Today XX - The Anniversary of the Kent State Students' Killings

Birthdays:

• Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco, maker of musical instruments, generally regarded as the inventor of the piano, May 4, 1655 - January 27, 1731


• Thomas Henry Huxley F.R.S., biologist, May 4, 1825 – June 29, 1895


• Alice Pleasance Liddell, the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, May 4, 1852 – November 16, 1934


• Lutha Adler, aka Luther Adler, actor and director; best known for his work in theater, he also worked in film and television, and directed plays on Broadway; his siblings also worked in theater, his sister Stella Adler achieving fame as an actress and drama teacher, May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984


• Ed CASS Cassidy, drummer, the drummer and one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967; among the other original members was his stepson, Randy California; prior to Spirit, Cassidy had been a member of the Rising Sons, together with Ry Cooder, and Taj Mahal; had a long career as a jazz musician dating back to 1937, and played together with Art Pepper, Julian Cannonball Adderley, Roland Kirk, Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan; is currently the oldest active drummer, 1923


• Maynard Ferguson, jazz trumpet player and bandleader, 1928


• Audrey Kathleen Ruston, aka Audrey Hepburn, actress, fashion model, and humanitarian, May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993


• Roberta Peterman, aka Roberta Peters, coloratura and lyric soprano, 1930


• Gennady Nikolayevich Anosov, aka Gennady Rozhdestvensky [after adopting his mother's maiden name, in its masculine form, for his professional career], conductor, 1931


• George Frederick Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning, conservative, American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author, 1941


• Roger Rees, actor, 1944


• Pia Alfreda Schipani, aka Pia Zadora, [adopting part of her mother's maiden name (Zadorowski) as her stage name], actress, 1954


• Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer, 1981 - I just like the name ;o)

RIP:

• Katsushika Hokusai, Edo period artist, painter, wood engraver, and ukiyo-e maker, author of the 13-volume sketchbook Hokusai manga and the block prints Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa; he is still considered one of the outstanding figures of the ukiyo-eschool of printmaking, 1760 - May 4, 1849


• George Enescu, composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher, August 19, 1881 – May 4, 1955



• Kent State victims, 1970:
  
  
  
  • Allison Krause, who was shot in the back at about 343 feet, April 23, 1951 - May 4, 1970
  
  
  • Jeffrey Glenn Miller, who was shot in the mouth by a single rifle bullet at a distance of approximately 270 feet, March 28, 1950 – May 4, 1970
  
  
  • Sandra Lee Scheuer, who did not take part in the Vietnam War protests that preceded the shootings; she was shot through the throat with an M-1 semi-automatic military rifle from a distance of 130 yards while walking from one class to the next, August 11, 1949 - May 4, 1970
  
  
  • William Knox Schroeder, who was killed by a shot in the back from an M-1 semi-automatic military rifle; according to reports, he was not taking part in the Vietnam war protests that preceded the shootings, but simply going from one class to the next, July 20, 1950 - May 4, 1970
  
  
  • Nine others were wounded
  
  
  
  


• Harry Moses Horwitz, aka Moe Howard, comedian, actor, and leader of The Three Stooges, June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975


• Josip Broz Tito, leader of Yugoslavia between the end of World War II and his death, May 7, 1892 – May 4, 1980


• Robert Emerson BOB Clampett, animator, producer, director, and puppeteer, May 8, 1913–May 4, 1984


• Diana Fluck, aka Diana Dors, actress, October 23, 1931 – May 4, 1984

Also:

• World Asthma Day


• The National Association of Professional Baseball Players, or simply the National Association, was founded in 1871 and lasted through the 1875 season, after which its stronger teams created the National League. It is regarded as baseball's first professional league


• Construction begins on the Panama Canal, 1904


• British police arrest Mahatma Gandhi, and place him in Yeravda Central Prison, 1930


• Mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence in Atlanta, Georgia, for tax evasion, 1932


• World War II: Liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army, 1945


• Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, 1953


• American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South, 1961


• In the year 2006 at Two minutes and Three seconds past One in the morning the date will read: 01:02:03 04/05/06 (in the UK date format). In the year 2006 at Two minutes and One second past Three in the morning the date will read: 06-05-04 03:02:01.00 (in big-endian date/time format ignoring centuries - years-months-days hours:minutes:seconds)