - Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, also known as Jean-Paul-Gilles Martini , French composer of German birth during the classical period. His birth name was Johann Paul Aegidius Scwartzendorf in 1741. Often confused with the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Martini, Jean Martini is sometimes known as Martini Il Tedesco ("Martini The German"). Today, he is best known for the vocal romance "Plaisir d'amour," a classical French love song  he wrote in 1784, based from a poem by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, which appears in his novel Célestine. The 1961 Elvis Presley pop standard "Can't Help Falling in Love" is based from "Plaisir dÁmour". (Janet Baker - Martini's Plaisir d'amour. TV recital, 1982. Youtube, uploade by Gabba02. Accessed August 31, 2021.)

 

1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian opera composer, famous for La Gioconda. (Opera La Gioconda,  Conductor Donato Renzetti, in Catania Teatro Massimo, 2006. Uploaded by Pierrot Boccanegra. Accessed August 31, 2018.) The opera's title translates as The Happy Woman, but is usually given in English as The Ballad Singer. However, as this fails to convey the irony inherent in the original, the Italian is usually used. Each act of La Gioconda has a title. Place & time: 17th century Venice. The story revolves around a woman, Gioconda, who so loves her mother that when Laura, her rival in love for the heart of Enzo, saves her mother's life, Gioconda puts aside her own romantic love to repay her. The villain Barnaba tries to seduce Gioconda, but she prefers death.

1870 - Maria Montessori (Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori), Italian physician and educator, best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on scientific pedagogy. (Maria Montessori: Learn about her teachings, life and lasting legacy. Uploaded by Davidson Film, Inc. Accessed August 31, 2011.)

1879 - Alma Mahler (Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel, born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler), Viennese-born composer, author, editor and socialite. Musically active from her early years, she was the composer of nearly 50 songs for voice and piano, and works in other genres as well. Only seventeen songs are known to survive. She became the wife of composer Gustav Mahler, who insisted (as a condition of their marriage) that she give up composing. She fell into depression from being artistically stifled. While her marriage was struggling, she had an affair with Walter Gropius. Gustav started to encourage her composing and helped prepare some of her compositions for publication, but he died soon after this attempted reconciliation in 1911.(Alma Mahler (1879-1964) - Complete Songs. YouTube, uploaded by Singer Joy. Accessed August 31, 2020. Alma Mahler's "Sämtliche Lieder" performed by Charlotte Margiono (soprano) and members of the Brabant Orchestra. Conducting and orchestral arrangements by Julian Reynolds. Alma Mahler. YouTube, uploaded by Thomas Little aka Classical Nerd. Accessed August 31, 2020)

1928 - James Coburn (born James Harrison Coburn III), American actor. He was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career, ultimately winning an Academy Award in 1999 for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction. His toothy grin and lanky physique made him a perfect tough guy in leading and supporting roles in westerns and action films, such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Charade, Our Man Flint, In Like Flint, and more. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries nomination for producing The Mists of Avalon. Coburn cultivated an image synonymous with "cool"  and, along with such contemporaries as Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood, became one of the prominent "tough-guy" actors of his day.

1945 - Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-American violinist. Itzhak Perlman and conductor James Levine collaborate for an outstanding rendition of Sarasate's virtuosic fiddle showpiece, "Sigeunerweisen." Uploaded by Nodame2006. Accessed August 30, 2018.)

1949 - Richard Gere (born Richard Tiffany Gere), American actor and producer. He began in films playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. His other in many well-received films, include An Officer and a Gentleman, The Cotton Club, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, Runaway Bride, and more... For portraying Billy Flynn in the Academy Award-winning musical Chicago, he won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast.

Lefties:
None known

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, August 31 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

 

1888 - Jack the Ripper, London's serial killer, murders his first victim, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols. She was found mutilated in Whitechapel, London. At least five other victims follow and the grisly murders become famous worldwide. Despite various theories as to his identity, the murderer is never caught. 

1994 - After 25 years of fighting to force the British out of Northern Ireland, the IRA announces a ceasefire and its willingness to enter into peace talks.

August 30 Dateline

Birthdays

1769 - Bonifazio Asioli, Italian composer of church and classic music, teacher, and author of music manuals. He was a child prodigy, having commenced to study music when five years of age and composing several masses and a piano concerto by age eight. (Asioli's Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 8 No.1. Youtube, uploaded by mirinae0904. Accessed August 30, 2018.) 

1797 - Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, English author, most famous for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. A famous quote from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." (The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. YouTube, uploaded by Grace Markowski. Accessed August 30, 2018. Mary Shelley: A Biography | Frankenstein | National Theatre at Home. Uploaded by National Theatre. Accessed August 30, 2019.)

1972 - Cameron Diaz (born Cameron Michelle Diaz), American actress, author, producer and model. She frequently appeared in comedies throughout her career, while also earning critical recognition in dramatic films. Her accolades include four Golden Globe Award nominations, three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and a New York Film Critics Award. In 2013, she was named the highest-paid actress over 40 in Hollywood. As of 2018, the U.S. domestic box office grosses of Diaz's films total over US$3 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing US$7 billion, making her the fifth highest-grossing U.S. domestic box office actress.

