Kalendar: Reasons to Celebrate, November 16-22.
B...@psuvm.bitnet
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* THE KALENDAR - REASONS TO CELEBRATE *
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* Compiled for C18-L by Kevin Berland *
* B...@PSUVM.BITNET *
* B...@psuvm.psu.edu *
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NOVEMBER 16:
BIRTHDAYS: Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, 2nd Emperor of Rome
(42 BCE-37 CE); Johann Frenshemius, scholar & critic (1608); Peter
Andreas Heiberg, Danish poet, playwright, satirist, exiled in 1799 (1758-
1841);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Francis Danby, Irish artist
(1793); Jonas Hallgrimsson, Icelandic poet, patriot, scientist (1807-45);
Karel Hynek Macha, Czech poet & novelist (1810-36); John Bright,
British politician, orator, advocate of Irish independence (1811-89);
David Kalakaua, 7th King (1874-91) of Hawaii (1836-91); Louis-Honore
Frechette, French-Canadian poet (1839-1907); W.C. Handy, U.S.
composer, the "Father of the Blues" (1873-1958); George S. Kaufmann,
U.S. dramatist, director, coauthor of Dinner at 8, Stage Door, & Marx
Brothers scripts, (1889-1961); Paul Hindemith, German-born U.S.
composer (1895-1963); Mary Margaret McBride, U.S. radio
commentator (1899-1976); Burgess Meredith, U.S. actor (1909);
Anatoliy Dobrynin, Russian diplomat (1919); France-Albert Rene,
President of the Republic of the Seychelles (1935); Donna Ruth
Mckechnie, U.S. dancer, actress (1942);
DEATHS: Pierre Nicole (1695); JAmes Ferguson (1776); Jean
Lambert Tallien (1820);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1621, the Papal Chancery first
adopted January 1st as the beginning of the year; in 1797, King
Frederick William II of Prussia died and was succeeded by F.W. III;
MISCELLANEA: Today is the feast of St. Margaret of Scotland,
patroness of that country. On this day in 1849, Dostoevsky was
sentenced to death for socialist activities; in 1885, Louis Riel, Canadian
Metis visionary and revolutionary, was executed in Regina,
Saskatchewan; in 1959, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music
premiered in New York.
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NOVEMBER 17
BIRTHDAYS: Pierre Mignard, French painter, court portraitist (1612-
95); Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendrye, French-
Canadian explorer, seignor, fur-trader, explorer of Manitoba, the
Dakotas, and western Minnesota (1685-1749); Jean Antoine Nollet,
French natural philosopher (1700); Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, French
mathematician & scientist (1717-83); Louis XVIII, King of France after
restoration of the monarchy in 1814 (1755-1824); Marshal Macdonald,
Duke of Tarentum, Bonapartist general (1765);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: August Ferdinand Mobius,
German astronomer, mathematician, deviser of the eponymous strip, a
3-dimensional 1-sided band with a continuous surface (1790-1868); Joao
Carlos Saldanha, Portuguese general, statesman, premier (1790-1876);
George Grote, English classicist & historian, author of a famous History
of Greece (1794-1871); Frederick Leypoldt, German born U.S.
publisher & bibliographer (1835); Grace Abbot, U.S. social worker &
reformer (1878-1939); Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount of
Alamein, British field marshall (1887-1976); Lee Strasberg, U.S. theatre
director & acting teacher (1901-82); Walter Hallstein, German diplomat
(1901-82); Eugene Paul Wigner, Hungarian-born U.S. physicist (1902);
Isamu Noguchi, U.S. sculptor (1904); William Franklin "Billy" Graham,
U.S. Baptist minister, evangelist (1918); Hershy Kay, U.S. composer
(1919-81); Aristide Pereira, Cape Verdean statesman, president (1923);
Roy Fitzgerald, better known as Rock Hudson, U.S. actor (1925-91);
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer & songwriter (1938); Lauren
Hutton, U.S. model & actress (1943); Danny de Vito, U.S. actor (1944);
DEATHS: Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt (2664); Bishop John Earle
(1665); Alain Rene le Sage (1747); Thomas, Duke of Newcastle (1768);
Empress Catharine the Great (1796); Queen Charlotte of England
(1818);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1637, Anne Hutchinson was
banished from Massachusetts; in 1681 Dryden's Absalom and
Achitophel was published; in 1679-81, November 17 was celebrated in
England as Queen Elizabeth's Day, complete with processions, anti-
papist demonstrations and "pope-burnings," and commemorations of the
killing of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey.;
MISCELLANEA: Today is the feast of St. Gregory the Wonder-
worker (Thaumaturgus), traditionally invoked in time of earthquake &
flood; it is also the feast of St. Hilda, patron of business & professional
women. On this day in 1919 Sylvia Beach opened the bookshop &
press, Shakespeare & Co., in Paris.
