C18-L KALENDAR, January 18-24 (Reasons to celebrate)
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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JANUARY 18:
BIRTHDAYS: Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et
Montesquieu, French nobleman, lawyer, satirist, wit, philosopher (1689-
1755); Dr. John Gillies, Scottish historian (1747);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Peter Mark Roget, English
physician inventor of the thesaurus, (1779-1869); Daniel Webster, US
statesman, orator, Whig (1782-1852); Joseph Farwell Glidden, US
farmer, inventor of barbed wire (1813-1906); Edward Frankland,
English chemist who discovered presence of helium in the sun (1825-
99); Daniel Hale Williams, US pioneer open-heart surgeon (1858-1931);
Felix Ruben Garcia-Sarmiento, better known as Ruben Dario,
Nicaraguan poet & statesman (1867-1916); Alan Alexander "A.A."
Milne, British poet, playwright, author of Winnie the Pooh (1882-1946);
Antoine Pevsner, Russian sculptor (1886); Sir Thomas Sopwith, English
aircraft designer (1888); Oliver Hardy, US film comedian, partner to
Stan Laurel, master of the slow burn, the indignant yawp, the bashful
grin (1892-1957); Archibald Leach, better known as Cary Grant,
elegant Anglo-American film actor (1904); David Daniel Kaminsky,
better known as Danny Kaye, US actor, comedian, master of the silly
patter song (usually written by his wife, Sylvia Fine) -- "The oboe, it is
clearly understood, / Is an ill wind that no one blows good." (1931);
Chun Doo Hwan, Korean leader, President (1931); Muhammed Ali
born Cassius Clay, US heavyweight boxer, "the greatest,", who said on
his retirement, "There are more pleasant things to do than to beat up
people" (1942); Kevin Costner, US actor (1954);
DEATHS: Archangelo Corelli (1713); Sir Samuel Garth (1719); John
Baskerville (1775); Sir John Pringle (1782); Sarah Cecil, Countess of
Exeter (1797);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1701, Frederick of Brandeburg was
crowned King of Prussia; in 1788, the First Fleet entered Botany Bay,
bringing the first shipment of British prisoners to Australia'
MISCELLANEA: In Tunisia, it's National Revolution Day, honouring
nationalist movements of the 1930s-1940s, independence in 1956, and
the abolition of the monarchy in 1957. On this day in 1922, Irish
Republicans (including author Liam O'Flaherty) seized the Rotunda in
Dublin, formerly Europe's first maternity hospital founded by Dr.
Benjamin Mosse.
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JANUARY 19:
BIRTHDAYS: Francis II, King of France (1544-60); James Watt,
Scottish inventor & developer of the modern condensing steam
engine, the originator of the word "horsepower", and the man for
whom the electrical term of measurement, the "watt," is named (1736-
1819); Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French novelist &
naturalist (1737-1814); Johann Elert Bode, German astronomer & star
cataloguer, 1747);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Isidore Auguste Marie Comte,
French philosopher, founder of positivism (1798-1857); Robert Edward
Lee, Confederate Army leader (1807-70); Edgar Allan Poe, US poet,
short-story writer, critic (1809-49); Paul Cezanne, French post-
impressionist painter (1839-1906); David Starr Jordan, US biologist,
ichthyologist, philosopher, 1st president of Stanford University (1851-
1931); Alexander Woollcott, US journalist, wit, natty dresser, member
of the Algonquin Round Table, prototype of The Man Who Came To
Dinner -- Heywood Broun called him "the smartest of Alecs," and
James Thurber called him "old Vitriol and Violets" (1887); Phil Everly,
US rock singer, Everly Brother (1938); Janis Joplin, US rock & blues
singer, drug casualty (1943); Dolly Parton, US country singer,
songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, image-maker (1946);
DEATHS: Charles, Earl of Dorset (1706); William Congreve (1729);
Thomas Ruddiman (1757); Isaac Disraeli (1848);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1479, Aragon and Castile were
united under Ferdinand the Catholic & Isabella; in 1714, Richard
Steele published the Crisis, defending the Hanoverian succession to
the English throne;
MISCELLANEA: In Cyrus today they're celebrating the Name Day of
Archbishop Makarios. Denmark celebrates the Feast of St. Knute, King
and Patron Saint of Denmark, also known as Canute or Cnut; in
Ethiopia it's Timket (the Epiphany of the Eastern Orthodox Church); in
Finland they celebrate the Feast of St. Henry, Bishop of Uppsala and
Patron Saint of Finland; in Guyana it's Youman Nabi. On this day in
1977, US president Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, Axis
propagandist known as Tokyo Rose.
