Thursday, January 30, 2020

January 30

Birthdays:

1974 ~ Christian Bale (né Christian Charles Philip Bale), Welsh actor.  He was born in Haverfordwest, Wales.

1974 ~ Olivia Colman (née Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman), English actress.  She is best known for her role as Queen Anne in the movie The Favorite.

1968 ~ King Felipe VI of Spain.  He ascended to the throne in June 2014 upon the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos I.  He was born in Madrid, Spain.

1962 ~ King Abdullah II of Jordan.  He became king in 1999.  He was born in Amman, Jordon.

1957 ~ Payne Stewart (né William Payne Stewart; d. Oct. 25, 1999), American golfer.  He was killed in an airplane crash at age 42.

1955 ~ John Baldacci (né John Elias Baldacci), 73rd Governor of Maine.  He served as Governor from January 2003 until January 2011.  He was born in Bangor, Maine.

1949 ~ Peter Agre, American physician and biologist.  He was the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Northfield, Minnesota.

1948 ~ Miles Reid (né Miles Anthony Reid), English mathematician who works in algebraic geometry.  He was born in Hoddesdon, England.

1945 ~ Meir Dagan (né Meir Huberman; d. Mar. 17, 2016), Israeli military officer and Director of Mossad from 2002 until 2011.  He died of cancer at age 71.

1942 ~ Marty Balin (né Martyn Jerel Buchwald; d. Sept. 27, 2018), American s inger who sparked a rock revolution.  He founded the band Jefferson Airplane.  He died at age 76.

1941 ~ Dick Chaney (né Richard Bruce Chaney), 46th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President George W. Bush from January 2001 until January 2009.  He had previously served as the 17th United States Secretary of Defense during the George H.W. Bush administration from March 1989 until January 1993.  He also served as a Representative from Wyoming in the United States House of Representatives.  From November 1975 until January 1977, he served as the White House Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford.  The 2018 movie Vice was a depiction of his life.  He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1937 ~ Vanessa Redgrave, English actress.  She was born in Greenwich, England.

1937 ~ Boris Spassky (né Boris Vasilievich Spassky), Russian chess master.  He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1931 ~ Shirley Hazzard (d. Dec. 12, 2016), Australian writer best known for her book The Transit of Venus.  She died at age 85.

1930 ~ Gene Hackman (né Eugene Allen Hackman), American actor.  He was born in San Bernardino, California.

1928 ~ Harold Prince (né Harold Smith Prince; d. July 31, 2019), American stage and Broadway giant who shook up musicals.  He died at age 91.

1927 ~ Olof Palme (né Sven Olaf Joachim Palme; d. Feb. 28, 1986), Prime Minister of Sweden.  He was assassinated a month after his 59th birthday.

1925 ~ Douglas Engelbart (né Douglas Carl Engelbart; d. July 2, 2013), American computer scientist and inventor of the computer mouse.  He was also responsible for laying out the principles of computer networking.  He died at age 88.

1924 ~ Margaret Yorke (née Margaret Larminie; d. Nov. 17, 2012), British crime fiction author.  She died at age 88.

1922 ~ Dick Martin (né Thomas Richard Martin, d. May 24, 2008), American comedian and goofy co-host of Laugh-In.  He died at age 86.

1915 ~ John Profumo, 5th Baron Profumo (né John Dennis Profumo; d. Mar. 9, 2006), British Secretary of State for War.  He was caught in a sex scandal in the 1960s.  He died of a stroke at age 91.

1914 ~ David Wayne (né Wayne James McMeekan; d. Feb. 9, 1995), American actor.  He died of lung cancer 10 days after his 81st birthday.

1912 ~ Barbara W. Tuchman (née Barbara Wertheim; d. Feb. 6, 1989), American historian.  She is best known for her book The Guns of August, which is about the first month of World War I.  She died 7 days after her 77th birthday.

1899 ~ Max Theiler (d. Aug. 11, 1972), South African virologist and recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in developing a vaccine against yellow fever.  He died at age 73 in New Haven, Connecticut.

