December 31

Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease, begins brewing at Dublin's St. James's Gate (1759); Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting in public for first time (1879); First New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square (1907); The country of Kiribati skips the day altogether (1994).

December 30

Author Rudyard Kipling born (1865); The Soviet Union is formed (1922); Tiger Woods born (1975); LeBron James born (1984); Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed (2006); Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer dies (2014)

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈɛdsõ(w) aˈɾɐ̃tʃiz du nasiˈmẽtu]; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), known mononymously as Pelé (Portuguese pronunciation: [peˈlɛ]), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9

December 29

President Andrew Johnson born (1808); Texas becomes the 28th US state (1845); US Army kills over 250 Lakota people at Wounded Knee (1890); Actress Mary Tyler Moore born (1936).

December 28

President Woodrow Wilson born (1856); Comic book writer Stan Lee born (1922); British actress Dame Maggie Smith born (1934); Denzel Washington born (1954); Indonesia AirAsia flight crashes, killing 162 (2014).

December 27

Chemist Louis Pasteur born (1822); Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich born (1901); Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932); Pakistan politician Benazir Bhutto assassinated (2007); Carrie Fisher dies (2016).

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 and died in 1900. During those all-too-brief years, he built a reputation that would long outlive him. And while today he is known for his literary works, he is arguably just as famous for his legendary wit — as well as the scandal and ensuing imprisonment that upturned his life.

As a literary figure, Wilde is perhaps best known for his play The Importance of Being Earnest, his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” a poem he wrote in exile after his release from prison. But when Oscar Wilde’s name is mentioned, it’s not only his writing that people remember. The name is synonymous with flamboyant manners and rapier wit, and a certain type of genius that dazzled society, whether it was in the clubs of London or the lecture halls of the United States.

When Wilde went to the U.S. in 1882 to lecture primarily on aestheticism — an artistic movement that emphasized the aesthetic value of art, or "art for art's sake" — he encountered a hostile press but was well received by the general public. The trip made him an international star. It also gave rise to one of the most famous quotes attributed to Wilde (though there’s no evidence to support the claim). When he arrived at U.S. customs to begin his tour (so the story goes), he was asked if he had anything to declare. With typical wit, he replied, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.”

Back in London, things turned sour when questions about Wilde’s private life spiraled out of control. His homosexuality became public knowledge, and soon he was charged with gross indecency and sentenced to two years of hard labor. His name was tarnished, his reputation left in tatters, and he spent his remaining years in exile in France, where he died in a cheap hotel in 1900. It was a tragic end, and sadly, even today, the events of his life are perhaps more widely known than his work.

But there was a lot more to Wilde than writing, wit, and scandal: He was a complex man with a complex personality. And as Wilde once wrote, “Personality is a very mysterious thing. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. He may break the law, and yet be fine. He may be bad without ever doing anything bad. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realize through that sin his true perfection.”

The Wilde name was well known before Oscar made his mark. His father, Sir William Wilde, was an acclaimed otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor) and ophthalmologist, who wrote significant works on medicine, archaeology, and folklore. His mother, Jane Wilde, was a poet and activist, known for her support of the Irish nationalist movement and women's rights. As Wilde wrote in “De Profundis” (a letter he wrote from the Reading Gaol prison), “She and my father had bequeathed me a name they had made noble and honoured not merely in literature, art, archaeology and science, but in the public history of my own country in its evolution as a nation.”

When Wilde was 12 years old, his little sister, Isola, died of meningitis. He was deeply affected by her death, and later wrote a poem in her memory called “Requiescat.” It’s a beautiful, lyrical poem, in which Isola seems to be at once dead and alive: “Tread lightly, she is near / Under the snow, / Speak gently, she can hear / The daisies grow.”

J.E.C. Bodley, a friend of the young Wilde during his Oxford University days, said Wilde was “naïve, embarrassed, with a convulsive laugh, a lisp, and an Irish accent.” But Wilde adjusted to life at Oxford, and became a brilliant student. He also lost his accent, stating later in life that “my Irish accent was one of the many things I forgot at Oxford.” Wilde’s voice in later life was described by the actor Franklin Dyall as “of the brown velvet order — mellifluous — rounded — in a sense giving it a plummy quality” and “practically pure cello.” Unfortunately, a recording of Wilde reading “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” turned out to be a fake, and no other recordings are known to exist.

While some of Wilde’s works can be described as quintessentially “English” plays, Wilde himself never abandoned his Irish roots. When public performances of his play Salomé were banned in Britain — on the basis of it being illegal to depict biblical characters on the stage — Wilde hit back in an interview, saying “I shall leave England and settle in France, where I will take out letters of naturalization. I will not consent to call myself a citizen of a country that shows such narrowness in its artistic judgement.” He then added, “I am not English; I’m Irish — which is quite another thing.”

In his early twenties, Wilde became besotted with a beautiful young woman called Florence Balcombe. When they first met, he told a friend, “I am just going out to bring an exquisitely pretty girl to afternoon service in the Cathedral. She is just seventeen with the most perfectly beautiful face I ever saw and not a sixpence of money.” They dated for months, but distance put a strain on their relationship. Then Florence met Bram Stoker, who would later go on to write Dracula. They married, and Wilde was devastated. He wrote Florence a letter in which he called their time together “two sweet years — the sweetest of all the years of my youth.” They remained friends for years after.

Due to Wilde’s well-documented homosexuality, people often don’t realize that he was married and had two children. Wilde married Constance Lloyd, an Irish author, in London in 1884. During their first two years of marriage they had two sons together, Cyril and Vyvyan. No one knows when Constance became aware of Oscar’s homosexual relationships, but she met his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, in 1891. The ensuing scandal and Wilde’s imprisonment placed an impossible strain on their relationship. Constance changed her surname and moved to Switzerland. She died in 1898, and Oscar never saw his two sons again.

Wilde met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, who was 16 years his junior, in 1891. The two soon became lovers. Douglas was the third son of the Marquess of Queensberry, famous for creating the Queensberry Rules of boxing. When Queensberry found out about his son’s relationship, he tried to end it in various ways. At one point he left a card for Wilde, which simply said “For Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite.” This prompted Wilde to prosecute Queensberry for libel. It backfired terribly, and Wilde himself ended up in court on multiple charges of gross indecency related to his homosexuality. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years hard labor. All this occurred at the height of his fame and success, while The Importance of Being Earnest was still being performed in London. After his conviction, Wilde’s life was never the same.  

