April 17 Dateline

Birthdays

1870 - Ray Stannard Baker (also known by his pen name David Grayson), American journalist, historian, biographer, and author. (Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters, and Following the Color Line).

1882 - Artur Schnabel, Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and teacher. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th century's most respected and important pianists, his playing displayed marked vitality, profundity and spirituality in the Austro-German classics, particularly the works of Beethoven and Schubert.

1885 - Karen Blixen (Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke), Danish author who wrote under the pseudonym, Isak Dinesen. She used the alias Tania Blixen in German-speaking countries. She also published works using the pseudonym Osceola and Pierre Andrézel. She is best known for her memoir Out of Africa, an account of her 17 years life while living in Kenya (a multi-awarded Academy winner film adaptation starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep), and for one of her stories, Babette's Feast, also adapted into Academy Award-winning motion picture. In Denmark, she is particularly noted for her Seven Gothic Tales. Karen Blixen was considered several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Out of Africa is a lyrical meditation on Blixen's life on her coffee plantation, as well as a tribute to some of the people who touched her life there. It provides a vivid snapshot of African colonial life in the last decades of the British Empire.

1894 - Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, Leader of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and as chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the early Soviet space program, and for several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. His party colleagues removed him from power in 1964, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

1903 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-born American cellist. (Here's a  documentary film about this famed cellist, An Afternoon with Gregor Piatigorsky. Directed, photographed and edited by Steve Grumette. Accessed April 17, 2018.

1918 - William Holden, American actor, Academy Award for Best Actor, Stalag 17. He was one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s and winning the Oscar for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television film The Blue Knight. (Stalag 17 - Full movie. Uploaded by Afeem Charas. Accessed April 17, 2018.)

1929 - James Last (born Hans Last, also known as Hansi), German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. (James Last & Derek Watkins (trumpet)  with "My Way".  Accessed April 17, 2012). 

1951 - Olivia Hussey, Argentine-British actress, who was chosen to play the role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's film version of Romeo and Juliet. She won a Golden Globe and the David di Donatello Award for her performance, and gained international recognition.

1957 - Nick Hornby, English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films.
 

1985 - Rooney Mara, American actress,  born into the Rooney and Mara sports business families. She began acting in television and independent films, such as the coming-of-age drama Tanner Hall (2009), and first gained recognition for a supporting role in David Fincher's biographical drama The Social Network. She has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Lefties:
None known
 

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

 

Feature:

 

Listen and enjoy pianist Artur Schnabel's beautiful interpretation of Wolfgang A. Mozart's Rondo in A minor, K. 511.

Historical Events

1397 - Geoffrey Chaucer tells his Canterbury Tales in the court of King Richard II.

1865 - Mary Surratt is arrested for her part in conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. In July, she becomes the first woman executed by the U.S. Government. 

April 16 Dateline

Birthdays

 

1728 - Joseph Black, Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glasgow for 10 years from 1756, and then Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh from 1766, teaching and lecturing there for more than 30 years. The chemistry buildings at both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow are named after Black. 

1867 - Wilbur Wright, American aviator, the older of the famous Wright Brothers (the younger is Orville). They were aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1904–05, the brothers developed their flying machine to make longer-running and more aerodynamic flights with the Wright Flyer II, followed by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III. The Wright brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

1889 - Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, KBE,  English comic Actor, Filmmaker, and Composer. He rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, "The Tramp", and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. (Charlie Chaplin the Musician)

1893 - Federico Mompou Dencausse, Spanish composer and pianist. He is remembered for his solo piano music and songs.  Complete Piano Music, played by himself. Uploaded by Brilliant Classics. Accessed April 16, 2018.)

1921 - Sir Peter Alexander von Ustinov CBE FRSA, English actor, writer, and filmmaker. An intellectual and diplomat, he held various academic posts and served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and president of the World Federalist Movement. Ustinov was the winner of numerous awards during his life, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTA Awards for acting, and a Grammy Award for best recording for children, as well as the recipient of governmental honours from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He also displayed a unique cultural versatility which frequently earned him the accolade of a Renaissance man. In 2003, Durham University changed the name of its Graduate Society to Ustinov College in honour of the significant contributions Ustinov had made as chancellor of the university from 1992 until his death.

1922 - Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE, English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social and literary criticism. He is best known for satirical comedies such as Lucky Jim, One Fat Englishman, Ending Up, Jake's Thing and The Old Devils. His biographer, Zachary Leader, called Amis "the finest English comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century." He is the father of the novelist Martin Amis. In 2008, The Times ranked him ninth on a list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

1924 - Henry Nicola Mancini, Award-winning Composer for films and television series, Conductor, Arranger, Pianist and Flautist. He's one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His works include the theme and soundtrack for the Peter Gunn television series, the music for The Pink Panther film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Music from Peter Gunn won the first Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Mancini enjoyed a long collaboration composing film scores for the film director Blake Edwards. He also scored a #1 hit single during the rock era on the Billboard charts: his arrangement and recording of the "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" spent two weeks at the top, beginning on June 29, 1969. (Mancini: Breakfast at Tiffany's. Youtube uploaded by Believe SAS. Accessed April 16, 2019.)  

1927 - Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger), Retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as head of the Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation. He speaks French, Italian, Latin and English fluently, and Spanish, adequately. He can read Ancient Greek and Biblical Hebrew. He is a member of several scientific academies, such as the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Bach.

1939 - Dusty Springfield, OBE (Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien), British pop singer and record producer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was an important singer of blue-eyed soul and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the UK Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and UK Music Hall of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

Lefties:
Actor Charlie Chaplin
Actor Peter Ustinov

 

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

 

Feature:

 

In Memoriam:  
Featuring the music of Spanish composer Federico Mompou and American composer & conductor Henry Mancini.

Enrico Nicola "Henry" Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994), was an American composer, conductor an arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His best known works include the theme to The Pink Panther film series ("The Pink Panther Theme"), ""Moon River" to Breakfast at Tiffany's, and theme to the Peter Gunn television series. Mancini also had a long collaboration on film scores with the film director Blake Edwards.

Historical Events

1735 - G.F. Handel's opera Alcina is first staged at Covent Garden Theatre in London.

1746 - The Battle of Culloden takes place, the final clash between the Jacobites and Hanoverians in the second Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The Jacobites support the right of Charles Stewart ("Bonny Prince Charlie") to the throne of England and Scotland. They are defeated and George II remains in power.