February 11

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Jennifer Aniston, American actress.

1967 ~ Hank Gathers (né Eric Gathers, b. Mar. 4, 1990), American basketball player.  He collapsed and died during a game.  He died less than a month after his 23^rd birthday.

1964 ~ Sarah Palin, American politician and Vice-Presidential candidate with running-mate with John McCain in the 2004 US Presidential race.  She was also the 9^th Governor of Alaska.

1961 ~ Carey Lowell, American model and actress.

1953 ~ Jeb Bush (né John Ellis Bush, Sr.), American politician and 43^rd Governor of Florida.  He was also a presidential candidate in the 2016 election.

1936 ~ Burt Reynolds (né Burton Leon Reynolds, Jr.), American actor.

1934 ~ Manuel Noriega (d. May 29, 2017), Panamanian dictator.  He died following complications of brain surgery.  He was 83 years old.

1934 ~ Tina Louise (née Tatiana Josivovna Chernova Blacker), American actress best known for her role as Ginger Grant on Gilligan’s Island.

1934 ~ Dame Mary Quant (née Barbara Mary Quant), English fashion designer who was very influential during the 1960s.

1931 ~ Lionel Batiste (d. July 8, 2012), American musician from New Orleans.  He died at age 81.

1926 ~ Leslie Nielsen (d. Nov. 28, 2010), Canadian-born American dramatic actor who bloomed into a dolt.  He became well known after the success of Airplane!  He died of pneumonia at age 84.

1926 ~ Paul Bocuse (d. Jan. 20, 2018), French chef who made chefs celebrities.  He died 22 days before his 92^nd birthday.

1925 ~ Virginia Johnson (née Mary Virginia Eshelman, d. July 24, 2013), sexologist and partner of Dr. William Masters.  She was the researcher who helped redefine sex.  She died at age 88.

1921 ~ Lloyd Bentsen (d. May 23, 2006). American politician and 69^th Secretary of the United States Treasury.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until December 1994.  He was also the 1988 Vice Presidential candidate as a running mate to Michael Dukakis.  He died at age 85.

1920 ~ King Farouk I of Egypt (d. Mar. 18, 1965).  He was overthrown during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.  He died at age 45.

1919 ~ Eva Gabor (d. July 4, 1995), Hungarian-born actress.  She is best known for her role as Lisa Douglas on the sit-com Green Acres.  She died at age 76.

1917 ~ Sidney Sheldon (d. Jan. 30, 2007), American author.  He died 12 days before his 90^th birthday.

1915 ~ Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (d. June. 10, 2011), British writer who walked across Europe.  He was 96 years old.

1909 ~ Max Baer (d. Nov. 21, 1959), American boxer.  He died of a heart attack at age 50.

1897 ~ Emil Leon Post (d. Apr. 21, 1954), Polish-born American mathematician.  He died at age 57.

1863 ~ John Francis Fitzgerald (d. Oct. 2, 1950), American politician and Mayor of Boston.  He was Mayor for two separate terms, first from 1906 until 1908 and second from 1910 until 1914.  He was known as Honey Fitz.  He was the father of Rose Kennedy and the grandfather of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  He died at age 87.

1855 ~ Ellen Day Hale (d. Feb. 11, 1940), American impressionist artist and painter.  She was from Massachusetts.  She died on her 85^th birthday.

1847 ~ Thomas Alva Edison (d. Oct. 18, 1931), American inventor.  He died at age 84.

1839 ~ Almon Strowger (d. May 26, 1902) American undertaker and inventor who patented the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.  He died at age 63.

1839 ~ Josiah Willard Gibbs (d. Apr. 28, 1903), American mathematical physicist.  An instructorship at the Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut is named in his honor.  He died at age 64.

1833 ~ Melville Weston Fuller (d. July 4, 1910), 8^th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Grover Cleveland.  He served on the Court from October 1888 until his death at age 77.

1812 ~ Alexander Hamilton Stephens (d. Mar. 4, 1813), Vice President of the Confederate States of America.  He served under Confederate President Jefferson Davis.  He died less than a month after his 71^st birthday.

1802 ~ Lydia Maria Frances Child (d. Oct. 20, 1880), American journalist, abolitionist, and activist for women’s rights.  She was from Massachusetts.  She is best known for her poem Over the River and Through The Woods.  She died at age 78.

1800 ~ Henry Fox Talbot (né William Henry Fox Talbot, d. Sept. 17, 1877), English photographer and inventor.  He died at age 77.

1796 ~ Giovanni Pacini (d. Dec. 6, 1867), Italian composer best known for his operas.  He died at age 71.

1535 ~ Pope Gregory XIV (né Niccolò Sfondrato, d. Oct. 16, 1591).  He was Pope from December 1590 until his death 10 months later.  He died at age 56.

1466 ~ Elizabeth of York (d. Feb. 11, 1503), wife of King Henry VII of England.  She died on her 37^th birthday following complications of childbirth.

Events that Changed the World:

2013 ~ Pope Benedict XVI (b. 1927) announced his intention to resign from the papacy.

2011 ~ After several weeks of protests in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak surrendered his presidency to the military, ending 30 years of authoritarian rule.  Power was transferred to the Supreme Military Council.

2006 ~ United States Vice President Dick Chaney (b. 1941) accidently shot Harry Wittington (b. 1927) in the face while quail hunting in Texas.

1990 ~ Nelson Mandela (1918 ~ 2013) was released from prison after being imprisoned as a political prisoner for 27 years.

1979 ~ The Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini (1902 ~ 1989) established an Islamic theocracy in Iran.