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NOVEMBER 18
BIRTHDAYS: Pierre Bayle, French philosopher, rationalist, critic
(1647-1706); Johannes Ewald, Danish poet, playwright, author of *Rolf
Krage*, 1770, the 1st original Danish tragedy (1843-81); Zacharias
Werner, German dramatist, preacher, fate tragedian (1768-1823); Carl
Maria von Weber, German composer, founder of German romantic
opera (1768-1826);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Sir David Wilkie, Scottish
painter (1785); Sir Henry Rowley Bishop, English conductor,
composer of operas & songs including the refrain of "Home Sweet
Home" (1786-1855); Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, French artist,
inventor of the dageurrotype, an early photographic process (1789-
1851); Asa Gray, U.S. botanist & manual-writer (1810-88); Nils Adolf
Nordenskiold, Swedish Arctic explorer, in 1878-80 1st to navigate the
Northeast Passage successfully (1832-1901); Sir William Schwenck
Gilbert, English poet & librettist, partner to Sir Arthur Sullivan in
devising comic operas (1836-1911); Ignace Jan Paderewski, Polish
pianist, composer, patriot, statesman, PM (1860-1941); Elizabeth
Meriwhether Gilmer, U.S. journalist & advice columnist who wrote
under the name Dorothy Dix (1870-1951); Clarence S. Day, Jr., U.S.
essayist: the play *Life with Father* was based on his essays (1874-
1935); Walter Seymour Allward, Canadian sculptor, creator of war
memorial on Vimy Ridge (1875-1955); Jacques Maritain, French
philosopher (1882-1973); Percy Wyndham Lewis, English novelist,
artist, vorticist -- he was born on a yacht off Amherst, Nova Scotia, so
doesn't this make him a Canadian writer? (1884-1957); Justin Brooks
Atkinson, U.S. drama critic (1894-1984); Lord Patrick Maynard Stuart
Blackett, British physicist (1897-1974); Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-
born U.S. conductor (1899); George Horace Gallup, U.S. public-
opinion statistician, archpollster (1901-84); Pierre Dreyfus, French
industrialist, president of Renault (1907); Johnny Mercer, U.S.
songwriter (1909-76); Alan Bartlett Shepherd Jr., 1st U.S. astronaut in
space (1923); Brenda Vaccaro, U.S. actress (1939); Qabus ibn Said,
Sultan of Oman (1942);
DEATHS: Jacob Bohme (1624);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1477 William Caxton published the
Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, the 1st (dated) book printed
in England; in 1826 Sir Walter Scott first met Madame d'Arblay ( Fanny
Burney);
MISCELLANEA: Today Haiti celebrates Vertieres Day,
commemorating a battle of the same name in 1803; Morocco celebrates
Independence Day (1956). On this day Mark Twain's 1st published
work of fiction appeared, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County."
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NOVEMBER 19
BIRTHDAYS: Charles I, King (1625-49) of England (1600-49); George
Rogers Clark, U.S. general, captor of Vincennes, frontiersman (1752-
1818);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Albert Thorwaldsen, Danish
sculptor (1770); Ferdinand De Lesseps, French diplomat, engineer,
builder of Suez Canal (1805-94); Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn, German
linguist, comparative mythologist (1812-81); James Abraham Garfield,
U.S. college president, lay preacher, politician, 20th president,
assasinated (1831-87); Emil von Skoda, Czech industrialist & munitions
maker (1839-1900); Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux, French historian
& statesman (1853-44); Mihail Mihailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian
composer (1859-1935); William Ashley "Billy" Sunday, U.S. baseball
player & "muscular Christianity" evangelist (1862-1935); Mikhail
Ivonovich Kalinin, Russian revolutionary, Soviet president (1875-1946);
Clifton Webb, U.S. actor (1896-1966); James Orley Allen Tate, U.S.