1982 - Andy Roddick (born Andrew Stephen Roddick), American former world No. 1 professional tennis player. He became world No. 1 shortly after he won the title at the 2003 US Open, defeating French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. Despite several more years as one of the world's best players, the 2003 US Open title would remain his only Grand Slam triumph. Roddick reached four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open in 2006), losing to nemesis Roger Federer every time. Roddick was ranked in the year-end top 10 for nine consecutive years (2002–2010) and won five Masters Series titles in that period.

Lefties:
None known 

 

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

 

Historical Events

1918 - Vladimir Lenin survives an attempt on his life by Fanya Kaplan. In retaliation, he begins the ideological cleansing known as the Red Terror.

1945 - Hong Kong is liberated from Japan by British troops.

August 29 Dateline

Birthdays

1632 - John Locke, FRS, English philosopher and physician, regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism." Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His work affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers and American Revolutionaries. Locke's theory of mind is cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Rousseau, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. He was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate, or tabula rasa. Contrary to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is determined only by experience derived from sense perception, a concept now known as empiricism. Locke is said to have established the method of introspection, i.e. observing the emotions and behaviours of one's self.

1661 - Louis Couperin (born c. 1626 – died 29 August 1661), French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the Church of St. Gervais in Paris and as musician at the court. (Francois Couperin Le Grand Pieces de Violes, uploaded by Gravicembalo. Accessed August 29, 2015.)  

1809 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Physician, Educator and Author, famous for The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, a collection of essays originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 and 1858 before being collected in book form. (TO A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER by Oliver Wendell Holmes - FULL POEM AudioBook | GreatestAudioBooks. Uploaded  by Greatest AudioBooks. Accessed August 29, 2018.)

1915 - Ingrid Bergman,  Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays. She won numerous accolades, achieving the Triple Crown of Acting with three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, along with four Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. Her introduction to Americans came in the English-language remake of Intermezzo. Aside from her Best Picture Academy Award-winning Casablanca opposite Humphrey Bogart, her notable performances include the dramas For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight, The Bells of St. Mary's, and Joan of Arc, all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she won the award for Gaslight. She made three films with Alfred Hitchcock including Spellbound, with Gregory Peck, and Notorious. In 1950, she starred in Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, following the revelation that she was having an extramarital affair with the director, who she eventually married. The subsequent scandal affected her US career, and she remained in Europe, starring in Rossellini's now acclaimed Journey to Italy. She returned to Hollywood for Anastasia, winning her second Academy Award for Best Actress. She won a third Academy Award for a small role in Murder on the Orient Express. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Bergman as the fourth-greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

1923 - Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE, English actor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and politician. He was the President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Attenborough joined the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and served in the film unit. He went on several bombing raids over Europe and filmed action from the rear gunner's position. He was the older brother of Sir David Attenborough, a naturalist, documenter, and broadcaster.

1938 - Elliott Gould, (né Goldstein), American actor. In addition to his performance in the comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Gould is best known for his significant leading roles in Robert Altman films, starring in M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye and California Split. Other notable film roles include Little Murders, Capricorn One, The Silent Partner, Bugsy, and American History X.

1939 - Joel T. Schumacher, American film Director, screenwriter, and producer who was active from the 1970s to the 2010s.

1958 - Michael Jackson, Dubbed the "King of Pop", American singer, songwriter, dancer. (An all-time favourite with Michael Jackson singing "Ben" at the 45th Annual Academy Awards (1973) - here. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers. He made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records, and became a dominant figure in popular music. His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. He continued to innovate throughout the 1990s. Jackson popularized complicated dance techniques such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. 

 
1959 - Stephen Wolfram, British scientist known for his work in computer science, theoretical physics and mathematics. 

Leftie:
None known

 

 

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

 

Historical Events

1831 - Scientist Michael Faraday, in one of his famous and significant experiments, demonstrates the production of electricity from an induction ring. He also discovered that a copper disc rotating between the poles of a horseshoe magnet could produce a current on wires through the disc, leading to the first electrical transformer and the first electric motor. 

1885 - The world's first motorcycle, invented by German Gottlieb Daimler, is patented. 

August 28 Dateline

Birthdays

1749 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer, philosopher, playwright, poet, and statesman. His works include: four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. (Literature - Goethe. YouTube, uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed August 28, 2017. (J.W. von Goethe, YouTube, uploaded by pangeaprogressredux. Accessed 28 Aug 2018; and The Young Goethe ((1749-1775), YouTube, uploaded by Art of East and West. Accessed 28 August 2018.) You can also check Massenet Opera Werther - here.

1894 - Karl Böhm or Karl Boehm (born Karl August Leopold Böhm), Austrian conductor, famous for his interpretation of Mozart, Richard Strauss and Wagner music (Below, I've chosen to share one favourite performance of Wolfgang Mozart's  Piano Concerto No 19 in F major, K 459, with pianist  Maurizio Pollini, Karl Böhm, conducting Wiener Philharmoniker. YouTube, uploaded by Sarah M. Accessed 28 August 2018.)

1899 - Charles Boyer, French-American actor. Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as The Garden of Allah, Algiers, and Love Affair, as well as the mystery-thriller Gaslight. He received four Oscar nominations for Best Actor. He also appeared as himself on the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy.
 

1943 - David Soul (born David Richard Solberg), American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series Starsky & Hutch from 1975 to 1979. He became a British citizen in 2004.

1969 - Jason Priestley (born Jason Bradford Priestley), Canadian-American actor and director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in the show Call Me Fitz and for his role as Matt Shade in the Canadian series Private Eyes.

