Zatoichi

The character's name is actually Ichi. Zato is a title, the lowest of the four official ranks within the Todo-za, the traditional guild for the blind, which was abolished in 1871. The three other ranks, in ascending order, were koto, betto, and kengyo. Ichi is therefore properly called Zato-no-Ichi ("Low-Ranking Blind Person Ichi," approximately), or Zatoichi for short. Giving massages was a traditional occupation for the blind.

A recurring theme of both the films and television series episodes concerns Zatoichi protecting the innocent from oppressive warring clans and general injustice.

Today XVI

Birthdays:

• Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, April 30, 1777 – February 23, 1855


• Franz Lehár, composer, April 30, 1870 – October 24, 1948


• Claude Elwood Shannon, "the father of information theory," April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001


• Al Lewis, actor and Munster, and restaurant owner, political candidate, and radio broadcaster, April 30, 1923 – February 3, 2006


• Laurence van Cott LARRY Niven, author, 1938


• Burt Young, actor, 1940


• Robert Thomas Velline, aka Bobby Vee, singer, 1943


• Jill Clayburgh, actress, 1944


• Philip Mason "Scrap Iron" Garner, baseball manager, 1949


• Kirsten Dunst, actress, 1982

RIP:

• John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, November 3, 1718 – April 30, 1792


• John Luther CASEY Jones, railroad engineer, March 14, 1864 -April 30, 1900


• Inger Stensland, aka Inger Stevens, actress, October 18, 1934 – April 30, 1970


• Agnes Robertson Moorehead, actress, December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974


• George Balanchine, choreographer, January 22, 1904 – April 30, 1983


• McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, bluesman, April 4, 1915 or 1913 – April 30, 1983


• Charles Francis Richter, seismologist, April 26, 1900 – April 20, 1985


• Sergio Leone, film director, January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989

Today XV

Birthdays:

• Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor, April 29, 1879 – March 8, 1961


• Edward Kennedy Ellington, aka DUKE Ellington, jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader, April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974


• Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1926 to 1989; his childhood title was Prince Michi; became heir apparent upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, on July 30, 1912; formal investiture as Crown Prince took place on November 2, 1916, April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989


• Samuel Yewell Tompkins, aka Tom Ewell, actor, April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994


• Celeste Holm, actress, 1917


• Lonnie Donegan MBE, skiffle musician, April 29, 1931 – November 3, 2002


• Rodney Marvin ROD McKuen, poet, composer, and singer, 1933


• Luis Aparicio, MLB shortstop, 1934


• Otis Rush, musician, 1934


• Zubin Mehta, conductor, 1936


• April Stevens, singer, 1936


• Walter Lane Smith, actor, April 29, 1936 - June 13, 2005


• Klaus Voormann, illustrator and musician, 1942


• Thomasina Montgomery, aka Tammi Terrell, singer, April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970


• Tommy James, musician, 1947


• Kate Mulgrew, actress, 1955


• Robert J. Sawyer, author, 1960


• Uma Thurman, actress, 1970

RIP:

• Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, philosopher, April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951


• Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE, film director and producer, August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980


• Michael MICK Ronson, guitarist, arranger and producer, May 26, 1946 – April 29, 1993


• John Kenneth Galbraith, OC , Ph.D , LL.D, economist, one of the few two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, receiving one from President Truman in 1946 and a second from President Clinton in 2000, October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006

Also:

• The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops, 1945


• Roger Clemens sets a major league baseball record with 20 strikeouts in nine innings against the Seattle Mariners, 1986


• Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation, 2005

Today XIV

Birthdays:

• Lionel Barrymore, actor, April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954


• Kurt Gödel, mathematician, April 28, 1906 - January 14, 1978


• Oskar Schindler, humanitarian, April 28, 1908 – October 9, 1974


• Harper Lee, author, 1926


• Ann-Margret Olsson, actress, 1941


• Jay Leno, comedian, 1950


• John Joseph Cerutti, pitcher and announcer, April 28, 1960 - October 3, 2004


• Jessica Alba, actress, 1981

RIP:

• William Henry Johnson, aka Zip the Pinhead, 1857 – April 28, 1926


• Francis Timothy McCown Durgin, aka Rory Calhoun, actor, August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999

Also:

• Mutiny on the HMS Bounty, 1789


• The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas, 1939


• Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia, 1947


• The United States occupation of Japan ends, 1952


• Expo 67 opens in Montréal, Québec, Canada, 1967


• Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France, 1969


• Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist, when he visits the International Space Station for seven days, 2001