poet, novelist, New Critic (1899); Tommy Dorsey, U.S. musician &
bandleader (1905-56); Indira Gandhi, Indian stateswoman, PM,
assassinated (1917-84); Hendrik van de Hulst, Dutch astronomer (1918);
Emil Zapotek, Czech distance rinner (1922); Dick Cavett, U.S.
television personality (1936); Calvin Klein, U.S. fashion designer
(1942); Jodie Foster, U.S. actress (1962);
DEATHS: Nicolas Poussin (1665); Bishop John Wilkins (1672); The
Man in the Iron Mask (1703);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1692, Thomas Shadwell, plawright &
putative dunce, died (according to rumor) of an overdose of opium; in
1794, Jay's Treaty was concluded between Great Britain & the U.S.;
MISCELLANEA: Today Belize celebrates Garifuna Settlement Day;
Monaco celebrates the Prince of Monaco's birthday; Puerto Rico
celebrates Columbus's discovery of the island on his 2nd voyage of
1493. On this day in 1863, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln delivered
the Gettysburg Address; in 1965, the Ecumenical Council of the Roman
Catholic Church declared freedom of conscience in church doctrine;
in 1969, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, scored
his 1000th goal at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
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NOVEMBER 20
BIRTHDAYS: Jean Francois de la Harpe, French author; Otto van
Guericke, German scientist, inventor of the Magdeburg Hemispheres
(to demonstrate atmospheric pressure) & th 1st electrical generator
(1602-86); Oliver Wolcott, American Revolutionary leader,
Connecticut governor, signer of Declaration of Independence (1725-
97); Thomas Chatterton, English poet, inventor of the imaginary 15th-
century monk Thomas Rowley (1752-70); Louis Alexandre Berthier,
duc de Wagram, Napoleonic general (1753);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Pope Pius VIII, pope 1829-30
(1761-30); Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian statesman, 1896-1911 PM (1841-
1919); Josiah Royce, U.S. philosopher, Harvard professor (1855-1916);
Selma Lagerlof, Swedish novelist & shortstory writer, 1909 Nobel
Laureate, the 1st woman so honoured (1858-1940); Judge Kenesaw
Mountain Landis, U.S. jurist, 1st commissioner of baseball (1866-1944);
Norman Mattoon Thomas, U.S. social reformer, clergyman, editor,
socialist (1884-1968); Karl von Frisch, German zoologist (1886); Edwin
Powell Hubble, U.S. astronomer (1889-1953); Alfred Alistair Cooke,
English-born U.S. journalist & m.c. of public television's highbrow
Masterpiece Theatre (1908); Emilo Pucci, Italian fashion designer
(1914); Robert Carlyle Bird, U.S. politician (1917); Gene Tierney, U.S.
actress (1920); Nadine Gordimer, South African novelist, 1991 Nobel
Laureate (1923); May Michialovna Plisetskaya, Russian prima ballerina
(1925); Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, U.S. politician, assassinated (1925-
68); Dick Smothers, U.S. "folk"singer & comedian, straightman to
brother Tommy, political satirist censored in 1960s (1938);
DEATHS: Queen Caroline of England (1737); Cardinal de Polignac
(1741); Abraham Tucker (1774); Roger Payne (1797);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1541 John Calvin instituted a
theocratic government in Geneva; in 1759, the English defeated the
French fleet off Quiberon during the 7 Years' War;
MISCELLANEA: Today Mexico celebrates the Revolution
overthrowing Porfirio Diaz in 1910. On this day in 1875, Henry James's
1st novel, Roderick Hudson, was published. (1875); in 1906 Shaw's
Doctor's Dilemma was first acted; in 1945, Ellen Glasgow died in
Richmond, VA, leaving instructions that her dogs were to be exhumed
from her garden & placed in her coffin, & that she was to be buried
nowhere near her father.
