Monday, November 8, 2021

November 8

Birthdays:

 

2003 ~ Lady Louise Windsor (née Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor), daughter of the British Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.  She is of the House of Windsor.

 

1986 ~ Aaron Swartz (né Aaron Hillel Swartz; d. Jan. 11, 2013), Computer wizard whose activism for an open Web led to wire-fraud charges.  He was arrested on computer hacking and committed suicide before his trial.  He was born in Highland Park, Illinois.  He was 26 years old at the time of his death in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1968 ~ Parker Posey (née Parker Christian Posey), American actress.  She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1954 ~ Rickie Lee Jones, American musician.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1952 ~ Alfre Woodard, African-American actress.  She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 

1949 ~ Bonnie Raitt (née Bonnie Lynn Raitt), American musician.  She was born in Burbank, California.

 

1947 ~ Margaret Rhea Seddon, American physician and astronaut.  She flew on three Space Shuttle missions.  She was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

 

1931 ~ Morley Safer (d. May 19, 2016), American journalist.  He is best known for his long tenure on 60 Minutes, where he worked for nearly 36 years.  He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  He died of pneumonia at age 84 just 1 week after his retirement from 60 Minutes in New York, New York.

 

1929 ~ Eugeniu Iordachescu (d. Jan. 4, 2019), Romanian civil engineer who rolled Romanian churches to safety.  When the Communist Party came into Romania, it intended to demolish ancient churches in the country.  Eugeniu Iordachescu persuaded the government to relocate these churches.  He died of a heart attack at age 89.

 

1929 ~ Bobby Bowden (né Robert Cleckler Bowden; d. Aug. 8, 2021), American football coach who brought glory to Florida State University.  He was born in Birmingham, Alabama.  He died at age 91 in Tallahassee, Florida.

 

1927 ~ Patti Page (née Clara Ann Fowler; d. Jan. 1, 2013), American 1950s singing sensation who ruled the radio.  She made a 1950 hit of Tennessee Waltz.  She was born in Claremore, Oklahoma.  She died at age 85 inn Encinitas, California.

 

1926 ~ Jim Barrett (né James L. Barrett; d. Mar. 14, 2013), California vintner who bested the French.  He was the owner of Chateau Montelena, which won the 1976 Chardonnay competition.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 86 in San Francisco, California.

 

1923 ~ Jack Kilby (né Jack St. Clair Kilby, d. June 20, 2005), American physicist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was also the co-inventor of the handheld calculator and thermal printer.  He was born in Great Bend, Kansas.  He died at age 81 in Dallas, Texas.

 

1922 ~ Christiaan Barnard (né Christiaan Neethling Bernard, d. Sept. 2, 2001), South African cardiac surgeon who performed the first human heart-to-heart transplant.  He died of a severe asthma attack at age 78 in Paphos, Cyprus.

 

1920 ~ Esther Rolle (d. Nov. 17, 1998), African-American actress best known for her role as Florida Evans on the television sit-com Maude.  She was born in Pompano Beach, Flirida.  She died just 9 days after her 78th birthday of complications from diabetes in Culver City, California.

 

1914 ~ George Dantzig (né George Bernard Dantzig, d. May 13, 2005), American mathematician.  He was born in Portland, Oregon.  He died at age 90 in Stanford, California.

 

1913 ~ Max Desfor (d. Feb. 19, 2018), American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who shot history.  He is best known for his award-winning photographs of the Korean War.  He was born in The Bronx, New York.  He died at age 104 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

 

1908 ~ Martha Gellhorn (née Martha Ellis Gellhorn; d. Feb. 15, 1998), American journalist.  She is considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th Century.  She covered nearly every major conflict throughout the world during her 60-year career.  She was also the 3rd wife of writer Ernest Hemingway.  She was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  She died at age 89 in London, England.

 

1903 ~ Ronald Lockley (né Ronald Mathias Lockley; d. Apr. 12, 2000), Welsh ornithologist and naturalist.  His 1964 book, The Private Life of the Rabbit, inspired Richard Adam’s novel Watership Down.  He was born in Cardiff, Wales.  He died at age 96 in Auckland, New Zealand.

 

1900 ~ Margaret Mitchell (née Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell; d. Aug. 16, 1949), American novelist who wrote Gone with the Wind.  She was born and died in Atlanta, Georgia.  She died at age 48 after having been struck by a speeding car as she crossed a street.

 

1897 ~ Dorothy Day (d. Nov. 29, 1980), American journalist and activist.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.  She died 21 days after her 83rd birthday in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1884 ~ Hermann Rorschach (d. Apr. 1, 1922), Swiss psychologist and author.  He is best known for devising the inkblot test.  He died at age 37 of peritonitis following a rupture appendix.

 

1878 ~ Dorothea Bate (née Dorothea Minola Alice Bate; d. Jan. 13, 1951), Walsh paleontologist and archeozoologist.  She died of a heart attack at age 72.