Today XIII

Today is MY Birthday

Other Birthdays

• Mary Wollstonecraft, writer, philosopher, and early feminist, the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, April 27, 1759 – September 10, 1797


• Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor, April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872


• Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, composer, April 27, 1891 – March 5, 1953


• Rogers Hornsby, aka The Rajah, MLB second baseman, April 27, 1896 - January 5, 1963


• Walter Lantz, cartoonist and animator, April 27, 1900 – March 22, 1994


• Enos Bradsher COUNTRY Slaughter, outfielder, April 27, 1916 - August 12, 2002


• Jack Klugman, actor, 1922


• Coretta Scott King, activist, April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006


• Judy Carne, comedienne, 1939


• Jim Keltner, drummer, 1942


• William Peter Ham, singer and songwriter, leader of Badfinger, April 27, 1947 – April 23, 1975


• Ann Peebles, singer, 1947


• Willie Clay Upshaw, MLB first baseman, 1957


• Frank John Catalanotto, MLB outfielder/DH, 1974


• Christopher John Carpenter, MLB starting pitcher, 1975

RIP:

• Ferdinand Magellan [Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães], explorer, Spring, 1480 – April 27, 1521


• Ralph Waldo Emerson, author, May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882


• Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, composer, January 6, 1872 – April 27, 1915


• Edward R. Murrow, journalist, April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965


• Olivier Messiaen, composer, December 10, 1908 – April 27, 1992


• William Egan Colby, former Director of the CIA; launched the Accelerated Pacification Campaign during the Vietnam War; later revealed a large amount of information to Congress, such as CIA attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro; fired by President Gerald Ford and replaced with George H.W. Bush on January 30, 1976, January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996


• Alois Maxwell Hirt, aka Al Hirt aka Jumbo, musician and bandleader, November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999


• George Alec Effinger, science fiction author, married for a few years shortly before his death to fellow science fiction author Barbara Hambly, January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002

Today XII

Birthdays:

• David Hume, philosopher, April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776


• Gertrude Pridgett MA Rainey, blues singer, April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939


• Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, philosopher who contributed several ground-breaking works to contemporary philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind, April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951


• John Grierson, filmmaker, April 26, 1898 - February 19, 1972


• Alfred Elton [A.E.] van Vogt, science ficition writer, April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000


• Carol Creighton Burnett, comedienne, 1933


• Duane Eddy, guitarist, 1938


• Bobby Rydell, singer, 1942


• Gary Wright, singer, 1943


• Joan Chen, actress, 1961


• Jet Li, martial artist and actor, 1963

RIP:

• Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, December 14th, 1883 - April 26, 1969


• Rose Louise Hovick, aka Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, February 9, 1911 - April 26, 1970


• Irene Ryan, actress, October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973


• William COUNT Basie, piano player and bandleader, August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984


• William Broderick Crawford, actor, December 9, 1911 - April 26, 1986


• Lucille Désirée Ball, comedienne, August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989

Today XI

Birthdays:

• Felix Christian Klein, mathematician, April 25, 1849 - June 22, 1925


• Guglielmo Marconi, GCVO, engineer, April 25, 1874 – July 20, 1937


• Egbert Roscoe Murrow, aka Edward R. Murrow, KBE, journalist, April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965


• Ella Jane Fitzgerald, singer, April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996


• Albert King, blues musician, April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992


• George MEADOWLARK Lemon, Harlem Globe Trotter, 1935


• Jerry Leiber, songwriter, 1933


• Stuart STU Cook, bass player, 1945


• Hank Albert Azaria, actor and voice actor, 1964


• Gina Torres, actress, 1969

RIP:

• Leon Battista Alberti, painter, poet, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer, musician, architect, and general Renaissance polymath, February 14, 1404 – April 25, 1472


• Anders Celsius, astronomer, November 27, 1701 – April 25, 1744


• Dexter Keith Gordon, musician, February 27, 1923 - April 25, 1990


• Ginger Rogers, actress and dancer, July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995


• Saul Bass, graphics designer, May 8, 1920 - April 25, 1996

Also:
Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 25 in 2006

Bob Rae

Former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae has formally declared his intention to seek the federal Liberal leadership, but says he has no plans to shift the party to the left.

Rae, who governed Ontario from 1990 to 1995, says he would stake out the political centre if elected as Paul Martin's successor. "What happens to Canada and what happens to Canadians matters," Rae said. "I believe that Canada needs a party that embraces change."

