Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Today XLII

Birthdays:

  • Walter WALT Whitman, poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist, May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892

  • John Florence Sullivan, aka Fred Allen, comedian, May 31, 1894 - March 17, 1956

  • Dominic Felix DON Ameche, actor, May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993

  • Denholm Mitchell Elliott CBE, stage, film, and television actor, May 31, 1922 – October 6, 1992

  • Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, aka Rainier III, prince of Monaco, May 31, 1923 – April 6, 2005

  • Clinton Eastwood, Jr., actor, film producer, composer, and film director, 1930

  • Jay Glenn Miner, integrated circuit designer, known for his work with Atari and Amiga, May 31, 1932 - June 20, 1994

  • Peter Yarrow, singer, Peter, Paul, and Mary, 1938

  • Terry Waite CBE, humanitarian, author, and hostage negotiator, 1939

  • Sharon Gless, actress, 1943

  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder, movie director and actor, May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982

  • John Henry BONZO Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980

  • Thomas Michael Moore, aka Tom Berenger, actor, 1949

  • Gregory Harrison, actor, 1950

  • Chris Elliott, comedian, 1960

  • Lea Thompson, actress, 1961

  • Brooke Christa Camille Shields, actress and former model, 1965

  • Kenneth KENNY Lofton, centre fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1967


RIP:

  • Franz Joseph "Papa" Haydn, Classical composer, often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet", March 31 or April 1, 1732 – May 31, 1809

  • Évariste Galois, mathematician, whose work laid the fundamental foundations for Galois Theory, a major branch of abstract algebra, and the subfield of Galois connections; he was the first to use the word group as a technical term in mathematics to represent a group of permutations, October 25, 1811 – May 31, 1832

  • Terrance Gordon TERRY Sawchuk, NHL goaltender, December 28, 1929 – May 31, 1970

  • William Schloss, aka William Castle, film director, producer, and actor, April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977

  • William Harrison JACK Dempsey, World Heavyweight Championship boxer, June 24, 1895 - May 31, 1983

  • Timothy Francis Leary, Ph.D., writer, psychologist, campaigner for psychedelic drug research and use, 1960's counterculture icon and computer software designer, most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD, October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996

  • Ernesto Antonio TITO Puente, Jr., Latin jazz and mambo musician and composer, often called "The Mambo King" and "The King of Latin Music," April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Today XLI

Birthdays:

  • Howard Hawks, film director, producer and writer, May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977

  • Irving Grant Thalberg, film producer, May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936

  • Cornelia Otis Skinner, author and actress, May 30, 1901 - July 9, 1979

  • Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, aka Stepin Fetchit, comedian and film actor, May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985

  • Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén, physicist, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics, for his work developing magnetohydrodynamics theory, May 30, 1908 - April 2, 1995

  • Melvin Jerome MEL Blanc, voice actor extraordinaire, for both classic radio programs and many animation studios, May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989

  • Benő Guttman, aka Benny Goodman, aka "The King of Swing", jazz clarinettist and bandleader, May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986

  • Hugh Emrys Griffith, actor, May 30, 1912 – May 14, 1980

  • Harry Clement Stubbs, aka Hal Clement, science fiction writer, May 30, 1922 - October 29, 2003

  • Christine Jorgensen, born George William Jorgensen, Jr., activist, one of the first people to have sex reassignment surgery ["sex change"] — in this case, male to female, May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989

  • Norman Eugene CLINT Walker, actor, best known as title character in the TV series Cheyenne, and as Posey in The Dirty Dozen, 1927

  • Keir Dullea, actor, best known for his role as astronaut David Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1936

  • Michael J. Pollard, Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominated actor, 1939

  • James Earl Chaney, civil rights worker, murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964

  • Meredith MacRae, actress, best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction, and as Sally Ann on My Three Sons, May 30, 1944 - July 14, 2000

  • Colm J. Meaney, TV actor, well known for his role as Miles O'Brien, in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and film actor, 1953

  • Christina Claire Ciminella, aka Wynonna Judd, aka Wynonna, country music singer, 1964

  • Manuel Arístides MANNY Ramírez Onelcida, MLB outfielder, currently with the Boston Red Sox, 1972


RIP:

  • Jeanne la Pucelle, aka Jeanne d'Arc [Joan of Arc], national heroine of France and a Saint of the Catholic Church, January 6, 1412 – May 30, 1431

  • Christopher Marlowe, dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era, baptised February 26, 1564 – 30 May 30, 1593

  • Pieter Pauwel Rubens, aka Peter Paul Rubens, 17th century painter, June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640

  • Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, May 21, 1688 – May 30, 1744

  • François-Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, writer, essayist, deist, and philosopher, November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778

  • Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneer; he and his brother Orville are generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, they developed their flying machine into the world's first practical airplane, April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912

  • Arthur DOOLEY Wilson, actor and singer, most famous for playing Sam in the film Casablanca, April 3, 1886–May 30, 1953

  • Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, poet and writer, best known in the West for his 1957 tragic novel Doctor Zhivago; it is as a poet, however, that he is most celebrated; announced as the winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature, but declined for political reasons, February 10, 1890 – May 30, 1960

  • Leó Szilárd, physicist who conceived the nuclear chain reaction and worked on the Manhattan Project, but he was clearly against the atomic bomb, February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964

  • Claude Rains, theatre and film actor, whose first Hollywood role was the title character in The Invisible Man; probably his most famous role was as Captain Renault in Casablanca, November 10, 1889 - May 30, 1967

  • Carl Dean Radle, musician, best known for being the bass player in Derek and the Dominos, June 18, 1942 - May 30, 1980

  • Herman Poole SONNY Blount, aka Sun Ra, jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, whose various bands were called The Arkestra, or some variation thereof, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993

  • Gordon Lee TEX Beneke, American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, February 12, 1914 - May 30, 2000

  • Michael Peter Hayes, aka Mickie Most, musician and record producer, June 20, 1938– May 30, 2003

Monday, May 29, 2006

Today XL

Birthdays:

  • Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz, pianist and composer, May 29, 1860 – May 18, 1909

  • Gilbert Keith [G.K.] Chesterton, writer, May 29, 1874 – June 14, 1936

  • Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler, historian and philosopher, best known for his book The Decline of the West, May 29, 1880 – May 8, 1936

  • Beatrice Gladys Bea Lillie, Lady Peel, comedic actress, May 29, 1894 – January 20, 1989

  • Josef Sternberg, aka Josef von Sternberg, film diretor, May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969

  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer, May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957

  • Leslie Townes BOB Hope KBE, KCSG, entertainer, May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003

  • Terence Hanbury [T.H.] White, writer, May 29, 1906 – January 17, 1964

  • Karl Münchinger, conductor, May 29, 1915 – March 13, 1990

  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy, former president of the United States, awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal during WWII, assassinated in Dallas, May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963

  • Helmuth Rilling, conductor, 1933

  • Francis Thomas FAY Vincent, Jr., former entertainment lawyer and sports executive who, from September 13, 1989 to September 7, 1992, served as Major League Baseball Commissioner, 1938

  • Kevin Conway, actor and film director, 1942

  • Gary Brooker, MBE, singer, songwriter, pianist, and founder of Procol Harum, 1945

  • Daniel Robert DANNY Elfman, pop musician, composer, and writer of film scores, 1953

  • Annette Bening, actress, 1958

  • Rupert James Hector Everett, actor, 1959

  • Adrian Paul Hewett, aka Adrian Paul, actor, 1959

  • Melissa Lou Etheridge, musician, 1961

  • Eric Keith Davis, former MLB centre fielder, 1962

  • Lisa Whelchel, actress, 1963


RIP:

  • Bartolomeu Dias, aka Bartholomew Diaz, explorer, c. 1450 - May 29, 1500

  • Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev, composer, January 2, 1837 – May 29, 1910

  • Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, dramatist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, November 18, 1836 – May 29, 1911

  • Josef Suk, composer and violinist, pupil and son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, January 4, 1874 - May 29, 1935

  • John Sidney Blythe Barrymore, nicknamed "The Great Profile", stage and film actor, February 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942

  • Fania Borach, aka FANNY or FANNIE Brice, comedienne, singer, and entertainer, October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951

  • Frank Simmons Leavitt, aka Man Mountain Dean, professional wrestler, June 30, 1891 – May 29, 1953

  • Gladys Louise Smith, aka Mary Pickford, Academy Award-winning film actress, and co-founder of United Artists, April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979

  • Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty, aka Romy Schneider-Albach, aka Romy Schneider, actress, September 23, 1938 - May 29, 1982

  • John Cipollina, lead guitarist for Quicksilver Messenger Service, August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989

  • William David BILLY Conn, World's Light-Heavyweight Boxing Champion, October 8, 1917 - May 29, 1993

  • Barry Morris Goldwater, politician, January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Today XXXIX

Birthdays:

  • Jacobus Franciscus JIM Thorpe, athlete, May 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953

  • Thomas J. TOMMY Ladnier, jazz trumpeter, May 28, 1900 – June 4, 1939

  • Ian Lancaster Fleming, author and journalist, who wrote the James Bond novels, and the children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964

  • Aaron Thibeaux T-BONE Walker, blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975

