Angus Cloud

"Angus Cloud, a breakout star on TV drama Euphoria, has died. He was 25 years old."

https://ew.com/tv/angus-cloud-dead-euphoria-star-dies-at-25/

July 31

Seventeenth US president Andrew Johnson dies (1875); Entrepreneur Mark Cuban born (1958); "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling born (1965); START I signed by the US and Soviet Union to begin nuclear arms reduction (1991); Basketball legend Bill Russell dies (2022).

July 29

Vincent van Gogh dies (1890); NASA is established (1958); 750 million people worldwide watch wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (1981); Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin dies (1994).

July 28

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach dies (1750); 14th Amendment, granting US citizenship to formerly enslaved persons, is officially adopted (1868); Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis born (1929); Tangshan earthquake kills more than 240,000 in China (1976).

J. Robert Oppenheimer

"Years before he became known as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer worked as a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, when he met who became perhaps the greatest love of his life."

https://www.biography.com/scientists/a44496766/jean-tatlock-oppenheimer-relationship

July 27

US Department of State is established (1789); Figure skating legend Peggy Fleming born (1948); House brings impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon (1974); NBA player Reggie Lewis collapses and dies at practice (1993); Bob Hope dies (2003).

July 26

 US postal system established (1775); Federal Bureau of Investigation is founded (1908); Sir Mick Jagger born (1943); Actress Dame Helen Mirren born (1945); Former Argentine first lady Eva Perón dies (1952).

July 25

DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin born (1920); Football great Walter Payton born (1953 or 1954); First baby born via in vitro fertilization (1978); Rock Hudson is first major celeb to announce AIDS diagnosis (1985); Concorde Air France crash kills 113 (2000).

July 24

Jacques Cartier claims Canada for France (1534); Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart born (1897); Machu Picchu is rediscovered (1911); Apollo 11 splashes safely in the Pacific (1969); Jennifer Lopez born (1969).

July 22

 "America the Beautiful" written (1893); Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta born (1932); Infamous gangster John Dillinger killed by federal agents (1934); "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek born (1940); Singer and actress Selena Gomez born (1992) 

Tony Bennett

https://www.wmtw.com/article/tony-bennett-dies-at-96/44610356?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%20-%20Rossen%20Reports&utm_source=64bb1c0a6b36dd7d2c96d596c7970d70&brzu=92d0597bceaa9b3a264cf243ae8d8312a6505ce75a89070ac6589218ad635ca1&lctg=62eaa052f71beb00639528ca

July 21

Author Ernest Hemingway born (1899); Actor and comedian Robin Williams born (1951); Soccer great Brandi Chastain born (1968); Jay Silverheels becomes first Native American to have a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (1979); NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends (2011).

July 20

Mount Everest explorer Sir Edmund Hillary born (1919); Neil Armstrong becomes first person to walk on the moon (1969); Bruce Lee dies (1973); Viking 1 is first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars (1976); Model Gisele Bündchen born (1980).

July 19

Inventor and businessman Samuel Colt born (1814); First US women’s rights convention held (1848); Maurice Garin becomes first winner of Tour de France (1903); Sports journalist Stuart Scott born (1965); First GPS signal transmitted (1977).

July 18

Novelist Jane Austen dies (1817); Nelson Mandela born (1918); Astronaut and politician John Glenn born (1921); Nadia Comăneci gets first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history (1976); Actress Priyanka Chopra born (1982).

July 17

Tsar Nicholas II and his family are executed (1918); Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California (1955); Jazz singer Billie Holiday dies (1959); Broadcast legend Walter Cronkite dies (2009); Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down, 298 killed (2014).

July 15

Rosetta Stone is found in Egypt (1799); Businesswoman and journalist Arianna Huffington born (1950); Fashion designer Gianni Versace is murdered (1997); Twitter is launched (2006).

July 14

Revolutionaries in France storm the Bastille (1789); Archaeologist and spy Gertrude Bell born (1868); President Gerald Ford born (1913); Howard Hughes' crew breaks record with 91-hour flight around the world (1938); NASA's New Horizon probe completes flyby of Pluto (2015).