1894 ~ Boris III of Bulgaria (d. Aug. 28, 1943), Tsar of Bulgaria from October 1918 until his death on this date 25 years later.  He is best known for taking steps to protect the Jews of Bulgaria during World War II.  He was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháy.  He was married to Princess Giovanna of Italy.  He died of a heart attack at age 49.

1882 ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt (né Franklin Delano Roosevelt; d. Apr. 12, 1945), 32nd United States President.  He served in Office from March 1933 until his death on this date in 1945.  He is the only President to have been elected for 3 terms.  He died at age 63.

1844 ~ Richard Greener (né Richard Theodore Greener; d. May 2, 1922), lawyer who was the first African-American to graduate from Harvard College.  He went on to become the dean of the Howard University School of Law.  He died age 78.

1841 ~ Félix Faure (né Félix François Faure; d. Feb. 16, 1899), President of France.  He served as President from January 1895 until his death in February 1899.  He died in Office of apoplexy just 17 days after his 58th birthday.

1816 ~ Nathaniel Banks (né Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, d. Sept. 1, 1894), 24th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1858 until January 1861.  He also served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from February 1856 until March 1857.  He was born and died in Waltham, Massachusetts.  He was 78 at the time of his death.

1736 ~ James Watt (d. Aug. 25, 1819), Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer best know for the creation of the modern steam engine.  He died at age 83.

1615 ~ Thomas Rolfe (d. 1675), American son of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe.  The exact date of his death is not known.

Events that Changed the World:

1972 ~ British Paratroopers killed 14 unarmed civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland in this date, which became known as Bloody Sunday.

1969 ~ The Beatles’ last public performance took place on the roof of Apple Records in London.  The police later broke up this impromptu concert.

1968 ~ The Tet Offensive was launched by forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam and the United States.  It was one of the largest military campaigns in the Vietnam War.  The offense occurred late at night and in the early morning hours of January 31, on the Vietnamese New Year, hence the name of the event.

1948 ~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869 ~ 1948) was assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse.

1933 ~ Adolf Hitler (1889 ~ 1945) was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

1862 ~ The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor, was launched.

1847 ~ Yerba Buena, California was renamed San Francisco.

1835 ~ Richard Lawrence (1800 ~ 1861) attempted an assassination attempt on President Andrew Jackson (1767 ~ 1845) in the first known assassination attempt against an American president.  Lawrence spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.

1826 ~ The first modern suspension bridge, the Menai Suspension Bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north west coast of Wales, opened.

1820 ~ Irish sailor Edward Bransfield (1785 ~ 1852) claimed the discovery of Antarctica with the sighting of its Trinity Peninsula.

1815 ~ President James Madison (1751 ~ 1836) approved the Act of the United States Congress to the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's library.  Jefferson had nearly 6,500 volumes, which became the nucleus of the Library of Congress.

1661 ~ Oliver Cromwell (1599 ~ 1658), Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England was ritually executed 2 years after his death, on the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I of England (1600 ~ 1649), the monarch he had deposed in 1649.

1607 ~ A massive flood unexpectedly struck along the coast of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England, which may have been caused by a tsunami.  It is believed about 2,000 people were drowned.

516 BCE ~ The traditional date ascribed to the completion of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

Good-byes:

2018 ~ Mark Saling (né Mark Wayne Saling; b. Aug. 17, 1982), American actor and musician.  He was best known for his role as Puck on the television series Glee.  He was born in Dallas, Texas.  He had been arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.  He pled guilty, but died by suicide before he was sentence.  He died at age 35.

2017 ~ Harold Rosen (b. Mar. 20, 1926), American satellite pioneer who got the world talking.  He was known as the Father of the Communication Satellite.  He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He died at age 90 of complications of a stroke.

2015 ~ Želju Mitev Želev (b. Mar. 3, 1935), President of Bulgaria from January 1992 until January 1997.  He died at age 79.

2015 ~ Carl Djerassi (b. Oct. 29, 1923), Austrian-born chemist who helped develop the birth control pill.  He died at age 91.

2013 ~ Patty Andrews (née Patricia Marie Andrews; b. Feb. 16, 1918), last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters vocal trio.  She died 17 days before her 95th birthday.