  • John Henry Creach, aka Papa John Creach, fiddler, May 28, 1917 - February 22, 1994

  • Louis Weingarten, aka Johnny Wayne, comedian and comedy writer, part of the comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, May 28, 1918 - July 18, 1990

  • György Sándor Ligeti, composer, 1923

  • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, 1925

  • Carroll Baker, actress, 1931

  • The Dionne Quintuplets, the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy, 1934. The five identical sisters are:

  • Annette

  • Cécile

  • Émilie, died August 6, 1954

  • Marie, died February 27, 1970

  • Yvonne, died June 23, 2001


  • Gladys Maria Knight, R&B/soul singer and actress, 1944

  • Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens, actress, best known for her role as Magenta in the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and as Belazs in the Doctor Who serial Dragonfire, 1944

  • John Cameron Fogerty, singer and songwriter, best known as the leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1945

  • Hunter PATCH Adams, MD., doctor, social activist, professional clown, performer and author, 1945

  • Sondra Locke, actress, 1947

  • Wendy Orlean Williams, aka Wendy O. Williams, lead singer for The Plasmatics, May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998

  • Brandon Edwin Cruz, former child actor, and musician, 1962

  • Jhonny Antonio Peralta, starting shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, 1982


RIP:

  • Johann Georg LEOPOLD Mozart, composer, music teacher and violinist, father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787

  • Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini, composer and cellist, February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805

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

  • Anne Brontë, novelist and poet, the youngest of the Brontë literary family, January 17, 1820 – May 28, 1849

  • Alfred Adler, medical doctor and psychologist, founder of the school of individual psychology, February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937

  • Audie Leon Murphy, actor and war hero, June 20, 1924 - May 28, 1971

  • Ezzard Mack Charles, former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, July 7, 1921 – May 28, 1975

  • Frederick Arthur Baker, aka Arthur Brough, actor, played Mr. Ernest Grainger in Are You Being Served? , February, 26, 1905 - May 28, 1978

  • John Eric Bartholomew, OBE, aka Eric Morecambe, comic actor, May 14, 1926 – May 28, 1984

  • Melvin SY Oliver, jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, December 17, 1910 — May 28, 1988

  • Phil Hartman, writer, actor, voice artist, comedian, and graphic artist, September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Today XXXVIII

Birthdays:

  • Amelia Jenks Bloomer, women's rights and temperance advocate; one of the major causes promoted by Amelia was a change in dress standards for women so that they would be less restrictive; supported the wearing of shorter skirts, but with undergarments reaching to the ankles to preserve modesty; these ankle-length garments came to be known as "bloomers," May 27, 1818 — December 30, 1894

  • Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist, social activist, and poet who wrote the words for "Battle Hymn of the Republic," May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910

  • James Butler WILD BILL Hickok, gunfighter, May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876

  • Samuel Dashiell Hammett, author of "hard-boiled" detective novels and short stories; among the characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), and Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961

  • Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power, May 27, 1897 - September 18, 1967

  • Hubert Horatio Humphrey II, former vice president of the United States; the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, usually simply called The Metrodome, a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is named after him, May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978

  • Vincent Leonard Price, Jr., actor, best remembered for his roles in a series of horror films where his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude were well used; in the summer of 1977, he began performing as Oscar Wilde, in the one man stage play Diversions and Delights, May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993

  • John Cheever, novelist and short story writer, he won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, May 27, 1912–June 18, 1982

  • Samuel Jackson SAM Snead, golfer, May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002

  • Herman Wouk, author of such novels as The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance, 1915

  • Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, actor, known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery, and famous for his portrayal of memorable villains, 1922

  • Harlan Jay Ellison, writer of short stories, novellas, essays, and criticism, wrote for the original series of The Outer Limits and Star Trek, edited the multiple award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions, and served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5; has won the Hugo Award eight and a half times, the Nebula Award three times, the Bram Stoker Award, five times, including, in 1996, the Lifetime Achievement Award, 1943

  • Lee Ann Meriwether, actress, 1935

  • Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr., jazz and pop pianist and keyboardist, 1935

  • Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr., Academy Award-winning actor, 1936

  • Priscilla Maria Veronica White, aka Cilla Black, singer, actor, and television personality, 1943

  • Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, jazz bassist, played with the Oscar Peterson Trio among many others, May 27, 1946 – April 19, 2005

  • Susan Janet Ballion, aka Siouxsie Sioux, singer, 1957

  • Peri Kay O'Brien, aka Peri Gilpin, actress, 1961

  • Jeffrey Robert Bagwell, first baseman, who has played his entire Major League career with the Houston Astros, 1968

  • Frank Edward Thomas, aka "The Big Hurt", Major League baseball player, 1968

  • Joseph Alberic Fiennes actor, 1970

  • Monika Schnarre, model and actress, 1971


RIP:

  • Niccolò Paganini, violinist, violist, guitarist and composer, widely regarded as the first ever virtuoso violinist, October 27, 1782 – May 27, 1840

  • Robert LeRoy Ripley, entrepreneur, anthropologist and cartoonist, who created the Ripley's Believe It or Not! series, December 25, 1890 - May 27, 1949

  • Jawaharlal "Pandit" Nehru, politician, November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964

  • Henry Herman McKinnies, Jr, aka Jeffrey Hunter, film and television actor, who played Captain Christopher Pike in the pilot episode of Star Trek, November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969

  • Joseph-Henri-Maurice ROCKET Richard PC, CC, OQ hockey player, August 4, 1921 - May 27, 2000

Friday, May 26, 2006

Today XXXVII

Birthdays:

  • Dora Angela Duncan, aka Isadora Duncan, dancer, May 26, 1877 - September 14, 1927

  • Asa Yoelson, aka Al Jolson, singer, May 26, 1885 or 1886 - October 23, 1950

  • Marion Robert Morrison, aka John Wayne, aka "The Duke", actor, May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979

  • Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, actor, May 26, 1908 - June 3, 1992

  • Harold J. Smith, aka Jay Silverheels, actor, June 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980

  • Peter Cushing, OBE, actor, known for roles such as Winston Smith in BBC's 1984, Doctor Who, Frankenstein and Van Helsing in Hammer Films, and Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, among many, many others, May 26, 1913 – August 11, 1994

  • Norma Deloris Egstrom, aka Peggy Lee, jazz singer and songwriter, May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002

  • James Aurness, aka James Arness, actor, famous as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, which ran for 20 years, 1923

  • Roy Dotrice, actor, 1923

  • Miles Dewey Davis III, jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer, May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991

  • Jack Kevorkian, M.D., pathologist, 1928

  • Teresa Stratas, OC, operatic soprano, 1938

  • Mark Lavon Helm, a.k.a. Levon Helm, rock musician, the drummer and singer for The Band, 1940

  • Michael MICK Ronson, guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer, best known for his work with David Bowie, May 26, 1946 – April 29, 1993

  • Stephanie Lynn STEVIE Nicks, singer and songwriter, 1948

  • Howard G. WARD Cunningham, computer programmer, inventor of the first wiki, 1949

  • Hank Williams, Jr., country singer, 1949

  • Pamela Suzette PAM Grier, actress, 1949

  • Sally Kristen Ride, Ph.D. former astronaut, 1951

  • Margaret Colin, actress, 1957

  • Helena Bonham Carter, actress, 1966

  • Yoko Matsugane, gravure (or bikini) idol, 1982


RIP:

  • Samuel Pepys, FRS, diarist, naval administrator, and Member of Parliament, February 23, 1633 – 26 May 26, 1703

  • Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette, neurologist, after whom Tourette syndrome is named, October 30, 1857 — May 26, 1904

  • Victor August Herbert, composer of light opera and cellist, February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924

  • James Charles JIMMIE Rodgers, aka The Singing Brakeman and The Blue Yodeler, country singer, guitarist, and songwriter, September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933

  • Charles Horace Mayo, medical practitioner and a co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, July 19, 1865 – May 26, 1939

  • Lionel Pretoria Conacher, athlete, May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954

  • William Edgar LITTLE WILLIE John, R 'n' B singer, posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, November 15, 1937 – May 26, 1968

  • Martin Heidegger, philosopher, September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976

  • Isadore FRIZ Freleng, animator, cartoonist, director, and producer, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from Warner Bros., introducing and/or developing several of the studio's biggest stars, including Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam, and Speedy Gonzales. He won four Academy Awards, August 21, 1906 – May 26, 1995

  • Eddie Albert, actor, April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005

  • Alfonso CHICO Carrasquel Colón, former MLB shortstop, the first Latin-American All-Star in major league history, January 23, 1928 – May 26, 2005

Movie

I just watched Batman Begins. Excellent!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Today XXXVI

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

Other birthdays:

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

  • Bill BOJANGLES Robinson, dancer and actor, May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949

  • Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, inventor, who designed the first four-engine airplane and the first successful helicopter of the most common configuration, (single main rotor, tail rotor), 25 May 1889 – 26 October 1972

  • James Joseph GENE Tunney, Heavyweight Boxing Champion from 1926 to 1928, May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978

  • Bennett Alfred Cerf, publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, and for his television appearances on What's My Line?, May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971