Wilde spent his last three years impoverished and in exile in France. Some of his closest friends visited him and stayed with him to the end, as Oscar faded away in a dingy hotel in Paris. He was a broken man, but his wit could not be destroyed. As he lay looking at the surroundings of his cheap hotel room, he uttered some of his final words: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.” It was classic Oscar Wilde, and the quote is often listed among the greatest last words ever spoken.

Wilde feared that he had ruined his family name. In his letter “De Profundis,” he wrote: “I had disgraced that name [Wilde] eternally. I had made it a low byword among low people. I had dragged it through the very mire.” But Wilde, on this occasion, was wrong: His name would not be disgraced eternally, although it did take more than a century for an official annulment of his conviction. In 2017, Wilde was one of some 75,000 gay men in England and Wales pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II. All of these men had been convicted for now-abolished sex offences. This royal pardon is informally known as the Turing Law, named after Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker who, like Wilde, was convicted for his homosexuality. Turing was officially pardoned in 2013, 61 years later.

When The Sound of Music debuted on cinema screens in April 1965, audiences fell hard and in huge numbers for the joyous celebration of music, dance, patriotism and familial and romantic love, propelling it to become one of the world’s most beloved movie musicals and turning the story of the von Trapp family into lore.

https://www.biography.com/news/real-von-trapp-family-sound-of-music?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1221-12212022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

December 23

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith born (1805); Businesswoman Madam CJ Walker born (1867); Vincent van Gogh cuts off his ear (1888); Voyager aircraft is first to fly around the world without refueling (1986).

December 22

Beethoven’s "Fifth Symphony" premieres (1808); Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson born (1912); Maurice and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees born (1949); Colo becomes first gorilla born in captivity (1956); “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy repealed (2010).

December 21

 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres (1937); F. Scott Fitzgerald dies (1940); Track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner born (1959); French President Emmanuel Macron born (1977); Bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 (1988).

December 20

Louisiana Purchase finalized (1803); Sacagawea dies (1812); "It’s a Wonderful Life" released (1946); Astronomer Carl Sagan dies (1996); Space Force becomes sixth US armed forces branch (2019).

December 19

First edition of "The American Crisis" published by Thomas Paine (1776); French entertainer Édith Piaf born (1915); First National Hockey League game played (1917); President Eisenhower’s Christmas message is first radio broadcast from space (1958); President Clinton is impeached (1998).

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon, and earned her enduring popularity, as well as almost unprecedented public scrutiny.

Diana was born into the British nobility, and grew up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. In 1981, while working as a nursery teacher's assistant, she became engaged to the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Their wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public. The couple had two sons, William and Harry, who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. Diana's marriage to Charles suffered due to their incompatibility and extramarital affairs. They separated in 1992, soon after the breakdown of their relationship became public knowledge. Their marital difficulties were widely publicised, and the couple divorced in 1996.

As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centred on children and the elderly, but she later became known for her involvement in two particular campaigns: one involved the social attitudes towards and the acceptance of AIDS patients, and the other for the removal of landmines, promoted through the International Red Cross. She also raised awareness and advocated for ways to help people affected by cancer and mental illness. Diana was initially noted for her shyness, but her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the public and helped her reputation survive the acrimonious collapse of her marriage. Considered photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s.

Diana's death in a car crash in Paris in 1997 led to extensive public mourning and global media attention. An inquest returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" following Operation Paget, an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal family and British society.

Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (1924–1992), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; 1936–2004). The Spencer family had been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; her grandmothers, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Her parents were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, and no name was chosen for a week until they settled on Diana Frances after her mother and Lady Diana Spencer, a many-times-great-aunt who was also a prospective Princess of Wales. Within the family, she was also known informally as "Duch", a reference to her duchess-like attitude in childhood.

On 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham.^[6] She grew up with three siblings: Sarah, Jane, and Charles. Her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an heir added strain to her parents' marriage, and Lady Althorp was sent to Harley Street clinics in London to determine the cause of the "problem". The experience was described as "humiliating" by Diana's younger brother, Charles: "It was a dreadful time for my parents and probably the root of their divorce because I don't think they ever got over it." Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate.The family leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II, whom Diana called "Aunt Lilibet" since childhood. The royal family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with the Queen's sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later began a relationship with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969. Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents' separation in 1967, but during that year's Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let his daughter return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards, he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Lady Fermoy. In 1976, Lord Althorp married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth. Diana's relationship with her stepmother was particularly bad. She resented Raine, whom she called a "bully". On one occasion Diana pushed her down the stairs. She later described her childhood as "very unhappy" and "very unstable, the whole thing".She became known as Lady Diana after her father later inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, at which point her father moved the entire family from Park House to Althorp, the Spencer seat in Northamptonshire.

December 17

Wright brothers make first successful airplane flight (1903); Pope Francis born (1936); "The Simpsons" makes television debut (1989); American actress Jennifer Jones dies (2009); North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il dies (2011).

December 16

Ludwig van Beethoven born (1770); Boston Tea Party occurs (1773); Author Jane Austen born (1775); Anthropologist Margaret Mead born (1901); World War II’s Battle of the Bulge begins (1944).

December 15

US Bill of Rights ratified, becomes law (1791); Eiffel Tower builder Gustave Eiffel born (1832); Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull killed (1890); Walt Disney dies (1966); Actress Joan Fontaine dies (2013)

December 14

President George Washington dies (1799); Author Shirley Jackson born (1916); Actress Patty Duke born (1946); Eugene Cernan is last person to walk on the moon (1972); 20 children and six staff murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012).

December 13

Diplomat George Shultz born (1920); Actor Dick Van Dyke born (1925); Taylor Swift born (1989); 10 new countries announced to join European Union (2002); Saddam Hussein captured by American forces (2003).

December 12

US Founding Father John Jay born (1745); First transatlantic radio signal sent by Guglielmo Marconi (1901); Frank Sinatra born (1915); Singer Dionne Warwick born (1940); Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore certifies George W. Bush as president (2000).

Ruth Madoc

British actress and singer Ruth Madoc, known to many for her role as Gladys Pugh in the beloved comedy Hi-De-Hi, has died aged 79.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/ruth-madoc-death-newsupdate/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=RT&utm_campaign=RT%20Today%20newsletter%2011th%20December%202022_2258723_Radio%20Times_Automated%20Newsletters_23988567

December 10

Encyclopædia Britannica first published (1768); Poet Emily Dickinson born (1830); Inventor Alfred Nobel, founder of Nobel Prizes, dies (1896); Spanish-American War ends (1898); Comedian Richard Pryor dies (2005); Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies (2006).

