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).