Today X

Birthdays:

• Lou Thesz [Lajos Tiza, translated from Hungarian to Aloysius Martin Thesz], professional wrestler, April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002


• John Christopher Williams, guitarist, 1941


• Doug Clifford, drummer, 1945


• Glenn Cornick, musician, first bass player in the rock band Jethro Tull, 1947


• Larry Wayne CHIPPER Jones, Jr., third baseman, 1972


• Carlos Ivan Beltrán, outfielder, 1977

RIP:

• Otis Spann, blues musician, known for his distinct piano style; Muddy Waters' pianist from 1952 to 1960 before forming his own band, March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970


• William Alexander BUD Abbott, comedian, October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974


• Patrick Layton PAT Paulsen, comedian, July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997

Today IX

Birthdays:

• William Shakespeare, April 23 [more or less], 1564 - April 23, 1616


• Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, physicist, April 23, 1858 – October 4, 1947


• Lester Bowles MIKE Pearson, PC, CC, OM, OBE, MA, LL.D., Canadian prime minister, April 23, 1897 – December 27, 1972


• Renault Renaldo Duncan, aka Duncan Renaldo, actor, April 23, 1904 - September 3, 1980


• Warren Edward Spahn, MLB pitcher, April 23, 1921 – November 24, 2003


• Avram Davidson, author, April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993


• Shirley Jane Temple, actress, 1928


• Ray A. Peterson, pop music singer [Tell Laura I Love Her], April 23, 1935 - January 25, 2005


• Roy Kelton Orbison, musician, April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988


• Sandra Dee, actress, April 23, 1944 [some sources say 1942] – February 20, 2005


• Michael Moore, filmmaker, 1954


• Tove Jensen, actress, 1958


• Andruw Jones, outfielder, 1977

RIP:

• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author, September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616


• William Wordsworth, poet, April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850


• William Henry Hartnell, actor, January 8, 1908 – April 23, 1975


• Clarence Linden BUSTER Crabbe II, actor, February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983


• William RED Garland, musician, May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984


• Otto Ludwig Preminger, director, December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986


• César Estrada Chávez, activist, March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993


• Sir John Mills, CBE, born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, actor, February 22, 1908 – April 23, 2005

Also:

• Easter in the Eastern Church


• National Beer Day in Germany - isn't every day? ;o)


• Hank Aaron hits his first major league home run, April 23, 1954

Today VIII

Birthdays:

• Immanuel Kant, philosopher, April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804


• Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, author, April 22, 1899 – July 2, 1977


• Yehudi Menuhin, musician, April 22, 1916 – March 12, 1999


• Charles Mingus, musician, April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979


• Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr., musician, April 22, 1935–January 4, 1969


• Peter Frampton, musician, whose solo breakthrough was the six million plus selling 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive!; some feel that, when Big Business realized the money that could be made on rock albums and tours, this was the beginning of business interests' buying of record companies, and producing and marketing music as if it were toothpaste or razor blades, 1950

RIP:

• Earl Kenneth FATHA Hines, musician, December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983


• Ansel Easton Adams, photographer, February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984


• Richard Milhous Nixon, US president, January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994

Also:
1914 - Babe Ruth, age 19, pitches his first professional game for the minor league Baltimore Orioles.

Today VII

Birthdays:

• Michel Rolle, mathematician, invented the current standardized notation to denote the nth root of x, April 21, 1652 - November 8, 1719


• John Law, economist, considered to be the father of finance, responsible for the adoption or use of paper money or bills in the world today, (baptized) April 21, 1671 - March 21, 1729


• Charlotte Brontë, novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters, wrote Jane Eyre, and other novels, April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855


• Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca ANTHONY Quinn, actor, painter, and writer, April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001


• Alistair Stuart MacLean, novelist, wrote The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare, among others; also used the pseudonym Ian Stuart, April 28, 1922 - February 2, 1987


• Queen Elizabeth II [Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor], 1926


• Elaine May, comedienne, 1932


• Alan Warner, guitarist with The Foundations, 1947


• Kenneth Gene KEN Caminiti, baseball player, April 21, 1963 – October 10, 2004

RIP:

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, author, November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910


• Earl Zebedee Hooker, blues guitarist, January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970


• Milton Marx, aka Gummo Marx, actor, October 23, 1892 - April 21, 1977


• Eunice Kathleen Waymon, aka Nina Simone, singer, February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003

Today VI

Birthdays:

• Harold Lloyd, actor, 1893 - March 8, 1971


• Lionel Hampton, musician, 1908 - August 31, 2002


• Tito Puente, musician, 1923 - May 31, 2000


• Peter Soyer Beagle, fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays, 1939