Lefties:
Actor Jason Priestley
Writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, August 28 - On This Day

Historical Events

1850 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin is first performed, in Weimar. Franz Liszt conducting.

1963 - U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. leads the March on Washington where he gives his famous "I have a dream" speech to more than 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial.The Washington March for Jobs and Freedom at the time was the largest political demonstration in American history.

August 27 Dateline

Birthdays

1886 - Eric Coates (Eric Francis Harrison Coates), English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading violist. Coates was born into a musical family but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, his parents only reluctantly allowed him to pursue a musical career. Enjoy his famous work, London Suite

1908 - Sir Don Bradman, AC (Donald George Bradman), nicknamed "The Don", Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has been cited as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport.

1908 - Lyndon B. Johnson (born Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to by his initials LBJ), American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969, and previously as 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963. He assumed the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

1910 - Mother Teresa (born Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu), Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, honoured in the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.

Leftie:
None known 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, August 27 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte beats the 150,000-strong combined Austrian, Prussian, and Russian forces at the Battle of Dresden. He has with him 100,000 men.

1849 - Writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe joins the Sons of Temperance, a brotherhood of men who promoted the 'temperance movement' and mutual support. The group was founded in 1842 in New York City. It began spreading rapidly during the 1840s throughout the United States and parts of Canada.

August 26 Dateline

Birthdays

1898 - Peggy Guggenheim (born Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim), American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R., Art Collector.

1914 - Julio Cortazar (born Julio Florencio Cortázar), Argentine novelist, short story writer, and essayist. One of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced a generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers in America and Europe. He is considered one of the most innovative and original authors of his time, a master of history, poetic prose and short story in general and a creator of important novels that inaugurated a new way of making literature in the Hispanic world by breaking the classical moulds through narratives that escaped temporal linearity. The content of his work travels on the border between the real and the fantastic, and is often placed within the genres of magical realism and surrealism.

1918 - Katherine Johnson,  American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. manned spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. In 2015, then President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson as a lead character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. (What Matters - Katherine Johnson: NASA Pioneer and "Computer". Uploaded by WHRO Public Media. Accessed August 26, 2013.)

1980 - Macauley Culkin (Macaulay Carson Culkin), American actor, musician, and web host. He is known for playing Kevin McCallister in the Christmas films Home Alone, which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Leftie:
Art collector Peggy Guggenheim

 

 

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

Historical Events

1346 - The Battle of Crecy takes place. It is one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War. Twelve thousand men under Edward III and his son (the Black Prince), take on the French. The English longbow triumphs.

1498 - Pope Alexander VI commissions Michelangelo, aged 23, to carve the Pieta for St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

1846 - Felix Mendelssohn's famous oratorio Elijah is first performed, in Birmingham, England.

August 25 Dateline

Birthdays

1836 - Bret Harte (born Francis Brett Hart), American short story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. He wrote poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to Eastern U.S. then to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his 'Gold Rush' tales have been the works most often reprinted, adapted, and admired.

1918 - Leonard Bernstein, American conductor, pianist, and composer. His works include symphonies, ballets, and scores for musicals Wonderful Town West Side Story, and the operetta Candide.) Bernstein's fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic. He wrote in varied styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and pieces for the piano. Many of his works are regularly performed around the world, in particular, the most popular and successful West Side Story, Candide, and Wonderful Town. Bernstein was the first conductor to give a series of television lectures on classical music, starting in 1954 and continuing until his death in 1990.

1930 - Sir Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer, who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award. He was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie, Murder on the Orient Express, The Man Who Would Be King, amongst many more. Sir Connery was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1989 and the “Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama.  He has been polled in The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". (Top Ten Sean Connery Performances. Uploaded by WatchMojo.com. Accessed August 25, 2015.)  

1938 - Frederick Forsyth, CBE,  English author, journalist, spy, and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger and The Cobra. His works frequently appear on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. (The Day of the Jackal (film). Accessed August 25, 2019. SS Odessa Movie Highlight #18. Movie Highlights. Accessed August 25, 2015. 

 
1949 - Martin Amis, British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He has received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir Experience and has been listed for the Booker Prize twice (shortlisted in 1991 for Time's Arrow and longlisted in 2003 for Yellow Dog). In 2008, The Times named him one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.  Amis's work centres on the excesses of late-capitalist Western society, whose perceived absurdity he often satirises through grotesque caricature. 

 
1958 - Tim Burton, American filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. He is known for his dark, gothic, and eccentric horror and fantasy films; also for blockbuster films, such as the superhero films Batman and its first sequel, Batman Returns, the sci-fi film Planet of the Apes, the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland, and the film adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. He wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, a compilation of his drawings, sketches and other artwork, and a follow-up, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by him on napkins at bars and restaurants he occasionally visits. (Tim Burton: A Life in Pictures. Uploaded by BAFTA Guru. Accessed August 25, 2016.

1970 - Claudia Maria Schiffer,  German model, actress, and fashion designer, based in the UK. She rose to fame in the early 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, cementing her supermodel status. She has appeared on more than 1,000 magazine covers and holds the record for the model with the most magazine covers, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2002, Forbes estimated her net worth to be around US$55 million.

Leftie:
None known

 

 

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

 

 

In Memoriam:  Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 - October 14, 1990), American Composer, Pianist, and Music Lecturer.  Below is a tribute to him, accessed August 25, 2017.  

Historical Events

1609 - Galileo Galilei presents his invention, the telescope, to the Venetian Senate.