  • Claude Marion Akins, actor, May 25, 1918 - January 27, 1994

  • Jack Steinberger, physicist, co-discoverer of the muon neutrino, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics, 1921

  • Hal David Oscar-winning lyricist and songwriter, 1921

  • Jeanne Elizabeth Crain, actress, May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003

  • Robert Ludlum, author, May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001

  • Belle Miriam Silverman, aka Beverly Sills, coloratura soprano, 1929

  • Dixie Virginia Carter, actress, 1939

  • Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CBE, stage and screen actor, 1939

  • Richard Frank Oznowicz, aka Frank Oz, film director, actor and puppeteer, 1944

  • Guy Fletcher, keyboardist for Dire Straits and for Mark Knopfler's solo work, 1960

  • Michael MIKE Myers, actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer, 1963

  • Anne Celeste Heche, actress, 1969

  • Miguel Odalis Tejada, MLB shortstop, currently with the Baltimore Orioles, 1976

  • Cillian Murphy, actor and musician, 1976


RIP:

  • Gustavus Theodor von Holst, composer, September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934

  • Aleck "Rice" Miller, aka Sonny Boy Williamson II, blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter, December 5, 1899 - May 25, 1965

  • Ernst August Friedrich Ruska, physicist, who posited that microscopes using electrons, with waves 100,000 shorter than those of light, could provide a more detailed picture of an object than a microscope utilizing light, in which magnification is limited by the size of the wavelengths; in 1931, he built an electron lens, and used several of these in a series to build the first electron microscope in 1933, December 25, 1906 – May 25, 1988

  • Warren Harding SONNY Sharrock, jazz guitarist, August 27, 1940 – May 25, 1994

  • Desmond Dekker, ska and reggae singer and songwriter, July 16, 1941 – May 25, 2006

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Today XXXV

Birthdays:

  • Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, physicist and engineer, after whom the Fahrenheit scale of temperature is named; he developed precise thermometers; the Fahrenheit scale was widely used in Europe until the switch to the Celsius scale, and is still used for everyday temperature measurements by the general population in the United States and Jamaica; he filled his first thermometers with alcohol before using mercury, which gave better results; the coldest temperature attainable under laboratory conditions at that time, using a mixture of water, salt and ice, was defined by him as 0°F; the body temperature of a healthy horse was defined as 100°F, May 24, 1686 - September 16, 1736

  • Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Queen of the UK from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 January, 1877, until her death in 1901; her reign lasted more than sixty-three years, longer than that of any other British monarch, May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901

  • Lionel Pretoria Conacher, "The Big Train", athlete, excelling in Canadian football, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, boxing, and wrestling, and later playing a significant role in Canadian politics; he played for the Toronto Argonauts, and was part of the 1921 Grey Cup winning team from 1921-1922; from 1925 to 1937, he played for the National Hockey League; he was a Liberal MPP from October 6, 1937 until June 30, 1943; he was elected in 1949 as a Liberal MP and re-elected in 1953, May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954

  • Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith, aka Siobhán McKenna, stage and screen actress, May 24, 1923 - November 16, 1986

  • Thomas TOMMY Chong B. Kin, actor and musician, 1938

  • Robert Allen Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, musician and poet, 1941

  • Gary Burghoff, actor, jazz drummer, and wildlife painter, 1943

  • Patricia Louise Holt, aka Patti LaBelle, R&B/soul singer, 1944

  • Alfred Molina, actor, 1953

  • Rosanne Cash, singer and songwriter, 1955

  • Gene Anthony Ray, actor and dancer, May 24, 1962 – November 14, 2003

  • Bartolo Colón, MLB starting pitcher, winner of the 2005 American League Cy Young Award, 1973

  • Cecilia Cheung, actress and singer, 1980


RIP:

  • Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric theory of the solar system, February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543

  • Elmore Brooks, aka Elmore James, blues singer and guitarist, known as "The King of the Slide Guitar," January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963

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

  • Harold Eugene GENE Clark, singer-songwriter, one of the founding members of The Byrds, November 17, 1944 - May 24, 1991

  • James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, March 11, 1916 - May 24, 1995

  • Edward Mulhare, actor, April 8, 1923 - May 24, 1997

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Today - XXXIV

Birthdays

  • Franz Anton Mesmer, physician and hypnotist, discovered what he called animal magnetism and others often called mesmerism. The evolution of Mesmer's ideas and practices led James Braid to develop hypnosis in 1842, May 23, 1734 – March 5, 1815

  • Julius Ullman, aka Douglas Fairbanks, actor, screenwriter, director, and producer, who became noted for his swashbuckling roles in silent movies, May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939

  • John Bardeen, physicist. He is the only person to have won two Nobel Prizes in Physics; in 1956, for the transistor, along with William Bradford Shockley and Walter Brattain, and in 1972, for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity together with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer, now called BCS theory, May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991

  • Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers, actor, singer, dancer, and musician, May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986

  • Arthur Arshawsky, aka Artie Shaw, jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and writer, May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004

  • Edward Norton Lorenz, mathematician and meteorologist, and an early pioneer of chaos theory. He invented the strange attractor notion and coined the term butterfly effect, 1917

  • Helen O'Connell, singer, actress, and dancer, May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993

  • James Benjamin Blish, author of fantasy and science fiction, who also wrote criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling. Jr., May 23, 1921 – July 30, 1975

  • Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton, jazz musician, 1921

  • Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress, May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002

  • Nigel Davenport, actor, 1928

  • Barbara Ann Berman, aka Barbara Barrie, actress and author of children's books, 1931

  • Robert Arthur Moog, Ph.D., pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005

  • Charles Kimbrough, character actor, 1936

  • Anatoli Yevgenyevich Karpov, chess grandmaster and former World Chess Champion, 1951

  • William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter, former minor league baseball player, and the current manager of the Texas Rangers, 1956


RIP:

  • William "Captain" Kidd, pirate, January 22, 1645 – May 23, 1701

  • Christopher Houston 'Kit Carson, frontiersman, trapper, and scout, December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868

  • Henrik Johan Ibsen, playwright, March 20, 1828 – May 23, 1906

  • Jackie "Moms" Mabley, comedienne, March 19, 1894 - May 23, 1975

  • George Jessel, actor, singer, songwriter, and movie producer, April 3, 1898 – May 23, 1981

  • David Lewis, CC, MA, labour lawyer and politician, National Secretary of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation [CCF] from 1936 to 1950, and, in 1961, one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party [NDP], June 23, 1909-May 23, 1981

  • Sterling Walter Hayden, actor, March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986

  • Wilhelm Kempff, pianist and composer, November 25, 1895 – May 23, 1991

  • Samuel Jackson 'Sam' Snead, professional golfer, winner of a record 82 PGA Tour events and about 70 others worldwide; he won seven majors: three Masters, three PGA Championships, and one British Open, May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002

Interleague Baseball

I hate Interleague Baseball! It's slanted against the American League teams.

If the game is played in a National League park, the AL team loses its Designated Hitter, and its Pitcher has to hit. Lose-lose for the AL team!

If the game is played in an AL park, the NL team gets to play an extra hitter, and its pitcher does not have to hit. Win-win for the NL team.

This is all profit-driven, of course; some team rivalries sell more tickets, like New York/New York, Chicago/Chicago, and the Angels/Dodgers, but what's in it for the fans who are offered Colorado/Toronto?

More interesting might be for Toronto to play Detroit or Oakland or Cleveland more often. In fact, teams in a strong division, playing against their divisional rivals 19 times means less movement within divisions than when they played more games against teams in other divisions. The Wild Card situation means that a team that gets clobbered in its own division can still be stronger [have a better record] than the leaders in the other divisions, but not make their way into the postseason.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Today XXXIII

Birthdays:

  • Alexander Pope, poet, May 22, 1688 – May 30, 1744

  • Wilhelm RICHARD Wagner, composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas, May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883

  • Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL, author, best known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction, May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930

  • Edwin Branford EDDIE Edwards, jazz trombonist, best known his pioneer recordings with the Original Dixieland Jass Band, May 22, 1891 – April 9, 1963

  • Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, Academy Award-winning actor and director, May 22, 1907 – July 11, 1989

  • Herman Poole SUNNY Blount, aka Sun Ra, jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, known as much for his "cosmic philosophy" as for his musical compositions and performances, May 22, 1914 - May 30, 1993

  • Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian, aka Charles Aznavour, singer, songwriter, and actor, 1944

  • Harvey Bernard Milk, politician and gay rights activist, assassinated in 1978, May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978

  • Kenneth Daniel KENNY Ball, jazz trumpet player and bandleader, 1930

  • Morgan Scott Peck, M.D., psychiatrist and author, May 22, 1936 – September 25, 2005

  • Richard Benjamin, actor and film director, 1938

  • Susan Elizabeth Strasberg, actress, May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999

  • Michael Sarrazin, actor, 1940

  • Paul Winfield, television and film actor; I remember him as Dathan, an alien captain who communicates in metaphor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok, and as The Mirror on the TV show The Charmings, May 22, 1941 – March 7, 2004

