C18-L's Kalendar: March 29-April 4 (Reasons to Celebrate!)
Kevin Berland
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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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MARCH 29:
BIRTHDAYS: Dr. John Lightfoot, English divine, scriptural commentator
(1602); Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, Napoleonic marshal of
France (1769-1851);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: John Tyler, US lawyer, politician, 10th
president (1790-1862); Sir Edward Geoffrey Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, English
statesman (1799); Sir Henry Bartle Frere, English colonial administrator,
precipitated Zulu War (1815-84); Edwin Laurentine Drake, US oil pioneer,
driller of world's 1st oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where there is
still a
rather quaint museum (1819-80); Isaac Mayer Wise, German-born US rabbi,
father of Reformed Judaism (1819-1900); Elihu Thomson, US inventor (1853-
1937); Oscar Ferdinand Mayer, US meatpacker (1859-1955); Denton True "Cy"
Young, US baseball player (1867-1955); Sir Edwin Landseer Luytens, English
architect, artist, president of Royal Academy (1869-1944); Alec Hrdlihcka,
Bohemian-US anthropologist (1869-1943); Raymonf Hood, US architect (1881);
Howard Lindsay, US playwright (1889-1968); Jozsef Pehm Mindszenty,
Hungarian Roman Catholic cardinal (1892-1975); Sir William Walton, English
composer (1902-83); E. Power Biggs, English-US organist (1906-77); Eugene
McCarthy, US politician, who once wisely said "The only thing that saves us
from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency." (1916); Pearl Bailey, US jazz singer
(1918);
DEATHS: Theophile Bonet (1689); Sir Thomas Parkyns (1741); Capt. Thomas
Coram (1751);; Emmanuel Swedenborg (1772); King Gustavus III of Sweden
(1792);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1638, the 1st Swedish colonists in North
America established a Lutheran settlement at Fort Christiana, Delaware; in
1797,
English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft, already pregnant (with the someday-
novelist Mary Shelley), married radical political theorist & novelist William
Godwin;
MISCELLANEA: Today is Boganda Day in the Central African Republic,
Memorial Day in the Malagasy Republic, Youth and Martyr's Day in Taiwan,
and Vietnam Veterans' Day in the US. On this day in 1871, Queen Victoria
opened London's Royal Albert Hall (the exact number of holes it takes to
fill which the Beatles determined a little under a hundred years later).
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MARCH 30:
BIRTHDAYS: Moses Maimonides, Spanish rabbi, physician, philosopher,
Aristotelian, Arabic scholar (1135-1204); Sir Henry Wotton, English poet,
Provost of Eton College (1568-1639); Archbishop Somner, English churchman,
antiquary (1606-69); Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientas, Spanish painter,
etcher (1746-1828); Francois Pilatre de Rozier, French aeronaut (1756);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Henry Viscount Hardinge, English
Field Marshall (1785); Anna Sewell, English novelist, author of Black Beauty:
The Autobiography of a Horse (1820); Charles Booth, English shipowner, social
reformer (1840-1916); Paul Verlaine, French symbolist poet (1844-96); Vincent
van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853-90); Clifford Whittingham Beers, US mental
hygienist (1876-1943); Sean O'Casey, Irish playwright (1880-1964); Jo
Davidson,
US sculptor (1883-1952); McGeorge Bundy, US educator, government official
(1919); Warren Beatty, US actor & director (1938); Eric "Slowhand" Clapton,
English rock & blues guitarist, singer, songwriter (1945);
DEATHS: Phocion (317 BCE); Bishop John King (1669); Archbishop
Somner (1669); Sebastien de Vauban (1707); Dr. William Hunter (1783);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1492, Torquemada expelled the Jews from
Spain; in 1806, Joseph Bonaparte was crowned King of Naples;
MISCELLANEA: Today is the feast of St. Regulus (Rieul), patron of Senlis,
France. On this day in 1867, the US purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 m;
in
1919, Mahatma Gandhi began his campaign of civil disobedience and general
strike in India; in 1951, Rogers & Hammerstein's The King and I premiered in
New York.