1718 - French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier founds New Orleans, Louisiana.

August 24 Dateline

Birthdays

1890 - Jean Rhys, CBE, mid-20th-century novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she was mainly resident in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Her books: Wide Sargasso Sea and Quartet were made into movies. (Jean Rhys - Women Writers: Voices in Transition (3/4). Uploaded by OpenLearn from the Open University. Accessed August 24, 2017. Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea. Uploaded by Vidya-Mitra. Accessed August 24,2018.)

1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, KBE, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator. He was a key figure in Spanish-language and universal literature. His best-known books, Ficciones (Fictions) and El Aleph (The Aleph), are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and influenced the magic realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.

1929 - Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini), Palestinian political leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority from 1994 to 2004.

1924 - Louis Teicher (born Louis Milton Teicher), popular duo-pianist with Arthur Ferrante. The Duo were known known for their light arrangements of familiar classical pieces, movie soundtracks, and show tunes, as well as their signature style of florid, intricate and fast-paced piano playing performances. (Ferrante & Teicher - Greatest Love Themes of the 20th Century (1973) full vinyl albums) 

1947 - Paulo Coelho (born Paulo Coelho de Souza), Brazilian lyricist and novelist, best known for his novel The Alchemist. In 2014, he uploaded his personal papers online to create a virtual Paulo Coelho Foundation.

1949 -  Julie Anthony (Julie Moncrief Anthony), AM OBE, Australian soprano and entertainer. She sang the Australian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Human Nature. Anthony is among the most awarded of Australian entertainers. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) (1980) and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (1989) and has been voted by her peers as "Entertainer of the Year" three times and "Best Female vocalist" 11 times. She also appeared in commercials for St.George Bank from 1974 until 1999.

1957 - Stephen Fry (Stephen John Fry), English actor, comedian and writer. He and Hugh Laurie are the comic double act Fry and Laurie. Fry's film acting roles include playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the film Wilde, a performance which saw him nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery Gosford Park, and Mr. Johnson in Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship. Besides working in television, Fry has been a prolific writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines and having written four novels and three volumes of autobiography. Fry is also known for his voice-overs, reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrating the LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel series of video games, and an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket, and a series of animations about Humanism for Humanists UK.

Leftie:
None known

 

 

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

Historical Events

79 AD - Vesuvius volcano erupts in southern Italy, burying the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae under hot ash and boiling mud in particular, Pompeii. Modern excavations reveal an almost intact ancient city, including a maze of streets, theatres and a ring for gladiatorial games.
For those interested in this history, in particular, significant revelations of Pompeii, I highly recommend the books of Natasha Sheldon on discovering Pompeii: Discovering Pompeii: Three Tours Through Pompeii's History and Discovering Pompeii: Book 1: Discovering Ancient Sites. N. Sheldon is an authority in Ancient History and Archaeology.

1770 - English poet Thomas Chatterton takes arsenic in his London home and dies at age 17 years and nine months old. He was an exceptionally studious child, publishing mature work by the age of eleven.

August 23 Dateline

 Birthdays

1754 - King Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before he was executed by guillotine. In 1765, upon the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, he became the new Dauphin.

1884 - Will Cuppy, American humourist, author of The Decline and Fall of Practically Everything and How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes.

1904 - William Primrose, Scottish violist and teacher, formed Primrose Quartet.

1905 - Constant Lambert, English composer, conductor, and author. His work as a composer included ballets, incidental music, and film scores. He wrote his first orchestral works at the age of 13, and at 20 received a commission to write a ballet for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Romeo and Juliet). Lambert's best-known composition is The Rio Grande (1927) for piano and alto soloists, chorus, and orchestra of brass, strings and percussion. It achieved success, and Lambert made two recordings of the piece as conductor (1930 and 1949).(Lambert: The Rio Grande. Uploaded by Xi Chen. Xi Chen, Piano; Rebecca Galick, Alto: Eastman Rochester Chorus, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, William Weinert, Conductor. Accessed August 23, 2016. Constant Lambert: Horoscope, Suite from the ballet (1937). Performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth. Uploaded by Rodders. Accessed August 23, 2018.

Note about Lambert's "Horoscope": Constant Lambert wrote this ballet, some say, for the young ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn, (Fonteyn later became widely considered to be the greatest female ballet dancer of all time). It had its first performance by the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre on 27 January 1938, starring Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, and it made stars of both principal dancers. At that time Constant Lambert was conducting an affair with the young Margot Fonteyn, but they later separated, never to wed. The ballet has been described as a symbolic representation of their affair together.)

1912 - Gene Kelly, Academy multi-awarded American dancer, actor, film director, producer, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, and the likable characters that he played on screen, in particular, musical films. Best known for his performances in An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh - for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor—and Singin' in the Rain. Among other awards, Kelly received an Academy Honorary Award in 1952 for his career achievements, the same year An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He later received lifetime achievement awards in the Kennedy Center Honors (1982) and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 15th greatest male screen legend of Classic Hollywood Cinema. (Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly. Uploaded by lbarnard86. Accessed August 23, 2011.)

1934 - Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead), American actress in film, stage and television, and Singer, best known for her starring role of "Jeannie" in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.

Leftie:
King Louis XVI of France

 

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

 

 Historical Events

1939 - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact, is signed.        

1942 - The Battle of Stalingrad begins during World War II.