  • Thomas Edward TOMMY John, Jr., former MLB left-handed pitcher, whose 288 career victories rank as the 5th highest total among lefthanders in major league history, notable for the revolutionary surgery, now named for him, which was, on September 25, 1974, performed on a damaged ligament in his pitching arm, 1943

  • Grace Quek, aka Annabel Chong, actress, 1972


RIP:

  • Victor-Marie Hugo, writer and poet, February 26, 1802 - May 22, 1885

  • James Mercer LANGSTON Hughes, poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and newspaper columnist, best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance, February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967

  • Dame Margaret Rutherford DBE, character actress, May 11, 1892 – May 22, 1972

  • Thomas Rocco Barbella, aka Rocky Graziano, World Middleweight Boxing Champion and, after retirement, television comedian, January 1, 1922 – May 22, 1990

  • Richard RICK Biggs, television and stage actor, who played the role of Dr. Stephen Franklin on Babylon 5, March 18, 1960 – May 22, 2004

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Today XXXII

Birthdays:

  • Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, aka Gustave Coriolis, mathematician, mechanical engineer, and scientist, best known for his work on the Coriolis Effect, May 21, 1792 – September 19, 1843

  • Willem Einthoven, Dutch doctor and physiologist; he invented the first practical electrocardiogram in 1903, for which he was awarded the 1924 Nobel Prize in Medicine, May 21, 1860 – September 29, 1927

  • Horace Heidt, pianist, Big Band leader, radio and television personality, and entertainer, May 21, 1901 - December 1, 1986

  • Sam Jaffe, motion picture agent, producer, and studio executive, May 21, 1901 – January 10, 2000

  • Manly Wade Wellman, writer of fiction and non-fiction, best known for his horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains, May 21, 1903 -April 5, 1986

  • Henry Montgomery, Jr., aka Robert Montgomery, actor and director, May 21, 1904 – September 27, 1981

  • Thomas Wright FATS Waller, jazz pianist, organist, composer, and comedic entertainer, May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943

  • Raymond William Stacey Burr, actor, best known for his roles as Perry Mason and Ironside, May 21, 1917 – September 12, 1993

  • Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov. Ph.D., nuclear physicist, dissident, and human rights activist, May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989

  • Mary Margaret PEGGY Cass, actress and comedienne, May 21, 1924 - March 8, 1999

  • Heinz Holliger, oboist and composer, 1939

  • Ronald Isley, pop, rock, soul, and R&B singer, best known as the lead singer of the Isley Brothers, 1941

  • Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine, guitarist for The Animals, 1943

  • Alan Stuart AL Franken, comedian, author, screenwriter, political commentator, and radio host, 1951

  • Stan Lynch, songwriter and producer and, until 1994, the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1955

  • Edward Ernest JUDGE Reinhold, Jr., actor, 1957


RIP:

  • Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo, Cavaliere Suppé-Demelli, aka Franz von Suppé, composer and conductor, best known for his operettas, April 18, 1819 – May 21, 1895

  • Jacob Julius Garfinkle, aka John Garfield, actor, March 4, 1913 - May 21, 1952

  • Sir Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland, aircraft designer, July 27, 1882 - May 21, 1965

  • Vaughn Monroe, singer, trumpeter, and big band leader, October 7, 1911 - May 21, 1973

  • Sammy Davis, Sr., dancer, musician, and entertainer, December 12, 1900 - May 21, 1988

  • Alfred LASH LaRue, actor, mostly in Westerns, June 14, 1917 – May 21, 1996

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

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Today XXXI

Birthdays:

  • Honoré Balssa, aka Honoré de Balzac, novelist, May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850

  • John Stuart Mill, philosopher and political economist, May 20, 1806 – May 8, 1873

  • Machgielis MAX Euwe, chess player, the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–1937), May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981

  • James Maitland JIMMY Stewart, Academy Award-winning film and stage actor, and a poet, May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997

  • Gardner Francis Fox, writer, best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He co-created numerous DC characters including The Sandman, Starman, Doctor Fate, The Flash, and Hawkman, and the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986

  • William Reddington Hewlett, engineer and co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001

  • George Leslie Gobel, comedian, May 20, 1919 - February 24, 1991

  • Harold Newhouser, MLB pitcher, the AL MVP in 1944 and 1945, the year in which he won the pitcher's Triple Crown, leading the American League in wins (25 - 9), ERA (1.81) and strikeouts (212), as well as innings pitched, games started, complete games, and shutouts; in 1992, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, May 20, 1921 - November 10, 1998

  • Anthony Jared Zerbe, film and television actor, studied at the Stella Adler Theater Studio in New York, 1936

  • Sadaharu Oh,former player and manager for the Yomiuri Giants, who retired in 1980 at age 40, having amassed a Japanese baseball record of 2,786 hits, 2,170 RBIs, 868 home runs, and a lifetime batting average of .301; his tenure as a manager has not been without controversy: on three occasions, foreign players have challenged his single-season home run record of 55 (Randy Bass in 1985, 54 HRs; Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes in 2001, 55 HRs; and Alex Cabrera in 2002, 55 HRs); each of these men played against teams managed by Oh late in the season with the record on the line and, in each instance, Oh's pitchers either refused to or were instructed not to throw hittable pitches, in order to safeguard Oh's record, 1940

  • Jill Jackson, singer, half of pop singing duo Paul & Paula, 1942

  • Frederick Earl SHORTY Long, soul singer, songwriter, and record producer for Motown's Soul Records label, May 20, 1940 - June 29, 1969

  • John Robert JOE Cocker, rock/blues singer, 1944

  • Bronson Alcott Pinchot, actor, 1959

  • John Billingsley, actor, 1960

  • David Lee "Boomer" Wells, left-handed MLB starting pitcher; on May 17, 1998, he became the 15th pitcher in major league history to pitch a perfect game when he blanked the Minnesota Twins 4-0; he is the uncle (by marriage) of Vernon Wells, 1963

  • Melinda MINDY Cohn, actress, 1966

  • Ramón Hernández, MLB catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, 1976


RIP:

  • Christopher Columbus, explorer and trader who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas on October 12, 1492, ca. 1451 – May 20, 1506

  • Sir George-Étienne Cartier, KCMG, PC, statesman and Father of Confederation, September 6, 1814 – May 20, 1873

  • Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann, one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era as well as a composer, wife of composer Robert Schumann, September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896

  • Gilda Radner, comedian and actress, who wrote a memoir about her life and struggle with cancer, called It's Always Something, in tribute to cancer sufferers everywhere, and she used humor to overcome tragedy and pain; in tribute to Radner, Gilda's Club was founded; it is a place where cancer patients and their families can go to be around other people in the same situation to share support, coping and wellness strategies, and has grown to multiple locations across the country, June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989

  • John Devon Roland JON Pertwee, actor - the Third Doctor, July 7, 1919 – May 20, 1996

  • Jean-Pierre Rampal, flautist, January 7, 1922 – May 20, 2000

Friday, May 19, 2006

Today XXX - RIP Freddie Garritty

Birthdays

  • Helen Porter Mitchell, aka Dame Nellie Melba GBE, soprano, May 19, 1861 - February 23, 1931

  • James Charles Lehrer, television journalist and news anchor, 1934

  • Nancy Kwan, actress, 1939

  • Nora Ephron, film director, producer, screenwriter, and novelist, 1941

  • Gary Arlen Kildall, creator of the CP/M operating system and GEM Desktop GUI, and founder of Digital Research, Inc., May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994

  • Peter Dennis Blandford PETE Townshend, rock guitarist and songwriter, founding member of The Who, 1945

  • André René Roussimoff, aka André the Giant, professional wrestler and actor, May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993

  • Grace Mendoza, aka Grace Jones, model, singer and actress, 1948

  • James Gosling, software developer, best known as the father of the Java programming language, 1955

  • Kyle Eastwood, jazz musician and actor, 1968


RIP:

  • Anne Boleyn, 1st Marquess of Pembroke, second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII, and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, c. 1501/1507 – May 19, 1536

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne, novelist and short story writer, July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864

  • José Julián Martí Pérez, leader of the Cuban independence movement, poet, and writer, considered the Cuban people's greatest hero, January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895

  • Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO, Legion of Honour, aka Lawrence of Arabia, soldier and writer, August 16, 1888 – May 19, 1935

  • Charles Edward Ives, composer, October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954

  • Ronald Colman, actor, February 9, 1891 – May 19, 1958

  • Coleman Randolph Hawkins, jazz tenor saxophonist, November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969

  • Frederic OGDEN Nash, poet, August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971

  • Alice Sheldon, aka James Tiptree, Jr., science fiction author, August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987

  • Henry Corden, actor and voice artist, best-known for taking over the voicing of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died in 1977; he also voiced a number of other Hanna-Barbara productions, including The Jetsons and Jonny Quest, January 6, 1920 – May 19, 2005

  • Freddie Garrity, lead singer of Freddie and the Dreamers, November 14, 1937 - May 19, 2006

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Today XXIX

Birthdays:

  • Omar Khayyám, poet, May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131

  • Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, philosopher, logician, and mathematician; in this tiny entry, what can I say cconcerning what Bertrand Russell has accomplished, known, and thought; I offer one quote from 1947: "War does not determine who is right. Only who is left," May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970