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MARCH 31
BIRTHDAYS: Rene Descartes, French rationalist philosopher, mathematician,
scientist (1596-1650); Pope Benedict XIV, pope 1740-58 (1675-1758); King
Frederick V of Denmark and Norway 1746-66 (1723-66); Franz Joseph Haydn,
Austrian composer (1732-1809); Dr. Joseph Towers (1737);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Edward Fitzgerald, English poet,
translator of Omar Khayam (1809-83); Nikolai Vasileyevich Gogol, Russian
novelist, short-story writer, playwright (1809-52); Robert Wilhelm Bunsen,
German chemist, inventor (1811-99); John La Farge, US painter (1835-1910);
Leon Dierx, French poet (1838-1912); Andrew Lang, Scottish author, translator,
editor of fairy tales (1844-1912); Edouard Rod, Swiss novelist, critic
(1857-1910);
Jack Johnson, African-American boxer, 1st black heavyweight world champion
(1878-1946); Marie Rene Auguste Alexis Leger, aka St. John Perse, French
poet, diplomat, 1960 Nobel Laureate (1887-1975); Sir William Lawrence Bragg,
Australian physicist, at 25 the youngest man to win a Nobel Prize (1890-1971);
Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist (1906); Red Norvo, US jazz musician
(1908); William Julius Lederer, US novelist (1912); Octavio Paz, Mexican poet,
social philosopher (1914); John Fowles, English novelist (1926); Cesar Estrada
Chavez, US farm-union organizer (1927); Al Gore, US politician, current US
vice-president (1948);
DEATHS: John Donne (1631); Peter Burman (1741); George, Earl Macartney
(1806); Ludwig van Beethoven (1827); John Constable (1837);
Charlotte Bronte (1855);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1657, the English parliament offered the
crown to Oliver Cromwell in the "Humble Petition and Advice"; in 1717,
Benjamin Hoadley preached his sermon "On the Nature of the Kingdom or
Church of Christ," which called into question the basic tenets of conservative
Anglicanism, and provoked a paper war known as the Bangorian Controversy;
in 1770, Captain Cook left New Zealand on board the Endeavour; in 1814, Paris
surrendered to Austria, Prussia, and Russia; in 1945, Tennessee Williams' play
The Glass Menagerie opened in New York.
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APRIL 1
BIRTHDAYS: William Harvey, English physician, discoverer of the circulation
of the blood (1578-1657); Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, Sieur de Saint-
Evremond, French courtier, writer, exiled to England (1616-1703); Antoine
Francois Prevost d'Exiles, aka Abbe Prevost, French novelist (1697-1763);
Salomon Gessner, Swiss poet, painter, etcher (1730-88); Joseph Marie de
Maistre, French statesman, philosopher, opponent of the Revolution (1753-1821);
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French politician, gastronomical writer (1755-1825);
Robert Surtees, English antiquary, literary impostor who fed Sir Walter Scott
some bogus ballads (1779);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Sir Thomas Buxton, Bart., English
philanthropist (1785); Otto von Bismarck, German statesman, chancellor (1815-
98); Edwin Austin Abbey, US artist, illustrator (1852); Richard Adolf
Zsigmondy,
German chemist (1865-1929); Sophonisba Breckinridge, US social reformer,
educator, suffragist (1866-1948); Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni, Italian composer,
pianist, conductor (1866-1924); Edmond Rostand, French playwright, author of
Cyrano de Bergerac (1868-1918); Sergei Wassilievitch Rachmaninoff, Russian-
US pianist, composer (1873-1943); Wallace Beery, US actor (1881-1949); Lon
Chaney, US silent-film actor, the Man With a Thousand Faces (1883-1930); Eli
Lilly, US drug manufacturer, philanthropist (1885-1977); Eddy Duchin, US
pianist (1909-51); Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor, director (1920); William
Manchester, US novelist, biographer (1922); Suzanne Burce, better known as
Jane Powell, US actress, singer (1929); Ali McGraw, US actress (1948);
DEATHS: Rev. Richard Napier (1634); Jean Baptiste Thiers (1702); Dr. John
Langhorne (1779); Dr. Isaac Milner (1820); Bishop Reginald Heber (1826);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1766, the Saint-James Chronicle printed
Horace Walpole's hoax letter, puportedly from From Frederick the Great
offering Rousseau political asylum; in 1810, Napoleon married Archduchess
Marie Louise;
MISCELLANEA: Today is All Fools' Day, devoted to "practical jokes" light-
heartedly teasing the unsuspecting. It's Abdoulaye Issa Day in Benin, Islamic
Republic Day in Iran, and Capitani Regginti Day in San Marino.
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APRIL 2:
BIRTHDAYS: Charlemagne, King of the Franks 768-814 (742-814);
Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt, Italian adventurer, lover, writer
(1725-98);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: August Heinrich Hoffman van
Fallersleben, German poet, scholar (1798-1874); Hans Christian Andersen,
Danish poet, fairy-tale writer, novelist (1805-75); Erastus Brigham Bigelow, US
textile-maker, loom inventor, M.I.T. founder (1814-79); William Holman Hunt,
English painter, Pre-Raphaelite (1827-1910); Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi,
French-Italian sculptor, designer of Statue of Liberty (1834-1904); Leon
Gamberra, French political leader (1838-82); Emile Zola, French novelist (1840-
1902); Nicholas Murray Butler, US educator, president of Columbia University,
1931 Nobel Peace Prize (1862-1947); Walter Percy Chrysler, US auto-maker
(1875-1940); Max Ernst, German expressionist & surrealist painter, sculptor,
Dadaist (1891); Harold Lloyd, US comedian, highest-paid actor of the 1920s,
master of the awkward climb across the faces of terrifyingly high buildings
(1893-
1971); Sir Alec Guinness, English actor (1914); Jack Webb, US tv actor (1920-
82); Sir John Arthur Brabham, Australian auto racer (1926); Kenneth Peacock
Tynan, English drama critic, who once wrote: "The unique thing about Margaret
Rutherford is that she can act with her chin alone. Among its many moods I
especially cherish the chin commanding, the chin in doubt, and the chin at bay."