August 22 Dateline

Birthdays

1771 - Henry Maudslay, British inventor for industrial machinery of the first bench micrometer capable of measuring one ten-thousandth of an inch and also developed the precision screw-cutting lathe.

1827 - Josef Strauss, Austrian waltz composer, and brother of Johann Strauss, Jr. and Eduard Strauss. Strauss had talents as an artist, painter, poet, dramatist, singer, composer and inventor. His father wanted him to choose a career in the Austrian Habsburg military. He studied music with Franz Dolleschal and learned to play the violin with Franz Anton Ries. He trained as an engineer, and worked for the city of Vienna as an engineer and designer. He designed a horse-drawn revolving brush street-sweeping vehicle and published two textbooks on mathematical subjects. (Walzer "Herbstrosen", Op 232, by von Josef Strauss ("Autumn Roses", Waltz by Josef Strauss. Wiener Kammerorchester, Paul Angerer. Uploaded by Rumundjin. Accessed August 22, 2015.)

1862 - Claude Debussy, French composer, considered or sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His orchestral works include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images (1905–1912). His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. Regarding the classical symphony as obsolete, he sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903–1905). His piano works include two books of Préludes and two of Études. Debussy wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. He was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the later 19th century.

1893 - Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild), American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York, known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist. Both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. Some of her works have been set to music.

1928 - Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer, known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, for introducing controlled chance (aleatory techniques or aleatoric musical techniques) into serial composition, and for musical spatialization.

1934 - Herbert Norman Schwarzkopt, Jr., United States Army General. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War. A hard-driving military commander with a strong temper, Schwarzkopf was considered an exceptional leader by many biographers and was noted for his abilities as a military diplomat and in dealing with the press.

1964 - Mats Wilander (born Mats Arne Olof Wilander), Swedish former world No. 1 Tennis Player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one Grand Slam men's doubles title (at Wimbledon). His breakthrough came suddenly and unexpectedly (even in Sweden) when he won the 1982 French Open. This occurred, more or less, simultaneously with countryman Björn Borg's decision to quit tennis.

Leftie:
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

 

 

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

 

Historical Events

1741 - George F. Handel begins work on his oratorio Messiah, and completes it three weeks later.

1770 - Captain James Cook lands in Botany Bay, Australia.

August 21 Dateline

 Birthdays

1893 - Lili Boulanger (born Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger), French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted composer and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. (Lili Boulanger's Deux Morceaux - Nocturne, interpreted by Nadia Boulanger and Yvonne Astruc. YouTube, uploaded by Alan D. Accessed 21 August 2018.)

1930 - Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO, CD (Margaret Rose), English Royal, younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mother), and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. 

 
1933 - Dame Janet Baker, CH DBE FRSA (born Janet Abbott Baker), English mezzo-soprano, opera, concert and lieder singer. She's closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. During her career, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal as Dido, the tragic heroine of Berlioz's magnum opus, Les Troyens. As a concert performer, Dame Janet was noted for her interpretations of the music of Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar. (Dame Janet Baker sings Handel's "Messiah" and "Plaisir d' Amour"/ "Che faro senza Eurodice" re-edited HQ, YouTube, uploaded by ClsasicPrformances2. Accessed August 21, 2021. And two of my personal favourites: "When I am laid in earth", Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, and Janet Baker and Sir Adrian Boult "Prelude and Angel's Farewell" (Elgar 'The Dream of Gerontius'). I'm speechless!

1938 - Kenny Rogers (born Kenneth Ray Rogers), American singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold over 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

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

1956 - Kim Victoria Cattrall, British-born Canadian-American actress. She is best known for her role as Samantha Jones on HBO's Sex and the City (1998–2004), for which she received five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010).

Leftie:
None known

 

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

 

Featuring:  Dame Janet Baker, English operatic mezzo-soprano. 

An extraordinary mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker retired in the late 1980's. She is known for her vocal expression, stage presence, and effective diction... a class on her own. As a recitalist she was noted for her interpretations of the works of Gustav Mahler, Sir Edward Elgar, and Johann Sebastian Bach. She later served as chancellor of the University of York (1991–2004). She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1976 and a Companion of Honour in 1994.

 

What a superb mezzo-soprano voice! Dame Janet Baker sings Schubert's  "An die Musik", accompanied by well-known pianist Murray Perahia. Youtube, uploaded by Gabba02. Accessed August 21, 2022.)

 

Dame Janet Baker sing "Where Corals Lie", 4th aria of Sir Elgar's Sea Pictures Op. 37. Youtube, uploaded by Batsmanspaly. Link to the complete "Sea Pictures - here. Uploaded by GilPiotr. Accessed August 21, 2020.


Baker studied voice in London until 1956, when she won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Award, which paid for her studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She made her operatic debut in 1956 at the Oxford University Opera Club as Roza in Bedřich Smetana’s The Secret and also sang Eduige in Rodelinda (1959), the first of many memorable performances of the operatic roles of George Frideric Handel and other Baroque composers at the Barber Institute in Birmingham. This established her in Handel and pre-classical opera.

Baker sang the female lead in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1962). A long association with Benjamin Britten began in 1963 when she was Polly in Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera. She created the role of Kate Julian, written especially for her, in Britten’s Owen Wingrave, first for television and then for the stage (1971). She also won the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize that year. She performed successfully in the Raymond Leppard revivals of early Italian operas, notably as Penelope in Claudio Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 1972. She sang the 1975 premiere performance of Dominick Argento’s song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, which won the Pulitzer Prize. She retired in 1982. That year, Full Circle: An Autobiographical Journal, an account of her last year onstage, was published.