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JANUARY 20:
BIRTHDAYS: Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707); Charles III, King of
Spain 1757-88 (1716-88); Jean Jacques Barthelemy (1716); John
Goddard, US cabinet-maker (1724-85); Richard Henry Lee, US
founder, lawyer, signer of Declaration of Independence (1732-94);
Robert Morris, US founder, banker, signer of Declaration of
Independence (1734-1806); Theobald Wolf Tone, Irish nationalist,
who persuaded the revolutionary French military to help overthrow
English rule in Ireland (1763-98);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Nathaniel P. Willis, US writer,
editor, founder of the American Monthly Magazine (1806); Sir William
Fox, New Zealand novelist, statesman, PM (1812-93); Jean Francois
Millet, French painter (1814-75); Johannes Jensen, Danish poet &
novelist, 1944 Nobel Laureate (1873-1950); Ruth St. Denis, US dancer,
choreographer (1879-1968); Huddie Ledbetter, better known as
"Leadbelly," US blues singer, excon, mighty 12-string guitarist,
folklorist, author of "It's a Bourgeois Town" -- about Washington, D.C.
-- "Goodnight Irene," "Midnight Special," and lots more (1889-1949);
Walter Piston, US composer (1894-1976); Nathan Birnbaum, better
known as George Burns, US comedian -- "I should have been a
country and western singer. After all, I'm older than most western
countries," and "There's no reason for me to die. I already died in
Altoona" (1895); Aristotle Socrates Onassis, Greek shipping magnate,
married Jackie Bouvier Kennedy (1906-75); Federico Fellini, Italian
master film director (1920); Joy Friederike Victoria Adamson, Austrian
conservationist, author of Born Free (1920-80); Patricia Neal, US film
actress (1926); Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, US Apollo 11 astronaut
(1930); Dorothy Provine, US actress (1937);
DEATHS: Cardinal Bembo (1547); Charles, Duke of Manchester
(1722); Emperor Charles VII (1745); Sir James Fergusson (1759); Lord
Chancellor Yorke (1770); David Garrick (1779); John Howard (1790);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1779, actor-manager-poet David
Garrick. the Roscius of his age, died in London -- Dr. Johnson said "his
death eclipsed the gaiety of nations";
MISCELLANEA: Today Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and all Portugal
celebrate Saint Sebastian's Day. It's National Heroes Day in the Cape
Verde Islands and in Guinea-Bissau. In England. it's the Eve of St.
Agnes, according to tradition, the night during which a maid may dream
of her future husband. In the Republic of Mali, it's Army Day. In the
US, it's Inauguration Day. Today is the Feast of St. Sebastian, Patron
Saint of Portugal, and of archers, athletes, fletchers, pinmakers, and
soldiers. On this day in 1892, according to legend, the 1st game of
basketball was played at the YMCA gymn in Springfield, Massachusetts
with peach baskets nailed to balconies at each end of the room;
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JANUARY 21
BIRTHDAYS: Charles the Wise, aka Charles V, King of France 1364-
80 (1337-80); Henry VII of England (1456); Adriaen van der Werff,
Dutch painter (1659); James Murray, Governor of Quebec 1760 and
Canada 1763-66 (1721-94); John Fitch, US inventor, pioneer in
development of steam-powered boats (1743-98); Thomas, Lord Erskine
(1750);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: William Smith, English admiral
(1788); John Charles Fremont, US explorer, Union general, &
Republican presidential candidate (1813-90); Horace Wells, US dental
pioneer, 1st to use ether & nitrous oxide as anesthetic in dental surgery
(1815-48); John Cabell Breckenridge, US politician, lawyer, railway
executive, Confederate general (1821-75); Imre Madach, Hungarian
poet & dramatist, author of The Tragedy of Man (1823-64); Thomas
Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate general (1824-63); Oscar
II, King of Sweden & Norway (1829-1907); Roger Baldwin, US social
reformer, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (1884-1981);
Wolfgang Kohler, German-born US Gestalt psychologist &
experimenter in animal psychology (1887-1967); Cristobal Balenciaga,
Spanish couturier (1895-1972); J. Carroll Naish, US character actor
(1900-73); Richard P. Blackmur, US poet (1904); Christian Dior,
French couturier (1905-57); Igor Aleksandrovich Moiseyev, Russian
ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet master of the Bolshoi Theatre
(1906); Paul Scofield, English actor (1922) ; Barney Clark, US dentist,
1st human recipient of long-term artificial heart (1922-83); Aristotle
"Telly" Savalas, US tv actor -- who loves ya, baby? -- (1940); Reynaldo
Benito Antonio, Argentine statesman, president (1928); Jack Nicklaus,
US golfer (1940); Placido Domingo, Spanish operatic tenor (1941);
DEATHS: Miles Coverdale (1568); Joseph Scaliger (1609); James
Quin (1766); J.H. Bernard de St. Perre (1814); Dr. robert McNish
(1837); Henry Hallam (1859);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1645, Sir Thomas Fairfax was
appointed head of the Parliamentary army during the English Civil
War; in 1789, the "1st American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power
of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature, was published; in 1793, King
Louis XVI of France was beheaded; in 1831, a pillar bearing an
inscription blaming "Papists" for the Great Fire of London (1666) was
finally removed following the Catholic Emancipation Act;
MISCELLANEA: Today is Altagracia Day in the Dominican Republic.
