RETURN OF C18-L's KALENDAR: reasons to celebrate June 8-14
B...@psuvm.bitnet
BIRTHDAYS: John Dominique Cassini, French astronomer, 1st
director of the Paris Observatory, discoverer of 4 of
Saturn's satellites & the eccentricity of earth's orbit
(1625-1712); John Smeaton, English engineer, innovator in
building light-houses, canals, and pumps, rediscovered
hydraulic cement, lost since Roman times (1724-92); Count
Allesandro Cagliostro, Italian mountebank, who traveled
through Europe posing as a freemason, physician, alchemist,
and necromancer (1743-95); Carlyle called him "the quack of
quacks, the most perfect scoundrel that in these latter ages
has marked in the world's history..., pupil of the Sage
Althotas, foster-child of the Scherif of Mecca, probable son
of the last King of Trebisond, named also Acharat, and
unfortunate child of nature, by profession healer of
diseases, abolisher of wrinkles, friend of the poor and
impotent, grand-master of the Egyptian mason-lodge of high
science, spirit-summoner, gold cook, grand cophta, prophet,
priest, and thaumaturgic moralist and swindler, really a
liar of the first magnitude, thoroughpaced in all provinces
of lying, what may call the king of liars"; Robert
Stevenson, Scottish engineer, designer & builder of light-
houses, inventor of intermittent lighthouse signals (1772-
1850); Thomas Rickman, English architect (1776);
Important later birthdays: Robert Schumann, German
composer (1810-56); Charles Reade, English novelist (1814-
84); Sir Samuel White Baker, English explorer, "discovered"
Lake Albert & explored tributaries of the Nile (1821-93);
Sir John Everett Millais, English Pre-Raphaelite painter
(1829-96); Frank Lloyd Wright, U.S. master-architect (1867-
59); Francis Harry Compton Crick, English scientist,
codiscoverer (& Nobel laureate) for discovery of molecular
structure of DNA (1916); Marguerite (de Crayencour)
Yourcenar, Belgian novelist, 1st woman admitted to the
Academie Francaise;
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: the death of Mohammed in 632; in
1536 English clergy publish the Articles of Religion in
support of Henry VIII's declarations; in 1747 Shah-Nadir
Kouli Khan, Persian usurper, was assassinated
DEATHS: C. Huygens, Dutch mathematician (1695); Princess
Sophia of Hanover (1714); Ambrose Philips, English poet &
playwright (1749); W. Pultney, Earl of Bath (1764); Abbe J.
Winckelmann, antiquary (1768); Gottfried Augustus Burger,
German poet (1794); Thomas Paine, U.S. political philosopher
(1809) -- he died in obscurity, and only six people attended
his burial.
MISCELLANEA: Ravel's Daphnis & Chloe (Paris, 1912) and Carl
Orff's Carmina Burana (Frankfurt, 1937) both premiered on
June 8.
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JUNE 9
BIRTHDAYS: Peter I, aka Peter the Great, from 1682 Emperor
of Russia, introduced western European civilization to his
country, founded St. Petersburg (1672-1725); Andrew Ramsay,
Scottish poet & author of Travels of Cyrus (1686); Samuel
Slater, U.S. manufacturer, one of the founders of U.S.
textile industry (1768-1835); Count Amedeo Avogadro, Italian
chemist, promulgator of Avogadro's Law (1776-1856);
Important later birthdays: George Stephenson, English
inventor, credited with 1st successful steam locomotive
(1781-1848); John Howard Payne, U.S. playwright, author of
song "Home Sweet Home" (1791-1852); Johann Galle, German
astronomer, in 1846 1st to sight Neptune (1812-1910);
Baroness Bertha von Suttner, Austrian humanitarian, Nobel
Peace Prize 1905 (1843-1914); Carl August Nielsen, Danish
composer (1865-1931); Cole Porter, U.S. composer (1892-
1964); S.N. Behrman, U.S. playwright (1893); Fred M. Waring,
U.S. band leader, Penn State alumnus, inventor of the
Blendor (1900-84); Nelson Eddy, U.S. actor, singer (1901-
67);
DEATHS: Benedict Pictet, protestant divine (1724); Dr.
