Okay, found this one in Satima Flavell's blog and it looked like fun, so here goes: my birthday is September 3. The idea is, you pick four events, three births, two deaths and one holiday connected with that day.
I looked in Wikipedia and was spoiled for choice with events, but most were battles and I didn't want to count the coronation of Richard 1 of England, because it led to the massacre of Jews at York. All they wanted was to give the new king a gift and... Never mind.
Event 1: Foundation of San Marino, one of the world's smallest nations and the oldest Republic still in existence, in the year 301. Okay, it's a micro state located in Italy, but why not? Apparently it once made Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen!
Event 2: 1802, Wordsworth composes the poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, the one that begins with "Earth hath not anything to show more fair"? Well, I've heard it, anyway.
Event 3: In 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery on this day. He went on to become a famous abolitionist and writer.
Event 4: my favourite, 1976, Viking 2 lands on Mars!
Births:
1. 1899: Frank McFarlane Burnett, an Aussie biologist who won a Nobel Prize.
2. 1910: Kitty Carlisle, who sang with Alan Jones in that delicious Marx Brothers movie, A Night At The Opera. Who can forget that scene where the Marx Brothers stuff up the production of Il Trovatore? And she had a glorious voice, not surprising, as she actually was an opera singer.
3. 1926: Irene Papas, a Greek actress who shouldn't need too much introduction. I remember her as Helen of Troy in that movie of The Trojan Women, in which Katharine Hepburn was Hecuba. Brilliant!
Deaths:
1. Robert Greene, in 1592. You may or may not have heard of him, but he was a colourful character who may have inspired Shakespeare's Falstaff and did write the novel that inspired Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. He would have hated the idea of inspiring Shakespeare, about whom he said some rude things early in the Bard's career. Oh, and another thing: he may have been one of the first people in England to make a living out of writing - how cool is that?
2. 1991 Frank Capra, who directed Arsenic And Old Lace and It's A Wonderful Life.
Holiday: okay, this is cheating a bit, but it's the feast day of St Marinus, who founded San Marino.
How about you, readers? Got anything to say about your birthday?
And it's just before midnight on New Year's Eve, so it's my last post for the year. Good night!
I looked in Wikipedia and was spoiled for choice with events, but most were battles and I didn't want to count the coronation of Richard 1 of England, because it led to the massacre of Jews at York. All they wanted was to give the new king a gift and... Never mind.
Event 1: Foundation of San Marino, one of the world's smallest nations and the oldest Republic still in existence, in the year 301. Okay, it's a micro state located in Italy, but why not? Apparently it once made Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen!
Event 2: 1802, Wordsworth composes the poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, the one that begins with "Earth hath not anything to show more fair"? Well, I've heard it, anyway.
Event 3: In 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery on this day. He went on to become a famous abolitionist and writer.
Event 4: my favourite, 1976, Viking 2 lands on Mars!
Births:
1. 1899: Frank McFarlane Burnett, an Aussie biologist who won a Nobel Prize.
2. 1910: Kitty Carlisle, who sang with Alan Jones in that delicious Marx Brothers movie, A Night At The Opera. Who can forget that scene where the Marx Brothers stuff up the production of Il Trovatore? And she had a glorious voice, not surprising, as she actually was an opera singer.
3. 1926: Irene Papas, a Greek actress who shouldn't need too much introduction. I remember her as Helen of Troy in that movie of The Trojan Women, in which Katharine Hepburn was Hecuba. Brilliant!
Deaths:
1. Robert Greene, in 1592. You may or may not have heard of him, but he was a colourful character who may have inspired Shakespeare's Falstaff and did write the novel that inspired Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. He would have hated the idea of inspiring Shakespeare, about whom he said some rude things early in the Bard's career. Oh, and another thing: he may have been one of the first people in England to make a living out of writing - how cool is that?
2. 1991 Frank Capra, who directed Arsenic And Old Lace and It's A Wonderful Life.
Holiday: okay, this is cheating a bit, but it's the feast day of St Marinus, who founded San Marino.
How about you, readers? Got anything to say about your birthday?
And it's just before midnight on New Year's Eve, so it's my last post for the year. Good night!
2 comments:
Thanks, you've saved me the trouble of researching my daughter's birthday (and also my writing partner's as well!)
Also, to let you know I ended up buying Wolfborn from the Play store. (I'm the same guy who was talking to you about your books in the mobile library, as well as where to buy Wolfborn) It's my wife's 40th birthday tomorrow, and I've bought her a Samsung Note II smartphone. It's the one with the nice big screen for reading novels... like yours! I will let you know how she enjoys them (both book and format).
Hi! Mike, wasn't it? Glad to hear my posts have been of help. Yes, Wikipedia is handy for many things. I get my students to look up dates for research practice, but never thought of suggesting Wikipedia. In fact, they use it so much I am surprised they haven't used it for this.
And I hope your wife enjoys her new ereader and my novel.
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