 

1868 ~ Felix Hausdorff (d. Jan. 26, 1942), German mathematician.  He was unable to emigrate to the United States, so instead of complying with the Nazi orders to move to a concentration camp, he and his wife committed suicide.  He was 73 years old at the time of his death.

 

1865 ~ Henry L. Fuqua, Sr. (né Henry Luce Fuqua; d. Oct. 11, 1926), Baton Rouge businessman and 38th Governor of Louisiana.  He died in office of causes unknown.  He was born and died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He died less than a month before his 61st birthday.

 

1848 ~ Gottlob Frege (né Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege; d. July 26, 1925), German mathematician and logician.  He died at age 76.

 

1847 ~ Jean Casimir-Perier (né Jean Paul Casimir-Perier; d. Mar. 11, 1907), President of France during the 3rd Republic. He was President for only 6 months, from June 1894 until January 1895.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died at age 59.

 

1847 ~ Bram Stoker (né Abraham Stoker; d. Apr. 20, 1912), Irish novelist who was best known for his Gothic novel, Dracula.  He was born in Dublin, Ireland.  He died at age 64 in London, England.

 

1838 ~ Rufus W. Peckham (né Rufus Wheelen Peckham; d. Oct. 24, 1909), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Grover Cleveland.  He replaced Howell Jackson on the Court.  He was succeeded by Horace Lurton.  He was born in Albany, New York.  He died 15 days before his 71stbirthday in Altamont, New York.

 

1836 ~ Milton Bradley (d. May 30, 1911), American businessman and founder of the Milton Bradley Company.  He was born in Vienna, Maine and died in Springfield, Massachusetts at age 74.

 

1772 ~ William Wirt (d. Feb. 18, 1834), 9th United States Attorney General.  He served under Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams from November 1817 until March 1829.  He is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney into one of great influence.  He was born in Bladensburg, Maryland.  He died at age 61 in Washington, D.C.

 

1768 ~ Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom (d. Sept. 22, 1840).  She was of the House of Hanover.  She was the daughter of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.  She died at age 71.

 

1715 ~ Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (d. Jan. 13, 1797), Queen consort of Prussia and wife of Frederick II, King of Prussia.  She was of the House of Brunswick-Bevern.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Wolfenbüttel-Bevern and Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.  She died at age 81.

 

1710 ~ Sarah Fielding (d. Apr. 9, 1768), British author and sister of writer Henry Fielding.  She died at age 58.

 

1656 ~ Edmond Halley (d. Jan. 25, 1742), British astronomer and mathematician.  He is best known for calculating the orbit of the comet that was ultimately named in his honor ~ Halley’s Comet.  He died at age 85.

 

1622 ~ Charles X Gustav, King of Sweden (d. Feb. 13, 1660).  He reigned from June 1654 until his death 6 years later. He was of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.  He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 37.

 

1342 ~ Julian of Norwich (d. after 1416), English mystic and saint.  The exact date of her birth is not known; but is believed to have been in late 1342.  She wrote the earliest surviving book in the English language that was written by a woman.  Her accomplishments are referenced in the novel The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2016 ~ Election Day in the United States.  Donald Trump (b. 1946) was elected as the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton (b. 1947).

 

2013 ~ Typhoon Haiyan hit The Philippines causing massive damage.  Over 6,300 people perished in the storm.

 

1988 ~ George H.W. Bush (1924 ~ 2018) was elected as the 41st President of the United States.  He had previously served as 43rd Vice President under President Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004).

 

1973 ~ The right ear of John Paul Getty III (1956 ~ 2011) was sent to a newspaper along with a ransom note.  His grandfather, J. Paul Getty (1892 ~ 1976), initially refused to pay the ransom.  Ultimately a ransom was paid and John Paul Getty was released in mid-December 1973.  This event was depicted in the 2017 film, All the Money in the World.

 

1972 ~ HBO (Home Box Office) first began programming.  It’s first broadcast was the 1971 movie, Sometimes a Great Notion.

 

1966 ~ Edward Brooke (1919 ~ 2015), the former Attorney General of Massachusetts, became the first African-American to be elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.

 

1965 ~ The United Kingdom abolished the death penalty.

 

1960 ~ John F. Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963) was elected 35th President of the United States.  He was the youngest elected president.  He defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994).

 

1933 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) announced the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression.

 

1932 ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) was elected to his first term as the 32nd President of the United States.  He defeated incumbent president Herbert Hoover (1874 ~ 1964).

 

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen (1845 ~ 1923) discovered the X-ray.

 

1892 ~ The New Orleans general strike began, which united both black and white American trade unionists in a 4-day general strike action.

 

1889 ~ Montana became the 41st State of the Union.

 

1864 ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1965) was re-elected to a 2nd term as President of the United States.