And yet he was [sometimes] modest about his calling: "A critic is someone who
knows the way but can't drive the car"(1927-80);
DEATHS: Jean Barth (1702); Thomas Carte (1752); Comte de Mirabeau (1791);
Dr. James Gregory (1821);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1792, the US Mint was established; in 1801,
the English fleet under the command of Lord Nelson destroyed the Danish fleet
off Copenhagen; in 1844, London's old Fleet Prison for debtors was closed;
MISCELLANEA: Today is the feast of St. Mary of Egypt, patron of repentant
women who formerly lived in sin.
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APRIL 3:
BIRTHDAYS: George Herbert, English divine, poet (1593-1633); Roger
Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618); John Hanson, US farmer, politician, 1st
president under Articles of Confederation 1781-82, and arguably the 1st US
president, predating the more widely recognized George Washington (1715-
83); Arthur St. Clair, American Revolutionary general, president of 1787
Constitutional Congress (1737-1818);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Washinton Irving, US essayist,
historian, and short-story writer (1783-1859); Rev. Dionysius Lardner, Irish
scientific writer (1793); Charles Wilkes, US Antarctic explorer (1798-1877);
Edward Everett Hale, US clergyman, author (1822-1909); William Marcy "Boss"
Tweed, US politician (1823-78); John Burroughs, US essayist, naturalist (1837-
1921); Henri van de Velde, Belgian architect (1863); James Barry Munnik
Hertzog, Afrikaans leader, PM of South Africa (1866-1942); Alcide de GAsperi,
Italian politician, PM (1881-1954); Leslie Stainer, better known as Leslie
Howard, English actor (1893-1943); Georgie Jessel, US vaudevillean (1898-
1981); Henry Robinson Luce, US publisher, founder of Time, Life, and Fortune
(1898-1967); Jane Sterling Adriance, better known as Jan Sterling, US actress
(1923); Marlon Brando, US actor (1924); Doris van Kappelhoff, better known as
Doris Day, US singer, dancer, actress (1924); Tony Benn, English Labour Party
leader (1925); Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom, US astronaut killed in Apollo I fire
(1926-67); Baroness Jane Van Lawick-Goodall, better known as Jane Goodall,
British ethologist, specialist in chimpanzees, conservationist (1934); Marsha
Mason, US actress (1942);
DEATHS: John Napier (1617); Edward Marquis of Worcester (1667); Jacques
Ozanam (1717); Dr. John Berkenhout (1791);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1696, Sir John Friend and Sir William
Parkyns were executed for attempting to assassinate King William III of
England;
MISCELLANEA: I can't find anything more to say about April 3.
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APRIL 4:
BIRTHDAYS: Grinling Gibbons, English woodcarver, sculptor (1648-1720);
John Jackson, English divine, scholar, controversialist (1686); Nicola Antonio
Zingarelli, Italian composer, maestro di capella at St. Peter's, Rome
(1752-1837);
Pierre Paul Prud'hon, French painter (1758); Edward Hicks, US Quaker folk
painter, who produced an abundance of "Peaceable Kingdom" paintings with
the lion and the lamb lying down in the foreground and William Penn signing a
treaty with the Indians off in the distance (1780-1849);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST:: Thaddeus Stevens, US statesman &
abolitionist (1792-1868); Jean Francois Casimir Delavigne, French poet &
playwright (1793-1843); Dorothea Lynde Dix, US social reformer (1802-87);
Benjamin Peirce, US mathematician, astronomer (1809-80); Maria II da Gloria,
Queen of Portugal (1819-53); Sir William Siemens, English inventor (1823-83);
Zenobe Theophile Gramme, Belgian engineer (1826); Hans Richter, Hungarian
conductor (1843-1916); Isidore Lucien Ducasse, better known as Le Comte de
Lautreamont, Uruguayan-born French poet, protosurrealist (1846-70); George
Pierce Baker, US teacher of play-writing (1866-1935); Pierre Monteux, French-
born US conductor (1875-1964); Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (1877-1947);
Arthur Murray, US dancing teacher (1895); Robert Sherwood, US playwright
(1896-1955); John Cameron Swayze, Sr., US newsman (1906); Jules Leger,
Canadian statesman, 1974-79 Governor-General (1913-80); Marguerite
Donnadieu Duras, French novelist, playwright, screenwriter (1914); Elmer
Bernstein, US composer (1922); Anthony Perkins, US actor (1932); Angelo
Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti, US educator, president of Yale, baseball commissioner
(1938-91);
DEATHS: Simon Bisschop (1643); Robert Ainsworth (1743); Oliver Goldsmith
(1774); Lord Chief Justice Lloyd Kenyon (1802); Andre Massena, Duke of
Rivoli (1817);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1710, the English Copyright Law was passed;
in 1774, when asked on his deathbed if his mind was at ease, Oliver Goldsmith
answered, "No, it is not";
MISCELLANEA: Today is Liberation Day in Hungary; it's also National
Day in Senegal. Today is the feast of St. Benedict the Black, patron of
North American blacks and of Palermo, Italy.