  • Walter Adolph Gropius, architect and founder of Bauhaus, May 18, 1883 – July 5, 1969

  • Ezio Pinza, opera singer, who spent twenty-two seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of fifty operas, May 18, 1892 - 9 May 9, 1957

  • Francesco Rosario FRANK Capra, film director, May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991

  • Robert Meredith Reiniger, aka Robert Meredith Willson, musician, composer, and playwright, best known as the writer of The Music Man, May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984

  • Joseph Vernon BIG JOE Turner, Jr., blues singer, May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985

  • Pierino Ronaldo PERRY Como, crooner, May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001

  • Ruben Sax, aka Richard Brooks, film writer, director, and producer, May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992

  • Margaret Hookham, aka Dame Margot Fonteyn, DBE, ballerina, May 18, 1919 - February 21, 1991

  • Kai Chresten Winding, trombonist and jazz composer, May 18, 1922 - May 6, 1983

  • Pernell Roberts, actor, 1928

  • Don Martin, cartoon artist, whose best-known work appeared in MAD magazine, May 18, 1931 – January 6, 2000

  • Robert Morse, actor, 1931

  • Dwayne Hickman, actor and television executive, 1934

  • Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr., former MLB third baseman, played his entire 23-year career with the Baltimore Orioles; elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983; generally acclaimed as the greatest defensive third-baseman of all time, winning 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards during his career, tied with pitcher Jim Kaat for the most for any player at any position, 1937

  • Reginald Martinez REGGIE Jackson, nicknamed "Mr. October" for his post-season clutch hitting ability; former MLB right fielder; in 1993, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1946

  • Andrew C. ANDREAS Katsulas, actor, best known for his roles as Ambassador G'Kar on Babylon 5, and as Commander Tomalak on Star Trek: The Next Generation, May 18, 1946 – February 13, 2006

  • Richard Christopher RICK Wakeman, rock keyboard player, best known for his work with Yes, 1949

  • Chow Yun-Fat, actor, 1955

  • John Higgins, professional snooker player, 1998 World Champion, 1975


RIP:

  • Georg Böhm, Baroque organist and composer, September 2, 1661 - May 18, 1733

  • Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz, pianist and composer, May 29, 1860 – May 18, 1909

  • Gustav Mahler, composer and conductor, July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911

  • Leroy Anderson, composer, June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975

  • William Saroyan, author, August 31, 1908 - May 18, 1981

  • Charles Dawson DAWS Butler, voice actor, who created and played the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, November 16, 1916 – May 18, 1988

  • Jill Ireland, actress, April 24, 1936 – May 18, 1990

  • Elisha Cook, Jr., character actor, December 26, 1903 - May 18, 1995

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

  • Elvin Ray Jones, jazz drummer; as well as his hundreds of live performances and recordings, he played the role of outlaw Job Cain in the 1971 "western rock opera," Zachariah, September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Today XXVIII

Birthdays:

  • Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz, the first official World Chess Champion, May 17, 1836, – August 12, 1900

  • Eric Alfred Leslie "Erik" Satie, composer and pianist, May 17, 1866 – July 1, 1925

  • Odd Hassel, physical chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1969, jointly with Sir Derek Barton, May 17, 1897 — May 11, 1981

  • James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell, centre fielder in Negro league baseball, considered by many baseball observers to have been the fastest man ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991

  • Jean-Alexis Moncorgé, aka Jean Gabin, actor and war hero, May 17, 1904–November 15, 1976

  • Maureen Paula O'Sullivan, actress, May 17, 1911 – June 23, 1998

  • Birgit Nilsson, soprano, May 17, 1918 – December 25, 2005

  • Dennis Brain, [French] horn player, largely responsible for popularizing the horn as a solo instrument, May 17, 1921 - September, 1, 1957

  • Dennis Hopper, actor and film-maker, 1936

  • Alan Kay, computer scientist, known for his early work on object-oriented programming and user interface design, Kay plays keyboards and guitar, 1940

  • Henry Saint Clair Frederick, aka Taj Mahal, blues musician, 1940

  • William Scott 'Bill' Bruford, drummer, known for his highly precise, polyrhythmic style, the original drummer for Yes, 1949

  • William 'Bill' Paxton, actor and film director, 1955

  • Ray Charles Leonard, aka Sugar Ray Leonard, former professional boxer, 1956

  • David Victor Sim, comic book writer and artist, 1956

  • Pascual Gross Perez, former MLB pitcher, 1957

  • Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, aka Enya [sometimes presented in the media as the Anglicized Enya Brennan], musician, 1961


RIP:

  • Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, aka Sandro Botticelli ("little barrel"), painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance, March 1, 1445 – May 17, 1510

  • Paul Abraham Dukas, composer, October 1, 1865 – May 17, 1935

  • Abe Burrows, author and stage director, December 18, 1910 – May 17, 1985

  • Lawrence Welk, musician, accordion player, bandleader, and television impressario, March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992

  • Hector "Toe" Blake, OC, hockey player and NHL coach, August 21, 1912 - May 17, 1995

  • Dave Berg, cartoonist, most noted for his work in MAD Magazine, Brooklyn, June 12, 1920 – May 17, 2002

  • Arthur Leonard Rosenberg, aka Tony Randall, comic actor, February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004

  • Frank John Gorshin, Jr., actor, comedian, and impressionist, his most famous role was The Riddler in the Batman television series, April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005


Also:

  • The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax, 1846

  • The US Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC [Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer], 1943

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Today XXVII

Birthdays:

  • Henry Jaynes Fonda, actor, May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982

  • Louis "Studs" Terkel, author, historian and broadcaster, 1912

  • Woodrow Charles 'Woody' Herman, jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987

  • Wladziu Valentino Liberace, aka Liberace, aka Lee, pianist, actor, and entertainer, May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987

  • Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin, former Major League Baseball player and manager, May 16, 1928 - December 25, 1989

  • Lillie Mae Jones, aka Betty Carter, jazz singer, May 16, 1930 – September 26, 1998

  • Billy Cobham, drummers best known for his jazz fusion in the 1970s, with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, where he pioneered a powerful style of drumming with jazz, rock and funk influences. He is the first drummer to unseat Buddy Rich in the Down Beat music polls, 1944

  • Robert Fripp, guitarist and composer, and a founding member of King Crimson, 1946

  • Pierce Brendan Brosnan, film actor and producer, 1951

  • Olga Valentinovna Korbut, gymnast, 1955

  • John Scott 'Jack' Morris, former Major League Baseball starting pitcher. On April 7, 1984, he threw a no-hitter, 1955

  • Maria Debra Winger, actress, 1955. Her first acting role was as Princess Diana's younger sister Drusilla (Wonder Girl) in the Wonder Woman television series

  • Gabriela Sabatini, former professional tennis player, 1970

  • David Patrick Boreanaz, film and television actor [Angel], 1969

  • Victoria Davey "Tori" Spelling, actress, 1973


RIP:

  • Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt, jazz guitarist, January 23, 1910 – May 16, 1953

  • Eliot Ness, Treasury agent, famous for his efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago as the leader of a legendary team nicknamed The Untouchables, April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957

  • Andrew Geoffrey 'Andy' Kaufman, entertainer and absurdist, January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984

  • Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff, aka Irwin Shaw, playwright, screenwriter and author, February 27, 1913 - May 16, 1984

  • Margaret Hamilton, actress, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985

  • Sammy Davis, Jr., entertainer: dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist ( vibes, trumpet, and drums), impressionist, comedian, and actor, December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990

  • James Maury 'Jim' Henson, puppeteer and creator of The Muppets, September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990

Monday, May 15, 2006

Today XXVI

Birthdays:

  • Claudio Monteverdi, composer, violinist and singer, whose work marks the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music, May 15, 1567 – November 29, 1643

  • Lyman Frank Baum, author, May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919

  • Pierre Curie, physicist, pioneer in the study of crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity; together with his wife, Marie, Pierre was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics, May 15, 1567 – November 29, 1643

  • Walter TURK Broda, former hockey goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, May 15th, 1914 - October 17th, 1972

  • Richard Edward EDDY Arnold, country music singer, 1918

  • Richard Avedon, photographer, May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004

  • Anna Maria Alberghetti, actress and operatic singer, 1936

  • Hugh Romney, aka Wavy Gravy, activist, 1936

  • Trinidad TRINI López III, singer and guitarist, 1937

  • Brian Peter George St. Jean le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, electronic musician, music theorist and record producer, 1948

  • Calogero Lorenzo CHAZZ Palminteri, Oscar-nominated actor and writer, 1952

  • George Howard Brett, Hall of Fame MLB third baseman, and the only man to ever win batting titles in three different decades, 1953

  • Michael Gordon Oldfield, multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, best known for his composition Tubular Bells, 1953

  • John Andrew Smoltz, Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, 1967

  • Amy Chow, gymnast, 1978

  • Joshua Patrick JOSH Beckett, right-handed starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, 1980

  • Jamie-Lynn Sigler, actress, while married to her agent, A.J. DiScala, she took the name Jamie-Lynn DiScala - she subsequently changed her name back after they separated, 1981


RIP:

  • Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, poet, December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886

  • Edward Hopper, painter best remembered for his eerily realistic depictions of solitude in contemporary American life, July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967