December 9

Actor Kirk Douglas born (1916); Actress Dame Judi Dench born (1934); “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts (1965); Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche dies (1971); Smallpox declared eradicated (1979).

December 8

Mary, Queen of Scots born (1542); The US declares war on Japan (1941); Musician Jim Morrison born (1943); John Lennon murdered outside his residence in New York City (1980); North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, signed into law (1993); Astronaut and senator John Glenn dies (2016).

Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens — nom de plume Mark Twain — was a font of quotable sayings, covering everything from the afterlife to adventure. His quotes are often funny, regularly sarcastic, and sometimes inspiring.

Though best known for his humor, Twain’s quips have been known to move people to action, to push them forward on an enlightening course. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” wrote Twain, adding with typical curmudgeonly wit, “and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

Over a century after his death, the author remains one of the most widely quoted people. His maxims proliferate, pulled from everywhere: his books, his speeches, his autobiography, and interviews with newspapers and magazines. And sometimes, they’re even pulled from other people.

In fact, the beloved Huckleberry Finn scribe is one of the most misquoted folks in American history, with purported Twain-isms disputed and fact-checked on a regular basis. The 13 quotes below are not Twain’s, but they’re attributed to him so often that the origin gets muddied. Here, we give credit where credit is due — something that Twain himself, a one-time journalist and constant truth-teller, would likely have appreciated.

Rumi

Poet, spiritual teacher, mystical dancer, and cultural leader: The writer known as Rumi held many roles in the 13th century, and continues to be one of the most popular poets in the world today. Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī was born in Afghanistan in 1207. He traveled through Uzbekistan, Iran, and Syria, and spent much of his life in Turkey before his death in 1273. He wrote in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and Greek, and is widely seen as the most influential mystical writer in the Muslim tradition. His deeply human and universally inspiring works have now been translated in more than 20 languages and sold millions of copies.

Rumi’s father and grandfather were traditional Muslim preachers and scholars, and Rumi followed in their footsteps. But when he met a wandering holy man named Shams of Tabriz in 1244, he embarked on a new life journey into mysticism and poetry. Rumi’s relationship with Shams and his mourning of Shams’ death a few years after they met fueled his prolific writing.

Rumi wrote tens of thousands of individual pieces, many of which were devotional songs for Shams, the prophet Muhammad, and God, along with his masterwork, The Masnavi, which is composed of 26,000 couplets (two lines of verse that form a poetic unit). He described transcendent love, the holy nature of everyday experiences, joy, grief, and more with an accessible, lyrical voice. Many of his poems were written as he spun in a whirling dance or were composed to be sung in gatherings of Sufis (Islamic mystics).

Both during his life and after, Rumi’s vibrant musings appealed to people of many faiths and backgrounds. As one of the key translators of Rumi’s work, Coleman Barks, wrote, “He wants us to be more alive, to wake up... He wants us to see our beauty, in the mirror and in each other."

December 7

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn born (1932); Pearl Harbor naval base bombed by Japan, killing 2,403 US personnel (1941); Basketball legend Larry Bird born (1956); Apollo 17, the final Apollo moon mission, is launched (1972); Sound barrier-breaking pilot Chuck Yeager dies (2020).

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892), today considered one of America’s most significant 19th-century poets, was born on Long Island. He dropped out of the schooling system relatively early, at age 12, to work in a printing house. Other jobs he held in the early years of his life include editing and teaching. Around this time, he began publishing some prose and poetry in local magazines but didn't get much recognition. In the quote above, Whitman communicates his views of nature, a view reflected in many of his poems. Whitman was fascinated with the fluid, ever-changing nature of the natural world. He could find beauty even in death and decay. His most well-known work is Leaves of Grass. This is a collection of poems first published in 1855 by Whitman himself. He couldn't find a publisher that would agree to print his poems, so he sold a house to afford the first edition of Leaves of Grass, which contained 12 poems. Many of the poems there were inspired by his travels in the American wild. This first publication was welcomed with open arms neither by critics nor by the American public. People found his openness hard to digest; his straightforwardness about physical love invoked discomfort in readers of that time. The public showed contempt for Whitman presenting himself as a hardworking man. There was a general reluctance to accept his innovative poetic style - he was a bit of an unusual poet in the contemporary scene - both in style and choice of themes. The quote above, from "‘I Sing the Body Electric" (1885) perfectly demonstrates Whitman's striving for unity, for a sense of oneness. He looked at nature with awe and saw the physical body and the soul as an integral part of it. Whitman was also fascinated by the notion of an eternal soul residing in a decaying body. During the Civil War, his brother was injured, and Whitman volunteered at the hospital to be close to him. His travels and time spent at the hospital with wounded soldiers had a great effect on his poetic work. The accumulated mental stress of the pain of war led to a heart attack and a general decline in health. After several years of unstable health, he died in 1892 at age 73. Despite not being revered back in the day, over 1,000 people came to his funeral. Much like Vincent Van Gogh, Whitman's genius was discovered and celebrated only after his death. And even when he finally gained recognition, he was first seen as a democrat and only then as a poet. https://www.ba-bamail.com/spirituality/quotes-by-the-canonic-american-poet-walt-whitman/

December 6

13th Amendment of US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (1865); Washington Monument completed (1884); Hollywood actress Agnes Moorehead born (1900); NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo born (1994); NASA photographs suggest presence of liquid on Mars (2006).

December 5

Mozart dies (1791); Walt Disney born (1901); Rosa Parks helps lead Montgomery bus boycotts (1955); 21st Amendment ratified in the US, repealing the nationwide ban on alcohol (1933); Nelson Mandela dies (2013).

December 3

Novelist Robert Louis Stevenson dies (1894); Rock star Ozzy Osbourne born (1948); Actress Julianne Moore born (1960); First human heart transplant carried out (1967); Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush declare end to Cold War (1989); Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks dies (2000). 

December 2

Abolitionist John Brown dies (1859); US Environmental Protection Agency formed (1970); Britney Spears born (1981); Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister of Pakistan (1988); Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed (1993).

December 1

First moving assembly line introduced by Ford Motor Company (1913); Rosa Parks arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat (1955); Author and activist James Baldwin dies (1987); World AIDS Day commemorated for first time (1988).

November 30

Winston Churchill born (1874); Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" is released, becomes bestselling album in history (1982); Model Chrissy Teigen born (1985); Exxon and Mobil merge to form one of the world's largest companies (1999); President George H.W. Bush dies (2018).