Historical Events

1808 - British Commander Wellington, with and Anglo-Portuguese force, defeats the French under General Jean Junot, in the Battle of Vimeiro in Portugal, part of the Peninsular War. Two thousand French soldiers are killed during the short battle. Accepting Junot's surrender, he uses the Royal Navy to transport the French survivors home, even allowing them to keep looted valuables. Wellington's unusual generosity makes him subject of an inquiry into his conduct. He is exonerated but in his absence, command is passed on to Sir John Moore, who is killed at Carunna in 1809.  

1841 - John Hampson of New Orleans patents the Venetian blind.

August 20 Dateline

Birthdays

1561 - Jacopo Peri, (pseudonym Il Zazzerino), Italian composer and singer of the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque styles, and is often called the inventor of opera.

1888 - Eric Blom, CBE (born Eric Walter Blom), Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, musicologist, music critic, music biographer and translator. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954).s

1901 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian novelist, poet, and translator. In 1959 he won the Nobel Prize laureate in Literature (1959) for his "lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times".

Leftie:
None known

 

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

 

Historical Events

1882 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture premieres on an all-Tchaikovsky program at the Art and Industrial Exhibition, in Moscow.

1913 - Harry Brearley casts the first stainless steel, an alloy of iron and 12 per cent chromium that resists corrosion.

August 19 Dateline

Birthdays

1871 - Orville Wright, Aviation Pioneer, the younger of the famous Wright brothers, with older brother Wilbur, were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They invented the world's first successful airplane. The brothers successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane on December 17, 1903.  (Orville Wright Short Biography. Uploaded by Famous People Bio. Accessed August 19, 2018. The Wright Brothers, First Successful Airplane (1903). Uploaded by Simple History. Accessed August 19, 2018.)

1881 - Georges Enesco (or Enescu) - Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher. He is regarded by many as Romania's most important musician. (Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed August 19, 2019.)

1883 - Coco Chanel (born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel), French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

1919 - Malcolm Forbes (born Malcolm Stevenson Forbes), American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism and free market, and for an extravagant lifestyle, spending on parties, travel, and his collection of homes, yachts, aircraft, art, motorcycles, and Fabergé eggs.

1921 - Gene Roddenberry (born Eugene Wesley Roddenberry), American television screenwriter, producer and creator of the original Star Trek television series, and its first spin-off The Next Generation. He flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television.

1946 - Gerard Willems AM (born Gerardus Maria Willems), Dutch- Australian classical pianist and teacher. He was the first Australian pianist to record the complete series of 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven. He also recorded Beethoven's five piano concertos, the Diabelli Variations, C minor variations, Andante favori, Für Elise and the 3 Electoral "Kurfürstensonaten" sonatas as well as a reconstructed "Fantasy Sonata in D". These recordings feature the Australian designed and manufactured Stuart & Sons piano. This series of recordings constitutes the largest classical music recording project ever undertaken in Australia. Willems became the best selling classical artist in Australia's recording history. (Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto played by Gerard Willems. Antony Walker conducts Sinfonia Australis in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor", with Gerard Willems on the piano. YouTube, uploaded by ABC Classic. Accessed August 19, 2021.)

1946 - Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Clinton, né Blythe III), American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to his presidency, he served as governor of Arkansas (1979–1981 and 1983–1992) and as attorney general of Arkansas (1977–1979). A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was known as a New Democrat, and many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy. He is the husband of Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, former U.S. senator, and two-time candidate for U.S. president.

Leftie:
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton

 

 

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

Historical Events

1561 - Queen Mary Stuart arrives back in Scotland after spending the previous 13 years in France.

1692 - Five people are hanged as witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The witch hunts was the basis of a 1952 play by Arthur Miller "The Crucible" drawing parallels to the McCarthyist hysteria of his time.

August 18 Dateline

Birthdays

1750 - Antonio Salieri, Italian opera composer, accused of trying to poison his rival, the younger Wolfgang Mozart, but likely untrue. Pushkin wrote a drama based on this rumour, which composer Rimsky-Korsakov set to music. (And there's the famous Peter Shaffer's film, Amadeus, winner of eight 1984 Academy Awards.) Listen to Salieri's Requiem - here.

1936 - Robert Redford (born Charles Robert Redford Jr., American actor and director, best known for his many Hollywood films. Over his more than 60 year career, he has won several film awards, including an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. He is also the founder of the Sundance Film Festival. In April 2014, Time magazine included Redford in their annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World", declaring him the "Godfather of Indie Film". In 2016, he was honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

1952 - Patrick Swayze (born Patrick Wayne Swayze), American actor, dancer, singer, and songwriter. He became popular for playing tough and romantic male leads. He was named by People magazine as its Sexiest Man Alive in 1991. Swayze received three Golden Globe Award nominations, for Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. He wrote and recorded the popular song "She's Like the Wind" and was posthumously awarded the Rolex Dance Award in 2012.

1969 - Christian Slater (born Christian Michael Leonard Slater, American actor, voice actor, and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in The Legend of Billie Jean and gained wider recognition as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopathic high school student, in the satire Heathers. He has received critical acclaim for his title-role in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he earned the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2016, with additional nominations in 2017 and 2018.