  • Sir William Tyrone Guthrie, theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, July 2, 1900 - May 15, 1971

  • Johnny Green, songwriter, October 10, 1908 - May 15, 1989

  • Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso, aka Gilbert Roland, actor, December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994

  • June Carter Cash, singer, songwriter, and actress, a member of the first family of country music, the Carter Family, and the wife of Johnny Cash; played the guitar, banjo, and autoharp, June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Today XXV - Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Birthdays:

  • Thomas Gainsborough, portrait and landscape painter, May 14, 1727 – August 2, 1788

  • Otto Klemperer, conductor and composer, May 14, 1885 – July 6, 1973

  • Sidney Bechet, jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer' May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959

  • Richard Deacon, television and motion picture actor, whose best-known roles are Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, May 14, 1921 - August 8, 1984

  • John Eric Bartholomew, aka Eric Morecambe OBE, comedian, part of the act Morecambe and Wise, May 14, 1926 – May 28, 1984

  • Lorne John "Gump" Worsley, former hockey goaltender, 1929

  • Walden Robert Cassotto, aka Bobby Darin, rock and roll singer, May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973

  • Atanasio Pérez Rigal, aka Tony Pérez, former Major League baseball player, 1942. After playing third base in the early part of his career with the Cincinnati Reds, from 1972 onward he starred at first base. In the early part of the 1970's, he was a key member of Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine." In 2000, Pérez was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

  • John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce, musician, multi-instumentalist, composer, and singer. He is a very influential electric bassist, and was a member of seminal rock band Cream, 1943

  • Derek 'Lek' Leckenby, musician; he played lead guitar for Herman's Hermits, 1943

  • George Walton Lucas, Jr., film director, producer, and screenwriter, 1944

  • Eric Peterson, actor, 1946

  • David Byrne, singer and musician, best known as a founding member and the principal songwriter of Talking Heads, 1952

  • Robert Lee Zemeckis, Academy Award-winning movie director, producer and writer, 1952

  • Tom Cochrane, D.Mus(hon), singer and songwriter, 1953

  • José Dennis Martínez Emilia, aka Dennis Martínez, MLB pitcher. He was the first baseball player from Nicaragua to play in Major League Baseball. During his career, he was known by the nickname El Presidenté. He is the winningest Latin pitcher of all-time, 1955

  • Catherine Elise 'Cate' Blanchett, Academy Award-winning actress, 1969

  • Sofia Carmina Coppola, film director, actress, producer, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is the first American woman to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, 1971

  • Harry Leroy 'Roy' Halladay, aka "Doc", starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, had his best seasons in 2002, when he made the All-Star Team, and posted a 19-7 record with 168 strikeouts and a 2.93 earned run average, and 2003, when he won the American League Cy Young Award, 1977

  • Amber Rose Tamblyn, Emmy-nominated actress and poet, 1983


RIP:

  • Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn, pianist and composer, November 14, 1805 – May 14, 1847

  • Johan August Strindberg, writer, playwright and painter, January 22, 1849 – May 14, 1912

  • Sir Henry Rider Haggard, writer of adventure novels set in locations considered exotic by readers in his native England, June 22, 1856 – May 14, 1925

  • Emma Goldman, anarcho-communist, known for her anarchist writings and speeches, June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940

  • Sidney Bechet, see Birthdays, above, May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959

  • Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke, Oscar-nominated actress, primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in the musical The Wizard of Oz, August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970

  • Keith Relf, lead singer and harmonica player for The Yardbirds, March 22, 1943 - May 14, 1976

  • Eugene Hugh Beaumont, actor, television director, and Methodist minister, February 16, 1909 - May 14, 1982

  • Margarita Carmen Cansino, aka Rita Hayworth, actress and dancer, who reached fame during the 1940s as the era's leading sex symbol, October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987

  • Harry Blackstone, Jr., author, stage magician, and television performer, June 30, 1934 - May 14, 1997

  • Francis Albert Sinatra, singer, December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998

  • Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE, Academy Award-winning film and stage actress, August 15, 1912 – May 14, 2003

  • Charles Langford "Robert" Stack, actor, January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003


Baseball:
Josh Towers (1 - 7) won his first game of the year, snapping a seven-game losing streak, as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8-3 in Tampa.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Today XXIX - R.I.P. Roger Zelazny, May 13, 1937 - June 14, 1995

Today would have been Roger Zelazny's 69th birthday. My favourite author and one of my heroes, Roger died far too early.

The author of The Chronicles of Amber and much, much more, Roger won the Hugo Award six times and the Nebula award three times


Other Birthdays:

  • Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, composer, May 13, 1842 – November 22, 1900

  • Georges Braque, painter and sculptor, and one of the inventors of Cubism, May 13, 1882 – August 31, 1963

  • Dame Daphne du Maurier DBE, novelist, May 13, 1907 – April 19, 1989

  • Ian Ernest Gilmore Green, aka Gil Evans, jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, May 13, 1912 – March 20,1988

  • Joseph Louis Barrow, aka Joe Louis, nicknamed "The Brown Bomber," World Heavyweight Champion boxer, May 13, 1914 - April 12, 1981

  • Bernice Frankel, aka Beatrice 'Bea' Arthur, Emmy Award-winning actress and comedienne, 1923

  • Senta Berger, actress and producer, 1931

  • Richard Steven Valenzuela, aka Ritchie Valens, rock and roll star, May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959

  • Stephen Reeder Donaldson, fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, 1947

  • Peter Brian Gabriel, musician, 1950

  • Stevland Morris, aka Stevie Wonder, American singer, songwriter, producer, musician, humanitarian and social activist, winner of 21 Grammy Awards, 1950

  • Paul Thompson, drummer. He was the drummer for Roxy Music from 1971-1980, 1951

  • Barry William Zito, pitcher, winner of the 2002 American League Cy Young Award, 1978

  • Sunny Leone, model, 1981


RIP:

  • Sholom Aleichem, popular humorist and author of Yiddish literature, including novels, short stories, and plays, March 2, 1859 – May 13, 1916. He did much to promote Yiddish writers, and was the first to pen children's literature in Yiddish. His work has been widely translated. The musical Fiddler on the Roof, was based on his stories about his character Tevye the Milkman

  • Alfred "Tubby" Hall, jazz drummer, October 12,1895 - May 13, 1945

  • James Robert 'Bob' Wills, country musician and songwriter, March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975

  • Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr., jazz trumpeter, December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988

  • George Bernard Dantzig, mathematician, November 8, 1914 – May 13, 2005. He introduced the simplex algorithm and is considered the "Father of linear programming"

Friday, May 12, 2006

Today XXVIII

Birthdays:

  • Florence Nightingale, OM, pioneer of modern nursing and noted statistician, May 12, 1820 – August 13, 1910

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet, illustrator, painter, and translator, May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882

  • Gabriel Urbain Fauré, composer, organist, pianist, and teacher, May 12, 1845 – November 4, 1924

  • William Francis Giauque, chemist, May 12, 1895 – March 28, 1982. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1949 for his studies in the properties of matter at temperatures close to absolute zero

  • Katharine Houghton Hepburn, actress, May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003. She was a four-time Academy Award-winning American star of film, television and stage, widely recognized for her wit, New England gentility and fierce independence. Screen legend Hepburn holds the record for the most Oscars won for Best Actress

  • Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, OM , FRS, chemist, the founder of protein crystallography, pioneering the technique of X-ray crystallography, a method used to determine the three dimensional structures of biomolecules; among her most influential discoveries are the determination of the structure of penicillin, insulin, and vitamin B12, for which she was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, May 12, 1910 – July 29, 1994

  • Howard Kingsbury Smith, journalist and radio reporter, May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002

  • Farley McGill Mowat OC , BA , D.Litt, author, naturalist, and conservationist, 1921

  • Anthony John 'Tony' Hancock, television and radio comedian, May 12, 1924 – June 24, 1968

  • Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball, 1925. He played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He is one of only four players to be named American League Most Valuable Player three times, and one of only six managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. He picked up his nickname from a friend who said he resembled a Hindu holy man (yogi) they had seen in a movie, whenever sitting around with arms and legs crossed waiting to bat or sad after a losing game

  • Burt Bacharach, pianist and composer, 1928

  • Felipe Rojas Alou, former MLB outfielder and first baseman, and the current manager of the San Francisco Giants, 1935. He was the first Dominican to play regularly in the major leagues

  • George Dennis Carlin, Grammy-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and author, 1937

  • Ian Dury, rock and roll singer, songwriter, and bandleader, May 12, 1942 – March 27, 2000. He is best known as founder and lead singer of the British band Ian Dury and the Blockheads

  • Stephen Lawrence 'Steve' Winwood, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, 1948. Steve Winwood is one of my personal heroes! I have enjoyed his music since the early 1960's, whether with The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, or Blind Faith, or as a solo performer. Thanks for the music, Steve!