November 29

 "Chronicles of Narnia" author CS Lewis born (1898); UN General Assembly approves plan to partition Palestine (1947); Warren Commission is established to investigate President Kennedy's assassination (1963); Social activist Dorothy Day dies (1980); The Beatles guitarist George Harrison dies (2001).

November 28

American-born Lady Astor becomes first female member of the House of Commons (1919); Motown Records founder Berry Gordy born (1929); Basketball inventor James Naismith dies (1939); Comedian Jon Stewart born (1962); Margaret Thatcher resigns as prime minister of the UK (1990).

November 26

Abolitionist Sojourner Truth dies (1883); National Hockey League founded (1917); "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz born (1922); King Tut’s tomb is uncovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter (1922); Singer and actress Tina Turner born (1939).

November 23

First issue of Life magazine published (1936); First episode of "Doctor Who" airs on BBC (1963); Children’s book author Roald Dahl dies (1990); Hockey great Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th goal (1988); Miley Cyrus born (1992).

November 22

Author Jack London dies (1916); Tennis star and social activist Billie Jean King born (1943); President John F. Kennedy assassinated (1963); Author C.S. Lewis dies (1963); British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces resignation after 11 years (1990).

Charles III

On September 8, 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth realms. For the first time in most of their lives, the British found themselves ruled over by a king, with even the words of their national anthem changed — after 70 years of “God Save the Queen” — to reflect the new male monarch. The actual coronation of King Charles III is set to take place on May 6, 2023, with all the pomp and circumstance associated with the British royal family. Despite being new to the throne, Charles III is a very familiar figure among the British people; now approaching his mid-70s, Charles has been in the public eye for a long time. He is known for having strong opinions on subjects ranging from gardening to architecture to food, and, most importantly, the climate crisis — an issue he began championing long before it became a mainstream subject. His outspoken nature has sometimes ruffled feathers. For example, he called climate skeptics “the headless chicken brigade,” and compared a new extension on the National Gallery to “a carbuncle on the face of an old and valued friend.” Charles’ position, his well-documented and ultimately tragic marriage to Princess Diana, his sense of humor, and his eccentricities (he famously talks to plants) have made him a divisive figure, loved and lambasted in equal measure. Whether he becomes a popular king — no easy thing following the impressive reign of Elizabeth II — is yet to be seen. But Charles has much in common with his late mother, including her intelligence, fortitude, and essential sense of humor. Here are some of the new king’s most famous quotes from the last few decades, touching on everything from the nature of royalty to the global climate crisis and, of course, vegetables.

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee accomplished an incredible amount in his short life. He died at just 32 years old in 1973, but in that all-too-brief time, he had become a star of both cinema and martial arts. Bridging the gap between Eastern and Western culture, he defied stereotypes and forever changed the nature of martial arts films. Lee became an icon of the 20th century, an instantly recognizable figure who, like Muhammad Ali, could inspire people with both his physical and verbal skills. Bruce Lee was a philosopher as well as a fighter. He studied Asian and Western schools of thought at the University of Washington, where he developed an eclectic philosophy that influenced all parts of his life. This was reflected in Lee’s hybrid philosophy of martial arts, which he called Jeet Kune Do, or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. Its basic guiding principles of simplicity, directness, and freedom were core tenets in Lee’s overarching belief system, and he refused to place the same limits on Jeet Kune Do as found in other styles. In doing so, he helped paved the way for modern mixed martial arts.

Marylin Monroe

Marylin Monroe From the beginning of the 1950s to the early 1960s, Marilyn Monroe was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. Her “blonde bombshell” characters, often appearing in comedic roles, lit up the screen, and her colorful and turbulent private life — which often became very public — made her even more famous. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, the future star had a tough childhood, moving between 12 successive sets of foster parents and spending time in an orphanage. The movies provided an escape. In her last-ever interview, just days before her death, Monroe said, “Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it.” Many of her most successful roles saw her playing women who were naïve, artificial, sexually available, or a combination of all three — the stereotypical “dumb blonde.” Her onscreen persona, however, was far removed from the real woman, the real Norma Jeane. As Sarah Churchwell, author of The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, put it, “The biggest myth is that she was dumb. The second is that she was fragile. The third is that she couldn't act.” Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose on August 4, 1962. But, as Elton John sang in his 1973 song “Candle in the Wind,” her candle burned out long before her legend ever did. She remains one of the greatest pop culture icons in American history and a screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood. And she left us with a wealth of witty, clever, and honest quotes that reveal her true character: a smart, fierce, and funny woman in possession of so much more than sex appeal. From the beginning of the 1950s to the early 1960s, Marilyn Monroe was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. Her “blonde bombshell” characters, often appearing in comedic roles, lit up the screen, and her colorful and turbulent private life — which often became very public — made her even more famous. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, the future star had a tough childhood, moving between 12 successive sets of foster parents and spending time in an orphanage. The movies provided an escape. In her last-ever interview, just days before her death, Monroe said, “Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it.” Many of her most successful roles saw her playing women who were naïve, artificial, sexually available, or a combination of all three — the stereotypical “dumb blonde.” Her onscreen persona, however, was far removed from the real woman, the real Norma Jeane. As Sarah Churchwell, author of The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, put it, “The biggest myth is that she was dumb. The second is that she was fragile. The third is that she couldn't act.” Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose on August 4, 1962. But, as Elton John sang in his 1973 song “Candle in the Wind,” her candle burned out long before her legend ever did. She remains one of the greatest pop culture icons in American history and a screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood. And she left us with a wealth of witty, clever, and honest quotes that reveal her true character: a smart, fierce, and funny woman in possession of so much more than sex appeal.

November 19

President James Garfield born (1831); President Abraham Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address (1863); Indira Gandhi, first and only female prime minister of India, born (1917); Actress Meg Ryan born (1961); Actor Adam Driver born (1983).

November 18

Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth born (1797); Poet and novelist Margaret Atwood born (1939); 918 people die in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (1978); Massachusetts court ruling makes the state the first to recognize same-sex marriage (2003).

November 17

Suez Canal opens (1869); Actor Danny DeVito born (1944); Former US national security adviser Susan Rice born (1964); Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as governor of California (2003); First known case of COVID-19 traced to man who visited Wuhan, China (2019)

November 16

Blues musician W.C. Handy born (1873); UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, is founded (1945); Benazir Bhutto elected prime minister of Pakistan, becomes first woman in modern history to lead Muslim-majority country (1988); Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman dies (2006).