It is also the Feast of St. Agnes, patron of Cumana, Venezuela, and of
virginity, young girls, girl scouts, and purity in general. It's also the
feast of St. Meinrad, patron of the Abbey of Einsiedein, Switzerland.
On this day in 1908 , New York City's Sullivan Ordinance outlawed
women smoking in public;
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JANUARY 22:
BIRTHDAYS: Ivan III, Grand Duke of Muscovy, ruler of Russia,
called "the Great (1440-1505); Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher,
statesman, protoscientist, essayist, pioneer in culinary refrigeration,
judge, bribe-taker, whom Alexander Pope called "The wisest, greatest,
meanest of mankind" (1561-1626); Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, English
poet, antiquarian, polemicist, founder of the eponymous Cottonian
Library (1570); Pierre Gassendi, French physicist, philosopher, anti-
Aristotelian, neo-Epicurean (1592-1655); Nicolas Lancret, French
painter (1690); Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German dramatist & critic,
author of 1st tragedy of middle-class life, Miss Sara Sampson (1729-81);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: George Gordon, 6th Baron
Byron, poet, freedom-fighter. romantic bogeyman, wit -- "What men
call gallantry and gods adultery / Is much more common where the
climate's sultry" -- (1788-1824); Richard Upjohn, US architect (1802-78);
Johan August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, short-story
writer, the "Shakespeare of Sweden" (1849-1912); Robert Somers
Brookings, US manufacturer, philanthropist, president of Washington
University, founder of eponymous Brookings Inst. (1850-1932);
Beatrice Potter Webb, English economist, Fabian socialist, founder
(with husband Sidney) of London School of Economics (1858-1943);
David Wark Griffith, US film director (1875-1948); Francis Picabia,
French painter (1879); Louis Pergaud, French novelist (1882-1915);
Rosa Melba Ponselle, US operatic soprano, diva (1897-1981); U Thant,
Burmese diplomat, U.N. Secretary-General (1909-74); Harriet Lake,
better known as Ann Sothern, US actress (1912); Sam Cooke, sweet-
voiced US pop singer (1935); Joseph Wambaugh, US novelist (1937);
DEATHS: Jean, Countess of Roxburgh (1753); George Steevens
(1800);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1720, the inauguration of the South
Sea Bubble, one of the greatest commercial swindles of all time, on this
day, began when the plan was approved by the British Commons; in
1760, the French forces in India were defeated by the British at the
Battle of Wandiwash; in 1771, France ceded the Falkland Islands to
Great Britain; in 1840, the 1st British colonists in New Zealand landed at
Port Nicholson;
MISCELLANEA: Today is Discovery Day in St. Vincent. This is
because it's also the Feast of St. Vincent of Saragossa, who is the
island's patron saint, as well as the patron of the wine industry. It's also
the Feast of St. Dominic of Sora, invoked against thunderstorms. On
this day in 1907, Richard Strauss's Salome premieres in New York, to
the outrage of a highly pious audience;
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JANUARY 23:
BIRTHDAYS: Francois Mansart, French architect (1598); Ulrika
Eleonora, Queen of Sweden 1718-20, who abdicated in in favour of
her husband who became King Frederick I (1688-1741); Joseph
Hewes, US merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence
(1730-79);
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Marie Henri Beyle, better
known as Stendahl, French novelist & biographer (1783-1842); Camillia
Collett, Norwegian novelist and feminist (1813-95); Edouard Manet,
French painter, founder of the Impressionist movement (1832-83);
Randolph Crance, better known as Randolph Scott, US film actor, a
long, tall drink of water (1903); Django Reinhardt. brilliant Gypsy jazz
guitarist, who played dazzling runs and choked chords despite having