1973 ~ The first release of American prisoners of war in Vietnam began.

1968 ~ Israeli-Jordan border clashes begin.

1953 ~ The Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Israel.

1953 ~ President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) refused a clemency appeal for Julius (1918 ~ 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (1915 ~ 1953).  They were subsequently executed as spies against the United States.

1943 ~ General Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) was selected to command the allied armies in Europe during World War II.

1916 ~ Emma Goldman (1869 ~ 1940) was arrested for lecturing on birth control.

1861 ~ The United States House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.

1812 ~ Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry (1744 ~ 1814) signed legislation allowing the Republican-controlled legislature to designate voting districts to enhance certain partisan districting.  This practice became known as “gerrymandering”.

1794 ~ The first session of the United States Senate is opened to the public.

1790 ~ The Quakers begin to petition the United States Congress for the abolition of slavery.

1531 ~ Henry VIII of England (1491 ~ 1547) became recognized as the supreme head of the Church of England.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Bob Simon (né Robert Simon, b. May 29, 1941), American television foreign correspondent who was it all.  He was killed at age 73 from head injuries sustained when the taxi cab he was traveling in crashed.

2015 ~ Jerry Esther Tarkanian (b. Aug. 8, 1930), American rebel basketball coach who battled the NCAA.  He was the long-term head coach for the men’s basketball team at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he was known as Tark the Shark.  He was 84.

2012 ~ Whitney Houston (b. Aug. 9, 1963), American singer.  She died of drowning due to a drug overdose.  She was 48 years old.

2010 ~ Alexander McQueen (né Lee Alexander McQueen, b. Mar. 17, 1969), English fashion designer who embraced audacity.  He committed suicide at age 40 on the eve of his mother’s funeral.  She had died 9 days earlier.

2009 ~ Estelle Bennett (b. July 22, 1941), American sassy ‘60s singer who rocked with the Ronettes.  She died at age 67.

2009 ~ Willem Johan Kolff (b. Feb. 14, 1911), Dutch surgeon who was the father of artificial organs.  He died 3 days before his 98^th birthday.

2008 ~ Tom Lantos (né Tamás Péter Lantos, b. Feb. 1, 1928), Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who championed human rights.  He served in the United States Congress, representing California, for over 25 years.  He died 10 days after his 80^th birthday.

2006 ~ Peter Bradford Benchley (b. May 8, 1940), American author and screenwriter.  He is best known for his novel Jaws.  He died of complications of pulmonary fibrosis at age 65.

2000 ~ Roger Vadim (né Roger Vadim Plemiannikov, b. Jan. 26, 1928), French actor and director.  He was married 5 times to several women including Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda.  He died of cancer 16 days after his 72^nd birthday.

1994 ~ William Conrad (b. Sept. 27, 1920), American actor.  He died at age 73.

1993 ~ Robert William Holley (b. Jan. 28, 1922), American biochemist and recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 14 days after his 71^st birthday.

1986 ~ Frank Herbert (b. 1920), American author best known for his science fiction series Dune.  He died at age 65.

1978 ~ Harry Martinson (b. May 6, 1904), Swedish author and recipient of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 73.

1976 ~ Dorothy Maud Wrinch (b. Sept. 12, 1894), English mathematician.  She died in Falmouth, Massachusetts at age 81.

1973 ~ J. Hans D. Jensen (né Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen, b. June 25, 1907), German physicist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 65.

1963 ~ Sylvia Plath (b. Oct. 27, 1932), American poet who committed suicide at age 30.

1948 ~ Sergei Malkailovich Eisenstein (b. Jan. 22, 1898), Soviet film director and film theorist.  He is best known for his 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.  He died of a heart attack 20 days after his 50^th birthday.

1940 ~ Ellen Day Hale (b. Feb. 11, 1955), American impressionist artist and painter.  She was from Massachusetts.  She died on her 85^th birthday.

1931 ~ Sir Charles Algeronon Parsons (b. June 13, 1854), Irish engineer and inventor of the steam turbine.  He died at age 76.

1923 ~ Wilhelm Killing (b. May 10, 1847), German mathematician.  He died at age 75.

1901 ~ Milan I of Serbia (b. Aug. 22, 1854).  He ruled Serbia first as Prince, then as King from 1868 until 1889.  In January 1889, Milan adopted a new constitution and two months later abdicated the throne to his young son.  He died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 46.

1868 ~ Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (b. Sept. 18, 1819), French physicist, best known for the invention of the Foucault pendulum.  He died at age 48.

1828 ~ DeWitt Clinton (b. Mar. 2, 1769), 6^th Governor of New York.  He had also served as the Mayor of New York.  He died less than a month before his 59^th birthday.

1650 ~ René Descartes (b. Mar. 31, 1596), French philosopher and mathematician.  He died at age 53.

1626 ~ Pietro Cataldi (b. Apr. 15, 1552), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1503 ~ Elizabeth of York (b. Feb. 11, 1466), Queen consort of Henry VII of England.  She died on her 37^th birthday following complications of childbirth.

824 ~ Pope Paschal I (né Pascale Massimi).  He was pope from January 817 until his death on this date 7 years later.  The date of his birth is not known.

806 ~ Emperor Shunzong of Tang (b. 761).  The exact date of his birth is not known.

731 ~ Pope Gregory II (né Gregorius Sabellus, b. 669).  He was Pope from May 715 until his death nearly 16 years later.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

55 ~ Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (b. Feb. 12, 41), heir to the Roman Emperorship, died under mysterious circumstances.  His death led to Nero stepping up to become Emperor.  He was the Roman son of Claudius.  He is believed to have died a day before his 14^th birthday.