Been a long time since I did a today in history post and there seemed to be lots of juicy things to write about today. I am particularly struck by the number of composers who were both born and died on this day and, without annotating them, I include them nonetheless in a separate section. By the way, this is totally raw without my usual links because I am soooo pressed for time at work today. There are some really interesting people and events below, so:
Births on January 6:
1367 Richard II Bordeaux, France, king of England (1377-99)
1412 Joan of Arc
1585 Claude Favre baron de Perouges seigneur de Vaugelas French grammarian
1587 Gaspar de Guzmán Count of Olivares, Premier of Spain (1621-43)
1602 Karl Rabenhaupt German/Dutch baron of Sucha/army leader
1745 Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier Annonay France, aeronaut (1st pioneer balloonist/brother of Joseph-Michel/co-inventor of calorimeter, hydraulic ram, and process for producing vellum)
1807 Joseph Holt Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1894
1811 Charles Sumner leading Reconstruction senator, died in 1874
1822 Heinrich Schliemann German polyglot/archeologist (Troje)
1827 John Calvin Brown Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1889
1827 John Wesley Frazer Brigadier General (Confederate Army), die in 1906
1854 Sherlock Holmes Mycroft, fictional detective (via Arthur Conan Doyle)
1864 Ban Johnson Norwalk CT, baseball founder (American League)
1878 Carl Sandburg US, poet/biographer of Lincoln (The People, Yes)
1880 Tom Mix Mix Run PA, silent screen cowboy actor (Dick Turpin)
1882 Samuel Rayburn Tennessee, (Representative-D-TX), speaker of the House (1940-57)
1883 Khalil Gibran Lebanon, mystic poet (The Prophet, Broken Wings)
1925 John Z DeLorean former automaker (DeLorean)
1931 E[dgar] L[aurence] Doctorow New York City NY, novelist (World's Fair)
1935 Nino Tempo Niagara Falls NY, rock vocalist (Deep Purple)
1937 Doris Troy [Payne], US soul singer/songwriter (Just One Kiss)
1944 Van McCoy US soul singer/songwriter (Hey Mr DJ, Hustle)
1945 Pepe Le Pew cartoon skunk (Au Dorable Kitty)
1946 Roger Keith (Syd) Barrett Cambridge England, lead guitarist (Pink Floyd-The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
1951 Kim Wilson rocker (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
1952 Armelia McQueen North Carolina (Brooklyn Conservatory), actress
1953 Malcolm Young Glasgow Scotland, guitarist (AC/DC-Highway to Hell)
1955 Rowan Atkinson Newcastle-upon-Tyne England, comedian/actor (Mr Bean, Blackadder, Never Say Never Again)
1959 Kathy Sledge Philadelphia PA, vocalist (Sister Sledge-We are Family)
1964 Mark O'Toole bassist/drummer (Frankie Goes to Hollywood-Relax)
1976 Agnieszka Zielinska Miss Poland-Universe (1997)
Deaths which occurred on January 06:
1088 Berengarius of Tours French theologist, dies
1448 Christopher III king of Denmark/Norway/Sweden, dies
1536 Baldassare Peruzzi Italian architect/painter, dies
1541 Bernard van Orley Flemish royal painter of Hungary, dies at about 52
1646 Elias Hill German architect of Augsburg, dies at 72
1693 Mehmed IV sultan (Turkey), dies at 51
1785 Haym Salomon dies in Philadelphia PA at 44, helped finance the revolution
1884 Gregor Mendel Augustine monk/heredity pioneer, dies at 61
1884 Paul Taglioni "the Great", Italian/Austrian choreographer, dies at 75
1885 Peter C Asbjørnsen Norwegian fairy tale writer, dies at 72
1919 Theodore Roosevelt 26th President (1901-09), dies at his home in Oyster Bay NY at 60
1993 Rudolph Nureyev Russian ballet dancer (Kirov), dies of AIDS at 54
1994 Tip O'Neill speaker of the house, dies of cancer
On this day in:
1066 King Harald of England crowned
1494 The first mass in America was celebrated in the Roman Catholic church on Isabella Island in Haiti. This was the first church established in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus.