Lefties:
Actor and director Robert Redford
Christian Slater, actor

 

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

 

Historical Events

1887 - A "manifesto" in which five young novelists fiercely critique Emile Zola's novel La Terre is published in Le Figaro.

1946 - John Henry Antill's suite from the ballet Corroboree is given its premiere by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens conducting.

August 17 Dateline

Birthdays

1878 - Oliver St. John Gogarty, Irish poet, author and physician (otolaryngologist), Athlete and Politician, and well-known Conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel Ulysses.

1879 - Samuel Goldwyn, also known as Samuel Goldfish, (birth sometimes given as c. July, 1879), Polish-American Film producer. He was most well known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. His awards include the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1947, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1958.

1893 - Mae West (born Mary Jane West), American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.

1920 - Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons), Irish-born actress and singer. She was a famous redhead who was known for playing passionate, but sensible heroines, often in westerns and adventure films.

1930 - Ted Hughes, OM OBE FRSL (born Edward James Hughes), English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation, and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers.

1943 - Robert De Niro (Robert Anthony De Niro Jr.), American actor, producer, and director who holds both American and Italian citizenship. He is particularly known for his collaborations with filmmaker Martin Scorsese.

1958 - Belinda Carlisle (born Belinda Go Carlisle), American singer, musician, and author. She gained worldwide fame as the lead singer of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands in history, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. 

1960 - Sean Penn (born Sean Justin Penn), American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River and the biopic Milk. In addition to his film work, Penn has engaged in political and social activism

1963 - James Whitbourn, British composer and conductor, whose "Son of God Mass" has had many performances. In 2005, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the Choir of Clare College Cambridge, under Leonard Slatkin, premiered Annelies, his largest choral work, a setting of the Diary of Anne Frank, Cadogan Hall in London to wide acclaim. The work was later re-scored, premiered in The Netherlands on Anne Frank's 80th birthday by the British violinist Daniel Hope and the American soprano Arianna Zukerman. Annelies, Kyrie -- Sinfonia. YouTube, uploaded by violinist Daniel Kurganov. Various artists. Accessed August 17, 2018. This first major choral setting of The Diary of Anne Frank takes the teenager's remarkable and penetrating observations, written whilst hiding in an Amsterdam attic, as the basis of this libretto. His work has been described as 'woundingly beautiful' by the The Daily Telegraph.

1970 - Jim Courier (born James Spencer Courier), American former world No. 1 professional tennis player. He has been a commentator on the Australian Open for the host broadcaster, the Seven Network, and now the Nine Network. He is also an analyst for Tennis Channel. During his career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He holds the record for being the youngest man to have reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, at the age of 22 years and 11 months. He also won five Masters 1000 series titles. Until Novak Djokovic in 2016, Courier was the last man to win both the Australian and French Open titles in the same calendar year.

Lefties:
None known 

 

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

 

Historical Events

1876 - Richard Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) is first performed as part of the first complete performance of the Ring, at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, in Bayreuth, Germany. Götterdämmerung is the last in Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, or The Ring for short).

1896 - Mrs. Bridget Driscoll (44 years old), becomes Britain's first pedestrian to be killed by a car. She froze in shock and suffered a fatal head injury as she fell.

August 16 Dateline

Birthdays

 

1619 - Barbara Strozzi (also called Barbara Valle; baptised 6 August 1619), Italian composer and singer of the Baroque Period. During her lifetime, Strozzi published eight volumes of her own music, and had more music in print than any other composer of the era. This was achieved without any support from the Church and with no consistent patronage from the nobility. Her life and career have been overshadowed by the claims of her being a courtesan, which cannot be completely confirmed as at the time female music making was often assumed to be an intellectual asset of a courtesan. (Barbara Strozzi, Che si puo Fare, Mariana Flores. YouTube, uploaded by Cappella Meditteranea. The aria “Che si può fare?”  translation to English, by Christ DiMatteo. Accessed July 1, 2021.)

 

1888 - Lawrence of Arabia (born Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence), British archaeologist, diplomat, linguist, writer, soldier, pilot and adviser to young Winston Churchill. At the age of 46, he dies in a motorcycle accident and buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

1901 - Olav Kielland, Norwegian conductor and composer.

1923 - Shimon Peres (born Szymon Perski), Israeli politician, the ninth President of Israel (2007–2014), the prime minister of Israel (twice), and the interim prime minister, in the 1970s to the 1990s. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. At the time of his retirement in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation. 

1928 - Ann Blyth, American actress and singer (Some of her famous films include musicals:  Kismet, "Stranger in Paradise" and "And This is My Beloved", based on music by Alexander Borodin and Student Prince, "Come Boys, Let's All Be Gay, Boys" music by Sigmund Romberg.)

1929 - Bill Evans (born William John Evans), American jazz pianist and composer. He mostly played in trios. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today.

1940 - Bruce Beresford, Australian film director. He has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career. Notable films he has directed include Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies, Crimes of the Heart and Driving Miss Daisy.

 
1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, American actress and singer. She received wide recognition for her role in the TV musical production of Cinderella. She later starred in the Disney musical films. Warren received a Golden Globe nomination for playing Dana Lambert in the CBS drama series Mission: Impossible (1970–71). In 1978, she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for the NBC miniseries Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue. Warren was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Norma Cassidy in Victor/Victoria. She also received two additional Golden Globe nominations for Songwriter and Family of Spies.  