  • Bruce Boxleitner, actor, 1950

  • Gabriel Byrne, actor, 1950

  • Kim Victoria Fields, actress ["Tootie"], 1969


RIP:

  • John Dryden, poet, literary critic, August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700

  • Bedřich Smetana, composer, March 2, 1824 - May 12, 1884

  • John Cadbury, chocolate entrepreneur, 1801 – 12 May 1889

  • Carl Henry Vogt, aka Louis Calhern, stage and silent film actor, February 19, 1895 - May 12, 1956

  • Erich von Stroheim, filmmaker and actor, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957

  • John Edward Masefield, OM, poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death, June 1, 1878 – May 12, 1967

  • Henry Emmett "Heinie" Manush, former Major League Baseball player, July 20, 1901 – May 12, 1971. He consistently ranked among the league leaders in hitting, finishing his career with a .330 batting average and leading the league in 1926. Manush was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964

  • John Robert Rietz, Jr, aka Robert Reed, actor, October 19, 1932–May 12, 1992

  • Erik Homburger Erikson, developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994. He was a known for his theory on social development of human beings, and for coining the phrase identity crisis

  • Pierino Ronaldo "Perry" Como, crooner, May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Today XXVII

Birthdays:

  • Paul Wittgenstein, pianist, May 11, 1887 – March 3, 1961. He lost his right arm in World War I, but continued to give concerts playing with only his left arm, and commissioned several works from prominent composers. Maurice Ravel wrote his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, for which Wittgenstein became famous

  • Israel Isidore Beilin, aka Irving Berlin, composer and lyricist, May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989. He was one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. His G-d Bless America proved so popular that, during the 1930's, it was considered for the American National Anthem, but was rejected by the press in part because it written by a Jewish composer

  • Dame Margaret Rutherford DBE, Academy Award-winning character actress, May 11, 1892 – May 22, 1972

  • Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer, known as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991

  • Kurt Gerson, aka Kurt Gerron, Jewish actor and film director, May 11, 1897 – October 28, 1944. He was interned in the transit camp at Westerbork before being sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he ran a cabaret called The Karussell to entertain the inmates. He was subsequently blackmailed by the National Socialists to make a propaganda film showing how 'nice' concentration camps were, entitled Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt - The Fuehrer Gives a City to the Jews. After the film was completed, he was sent to Auschwitz near the end of the war, where he was gassed

  • Salvador Felip Jacint Dalí Domènech, aka Salvador Dalí artist, May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989. He was one of the most influential painters of the 20th century, best known for his surrealist work

  • Philip Silversmith, aka Phil Silvers, comedy actor, May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985. His best-known work is The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950's sitcom set on a US Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko

  • Richard Phillips Feynman, physicist, May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988. He was one of the most influential American physicists of the 20th century, expanding greatly the theory of quantum electrodynamics, quark theory, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium. For his work on quantum electrodynamics, Feynman was one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1965. Apart from pure physics, Dr. Feynman is also credited with the revolutionary concept and early exploration of quantum computing, and first publicly envisioning nanotechnology

  • Morton Lyon 'Mort' Sahl, actor, comedian, and humourist, 1927. He wrote several speeches for John F. Kennedy

  • Prof Dr Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, computer scientist, May 11, 1930 – Nuenen, August 6, 2002

  • Douglas Osborne 'Doug' McClure, film and television actor, May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995

  • Carla Bley, née Borg, jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader, 1938

  • Eric Victor Burdon, singer, lead singer and founding member of The Animals, 1941

  • Alden Brown, aka Peter North, actor, 1957

  • Natasha Richardson, actress, 1963

  • John Parrott MBE, professional snooker player, 1964

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Today XXVI

Birthdays:

  • Augustin-Jean Fresnel, physicist, contributed to the establishment of the theory of wave optics, invented the Fresnel lens, May 10, 1788 – July 14, 1827

  • Frederick Austerlitz, aka Fred Astaire, film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987

  • Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin, film composer and conductor, May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979

  • Mikhail Anatol Litwak, aka Anatole Litvak, international filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in a variety of countries and languages, May 10, 1902 – December 15, 1974

  • David Oliver Selznick, Hollywood producer, May 10, 1902 – June 22, 1965. He is best known for producing Gone with the Wind, 1939, which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture

  • "Mother" Maybelle Carter, nee Addington, Country music musician, May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978. Maybelle was the guitarist, and also played autoharp and banjo, for the Carter Family

  • Milton Byron Babbitt, composer, known for his pioneering serial and electronic music, 1916. He studied violin and later clarinet and saxophone as a child. Early in his life he showed ability in jazz and popular music. He was hired by RCA as consultant composer to work with their RCA Mark II Synthesizer and, in 1961, produced his Music for Synthesizer

  • Gary Altman, aka Gary Owens, a disc jockey, announcer, and voice actor, 1936. He was the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

  • Donovan Philips Leitch, musician and singer, 1946

  • Dave Mason, musician, 1946


RIP:

  • Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer, noted for his observations of comets and the painstaking calculation of their orbits, among which was Halley's comet [1456], 1397 – May 10, 1482

  • Paul Revere, silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military, January 2, 1735 – May 10, 1818

  • Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, chemist and physicist, known mostly for his contributions to the physical chemistry of gases, December 6, 1778 – May 10, 1850

  • Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, teacher and soldier, January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863. He became a famous Confederate lieutenant general during the American Civil War as a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee

  • Lucille Fay LeSueur, aka Joan Crawford, Academy Award winning American actress, March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977

  • Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein, aka "Uncle Shelby," poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books, September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999


Also:

  • Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland, 1534

  • Bill Haley and the Comets release Rock Around the Clock, the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts, 1954

  • Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa, 1994

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Today XXV

Birthdays:

  • John Brown, abolitionist, May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859. He was one of the first white abolitionists to advocate and to practise, guerrilla warfare as a means to the abolition of slavery

  • Sir James Matthew 'J. M.' Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM, novelist and dramatist, creator of Peter Pan, May 9, 1860 – June 19, 1937

  • Howard Carter, archaeologist and Egyptologist, May 9, 1873 – March 2, 1939, most famous as the discoverer of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt

  • Dr. William Moulton Marston, aka Charles Moulton, psychologist, feminist theorist, and comic book writer, May 9, 1893 – May 2, 1947. He was the co-creator of the Wonder Woman character with his wife, Elizabeth. Credited with inventing an early form of the lie detector (specifically the notion of testing systolic blood pressure to detect deception, which became one component of the polygraph), Marston was also a writer of essays in popular psychology

  • Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow, Hall of Fame country music singer and songwriter, May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999

  • Myron Leon Wallace, aka Michael 'Mike' Wallace, journalist and television correspondent, 1918

  • Richard George Adams, novelist, best known for two novels with animal characters, Watership Down and The Plague Dogs, 1920

  • Philip Klass, aka William Tenn, science fiction author, 1920

  • Sophia Magdalena Scholl, resistance fighter, May 9, 1921 – February 22, 1943. She was a member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of treason and executed by guillotine

  • Barbara Ann Scott, World and Olympic champion figure skater, 1928

  • Irene Joan Marian Sims, actress, May 9, 1930 – June 28, 2001. She was a key cast member of the Carry On films, as well as playing Madge in As Time Goes By, and Katryca in the Doctor Who episode The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet

  • Albert Finney, actor, 1936

  • Glenda May Jackson, CBE, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, currently a Labour Member of Parliament, 1936

  • James L. Brooks, Hollywood producer, writer, and film director, 1940.
    He is best known for producing classic TV shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons, Rhoda, Taxi, and The Tracey Ullman Show. His best-known film is his directorial debut, Terms of Endearment, for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984

  • Paul Richard 'Richie' Furay, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, 1944. He is best known for forming the 1960's band Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin. In the late 60's, he formed the band Poco, with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. He left in 1974 to join the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band

  • Candice Patricia Bergen, actress and former fashion model, 1946. She is the daughter of Edgar Bergen

  • William Martin 'Billy' Joel, singer, songwriter, and pianist, 1949

  • Anne-Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano opera singer and concert recitalist, 1955

  • Anthony Keith "Tony" Gwynn, former Major League Baseball outfielder, 1960. I think that he's a sure thing to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in 2007


RIP:

  • Diderik Buxtehude, aka Dieterich Buxtehude, organist and Baroque composer, 1637 – May 9, 1707. Later in his life he Germanized his name, and began signing documents Dieterich Buxtehude

  • Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, Post-Impressionist painter, June 7, 1848 – May 9, 1903

  • Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist, December 19, 1852 - May 9, 1931. He was known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light, and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment. In 1907, he received a Nobel Prize for Physics

  • Ezio Pinza, [bass] opera singer, May 18, 1892 - May 9, 1957

  • Edmond O'Brien, actor, September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985

  • Namgyal Wangdi, aka Tenzing Norgay, mountaineer, May 29(?) 1914 – May 9, 1986. He and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. As a child, his name was changed on advice from a lama ("Norgay" means "fortunate")

  • Alice Jeane Leppert, aka Alice Faye, actress and singer, May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998

  • Irwin Alan Kniberg, aka Alan King, comedian and actor, December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004


Also:

  • The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy, 1941. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages

  • Belgrade becomes the first Axis-conquered city to murder or eliminate its Jewish population, largely with the help of Serbian collaborators, 1942

  • The U.S. FDA approves sale of the birth control pill, 1960

  • The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against president Richard M. Nixon, 1974