William Kenrick (1779); Louis XVII of France (1705)'
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1549 the English Parliament
established uniformity of religious service & the 1st Book
of Common Prayer; in 1732 James Oglethorpe receives royal
charter for formation of the colony of Georgia;
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JUNE 10
BIRTHDAYS: James Stewart, Prince of Wales, commonly called
the "Pretender" (1688); John Dolland, English optician
(1706); James Shorth, Scottish maker of reflecting
telescopes (1710); John Morgan, U.S. physician, founder
(1765) of 1st medical school in North American colonies
(College of Philadelphia, later University of Pennsylvania
(1735-89); Joseph Warren, American Revolutionary. physician,
general, dispatched messengers Paul Revere & William Dawes
to Lexington to warn of approach of British, killed at
Bunker Hill (1742-75);
Other later important birthdays: Gustave Courbet,
French painter, Communard (1819-77); Nikolaus August Otto,
German inventor, developer of internal combustion & 4-cycle
gasoline engines (1832-91); George Earl Buckle, from 1884-
1912 editor of the Times of London (1854-1935); Immanuel
Velikovsky, Russian-American author, proponent of theory
that earth has often been visited by alien races (1895-
1979); Frederick Loewe, U.S. Broadway composer of Brigadoon,
Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, with A.J. Lerner (1901); Sir
Terence Rattigan, British playwright (1911-77); Saul Bellow,
U.S. novelist, Nobel laureate 1976 (1915); Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II's hubby (1921);
Frances Gumm, better known as Judy Garland (1922-69);
Maurice Sendak, U.S. author & illustrator of children's
books (1928)...
DEATHS: Thomas Hearne, English antiquary (1735);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1791 the British Parliament
passes the Canada Constitution Act, dividing the colonies
into Upper and Lower Canada.
MISCELLANEA: In Portugal, they celebrate June 10 as
Portugals day; elsewhere (Macao) they celebrate Camoens day
-- Portugal's national poet died on June 10, 1580.
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JUNE 11
BIRTHDAYS: Ben Jonson, English playwright & poet (1572?-
1637); George Wither, English emblematic poet (1588); Sir
Kenelm Digby, English philosopher (1603-65); John Constable,
English landscape painter (1776-1837);
Other, later, important birthdays: Otto von Bohtlingk,
German Sanskrit scholar (1815-1904); Richard Strauss, German
composer (1864-1949); Jeannette Rankin, 1st woman elected
U.S. senator (1880-1972); Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese
novelist, Nobel laureate 1962 (1899-1972); Clarence
"Pinetop" Smith, African-American pianist & pioneer of
boogie-woogie (1904-29); Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French
marine explorer, conservationist, film-maker, inventor
(1910); Rise Steenberg, better known as Rise Stephens, U.S.
operatic mezzo-soprano (1913); Richard Todd, British actor &
producer (1919); Irving Howe, U.S. critic (1920); Hazel
Scott, U.S. jazz pianist, sing, civil-rights figure (1920-
81); William Styron, U.S. novelist; Jerry Silberman, aka
Gene Wilder, U.S. comic actor, writer, director (1935);
Jackie Stewart, Scottish auto racer & sportscaster (1939);
DEATHS: Sir Kenelm Digby; Duc de Vendome (1712); George I
of England (1727); Dr. William Robertson, Scottish historian
(1793); Samuel Ireland, engraver (1800); Dugald Stewart,
Scottish "Common Sense" philosopher (1828);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY...George Eliot wrote to a friend
who'd recommended reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre: "I
shall be glad to know what you admire in it...the book is
interesting--only I wish the characters would talk a little
less like the heroes and heroines of police reports."
MISCELLANEA: In Hawaii, June 11 is King Kamehameha Day; in
Libya they celebrate the Evacuation of U.S. military
personnel in 1967.
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JUNE 12
BIRTHDAYS: Cosimo "the Great" de Medici, Duke of Florence
(1519-74).