November 15

Articles of Confederation is adopted by Continental Congress (1777); Artist Georgia O’Keeffe born (1887); "Macho Man" Randy Savage born (1952); Two million people protest Vietnam War across the US (1969); Famed anthropologist Margaret Mead dies (1978).

November 14

French painter Claude Monet born (1840); "Moby-Dick" is first published (1851); Albert Einstein first presents quantum theory of light (1908); Booker T. Washington dies (1915); Condoleezza Rice born (1954).

November 12

American suffragist and civil rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (1815); Josef Stalin gains undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927); Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly born (1929); Actress Anne Hathaway born (1982); Comic book writer Stan Lee dies (2018).

November 11

Nat Turner is hanged after organizing slave rebellion (1831); Armistice signed by Germany and Allies, ending World War I (1918); Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day, observed for first time in the US (1919); Demi Moore born (1962);  Leonardo DiCaprio born (1974).

November 10

Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther born (1483); US Marine Corps is founded (1775); Singer and actress Jane Froman born (1907); "Sesame Street" debuts (1969); Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0 to public (1983).

Pocahontas

https://www.biography.com/news/pocahontas-facts?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1109-11092022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

Albert Einstein

"Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein is one of the most influential and well-known physicist in history."

https://www.biography.com/video/albert-einstein-mini-biography-595639875789?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1109-11092022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

Chadwick Boseman

"When Chadwick Boseman stepped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time for Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War in 2016, a fan asked him what he had in common with his character T’Challa."

https://www.biography.com/news/chadwick-boseman-colon-cancer-battle?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1109-11092022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

November 9

Napoleon Bonaparte leads coup and becomes dictator of France (1799); Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr born (1914); Astronomer Carl Sagan born (1934); First issue of Rolling Stone published (1967).

Leslie Phillips

"Phillips was also familiar to younger fans as the voice of the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter films."

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63557414

Andrew Prime

"He was a self-described “working actor,” who made over 180 film and television appearances and “never met a film role [he] didn’t like.” Andrew Prine died of natural causes last Monday in Paris at the age of 86, according to The Hollywood Reprter."

https://www.dailystartreknews.com/read/star-trek-guest-actor-andrew-prine-dies-at-86?utm_source=Daily+Star+Trek+News&utm_campaign=d4d9642c31-Daily+Star+Trek+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a887f26f16-d4d9642c31-357660248

November 8

Astronomer Edmond Halley born (1656); X-rays are discovered (1895); Singer Minnie Riperton born (1947); Edward Brooke becomes first African American since Reconstruction elected to US Senate (1966); "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek dies (2020). 

November 7

Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie born (1867); Jeannette Rankin becomes first woman elected to US congress (1916); Evangelist Billy Graham born (1918); Eleanor Roosevelt dies (1962); Magic Johnson announces HIV-positive diagnosis (1991).

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. At the time, the Einstein family owned an electrical firm that manufactured dynamos and electrical meters. His father wanted Albert to pursue a career in electrical engineering, but young Albert had a rebellious side and never much enjoyed formal learning. He preferred to teach himself, whether it was science or philosophy or music. And that worked out fine for Einstein, who went on to become one of the greatest physicists of all time. ‌‌

In 1905, a year now known as his annus mirabilis (miracle year), Einstein published four revolutionary scientific papers while still working at the patent office in Bern, Switzerland. Among them he outlined the theory of the photoelectric effect, introduced special relativity, and described the principle of the mass-energy equivalence, the latter now associated with the world’s most famous equation: E=mc2. He was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, in
1921.

Beyond his scientific genius, Albert Einstein was a complex and colorful figure. He loved music almost as much as physics, his love life was active (and not always honorable), and his political views attracted the attention of the FBI. He also didn’t shy away from talking and writing about a wide range of subjects, leaving behind a trove of quotes that give us a fascinating insight into this unique character.

November 5

"Gone with the Wind" actress Vivien Leigh born (1913); Writer Sinclair Lewis is first American to win Nobel Prize for literature (1930); Franklin D. Roosevelt is first and only US president elected to third term (1940); Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death (2006); Google unveils Android (2007).

November 4

Journalist Walter Cronkite born (1916); Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes first woman elected governor in the US (1924); Sean "Diddy" Combs born (1969); Iran hostage crisis begins (1979); Barack Obama becomes first African American elected US president (2008).

November 3

American sharpshooter Annie Oakley dies (1926); Journalist and fashion icon Dame Anna Wintour born (1949); The Soviet Union launches first animal into space (1957); US arms sale to Iran revealed (1986); One World Trade Center officially opens on former site of Twin Towers (2014).

Stephen Colbert

https://www.biography.com/news/stephen-colbert-father-brothers-plane-crash?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1102-11022022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

October 19

British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War (1781); John Jay becomes first chief justice of the US (1789); RIP abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone (1893); HBD actor, director Jon Favreau (1966); Black Monday stock market crash, Dow Jones drops 22% in one day (1987).

David Robert Jones

OAL (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie (/ˈboʊi/ BOH-ee),^[1] was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, Bowie is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft having a significant impact on popular music.

Born in Brixton, South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child. He studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. "Space Oddity", released in 1969, was his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of Bowie's single "Starman" and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as "plastic soul", initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, and released Station to Station. In 1977, he further confounded expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low, the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the "Berlin Trilogy". "Heroes" (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance; its title track topped both the UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with The Next Day. He remained musically active until his death from liver cancer at his home in New York City, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).

During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at over 100 million records worldwide, made him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and released eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Rolling Stone placed him among its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and named him the "Greatest Rock Star Ever" after his death in 2016.