  • The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana, 1980

  • Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, 1994

Monday, May 08, 2006

Today XXIV

Birthdays:

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer and pianist, May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869

  • Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972

  • Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin, aka Fernandel, actor, May 8, 1903 – February 26, 1971

  • Ernest Loring RED Nichols, jazz cornettist, May 8, 1905–June 28, 1965

  • Roberto Rossellini, film director, May 8, 1906 - June 3, 1977

  • Robert Leroy Johnson, blues musician, May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938

  • Alexander Crichlow LEX Barker, Jr, actor [Tarzan #10], May 8, 1919 - May 11, 1973

  • Sir David Frederick Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, broadcaster, humanist, and naturalist, 1926

  • Archibald Donald DON Rickles, comedian and actor, 1926

  • Charles SONNY Liston, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, May 8, 1932 – December 30, 1970

  • Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr., , writer, 1937

  • Eric Hilliard RICKY [or RICK] Nelson, singer, musician, and actor, one of the first American teen idols, May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985

  • Peter Bradford Benchley, author, May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006

  • Toni Tennille, singer and keyboards player, one-half of the 1970's singing group Captain & Tennille, 1943

  • Paul Francis Gadd, aka Gary Glitter singer and songwriter, 1944

  • Keith Jarrett jazz pianist and composer, 1945

  • Philip Bailey, R & B, soul and funk singer, one of the founding members of Earth, Wind & Fire, noted for his four-octave vocal range, 1951

  • Melissa Ellen Gilbert, actress, 1964


RIP:

  • Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry; because of his prominence in the pre-revolutionary government in France, he was beheaded at the height of the French Revolution - be proud, France, be very proud!, August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794

  • Mauro Giuliani, guitarist and composer, July 27, 1781 – May 8, 1828

  • John Stuart Mill philosopher and political economist and political economist, May 20, 1806 – May 8, 1873

  • Gustave Flaubert, novelist, December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880

  • Edward Hamilton Waldo, aka Theodore TED Sturgeon, science fiction author, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985

  • Robert Anson Heinlein, science fiction author, won four Hugo Awards for his novels following the year of publication; in addition, fifty years after publication, three of Heinlein's works were awarded "Retro Hugos" — awards given retrospectively for years in which no Hugos had been awarded; he also won the first Grand Master Award given by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement;
    Robert A. Heinlein is one of my personal heroes, and this short mention does not even scratch the surface of his life or accomplishments, July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988

  • Rudolf Serkin, classical pianist, March 28, 1903 – May 8, 1991

  • Avram Davidson, writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, and other works, who won a Hugo Award, and was three-time winner of the World Fantasy Award in the science fiction and fantasy genre, and a Queen's Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre; he edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964, April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993

  • George Peppard, Jr., film and television actor, October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994

  • Dirk Bogarde, actor, March 28, 1921 - May 8, 1999

  • Dana Michelle Plato, actress; her death was ruled a suicide, November 7, 1964 – May 8, 1999

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Today XXIII

Birthdays:

  • Robert Browning, poet and playwright, May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889


Today is the birthday anniversary of two of my favourite composers. Below are very short profiles of them:

  • Johannes Brahms, composer, never wrote an opera, nor did he ever write in the characteristic 19th century form of the tone poem; strongly believed in absolute music, that is, music that does not rely upon a concrete scene or narrative as the tone poem does; as for his place in musical history, which so concerned him, he would no doubt be gratified in knowing that posterity has indeed placed him among the three great "B"'s of German composers — Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer, whose music has come to be known and loved for its distinctly Russian character as well as its rich harmonies and stirring melodies; his works, however, were much more western than those of his Russian contemporaries as he effectively used international elements in addition to national folk melodies; is well known for his ballets, although it was only in his last years, with his last two ballets, that his contemporaries came to really appreciate his finer qualities as a ballet music composer; completed ten operas, May 7, – November 6, 1893


  • George Francis 'Gabby' Hayes, actor, May 7, 1885 - February 9, 1969

  • Archibald MacLeish, poet, writer, and Librarian of Congress, May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982

  • Gary Cooper, actor, May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961

  • Edwin Herbert Land, scientist and inventor, May 12, 1909 – March 1, 1991

  • William Lyle Richardson, aka Darren McGavin, actor, May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006

  • Anne Baxter, actress, May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985

  • Sophie Feldman, aka Totie Fields, comedienne, May 7, 1930 - August 2, 1978

  • Theresa Breuer, aka Teresa Brewer, singer , 1931

  • Thelma Houston, singer, 1946

  • Janis Eddy Fink, aka Janis Ian, songwriter, singer and multi-instrumental musician, 1951

  • Nora Louise Kuzma, aka Traci Lords, actress, 1968


RIP:

  • Antonio Salieri, composer and conductor, August 18, 1750 – May 7, 1825

  • Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr., KBE, DSC, actor, December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000


Also:

  • World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The work was conducted by Michael Umlauf, under the composer's supervision, 1824

  • Casey Janssen (1 - 2) got his first Major League win today, allowing only one hit over 7 1-3 dominant innings, in a 3-1 Blue Jays win over the LA Angels

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Today XXII

Birthdays:

  • Sigmund Freud, neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939

  • Robert Edwin Peary, explorer, May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920

  • Rabindranath Tagore, aka Gurudev, poet, philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist, whose avant-garde works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941

  • Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piero Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antoguolla, aka Rudolph Valentino, actor, May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926

  • George ORSON Welles, director of film and the theatre, actor, screenwriter, broadcaster and producer, May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985

  • Theodore Harold White, political journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 American presidential elections, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986

  • Robert Henry Dicke, physicist, who designed the Dicke radiometer, a microwave receiver, which he used this to set a limit on the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation of less than 20 Kelvins, May 6, 1916 – March 4, 1997

  • Willie Howard Mays, Jr., aka "The Say Hey Kid," Hall of Fame centre fielder, the 1951 Rookie of the Year; the National League MVP twice; on January 23, 1979, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, appearing on 409 of the 432 ballots cast (roughly 95 percent); his number 24 is retired by the San Francisco Giants, whose home ballpark is located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza with a larger-than-life statue of Mays in front of the main entrance, surrounded by 24 palm trees, and the right-field wall is 24-feet high, all in honor of Mays; his list of accomplishments is too long for this entry to do him justice!, 1913

  • Robert Clark BOB Seger, rock musician, 1945

  • Roma Downey, actress, 1960

  • George Timothy Clooney, actor, director and screenwriter, 1961


RIP:

  • Henry David Thoreau, author, development critic, naturalist, transcendentalist, pacifist, tax resister, abolitionist, and philosopher, July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862

  • Lyman Frank Baum, author, philatelist, and the creator, along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919

  • Maria Montessori, educator, scientist, physician, philosopher, feminist, and humanitarian, developer of the Montessori Method of Education; the first female Italian physician in the modern era, August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952

  • Marie Magdalene Dietrich, aka Marlene Dietrich, actress, entertainer and singer, December 27, 1901 – May 6, 1992


Also:

  • The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1889. La Tour Eiffel, named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris. It is the tallest structure in Paris

  • The German zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while approaching a mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, 1937. Thirty-six people perished in the accident

  • Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CBE, becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes, 1954

Friday, May 05, 2006

Today XXI

Birthdays:

  • Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher, May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855)

  • Karl Heinrich Marx, philosopher and political economist, May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883

  • Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden, radio comedian, May 5, 1899 - December 10, 1982. From 1928 to 1960, Gosden voiced the characters "Amos", "The Kingfish", "Lightning", "Brother Crawford," and some dozen other characters on the Amos & Andy show

  • Blind Willie McTell [probably born William Samuel McTear], blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist, May 5, 1901 – August 15, 1959

  • Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr., actor, May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958

  • Alice Jeane Leppert, aka Alice Faye, actress and singer, May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998

  • Ann Bradford Davis [Ann B. Davis], television actress, 1926

  • Marc Alaimo, actor, 1942

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

  • Michael Edward Palin, CBE, comedian, actor and television presenter, best known for being one of the members of Monty Python, as well as for his travel documentaries, 1943

  • John Rhys-Davies, actor, 1944

  • Vincent Kartheiser, actor, 1979

  • Danielle Christine Fishel, actress, 1981


RIP:

  • Napoleone de Buonaparte, aka Napoleon Bonaparte, general and emperor, August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821

  • Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, mathematician, credited with the modern "formal" definition of a function, February 13, 1805 - May 5, 1859. He married Rebecka Mendelssohn Bartholdy, sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn

  • Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, International Grandmaster and long-time World Chess Champion, August 17, 1911 - May 5, 1995. He held the world title on three separate occasions, 1948-57, 1958-60, and 1961-63


Also:

  • Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire, 1260. Kublai Khan or Khubilai Khan or "the last of the Great Khans," 1215–1294, was Khagan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire as well as the founder and the first Emperor (1279–1294) of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty

  • The Music Hall in New York, now known as Carnegie Hall, has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor, 1891

  • Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball, 1904

  • Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hits his 3000th major league hit, 1978

  • El Cinco de Mayo, "The Fifth of May," is a national celebration in Mexico and widely celebrated in many parts of the United States. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza over the French expeditionary forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862