Other important birthdays: Harriet Martineau, English
novelist & economist (1802-76); Johann Augustus Roebling,
German-American engineer, manufactured wire rope, pioneered
suspension bridge design, conceived preliminary design for
the Brooklyn Bridge (1806-69); Charles Kingsley, English
clergyman, novelist (Westward Ho!, The Water Babies),
chaplain to Queen Victoria, professor of history (1819-75);
Johanna Spyri, Swiss author of Heidi (1827); Frank Michler
Chapman, U.S. ornithologist, founder of Bird Lore, later
Audubon Magazine (1864-1945); Djuna Barnes, U.S. poet &
novelist (1892); Sir Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, British
statesman, P.M. (1897-1977); Uta Hagen, German actress
(1919); George Bush, U.S. politician, V.P. & President
(1924); Anne Frank, young Dutch Jewish writer killed in Nazi
concentration camp (1929-45)...
DEATHS: James, Duke of Berwick, French commander (1734);
William Collins, English poet (1759); R.F.P. Brunck,
philologist (1803);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1727 George I of England died,
and was succeeded by George II.
MISCELLANEA: Paraguay celebrates Peace With Bolivia Day
(1935); the Philippines celebrate Independence Day (1898).
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JUNE 13
BIRTHDAYS: Frances "Fanny" Burney, also known as Madame
d'Arblay, English novelist (1752-1849); Dr. Thomas Young,
English physicist, physician (1st to describe & measure
astigmatism & explain colour sensation), Egyptologist
(helped translate Rosetta Stone) (1773-1829);
Later birthdays: Thomas Arnold, English educator,
headmaster at Rugby (1795-1842); William Butler Yeats, Irish
poet, playwright, politician, Nobel laureate 1923 (1865-
1939); John McCormack, Irish-American tenor (1884-1945);
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, English actor (1892-1967);
Dorothy L. Sayers, English Dante scholar, mystery novelist
(1893-1957); Mark Van Doren, U.S. poet, critic, educator
(1894-1972); Carlos Chavez, Mexican composer, conductor,
founder of the Mexican Symphony (1899-1978); Paul Lynde,
U.S. comic actor (1926);
DEATHS: Charles Francois Panard, French dramatist (1765);
Simon Andrew Tissot, Swiss physician (1797); Richard Lovell
Edgeworth, Irish writer on education (1817);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1515, Martin Luther married
Catherine von Bora; in 1541 John Calvin began organizing
Geneva as a protestant theocratic state...
MISCELLANEA: Lisbon, Portugal, celebrates St. Anthony of
Padua's feast -- he was born in Lisbon, and is the patron of
the poor and illiterate.
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JUNE 14
BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Pennant, English naturalist (1723(;
Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist, known for his
work on friction, electricity & magnetism -- an electrical
unit of measurement, the "coulomb" is named for him (1736-
1806);
Other later birthday greetings to: Frantisek Palacky,
Czech historian & political leader (1798-1876); Harriet
Beecher Stowe, U.S. novelist (Uncle Tom's Cabin) & -- after
the success of this novel she wrote to a friend: "I am a
little bit of a woman,--somewhat more than 40, about as thin
and dry as a pinch of snuff; never much to look at in my
best of days, and looking like a used-up article now."
(1811-96); John Bartlett, U.S. editor, compiler of
quotations (1820-1905); Jose Carlos Mariategui, Peruvian
writer, reformer (1895-1930); Margaret Bourke-White (U.S.
photographer (1906-71); Burl Icle Ivanhoe, aka Burl Ives,
U.S. folk singer & actor (1909); Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la
Serna, Cuban revolutionary (1928-67); Jerzy Kosinski, Polish
novelist (1933)...
DEATHS: Marin Leroi, Sieur de Gomberville, French author of
romances (Polexandre) and a neostoic emblem collection, The
Doctrine of Morality (1674); Dr. Ralph Bathurst (1704);
Claude Fleury, confessor to Louis CV (1723); Colin
Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician (1746);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY...in 1662, Sir Harry Vane was
beheaded in the Tower of London; at a levee in 1786, a large
diamond was presented to George III, ostensibly as a peace
offering from the Nizam of Deccam, though the newspapers
chose to interpret it as a bribe from Warren Hastings, whose
impeachment was advancing in Parliament.
MISCELLANEA: The U.S. celebrates Flag Day today.