While always primarily a musician, Bowie took acting roles throughout his career, appearing in over 30 films, television shows and theatrical productions. Bowie's acting career was "productively selective," largely eschewing starring roles for cameos and supporting parts.^[235][236] Many critics have observed that, had Bowie not chosen to pursue music, he could have found great success as an actor.^[237][238] Other critics have noted that, while his screen presence was singular, his best contributions to film were the use of his songs in films such as Lost Highway, A Knight's Tale, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Inglourious Basterds.^[239][240]

1960s and 1970s

The beginnings of Bowie's acting career predate his commercial breakthrough as a musician. Studying avant-garde theatre and mime under Lindsay Kemp, he was given the role of Cloud in Kemp's 1967 theatrical production Pierrot in Turquoise (later made into the 1970 television film The Looking Glass Murders).^[241] Bowie filmed a walk-on role for the BBC drama series Theater 625 that aired in May 1968.^[242] In the black-and-white short The Image (1969), he played a ghostly boy who emerges from a troubled artist's painting to haunt him. The same year, the film of Leslie Thomas's 1966 comic novel The Virgin Soldiers saw Bowie make a brief appearance as an extra.^[243]

In 1976, Bowie earned acclaim for his first major film role, portraying Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien from a dying planet, in The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg.^[244] He later admitted that his severe cocaine use during the film's production left him in such a fragile state of mind that he barely understood the film.^[245] Just a Gigolo (1979), an Anglo-German co-production directed by David Hemmings, saw Bowie in the lead role as Prussian officer Paul von Przygodski, who, returning from World War I, is discovered by a Baroness (Marlene Dietrich) and put into her gigolo stable.^[246] The film was a critical and commercial bomb, and Bowie later expressed embarrassment at his role in it.^[247]

1980s

Bowie's costume from Labyrinth at the Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle

Bowie played Joseph Merrick in the Broadway theatre production The Elephant Man, which he undertook wearing no stage make-up, and which earned high praise for his expressive performance. He played the part 157 times between 1980 and 1981.^[111] Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo, a 1981 biographical film focusing on a young girl's drug addiction in West Berlin, featured Bowie in a cameo appearance as himself at a concert in Germany. Its soundtrack album, Christiane F. (1981), featured much material from his Berlin Trilogy albums.^[248] In 1982, he starred in the titular role in a BBC adaptation of the Bertolt Brecht play Baal.^[249] Bowie portrayed a vampire in Tony Scott's erotic horror film The Hunger (1983), with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.^[250] In Nagisa Oshima's film the same year, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, based on Laurens van der Post's novel The Seed and the Sower, Bowie played Major Jack Celliers, a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp.^[251] Bowie had a cameo in Yellowbeard, a 1983 pirate comedy created by Monty Python members and directed by Mel Damski.^[252]

To promote the single "Blue Jean", Bowie filmed the 21 minute short film Jazzin' for Blue Jean (1984) with director Julien Temple, and played the dual roles of romantic protagonist Vic and arrogant rock star Screaming Lord Byron.^[253] The short won Bowie his only non-posthumous Grammy award.^[254] Bowie had a supporting role as hitman Colin in the 1985 John Landis film Into the Night.^[255] He declined to play the villain Max Zorin in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985).^[256] Bowie reteamed with Temple for Absolute Beginners (1986), a rock musical film adapted from Colin MacInnes's book of the same name about life in late 1950s London, in a supporting role as ad man Vendice Partners.^[257] The same year, Jim Henson's dark musical fantasy Labyrinth cast him as Jareth, the villainous Goblin King.^[258] Despite initial poor box office, the film grew in popularity and became a cult film.^[259] Two years later, he played Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed biblical epic The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).^[260]

1990s

In 1991, Bowie reteamed with director John Landis for an episode of the HBO sitcom Dream On^[261] and played a disgruntled restaurant employee opposite Rosanna Arquette in The Linguini Incident.^[262] Bowie portrayed the mysterious FBI agent Phillip Jeffries in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). The prequel to the television series was poorly received at the time of its release, but has since been critically reevaluated.^[263] He took a small but pivotal role as his friend Andy Warhol in Basquiat, artist/director Julian Schnabel's 1996 biopic of Jean-Michel Basquiat, another artist he considered a friend and colleague.^[264] Bowie co-starred in Giovanni Veronesi's Spaghetti Western Il Mio West (1998, released as Gunslinger's Revenge in the US in 2005) as the most feared gunfighter in the region.^[265] He played the aging gangster Bernie in Andrew Goth's Everybody Loves Sunshine (1999, released in the U.S. as B.U.S.T.E.D.),^[266] and appeared as the host in the second season of the television horror anthology series The Hunger. Despite having several episodes which focus on vampires and Bowie's involvement, the show had no plot connection to the 1983 film of the same name.^[267] In 1999, Bowie voiced two characters in the Sega Dreamcast game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, his only appearance in a video game.^[268]

2000s and posthumous notes

In Mr. Rice's Secret (2000), Bowie played the title role as the neighbour of a terminally ill 12-year-old.^[269] Bowie appeared as himself in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander, judging a "walk-off" between rival male models,^[270] and in Eric Idle's 2002 mockumentary The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch.^[271] In 2005, he filmed a commercial with Snoop Dogg for XM Satellite Radio.^[272] Bowie portrayed a fictionalized version of physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's film The Prestige (2006), which was about the bitter rivalry between two magicians in the late 19th century. Nolan later claimed that Bowie was his only preference to play Tesla, and that he personally appealed to Bowie to take the role after he initially passed.^[273] In the same year, he voice-acted in Luc Besson's animated film Arthur and the Invisibles as the powerful villain Maltazard,^[274] and appeared as himself in an episode of the Ricky Gervais television series Extras.^[275] In 2007, he lent his voice to the character Lord Royal Highness in the SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis television film.^[276] In the 2008 film August, directed by Austin Chick, he played a supporting role as Ogilvie, a "ruthless venture capitalist."^[277] Bowie's final film appearance was a cameo as himself in the 2009 teen comedy Bandslam.^[278]

In a 2017 interview with Consequence of Sound, director Denis Villeneuve revealed his intention to cast Bowie in Blade Runner 2049 as the lead villain, Niander Wallace, but when news broke of Bowie's death in January of the same year, Villeneuve was forced to look for talent with similar "rock star" qualities. He eventually cast actor and lead singer of Thirty Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto. Talking about the casting process, Villeneuve said: "Our first thought [for the character] had been David Bowie, who had influenced Blade Runner in many ways. When we learned the sad news, we looked around for someone like that. He [Bowie] embodied the Blade Runner spirit.".^[279] David Lynch also hoped to have Bowie reprise his Fire Walk With Me character for Twin Peaks: The Return but Bowie's illness prevented this. His character was portrayed via archival footage. At Bowie's request, Lynch overdubbed Bowie's original dialogue with a different actor's voice, as Bowie was unhappy with his Cajun accent in the original film.^[280

Bessie Coleman

"Bessie Coleman fought racial and gender discrimination to become an aviation pioneer, blazing the trail for Amelia Earhart and other female pilots. Screen provided by de Gournay."

https://www.biography.com/video/bessie-coleman-biography-video?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1102-11022022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

"In the annals of Native American history, there have been some formidable women who fought fearlessly in battle, served as committed leaders, undertook dangerous journeys and saved lives."