2009 ~ Ingemar Johansson (né Jens Ingemar Johansson, b. Sept. 22, 1932), Swedish world heavyweight champion who beat Floyd Patterson.  He was known as The Hammer Thor.  He died at age 76.

2009 ~ Milton Parker (b. Jan. 10, 1919), American businessman, restaurateur and co-founder of the Carnegie Deli.  He made the Carnegie Deli famous.  He died 20 days after his 90th birthday,

2007 ~ Sidney Sheldon (né Sidney Schechtel; b. Feb. 11, 1917), American author.  He died 12 days before his 90thbirthday.

2006 ~ Wendy Wasserstein (b. Oct. 18, 1950), American playwright.  She died of lymphoma at age 55.

2006 ~ Coretta Scott King (né Coretta Scott; b. Apr. 27, 1927), American civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.  She died of ovarian cancer at age 78 years old.

1995 ~ Gerald Durrell (né Gerald Malcolm Durrell; b. Jan. 7, 1925), British naturalist and author.  He wrote The Whispering Lands, which is about Patagonia.  He died 23 days after his 70th birthday.

1991 ~ John Bardeen (b. May 23, 1908), American physicist and recipient of the 1956 and 1972 Nobel Prizes in Physics.  To date, he is the only individual to have won two Nobel Prizes in Physics.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 82.

1980 ~ Professor Longhair (né Henry Roeland Byrd, b. Dec. 19, 1918), African-American New Orleans Blues singer-songwriter and pianist.  He was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana and died in New Orleans.  He died of a heart attack at age 61.

1973 ~ Elizabeth Baker (née Elizabeth Faulkner Baker; b. Dec. 10, 1885), American economist.  She died at age 87.

1969 ~ Dominique Pire (né George Charles Clement Ghislain Pire; b. Feb. 10, 1910), Belgian monk and recipient of the 1958 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in assisting refugees following World War II.  He died of complications following surgery 11 days before his 59th birthday.

1958 ~ Ernst Hienkel (b. Jan. 24, 1888), German aviation engineer.  He was a member of the Nazi party.  He died 6 days after his 70th birthday.

1951 ~ Ferdinand Porsche (b. Sept. 3, 1875), Austrian-German engineer and businessman.  He founded the Porsche automobile company.  He was a member of the Nazi party.  He died of a stroke at age 75.

1948 ~ Orville Wright (b. Aug. 19, 1871), American aviation pioneer, who along with his brother, Wilber (1867 ~ 1912), invented the airplane.  Orville died at age 76.

1948 ~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi (b. Oct. 2, 1869), Indian pacifist and spiritual leader.  He advocated non-violent disobedience.  He was assassinated by a Hindu extremist.  He was 78 at the time of his death.

1934 ~ Frank Doubleday (né Frank Nelson Doubleday; b. Jan. 8, 1862), American publisher and founder of the Doubleday Publishing Company.  He died 22 days after his 72nd birthday.

1928 ~ Johannes Fibiger (né Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger; b. Apr. 23, 1867), Danish physician and recipient of the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died of colon cancer at age 60.

1910 ~ Granville Woods (né Granville Tailer Woods; b. Apr. 23, 1856), African-American inventor and engineer.  He held over 50 patents.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 53.

1888 ~ Asa Gray (b. Nov. 18, 1810), American botanist.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He died at age 77.

1836 ~ Betsy Ross (née Elizabeth Griscom; b. Jan. 1, 1752), American seamstress who is credited with making the first American Flag, although there is no evidence to support this legend.  She died 29 days after her 84th birthday.

1730 ~ Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. Oct. 23, 1715).  He was Emperor from May 1727 until his death in January 3 years later.  He was of the House of Romanov.  He died of smallpox at age 14.

1649 ~ King Charles I of England and Ireland and King of Scotland (b. Nov. 19, 1600).  He was king from March 1625 until his execution in January 1649.  He was of the House of Stuart.  He was tried and convicted of high treason and was beheaded at age 48.

970 ~ Peter I of Bulgaria.  He was Tsar from 927 until 969.  He was married to Irene Lekapene.  He then became a monk and died of a stroke in January 970.  The date of his birth is not known.

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