1496 Moorish fortress Alhambra, near Grenada, surrenders to the Christi
1497 Jews are expelled from Graz (Styria)* (Corrected thanks to the eagle eyes of John Bruce!)
1535 City of Lima Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro
1540 King Henry VIII of England married his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves
1663 Great earthquake in New England
1681 1st recorded boxing match (Duke of Albemarle's butler vs his butcher)
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlies army draws to Glasgow
1759 George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Curtis
1773 Massachusetts slaves petition legislature for freedom
1838 Samuel Morse made 1st public demonstration of telegraph
1967 "Milton Berle Show" last airs on ABC-TV
1969 WLIW TV channel 21 in Garden City NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1973 "Schoolhouse Rock" premieres on ABC-TV with Multiplication Rock
1994 Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding's bodyguard
Composers born this day:
1486 Martin Agricola [M Sore], German composer/cantor
1683 François de La Croix composer
1692 Rynoldus Popma van Oevering composer
1695 Giuseppe Sammartini composer
1702 Jose Melchior de Nebra Blascu composer
1728 Charles-Joseph-Balthazar Sohier composer
1791 Jose Melchor Gomiz y Colomer composer
1794 Kaspar Masek composer
1798 Ferdinand Simon Gassner composer
1803 Henri Herz composer
1807 Ludwig Erk composer
1838 Max Bruch Köln (Cologne), Germany, composer
1850 Franz Xaver Scharwenka German pianist/composer (Mataswintha)
1856 Giuseppe Martucci composer
1861 Heinrich Gottlieb Noren composer
1867 Georges Martin Witkowski composer
1868 Vittorio Monti composer
1872 Alexander N Scriabin Moscow, hallucinogenic composer (Prometheus)
1873 Karl Straube German organist/conductor
1880 Yuliya Lazarevna Veysberg composer
1900 Pierre-Octave Ferroud French composer (Sarabande, Jeunesse)
1902 Mark Brunswick composer
1902 Sofie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte composer
1903 Boris Blacher Newchwang China, German composer (Orchester-Ornament)
1903 Maurice Abravanel Saloniki Greece, conductor/composer
1908 Menahem Avidom composer
1911 Yannis Andreou Papaioannou composer
1916 Philip Bezanson composer
1920 Earl Kim composer
1922 Finn Einar Mortensen composer
1949 Richard Horowitz composer
Composers who died this day:
1685 Malachias Siebenhaar composer, dies at 68
1697 Carlo Mannelli composer, dies at 56
1738 Franz Xaver Murschhauser composer, dies at 74
1742 Johann Georg Reinhardt composer, dies
1790 Johann Trier composer, dies at 73
1800 William Jones composer, dies at 73
1831 Rodolphe Kreutzer French composer/violinist (Kreutzersonate), dies at 64
1959 Jose Enrique Pedreira composer, dies at 54
1976 Oscar Esplá Spanish philosopher/composer (Sonata del Sur), dies at 89
And Kim.
Kim was born on the 6th, and he would've been 40.
Not that he's historical or anything.
Posted by: Helen at January 7, 2005 07:56 AMI love these posts, RP. They always lead me to such interesting personages! One small point of confusion - I thought Mycroft Holmes was Sherlock Holmes's brother. I was surprised to see a listing for Sherlock Holmes Mycroft.
Posted by: GrammarQueen at January 7, 2005 01:12 PMHappy New Year RP,
when you get to January 16, let me know if it lists Jan Palach, the Czech student who sit himself on fire in Prague in 1969. For some reason I've been thinking of him lately, remembering the eulogies that he would be remembered forever . . .
On that happy note, :-)
Tell me you got an A in history.
Posted by: Simon at January 9, 2005 11:55 PMThanks for the comments, y'all. Sorry about the raw state of this one, just could not get the time to get it finished that day.
Simon, you're right. History was always one of my best subjects.
Posted by: RP at January 10, 2005 07:54 AM