"In the annals of Native American history, there have been some formidable women who fought fearlessly in battle, served as committed leaders, undertook dangerous journeys and saved lives."

https://www.biography.com/news/famous-native-american-women-native-american-heritage-month?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-1102-11022022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

November 2

Marie Antoinette born (1755); Nobel Prize-winning playwright George Bernard Shaw dies (1950); First president of South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm assassinated (1963); Indian actor and "King of Bollywood" Shah Rukh Khan born (1965); Martin Luther King Jr. Day is created in the US (1983).

November 1

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling exhibited to public for first time (1512); Earthquake and tsunami in Lisbon kills 60,000-90,000 people (1755); Apple CEO Tim Cook born (1960); Bollywood actress and Miss World 1994 winner Aishwarya Rai Bachchan born (1973); Football great Walter Payton dies (1999).

October 31

English poet John Keats born (1795); Magician Harry Houdini dies (1926); Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed (1941); Actor and comedian John Candy born (1950); First female Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is assassinated (1984).

Arthur O'Shaughnessy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_O'Shaughnessy

October 29

Sir Walter Raleigh is executed (1618); "Joy of Painting" host Bob Ross born (1942); Actress Winona Ryder born (1971); Actress Gabrielle Union born (1972); Astronaut John Glenn becomes the oldest NASA astronaut in space at age 77 (1998).

October 28

English philosopher John Locke dies (1704); "Gulliver’s Travels" is first published (1726); Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk born (1914); Bill Gates born (1955); Julia Roberts born (1967).

October 27

Ivan the Great dies (1505); Philadelphia is founded (1682); President Teddy Roosevelt born (1858); New York City subway opens (1904); American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath born (1932).

October 26

Erie Canal opens (1825); Women’s rights leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton dies (1902); Hillary Clinton born (1947); Hattie McDaniel, first Black Academy Award winner, dies (1952); Last known natural case of smallpox detected (1977).

October 25

Artist Pablo Picasso born (1881); Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes first Black general in US Army (1940); Katy Perry born (1984); Hall of Fame golfer Payne Stewart dies in plane crash (1999).

October 24

Black Thursday US stock market crash, exchange falls 11% in one day (1929); Jackie Robinson dies (1972); Rapper Drake born (1986); Rosa Parks dies (2005); Bloody Friday worldwide stock market crash with most indices dropping 10% in single day (2008).

October 22

Original Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York City (1883); Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine born (1917); Actress Annette Funicello born (1942); In-N-Out Burger opens first location in Los Angeles (1948); President John F. Kennedy alerts Americans to Cuban missile crisis (1962); Reggae artist Shaggy born (1968).

October 21

USS Constitution first launched (1797); Actress Carrie Fisher born (1956); Guggenheim Museum opens to the public (1959); Poet and novelist Jack Kerouac dies (1969); Kim Kardashian born (1980).

October 20

Baseball great Mickey Mantle born (1931); Congress investigates "Reds" in Hollywood (1947); Tom Petty born (1950); Vice President Kamala Harris born (1964); President Herbert Hoover dies (1964); Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi killed (2011).

October 19

British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War (1781); John Jay becomes first US chief justice (1789); Abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone dies (1893); Actor and director Jon Favreau born (1966); Black Monday stock market crash, Dow Jones drops 22% in one day (1987).

October 18

 "Moby-Dick" is first published (1851); The US purchases Alaska from Russia (1867); Thomas Edison dies (1931); Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conduct first all-female spacewalk (2019); Former Secretary of State Colin Powell dies (2021).

October 17

Actress Rita Hayworth born (1918); Mae Jemison, first Black woman in space, born (1956); Eminem born (1972); Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize (1979); Earthquake near San Francisco kills 63 (1989).

October 15

"I Love Lucy" airs for first time (1951); Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, the Duchess of York born (1959); Black Panther Party is created (1966); Wayne Gretzky becomes all-time NHL points leader (1989); Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen dies (2018).

July 5

Artist Frida Kahlo born (1907); First MLB All-Star Game held (1933); HBD President George W. Bush (1946); Althea Gibson becomes first African American to win Wimbledon (1957); RIP Louis Armstrong (1971).

July 6

Artist Frida Kahlo born (1907); First MLB All-Star Game held (1933); HBD President George W. Bush (1946); Althea Gibson becomes first African American to win Wimbledon (1957); RIP Louis Armstrong (1971).

October 14

President Dwight D. Eisenhower born (1890); Chuck Yeager becomes first person to fly faster than speed of sound (1947); Cuban Missile Crisis begins (1962); Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize (1964); American photographer Dody Weston Thompson dies (2012).

October 13

Continental Navy established (1775); UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher born (1925); Italy declares war on Germany (1943); Television host Ed Sullivan dies (1974); 33 Chilean miners rescued after 69 days underground (2010).

October 12

Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean, believes he reached the Indies (1492); American playwright Alice Childress born (1916); Wilt Chamberlain dies (1999); USS Cole is attacked by suicide bombers, killing 17 American sailors (2000); Eliud Kipchoge becomes first person to run a sub-two-hour marathon (2019).

October 11

Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills 230,000 people (1138); Eleanor Roosevelt born (1884); "Saturday Night Live" premieres (1975); Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes first American woman to perform spacewalk (1984); ... and Alexei Leonov, first person to ever perform spacewalk, dies (2019).

October 10

United States Naval Academy opens (1845); American actress Helen Hayes born (1900); Filmmaker Orson Welles dies (1985); Hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship ends (1985); "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve dies (2004).

October 8

American politician John Hancock dies (1793); Great Chicago Fire begins, killing about 300 people and destroying most of the city (1871); Actress Sigourney Weaver born (1949); "Cats" debuts on Broadway (1982); Bruno Mars born (1985); Office of Homeland Security is created in the wake of 9/11 attacks (2001).

October 7

Edgar Allan Poe dies (1849); World’s oldest airline still operating, KLM, is founded (1919); Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu born (1931); Saint Teresa of Calcutta, or Mother Teresa, starts her Missionaries of Charity (1950); US invasion of Afghanistan begins (2001).

October 6

Civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer born (1917); Yom Kippur War begins (1973); Pope John Paul II is first pope to visit White House (1979); Anwar Sādāt, president of Egypt, assassinated (1981); Hollywood legend Bette Davis dies (1989).

October 5

Harry Truman makes first US presidential television address from the White House (1947); Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson born (1958); Public Broadcasting Service launches (1970); Actress Kate Winslet born (1975); Steve Jobs dies (2011).

