Today CVI

Birthdays:

• Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, husband of Mary Shelley, August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822


• Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra, August 4, 1805 – September 2, 1865


• John Venn, logician and philosopher, who is famous for conceiving the Venn diagrams, August 4, 1834 – April 4, 1923


• Knut Hamsun, author, awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, August 4, 1859 – February 19, 1952


• Jacob Peter Beckley, MLB first baseman, played from 1888 to 1907, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971., August 4, 1867 - June 25, 1918


• Sir Harry Lauder, singer, songwriter, entertainer, music-hall and vaudeville artist, August 4, 1870 - February 26, 1950


• Adolfo DOLF Luque, MLB pitcher, August 4, 1890 - July 3, 1957


• Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite), Duchess of York, later Queen Elizabeth, Queen Consort of George VI of the United Kingdom from 1936 until his death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in relation to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II; last Queen of Ireland and Empress of India, August 4, 1900 – March 30, 2002


• Louis Daniel "Satchmo" Armstrong, jazz trumpeter and singer, listen to his music!, August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971


• William Anthony "Wild Bill" Hallahan, MLB lefthanded pitcher, August 4, 1902 - July 8, 1981


• Kurt Peter Eichhorn, conductor and teacher, August 4, 1908 – June 29, 1994


• William Howard Schuman, composer, musician, songwriter, and music administrator, August 4, 1910–February 15, 1992


• Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Ph.D., mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and mountaineer, August 4, 1912 – July 27, 1999


• Raoul Gustav Wallenberg, diplomat and hero; in the later stages of World War II, he worked tirelessly and at great personal risk to save many thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust; he was later arrested by the Soviets who suspected him of being a spy; the circumstances of his death while in their custody are still a matter of great controversy, August 4, 1912 - ???


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


• Jess Thomas, lyric and Wagnerian tenor, August 4, 1927 - October 11, 1993


• David Vickerman Bedford, composer and musician, popular music and classical; in the 1970's, he conducted and orchestrated Mike Oldfield's Orchestral Tubular Bells album, 1937


• Rosemarie Timotea Aurro, aka Timi Yuro, soul and R&B singer, one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists, August 4, 1940 - March 30, 2004


• Richard Belzer, standup comedian, writer, and actor, 1944


• Maureen Cox Starkey, former wife of Richard Starkey [Ringo Starr], August 4, 1946 – December 30, 1994


• Klaus Schulze, aka Richard Wahnfried, electronic art music composer and musician, drummer and cofounding member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before a prolific solo career, 1947


• John Maywood JOHNNY Grubb, Jr., former MLB outfielder, DH, and occasional first baseman from 1972 to 1987, 1948


• William Robert BILLY BOB Thornton, Academy Award-winning actor, screenwriter, director, playwright, and singer, 1955


• William ROGER "Rocket" Clemens, MLB starting pitcher, has won seven Cy Young Awards -- two more than any other pitcher; has more than 4000 strikeouts, and has won more than 300 games; won the AL MVP in 1986; twice won the AL pitching Triple Crown; twice struck out 20 batters in 9 innings; currently plays for the Houston Astros, 1962


• Daniel Dae Kim, actor, 1968


• Troy Franklin O'Leary, former MLB left fielder, played for 11 seasons, 1969


• Michael Robert DeLuise, actor and director, son of Dom DeLuise, 1970

RIP:

• Juan Sebastián Elcano, explorer and merchant ship captain, commanded the first successful expedition to circumnavigate the globe in 1522, 1476 – August 4, 1526


• Giovanni Battista Martini, musician, violinist, singer, and harpsichordist, April 24, 1706 - August 4, 1784


• Hans Christian Andersen, author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales, April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875


• Pearl Fay White, singer and star of silent film, famous for The Perils of Pauline, March 4, 1889 - August 4, 1938


• Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, aka Melvyn Douglas, actor, won two Oscars, a Tony, and an Emmy, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981


• Jeanne Louise Calment, has the longest confirmed lifespan in history at 122 years and 164 days, February 21, 1875 – August 4, 1997


• Victor Mature, actor, January 29, 1913 - August 4, 1999


• Leslie Fisher, aka Leslie Glass, model, actress, and animal rescuer, October 4, 1963 - August 4, 2000


• Gerald David Music, aka Lorenzo Music, actor, voice actor, writer, television producer, and musician, the voice of the animated cartoon cat Garfield, and of Carlton the doorman on Rhoda, May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001


• Frederick Chapman Robbins, pediatrician and virologist, shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John Franklin Enders and Thomas Huckle Weller for breakthrough work in the isolation and growth of the polio virus, paving the way for vaccines developed by Salk, Sabin, and others, August 25, 1916 – August 4, 2003