• Johnny Tillotson, singer and songwriter, 1939


• George Takei, actor, 1940


• Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, 1943


• Jessica Phyllis Lange, actress, 1949


• Louise Jameson, actress, Leela on Doctor Who, 1951


• Geraint Wyn Davies, actor, 1957


• Donald Arthur DON Mattingly, aka "Donnie Baseball," former New York Yankees first baseman (1982-1995) and current Yankees hitting coach, 1961

RIP:

• Bram Stoker, author, November 8, 1847 - April 20, 1912


• Karl Ferdinand Braun, phyisicist; in 1897, he built the first cathode-ray tube oscilloscope; the CRT is still called the "Braun tube" in German-speaking countries; during the development of radio, he also worked on wireless telegraphy; around 1898, he invented a crystal rectifier; his British patent on tuning was used by Marconi in many of his tuning patents - Marconi would later admit to Braun himself that he had "borrowed" portions of Braun's work; shared the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics with Marconi for contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy, June 6, 1850 – April 20, 1918


• Benny Hill, comedian, January 21, 1924 - April 20, 1992


• Mario Moreno Reyes, aka Cantinflas, comedy actor, August 12, 1911 – April 20, 1993


• Christopher Robin Milne, icon, August 21, 1920 - April 20, 1996


• Señor Wences, ventriliquist, April 17, 1896 - April 20, 1999


• Giuseppe Sinopoli, composer, November 2, 1946 - April 20, 2001

Hockey

I'm not a hockey fan - never was. When it was announced today that Toronto didn't make the playoffs, I shrugged, "Whatever!"

Then my wife said, "Hockey used to be a sport - now it's a brawl;" adding, "like wrestling on ice."

"Don't give them any ideas," I answered.

Books II

I just finished The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell, and enjoyed it even more than I did her Assassination Vacation.

Today V

Birthdays:

• Franz von Suppé, composer, 1819 - May 21, 1895


• Leopold Stokowski, conductor, 1882 - September 13, 1977


• Dewey PIGMEAT Markham, comedian, singer, dancer, and actor, April 18, 1904 - December 13, 1981


• Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, blues musician, 1924


• Michael MIKE Vickers, guitarist and saxophonist with Manfred Mann, more recently the composer and arranger of music for records, TV shows and films; two of his most familiar TV compositions are Jet Set, the theme music since 1977 for This Week in Baseball (TWIB), and Gathering Crowds, composed under the pseudonym Patrick J. O'Hara Scott, used since 1977 as the closing music for TWIB, 1940


• Hayley Catherine Rose Vivian Mills, actress, 1946


• Rick Moranis, comedian, 1954


• Eric Anthony Roberts, actor, 1956


• Jane Leeves, actress, 1961


• Eric McCormack, actor, 1963


• Conan Christopher O’Brien, comedian and talk show host, 1963


• David Tennant, actor [The Tenth Doctor], 1971


• Melissa Joan Hart, actress, 1976


• José MIGUEL Torres Cabrera, third baseman, 1983

RIP:

• Ottorino Respighi, composer, July 9, 1879 - April 18, 1936


• Ernest Taylor ERNIE Pyle, journalist, August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945


• Albert Einstein; Yes, that Albert Einstein, March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955


• Ben Hecht, Hollywood screenwriter, Zionist and human rights activist, February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964


• Bernard Edwards, bass player and record producer, both as a member of CHIC and on his own, October 31, 1952 - April 18, 1996


• Thor Heyerdahl, marine biologist with a great interest in anthropology, who became famous for his Kon-Tiki Expedition in which he sailed by raft 4,300 miles from South America to the Tuamotu Islands, October 6, 1914 – April 18, 2002

Bread and Circuses II

With all of the celebrities dancing, skating, and cooking, is there going to be a market for Celebrity Freecell? Stay tuned!

Blue Jays vs White Sox

Pitcher A. J. Burnett made his debut as a Blue Jay yesterday. The score was Chicago 4, Toronto 2.

Paul Konerko of Chicago hit two 2-run home runs, accounting for all 4 White Sox RBI's.

Some sportscasters reported, "He threw only 2 bad pitches." I'm thinking that, since he gave up two 2-run home runs, he threw only 4 bad pitches.

It's only his first start, and he's sure to pitch better as the season continues.