the use of only three fingers after a fire, and who played with the Hot
Club of Paris, Coleman Hawkins, Stephan Grapelli, &c. (1905); Hidei
Yukawa, Japanese physicist, discoverer-theorist of mesons (1907-81);
Sir W. Arthur Lewis, English agricultural economist (1915); Potter
Stewart, US jurist (1915);
DEATHS: William Pitt (1806); Sir Francis Burdett (1844);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1570-1, Queen Elizabeth formally
opened the Royal Exchange in London; in 1642-3, a tract entitled _A
Great Wonder in Heaven..._ was published recounting an apparation
of a ghostly battle in the sky of Northamptonshire near the site of the
Civil War battle at Edgehill; in 1719 the Principality of Lichtenstein was
formed; in 1738, Alexander Pope published the 6th Epistle of the First
Book of Horace Imitated by Mr. Pope; in 1748, Charles Townshend
wrote to a friend that he could not attend the Opera since he had taken
a resolution to avoid "all expense which does not please me"; in 1793,
Poland was partitioned a 2nd time by Russia & Prussia;
MISCELLANEA: Liechtenstein celebrates its National Holiday today.
It's the Feast of St. John the Almsgiver, patron of the Order of St. John
at Jerusalem, the Knights of Malta. On this day in 1973, the Eldfell
Volcano in Iceland broke a silence of thousands of years, erupting &
forcing the evacuation of Vestmannaeyjax.
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JANUARY 24:
BIRTHDAYS: Gillis van Coninxloo, Flemish painter (1544); Charles,
Earl of Dorset, English poet (1637); Sir John Vanbrugh, English
playwright, architect (1664); William Congreve, English dramatist (1670-
1729); Frederick II, the Great, King of Prussia 1740-86 (1712-86);
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French dramatist, author of
Le Barbier de Seville & Le Mariage de Figaro, later operas by Rossini
& Mozart (1732-99); Gustavus III, King of Sweden (1746-92); Charles
James Fox, English statesman, orator, parliamentary opponent of
George III (1749-1806); Ernst Theodor Hoffman, German romantic
novelist, composer, and caricaturist (1766-1822)
LATER BIRTHDAYS OF INTEREST: Sir Edwin Chadwick, English
social reformer who founded the government inspection system (1800-
90); Ferdinand Julius Cohn, Polish botanist, the Father of Bacteriology
(1836-61); Nicolai Dobrolyubov, Russian radical, critic (1836-61);
Charles Henry Niehaus, US public sculptor (1855-1935); Bernard
Henry Kroger, US megagrocer (1860-1938); Edith Newbold Wharton,
US novelist, author of House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, &c.,
(1862-1937); Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer, aeronaut (1885-1978);
Vicki Baum, Austrian-born US novelist, author of Grand Hotel (1888-
1960); Ermes Borgnino, better known as Ernest Borgnine, US actor
(1917); Robert Motherwell, US painter (1915); Granville Oral Roberts,
US radio evangelist, university founder, fundraiser, &c., (1918); Leon
Kirchner, US pianist & composer (1919); Maria Tallchief, US ballet
dancer (1925); Neil Diamond, US pop singer (1941); Giorgio Chinaglia
Italian soccer star (1946); John Belushi, manic US comedian, samurai
drycleaner, Blues Brother, & actor (1950-82).
DEATHS: Justice Henry Yelverton (1650); James Ralph (1760);
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: in 1742, Charles Albert of Bavaria was
elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VII;
MISCELLANEA: Today is Economic Liberation Day in Togo. It is also
the Feast of St. Felician, patron of Foligno, Italy. On this day in in 1848,
gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, beginning the great California
Gold Rush; in 1857, the University of Calcutta, India, was founded; in
1913, Franz Kafka stops working on his strange novel Amerika, which
was never completed; in 1978, fragments of Soviet satellite Cosmos 954
landed in Canada's Northwest Territories.