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NOVEMBER 21
BIRTHDAYS: John Bale, English bishop, reformer, antiquary, &
dramatist (1495-1563); Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, French
philosopher, historian, satirist, enemy of intolerance (1694-1778); Josiah
Bartlett, U.S. physician, Continental Congress delegate, signatory of
Declaration of Independence, chief justice & president & governor of
New Hampshire (1729-95)l
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: William Beaumont, U.S.
surgeon, experimental medicine pioneer (1785-1853); Sir Samuel
Cunard, Canadian shipowner, founder of Cunard Shipping Co. &
Royal Mail Steam Packer Co. (1787-1865); Cesar Balbo, Italian author,
statesman, 1st premier of Piedmont (1789-1853); Edmund, Lord Lyongs,
British admiral (1790); Henrietta Howland "Hettie" Green, U.S.
financier, eccentric financial genius, whose investments were worth
over $100 million at her death (1834-1916); Desire Joseph Mercier,
Belgian cardinal (1851-1926); Pope Benedict XV, pope 1914-22 (1854-
1922); Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, aka "Q", English poet, novelist, critic
(1863); Vladimir Nicolaevich Ipatieff, Russian-born U.S. chemist (1867-
1952); Sir Harold George Nicolson, English diplomat, biographer,
historian, husband of Victoria "Vita" Mary Sackville-West (1886-1968);
Arthur "Harpo" Marx, U.S. comedian, actor, harpist (1893-1964); Rene
Francois-Ghislain Magritte, Belgian surrealist painter (1898-1967);
Eleanor Powell, U.S. dancer (1912-82); Stanley Frank "Stan the Man"
Musial, U.S. baseball player (1960); Natalia Romanovna Makarova,
Russian ballerina, defected in 1970 to U.S. (1940); Goldie Hawn, U.S.
actress, comedian, singer, dancer, director (1945);
DEATHS: Thomas Shadwell (1692); Henry Purcell (1695); Sir John
Hill (1775); Abraham Newland (1807);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1783, two French aeronauts, Jean
Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, made the 1st
successful balloon ascent, covering more than 5 miles in 25 minutes; in
1789 North Carolina ratified the U.S. constitution;
MISCELLANEA: Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. On this day in 1855, attempting to avoid an outbreak of
her husband Thomas's legendary temper, Jane Carlyle went alone to
the Income Tax Commissioners to ask for a lower assessment of her
husband's literary earnings; in 1910, Leo Tolstoy died at age 82, from
pneumonia caught while attempting to flee his wife; in 1934 Cole
Porter's musical comedy Anything Goes opened in New York; in 1945
Sergei Prokovief's ballet Cinderella opened in New York.
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NOVEMBER 22
BIRTHDAYS: Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French
explorer in North America, whose expeditions to the uncharted
regions south of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario gained France the
Mississippi River and the entire region once called Louisiana (1643-87);
Dugald Stewart, Scottish philosopher (1753); Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean
patriot (1767-1810);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Lionel Nathan Rothschild,
British bankerm 1st Jewish MP (1808-79); Mary Ann Evans, better
known as George Eliot, English novelist (1819-80); Jose Maria de
Heredia, Cuban-born French poet, Parnassian, bibliophile (1842-1905);
Paul H.B.B. d'Estournells de Constant de Rebecque, French politician,
diplomat, 1909 Nobel Peace Prize (1852-1924); John Nance "Cactus
Jack" Garner, U.S. politician, VP, sage (1868-1967); Andre Paul
Guillaume Gide, French novelist (1869-1951); Charles Andre Joseph
Marie De Gaulle, French statesman, soldier, writer, president of the 5th
Republic (1890-1970); Wiley Post, U.S. aviator, 1st solo global circum-
navigator (1899-1935); Hoagie Carmichael, U.S. pianist, songwriter:
Stardust, Georgia on My Mind, Old Rocking Chair's Got Me, The
Nearness of You, &c. (1899-1981); Benjamin Britten, English composer
(1913-76); Rodney Dangerfield, U.S. bugeyed omedian (1921);
Geraldine Page, U.S. actress (1924); Billie Jean King, U.S. tennis
player (1943);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1497 Vasco de Gama rounded the
Cape of Good Hope;
MISCELLANEA: November 22 is National Day in Guinea; it's also
Lebanon's Independence Day (1941). Today is the Feast of Saint
Cecilia, patron of church music, musicians, makers of musical
instruments, & music in general. According to legend she invented the
organ. On this day in in 1928 Ravel's Bolero opened in Paris; in 1931
Ferde Grofe's Grand Canypn Suite premiered in Chicago.