Today IV

Birthdays:

• Leonardo da Vinci, April 15, 1492 - May 2, 1519


• Leonhard Euler, mathematician, April 15, 1707 - September 18, 1783


• Bessie Smith, blues singer, April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937


• Hans Conried, comic character actor and voice actor, April 15, 1917 - January 5, 1982


• Michael Ansara, stage, screen and voice actor, 1922. He played Kang in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. He also provided the voice of Q's supervisor in the Next Generation episode True Q and played Lwaxana Troi's husband Jeyal on the Deep Space Nine episode The Muse. He also played the "Technomage" Elric in Babylon 5, and "Killer Kane" in the 1979-1980 season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century


• Sir Neville Mariner, conductor and musician, 1924


• Roy Linwood Clark, musician, 1933


• Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery, movie and television actress [Bewitched], April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995


• Claude Josephine Rose Cardin, aka Claudia Cardinale, actress, 1938


• Allan Clarke, musician, one of the founding members of The Hollies, 1942


• Dave Edmunds, musician, 1944


• Emma Thompson, actress, 1959


• Emma Watson, actress, 1990

RIP:

• Noah Webster, lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, political writer, and editor, October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843


• Abraham Lincoln, US president, February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865


• Wallace Fitzgerald Beery actor, April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949


• Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, aka Greta Garbo, actress, September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990


• Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist, and critic, awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature, which he declined, June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980


• Nicholas Conte, aka Richard Conte actor, March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975


• Damon Knight, author, September 19, 1922 - April 15, 2002

Also:
Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, breaking that sport's color line, April 15, 1947. Major League Baseball celebrates "Jackie Robinson Day" each April 15 in all MLB ballparks.

Today III

Birthdays:

• Christiaan Huygens, mathematician and physicist, April 14, 1629 – July 8, 1695


• Anne Sullivan, teacher, April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936


• Sir Arthur JOHN Gielgud OM, CH, actor, April 14, 1904 – May 21, 2000


• Eugene JUG Ammons, tenor saxophone player, the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, April 14, 1925 - August 6, 1974


• Rodney Stephen ROD Steiger, actor, April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002


• Loretta Lynn, singer, 1935


• Julie Frances Christie, actress, 1941


• Pete Rose, former baseball player, deserving of Hall of Fame membership, 1941


• Richard Hugh RITCHIE Blackmore, guitarist, 1945


• John Shea, actor, 1949


• Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist, 1951


• Bradley Gerstenfeld, aka Brad Garrett, 6'8" actor, 1960


• Greg Maddux, pitcher, 1966


• Veronika Zemanová, model, 1975


• Sarah Michelle Gellar, actress, 1977

RIP:

• Georg Friedrich Händel, composer, February 23, 1685 – April 14, 1759


• Simone de Beauvoir, feminist author and philosopher, January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986


• Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel, aka Fredric March, actor, August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975


• Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives, folk singer, June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995


• Phillip W. PHIL Katz, computer programmer [PKZIP], November 3, 1962 – April 14, 2000

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!!

Today II

Today is Joy's birthday. Happy Birthday - I love you always!!

Other birthdays:

• James Parkinson, physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist, most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe paralysis agitans, a condition that would later acquire his namesake, Parkinson's Disease, April 11, 1755 – December 21, 1824


• Adrian Constantine CAP Anson, professional baseball player in the National Association and Major League Baseball for the Rockford Forest Citys, Philadelphia Athletics, and Chicago White Stockings, April 11, 1852 - April 14, 1922


• Leo Calvin Rosten, humourist, April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997


• Joel Grey, actor, 1932


• Richard Berry, singer and songwriter, best known as the composer and original performer of Louie Louie, a regional hit when released on the American West Coast in 1956; The Kingsmen's more raucous version became a national hit in 1963; the song has been recorded over 1,000 times; the nearly unintelligible (and innocuous) lyrics of The Kingsmen's version were widely misinterpreted as obscene, and the song was banned by radio stations and even investigated by the FBI, April 11, 1935 – January 23, 1997


• Louise Lasser, actress, best known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, 1939


• Andrew Wiles, mathematician, 1953


• Jason Varitek, MLB catcher for the Boston Red Sox, 1972


• Trot Nixon, MLB outfielder and first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, 1974


• Mark Teixeira, MLB first baseman for the Texas Rangers, 1980

RIP:

• Dolores del Río, actress, August 3, 1905 – April 11, 1983


• Jean Vander Pyl, voice actress, best remembered as the voice of Wilma Flintstone from The Flintstones, also provided the voice for Pebbles Flintstone, as well as Rosie the Robot Maid from The Jetsons, October 11, 1919 – April 11, 1999


• Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE, comedian; with a fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy, he was one of the original Goons, appearing in the radio series as Neddie Seagoon, the protagonist of the show's ridiculous plots; first met Spike Milligan, the founder of the series, during British Army service in World War II in North Africa; shared his birthday, September 8, with the other member of the trio, Peter Sellers, September 8, 1921 – April 11, 2001

Today I

Birthdays:

• Raphael or Raffaello, painter and architect, also called Raffaello Sanzio, Raffaello Santi, Raffaello da Urbino, or Rafael Sanzio da Urbino, April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520


• Walter Huston, actor, father of actor/director John Huston, and grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston, April 6, 1884 – April 7, 1950


• Anton Herman Gerard ANTHONY Fokker, aircraft designer and manufacturer, April 6, 1890 – December 23, 1939


• Lowell Jackson Thomas, travel writer, broadcaster, and traveller, April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous


• Sergio Franchi, singer and actor, April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990


• Eli Katz, aka Gil Kane, comic book artist, April 6, 1926 - January 31, 2000


• Gerald Joseph GERRY Mulligan, jazz musician, baritone saxophone-player, composer, and arranger, April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996


• André Previn, pianist, composer, and conductor, 1929


• Merle Haggard, musician, 1937


• Billy Dee Williams, actor, 1937


• John Ratzenberger, actor, 1947


• Rik Aalbert BERT Blyleven, pitcher, 1951


• Marilu Henner, American actress, 1952


• Ariadne ARI Meyers, actress, best known for her role as Emma Jane McArdle in the Kate & Allie TV series, 1969


• Candace Cameron, actress, 1976

RIP:

• Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, composer, June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971


• Isaac Asimov, Ph.D., author and genius, January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992


• Eileen Evelyn GREER Garson, actress, September 29, 1904 – April 6, 1996


• Tammy Wynette, country singer and songwriter, May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998


• Babatunde Olatunji, master drummer, April 7, 1927 - April 6, 2003


• Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, aka Prince Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost fifty-six years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th Century, May 31, 1923 – April 6, 2005

Jays Win Home Opener

The Blue Jays won Game 1 of the 2006 season, 6 - 3. Their ace, Roy Halladay, won tonight's game, allowing three runs, two earned, in 7 2-3 innings.

Troy Glaus doubled and scored, Lyle Overbay singled and scored, and Bengie Molina hammered a two-run homer to back a dominant Roy Halladay as old and new blended seamlessly for the Blue Jays in a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in Tuesday night's season opener. Alex Rios also hit a two-run shot.

New closer B.J. Ryan got his first save as a Blue Jay, pitching a quick and easy ninth for the save while a sold-out Rogers Centre audience of 50,449 chanted his name. Ryan came on in the ninth to protect a 6-3 lead, and he didn't disappoint. Eighteen pitches, 13 strikes, a liner to third, and two strikeouts, and Toronto's first win of the season was in the books

Ryan got Rondell White to line out to third baseman Troy Glaus. He followed that up by striking out Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau to end the game.

With his start yesterday against the Minnesota Twins, Halladay joined Dave Stieb for most Opening Day starts as a Blue Jay (four). The Jays starter with the best Opening Day record is lefty Jimmy Key, who went 3-0 from 1987-89.

Home Opener

Tonight is the home opener for the Toronto Blue Jays.

On the home team's 30th season opener, Roy Halladay starts for the Jays vs. Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins. Halladay is making his fourth straight opening day start for the Jays, while Santana gets his first major league opening day start.

With two former Cy Young Award winners on the mound, it could be a pitchers' duel.

As a "small market" club, the Twins have relied on pitching and defense to keep them near the top and 2006 will be no different. The Twins will go as far as their starting rotation, which ranked fifth in the AL last season, can take them.

The Jays and their fans hope that a combination of improved pitching and improved offense will get them farther than third place in the AL East for the first time in many years.

Shirley Cheek, the wife of the late Tom Cheek, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight. As part of the ceremonies, the Club will pay tribute both to its longtime radio voice and also to the late Kirby Puckett, one of the most popular players in the history of the visiting Minnesota Twins, and of the game of baseball.

April Fools' Day

Members of Parliament elect a new Speaker today, and the new Conservative government formally opens Parliament tomorrow, only a few days too late for April Fools.

Movies

You must see these two Stephen Chow [Chow Sing Chi] movies:

• Shaolin Soccer


• Kung Fu Hustle

It appears that Kung Fu Hustle 2 will be produced this year.