July 13

Julius Caesar born (100 BCE); First World Cup takes place in Uruguay (1930); Sir Patrick Stewart born (1940); Artist Frida Kahlo dies (1954); Live Aid concert raises more than $125M for Africa famine relief (1985).

July 12

US Founding Father Alexander Hamilton dies (1804); The Rolling Stones perform first concert (1962); Geraldine Ferraro is first American female major-party VP candidate (1984); Activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai born (1997).

July 11

President John Quincy Adams born (1767); Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounds Alexander Hamilton in duel (1804); "To Kill a Mockingbird" is published (1960); Iconic actor Laurence Olivier dies (1989); Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson dies (2007).

July 10

Iconic inventor Nikola Tesla born (1856); Scopes Monkey Trial begins (1925); Tennis player Arthur Ashe born (1943); Actress Sofia Vergara born (1972); Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega sentenced to 40 years in prison in Miami on drug charges (1992).

July 8

Businessman and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller born (1839); "Gone with the Wind" actress Vivien Leigh dies (1967); Atlantis is launched on final mission of US Space Shuttle program (2011); Former first lady and social activist Betty Ford dies (2011); Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated (2022).

Gary Portney

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Portnoy

July 7

Construction of the Hoover Dam begins (1930); Ringo Starr born (1940); Basketball legend Lisa Leslie born (1972); Sandra Day O’Connor nominated as first female US Supreme Court justice (1981); US women’s national soccer team wins World Cup for a record fourth time (2019).

July 6

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

July 5

26th Amendment signed, lowers voting age from 21 to 18 in the US (1971); Arthur Ashe becomes first Black man to win Wimbledon (1975); Dolly the Sheep becomes first cloned mammal (1996); Baseball great Ted Williams dies (2002).

Narendranath Datta

"Vivekananda, original name Narendranath Datta, Datta also spelled Dutt, (born January 12, 1863, Calcutta [now Kolkata]—died July 4, 1902, near Calcutta), Hindu spiritual leader and reformer in India who attempted to combine Indian spirituality with Western material progress, maintaining that the two supplemented and complemented one another."

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vivekananda?utm_medium=email&utm_source=otd&utm_content=featured-bio&utm_campaign=otd2023-07-04&utm_email=51af2c1e20f05e0db5237be77f1cc9bcb525156f430cddb5f1544ab4ca052bc2

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka gives the reader no time to adjust to what’s going on; Samsa has become an insect, and off we go. The tone of the opening line is strangely matter-of-fact considering the circumstances, but this fits perfectly with the absurdist nature of the novel. (It’s also worth noting that, depending on the translation, Samsa is perhaps not an insect but a “monstrous vermin” or a “monstrous cockroach.”)

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens’ bold, declarative opening sentence uses antithesis to set the scene and the overarching tone of the novel. The contrasts draw the reader in, setting the time and place (London and Paris during the time of the French Revolution), while also raising the issue of comparison: Can any era be considered the best or worst of times?

Oscar Wilde

He 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.”

As Stephen King said, “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” This is the writer’s hook, the way to grab the reader and hold their attention. But not all opening lines are created equal. A Charles Dickens novel might have a first sentence that’s more than 100 words, while a classic of comparative stature might have just three: “Call me Ishmael.”

July 3

Battle of Gettysburg ends on Pickett’s Charge (1863); Dow Jones publishes its first stock average (1884); Tom Cruise born (1962); Musician Jim Morrison dies (1971); Actress Olivia Munn born (1980)

Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene was born August 7, 1742 in Warwick, Rhode Island.

https://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/greene.html

June 30

Aztec emperor Moctezuma II dies in battle with Spanish conquistadors (1520); Famous Oxford debate on evolution takes place (1860); Singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne born (1917); Olympic legend Michael Phelps born (1985). 

July 1

Civil War Battle of Gettysburg begins (1863); Canada becomes a country (1867); Abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe dies (1896); Princess Diana born (1961); China regains sovereignty over Hong Kong (1997).