 

1954 - James (Frances) Cameron, Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist. He is best known for making science fiction and epic films. He gained recognition for directing The Terminator. His other big-budget productions include Titanic and Avatar, with the former earning him Academy Awards in Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. Avatar, filmed in 3D technology, also garnered him nominations in the same categories.

1958 - Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone), American singer-songwriter, actress, author, and record executive. Having been referred to as the "Queen of Pop" since the 1980s, she is regarded as one of the most impactful figures in popular culture. Madonna is noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation.

1960 - Timothy (Tarquin) Hutton, American actor and film director. American actor and director. He is the youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at age 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People.

Leftie:

Film director James Cameron

 

 

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

Historical Events

1868 - An earthquake of density 8.5 occurs off the coast of Arica, Peru, creating a tsunami that kills up to 70,000 South Americans.

1876 - Richard Wagner's opera Siegfried is first staged  at Bayreuth, Germany. Hans Richter conducting.  

August 15 Dateline

Birthdays

1771 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish poet and novelist  (A brief profile, YouTube, uploaded from World Thought Leaders / Top Influencers. Accessed 15 August 2018.) Here is one of Sir Walter Scott's famous works: The Lady of the Lake, YoutTube, uploaded by Eric Masters. Accessed 15 August 2018.)

1772 - Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, German engineer, showman, and inventor. He is best known for manufacturing a metronome and several music automatons, and displaying a fraudulent chess machine. He worked with Beethoven to compose a piece.

1769 - Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was the first Emperor of France as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815 during the Hundred Days.  He revolutionised military organization and training, sponsored the Napoleonic Code, reorganized education and established the long-lived Concordat with the papacy.  (Napoleon's Masterpiece: Austerlitz 1805. Uploaded by Epic History TV. Accessed August 15, 2019.

1785 - Thomas De Quincey, English essayist, best known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quincey inaugurated the tradition of addiction literature in the West.

1875 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer and conductor of mixed race; his mother was an English woman and his father was a Sierra Leone Creole physician. He was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He was best known for his three cantatas on the epic poem, Song of Hiawatha by American Henry W. Longfellow. He premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 22. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son Hiawatha adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor became a composer-conductor.

1890 - Jacques Ibert (born Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert), French composer of classical music and former director of the Academy of Rome. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I. His final musical appointment was in charge of the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique.

1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller, English film and stage actress, with varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. She acted as Russian Princess Dragomiroff  in Murder on the Orient Express film (1974), the version with Albert Finney as the Hercule Poirot. The movie is based on Agatha Christie's famous detective novel 1934 of the same name.   

1925 - Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist, a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Erik Satie. He was known for playing the music of the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, as well as of Franz Liszt. (Aldo Ciccolini - 1960 TV Footage. Uploaded by Classical Piano Rarities. Accessed August 15, 2019. pieces he played: Impromptu in A flat major by Schubert 5:57; Scherzo-Valse by Chabrier 12:33, Funerailles by Liszt 16:52, and Le Danse d'Olaf by Pick-Mangiagalli 27:24, Cadiz by Albeniz 30:30)

1928 - Nicolas Roeg CBE, BSC (born Nicolas Jack Roeg), English film director and cinematographer. Making his directorial debut 23 years after his entry into the film business, Roeg quickly became known for an idiosyncratic visual and narrative style, characterized by the use of disjointed and disorienting editing. He is considered a highly influential filmmaker, with directors Steven Soderbergh, Christopher Nolan, and Danny Boyle. In 1999, the British Film Institute acknowledged Roeg's importance in the British film industry by respectively naming Don't Look Now and Performance the 8th and 48th greatest British films of all time in its Top 100 British films poll.

1950 - Anne, Princess Royal, KG, KT, GCVO, GCStJ, QSO, CD is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. British equestrian. Princess Anne is known for her charitable work and is a patron of over 200 organisations. She is also known for her equestrian talents; she won two silver medals (1975) and one gold medal (1971) at the European Eventing Championships and she is the first member of the British royal family to have competed in the Olympic Games. She was married to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973; divorced in 1992. They have two children and four grandchildren. In 1992, within months of her divorce, Anne married Commander (now Vice Admiral) Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mother's equerry between 1986 and 1989. Since 2012, she has held the rank of Admiral and Chief Commandant of Women in the Royal Navy. ('Princess Anne: The Daughter Who Should Be Queen' - 2020 Documentary. Updated by laduchesse. Accessed May 20, 2020.)

1972 - Ben Affleck (born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt), American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. Affleck gained wider recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Good Will Hunting, which they also starred in. He then established himself as a leading man in studio films.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays today, 15 August - On This Day.
 

 

Featuring: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Composer
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (August 15, 1875 - September 1, 1912), was an English composer and conductor who was mixed-race, with an English mother, and father, a Sierra Leone Creole physician. He achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" the time when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He was best known for his three cantatas based on the epic poem, "Song of Hiawatha" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, at the age of 22.  He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son Hiawatha adapted his father's music for a variety of performances, and their daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor also became a composer-conductor. (Further suggested listening: A Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Tribute. A short tribute to the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) with contributions from his daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor (recorded in 1974), and excerpts from Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast, The Death of Minnehaha and the Violin Concerto, Op.80.) 

Historical Events

1843 - Tivoli Gardens opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.

1877 - The first sound recording is made when Thomas Edison says, "Mary had a little lamb" into his phonograph.