October 4

Rembrandt dies (1669); Orient Express makes first run from Paris to Romania (1883); Hollywood legend Charlton Heston born (1923); Sputnik 1 is first artificial satellite to orbit Earth (1957); Rocker Janis Joplin dies (1970).

October 3

American singer-songwriter Chubby Checker born (1941); Gwen Stefani born (1969); East and West Germany are unified (1990); OJ Simpson acquitted of murdering ex-wife and her friend (1995); "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh dies (2004).

October 1

Yosemite National Park is established (1890); Bonnie Parker, half of the infamous crime duo Bonnie and Clyde, born (1910); President Jimmy Carter born (1924); Actress Dame Julie Andrews born (1935); Walt Disney World opens (1971); 58 killed, 869 injured in mass shooting in Las Vegas (2017)

September 30

American novelist and screenwriter Truman Capote born (1924); Babe Ruth is first player to hit 60 home runs in a season (1927); Actor James Dean dies in a car crash (1955); President John F. Kennedy authorizes federal troops to integrate University of Mississippi (1962); Oscar-winning actress Simone Signoret dies (1985).

September 29

John D. Rockefeller becomes world’s first billionaire (1916); Pope John Paul II is first pope to visit Ireland (1979); Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to climb Mount Everest (1988); Basketball star Kevin Durant born (1988). 

September 28

Chinese philosopher Confucius born (551 BCE); Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Ted Williams is last major league baseball player to bat over .400 (1941); Jazz legend Miles Davis dies (1991); American tennis great and color barrier breaker Althea Gibson dies (2003).

September 27

Samuel Adams born (1722); Rosetta Stone is first deciphered (1822); First Black US senator Hiram Revels born (1827); Production of Ford Model T begins (1908); Legendary athlete "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias dies (1956). 

September 26

Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first US secretary of state (1789); Albert Einstein publishes paper on the special theory of relativity (1905); Last recorded album by The Beatles, "Abbey Road," is released (1969); Serena Williams born (1981); Actor Paul Newman dies (2008).

September 24

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald born (1896); American astronomer Charlotte Moore Sitterly born (1898); Devils Tower in Wyoming is proclaimed the first American national monument (1906); "Muppets" creator Jim Henson born (1936).

September 23

American civil rights activist Victoria Woodhull born (1838); Nintendo is founded as a playing card company (1889); Musician Ray Charles is born (1930); Neurologist Sigmund Freud dies (1939); Hurricane Jeanne kills more than 3,000 people in Haiti (2004).

September 22

President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (1862); Peace Corps formally authorized by Congress (1961); Iraq invades Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq War (1980); “Friends” debuts on NBC (1994); Baseball great Yogi Berra dies (2015).

September 21

Science fiction author HG Wells born (1866); "The Hobbit" is published (1937); Bill Murray born (1950); Senate confirms Sandra Day O’Connor as first female Supreme Court justice (1981); Track and field legend Florence Griffith Joyner dies (1998).

September 20

American author Upton Sinclair born (1878); Legendary basketball coach Red Auerbach born (1917); Actress Sophia Loren born (1934); Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match (1973); Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico, resulting in 3,000 deaths and $90B in damage (2017).

September 19

President James Garfield dies from gunshot wounds (1881); British cultural icon and model Twiggy born (1949); First-ever underground nuclear test takes place in Nevada (1957); Jimmy Fallon born (1974); Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed after five-month oil leak (2010).

September 17

US Constitution is signed (1787); Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery for the first time (1849); Actress Anne Bancroft born (1931); Camp David Accords signed providing framework for Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1978); Vanessa Williams becomes first Black woman crowned Miss America (1983).

September 16

Pilgrims depart from England on the Mayflower (1620); Actress Lauren Bacall born (1924); American musician BB King born (1925); Historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. born (1950); Singer Nick Jonas born (1992).

September 15

Mystery writer Agatha Christie born (1890); Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win heavyweight title for the third time (1978); Prince Harry born (1984); Google.com registered as domain name (1997).

September 14

President William McKinley dies of gunshot wounds (1901); Soviet probe Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to reach the moon (1959); OPEC, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is founded (1960); Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly dies (1982); Singer Amy Winehouse born (1983).

September 13

Francis Scott Key writes America’s national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1814); Actor and producer Tyler Perry born (1969); Israel and Palestine sign peace accord (1993); Rapper Tupac Shakur dies six days following drive-by shooting (1996); Ann Richards, educator and former governor of Texas, dies (2006).

September 12

Henry Hudson begins exploration of what will become known as the Hudson River (1609); Iconic track and field athlete Jesse Owens born (1913); Singer Barry White born (1944); Mae Jemison becomes first Black woman in space (1992); Johnny Cash dies (2003).

Queen Elizabeth

The life of Queen Elizabeth II was remarkable in more ways than one. Born on April 21 in 1926, she was the longest-reigning British monarch in history upon her death on September 8, 2022, at age 96. She also holds the distinction of being the fourth-longest reigning monarch of all time worldwide, having spent 70 years on the throne.

In 1945, before she became queen, Elizabeth joined the women's Auxiliary Territorial Service (a branch of the British Army) and trained as a truck driver and mechanic. She was only 18 years old. Just under 10 years later, she was crowned as Queen Elizabeth II, beginning a reign that for most citizens of Britain and the Commonwealth is the only one they’ve ever known. And in her time as monarch, she worked with 14 British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Boris Johnson.

The monarch’s life was marked with moments of great joy and fanfare, but also great tragedy. In times of crisis, she never wavered. Even the staunchest anti-royalist might begrudgingly agree that Elizabeth showed a fierce and unfaltering dedication in her role as queen. As the following quotes show, she was always ready to show support in times of need with words of wisdom and empathy, or with witty remarks that showed that even the Queen of England can have a sense of humor.

September 9

United States of America officially gets its name (1776); Actor Hugh Grant born (1960); Actor Adam Sandler born (1966); People's Republic of China founding father Mao Zedong dies (1976); Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning monarch of the UK at more than 63 years with crown (2015).

September 10

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer born (1929); Jack Ma, Chinese billionaire and cofounder of Alibaba, born (1964); Jane Wyman, actress and first wife of former President Ronald Reagan, dies (2007); Large Hadron Collider is tested for first time (2008); Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida (2017).

September 7

Uncle Sam first used as nickname for the US (1813); Rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly born (1936); "I Will Survive" singer Gloria Gaynor born (1943); Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio (1963); Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot, dies six days later (1996).