 

1837 ~ Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts (later renamed to Mount Holyoke College) opened for women.  The school was founded by Mary Mason Lyon (1897 ~ 1849).  She was a strong advocate for the education of women, and in 1834, she had founded the Wheaton Female Seminary (now known as Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts.

 

1602 ~ The Bodleian Library, the main research library at the University of Oxford, opened to the public.  It is one of the oldest libraries in Europe.

 

1291 ~ The Republic of Venice enacted a law that confined most of Venice’s glassmaking industry to the island of Murano.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Alex Trebek (né George Alexander Trebek; b. July 22, 1940), Canadian unflappable quizmaster and game show host who captained Jeopardy!  He was born in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 80 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2018 ~ Raymond Plank (b. May 29, 1922), American tax expert who became an oil giant.  He was the founder and Chairman of the Apache Corporation.  He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He died at age 96.

 

2014 ~ Ernie Vandeweghe (né Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe, Jr.; b. Sept. 12, 1928), Canadian-American physician who played professional basketball for the New York Knicks.  He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  He died at age 86 in Newport Beach, California.

 

2013 ~ William C. Davidon (né William Cooper Davidon; b. Mar. 18, 1927), American mathematician and political activist.  He was the mastermind of the 1971 break-in in the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, which uncovered illegal activities of FBI operations.  He was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  He died at age 86 in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

 

2011 ~ Bil Keane (né William Aloysius Keane; b. Oct. 5, 1922), American cartoonist and chronicled family life with the creation of Family Circle.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died just a month after his 89th birthday in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

 

2009 ~ Vitaly Ginzburg (b. Oct. 4, 1916), Russian-born theoretical physicist who worked on the H-bomb.  He was the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born and died in Moscow, Russia.  He died at age 93.

 

2003 ~ C.Z. Guest (née Lucy Douglas Cochrane; b. Feb. 19, 1920), American stage actress and socialite.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died of cancer at age 83 in Old Westbury, New York.

 

1998 ~ Rumer Godden (née Margaret Rumer Godden; b. Dec. 10, 1907), British writer.  She died a month before her 91stbirthday.

 

1983 ~ Mordecai Kaplan (né Mottel Kaplan, b. June 11, 1881), Lithuanian-born American rabbi and founder of the Reconstructionist movement.  He died at age 102 in New York, New York.

 

1978 ~ Norman Rockwell (né Norman Perceval Rockwell; b. Feb. 3, 1894), American illustrator.  He is best known for creating the covers for The Saturday Evening Post.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

 

1970 ~ Napoleon Hill (né Oliver Napoleon Hill; b. Oct. 26, 1883), American self-help author.  He is best known for his book, Think and Grow Rich.  He is also considered to have been a con-artist.  He was born in Pound, Virginia.  He died 13 days after his 87th birthday in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

1960 ~ Otto Rohwedder (né Otto Frederick Rohwedder b. July 7, 1880), American engineer and inventor of sliced bread. Interestingly, the first loaves of sliced bread began to be sold on his 48th birthday.  He was born in Des Moines, Iowa.  He died at age 80 in Concord, Michigan.

 

1953 ~ Ivan Bunin (Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin b. Oct. 22, 1870), Russian author and recipient of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 2 weeks after his 83rd birthday in Paris, France.

 

1887 ~ Doc Holliday (né John Henry Holliday; b. Aug. 14, 1851), American gambler, gunfighter and dentist in the American Wild West.  He was born in Griffin, Georgia.  He died at age 36 of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

 

1858 ~ Benjamin Franklin Butler (b. Dec. 17, 1795), 12th United States Attorney General.  He served under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren from November 1833 until July 1838.  He was born in Kinderhook Landing, New York.  He died at age 62 while visiting in Paris, France.

 

1719 ~ Michel Rolle (b. Apr. 21, 1652), French mathematician.  He died at age 67 in Paris, France.

 

1703 ~ John Wallis (b. Dec. 3, 1616), English mathematician.  He died less than a month before his 87th birthday

 

1674 ~ John Milton (b. Dec. 9, 1608), English poet.  He is best known for his work Paradise Lost.  He died a month before his 66th birthday.

 

1308 ~ John Duns Scotus (b. 1266), Scottish philosopher.  He is believed to have been 42 at the time of his death, but the date of his birth is unknown.

 

1226 ~ Louis VIII of France (b. Sept. 5, 1187).  He reigned as King from July 1223 until his death 2 years later.  He was known as Louis the Lion.  He died at age 39.

 

955 ~ Pope Agapetus II (b. Mar. 5, 905).  He was Pope from May 10, 1946 until his death 8 and a half years ago.  He was 50 years old at the time of his death.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but is sometimes ascribed to March 5, 905.

 

618 ~ Pope Adeodatus I.  He was Pope from October 615 until his death on this date 3 years later.  He is also known as Saint Adeodatus.  The date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 48 years old at the time of his death.

 

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