1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley British novelist (Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus) She was the daughter of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died just days after giving birth to her daughter. She clashed with her stepmother and was sent to Scotland to live with foster parents during her early teens, then eloped with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was 17. After Shelley's wife committed suicide in 1817, the couple married. Mary Shelley gave birth to five children, but only one lived to adulthood. Mary was only 24 years old when Shelley drowned in a sailing accident. She lived on a small stipend from her father-in-law, Lord Shelley, until her surviving son inherited his fortune and title in 1844
1852 Jacobus Hoff Dutch-German scientist who was the first winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, in 1901
1896 Raymond Hart Massey Canadian actor (Dr. Kildare, Arsenic and Old Lace, The President's Plane is Missing, East of Eden, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, The Forty-Ninth Parallel, God is My Co-Pilot, Seven Angry Men, How The West Was Won) He was educated at Toronto University & Balliol College, Oxford. He played Sherlock Holmes in the 1931 production of The Speckled Band He also appeared in Mackennas Gold, with Julie Newmar His brother was Vincent Massey, the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada. His children were Anna Massey, who was at one time married to Jeremy Brett, and Daniel Massey, who appeared in the Inspector Morse episode Deceived by Flight as well as the Sherlock Holmes episode The Problem of Thor Bridge
1897 Frederic March - Actor (Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Iceman Cometh, A Christmas Carol, Inherit the Wind, Alexander the Great, A Star is Born)
1898 Shirley Booth - Actress (Hazel, Come Back Little Sheba, The Glass Menagerie)
1906 Joan Blondell - Actress (The Baron, The Champ, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Public Enemy)
1908 Fred MacMurray - Actor (My Three Sons, The Caine Mutiny, The Apartment, The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, Double Indemnity) He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of comic superhero Captain Marvel
1914 Julie Bishop - Actress (Westward the Women, Rhapsody in Blue, My Hero)
1919 Kitty Wells - The Queen of Country Music (Jealousy, It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, I Don't Want Your Money, Payin' for that Back Street Affair, Heartbreak USA, We'll Stick Together w/husband, Johnny Wright)
1928 Bill Daily - Actor (I Dream of Jeannie, The Bob Newhart Show, ALF)
1935 John Phillips Singer and songwriter with the group The Mamas & The Papas (Monday Monday, Creeque Alley, California Dreamin', San Francisco) Hes the father of actress MacKenzie Phillips and singer Chynna Phillips
1939 Elizabeth Ashley Actress (The Carpetbaggers, Ship of Fools, Stagecoach, Paperback Hero, Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday, Evening Shade, Dragnet, The Buccaneers)
1941 John McNally Singer and guitarist with The Searchers (Needles and Pins, Love Potion Number 9)
1947 Peggy Lipton - Actress (Twin Peaks, The Mod Squad)
1951 Timothy Bottoms - Actor (Last Picture Show, The Paper Chase, Texasville, East of Eden)
1963 Michael Chiklis Actor (The Shield, Fantastic Four, Daddio, The Commish, No Ordinary Family)
1972 Cameron Diaz Actress (The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, There's Something About Mary, Any Given Sunday, Charlie's Angels)
Died this Day
30BC Cleopatra, age 39 - Queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She took her own life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. Upon the death of their father in 51BC, Cleopatra was made queen of Egypt, her brother Ptolemy XIII was made king, and the siblings ruled Egypt under the formal title of husband and wife. Cleopatra and Ptolemy were members of the Macedonian dynasty that governed Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Although Cleopatra had no Egyptian blood, she alone in her ruling house learned Egyptian to further her influence over the Egyptian people. Cleopatra soon fell into dispute with her brother, and civil war erupted in 48 BC. Rome, the greatest power in the Western world, was also beset by civil war at the time. Cleopatra sought to advance her political aims by winning the favour of Caesar. She travelled to the royal palace in Alexandria and was allegedly carried to Caesar rolled in a rug, which was offered as a gift. Cleopatra, beautiful and alluring, captivated the powerful Roman leader, and he agreed to intercede in the Egyptian civil war on her behalf. In 47 BC, Ptolemy XIII was killed after a defeat against Caesar's forces, and Cleopatra was made dual ruler with another brother, Ptolemy XIV. Julius and Cleopatra spent several amorous weeks together, and then Caesar departed for Asia Minor, where he declared "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered), after putting down a rebellion. In June 47 BC, Cleopatra bore a son, whom she claimed was Caesar's and named Caesarion, meaning "little Caesar." Upon Caesar's triumphant return to Rome, Cleopatra and Caesarion joined him, living discretely in a villa that Caesar owned outside the capital. After Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, she returned to Egypt. Soon after, Ptolemy XIV died, likely poisoned by Cleopatra. The queen made her son co-ruler with her, as Ptolemy XV Caesar. With Julius Caesar's murder, Rome again fell into civil war, which was temporarily resolved in 43 BC with the formation of a triumvirate, made up of Caesar's great-nephew and chosen heir Octavian, Mark Antony a powerful general and Lepidus a Roman statesman. Antony took up the administration of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and he summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus, in Asia Minor, to answer charges that she had aided his enemies. Cleopatra sought to seduce Antony, as she had Caesar before him, and in 41 BC arrived in Tarsus on a magnificent river barge, dressed as Venus, the Roman god of love. Successful in her efforts, Antony returned with her to Alexandria, where they spent the winter in debauchery. Cleopatra had borne him twins, a son and a daughter. In 34 BC, to celebrate victory in Armenia, Antony staged a triumphal procession through the streets of Alexandria, in which he and Cleopatra sat on golden thrones, and Caesarion and their children were given imposing royal titles. Many in Rome interpreted the spectacle as a sign that Antony intended to deliver the Roman Empire into alien hands. Octavian declared war against Cleopatra, and therefore Antony, in 31 BC. Enemies of Octavian rallied to Antony's side, but Octavian's brilliant military commanders gained early successes against his forces. After heavy fighting, at Actium in Greece, Cleopatra broke from the engagement and set course for Egypt with 60 of her ships. Antony then broke through the enemy line and followed her. The disheartened fleet that remained surrendered to Octavian. One week later, Antony's land forces surrendered. Although they had suffered a decisive defeat, it was nearly a year before Octavian reached Alexandria and again defeated Antony. In the aftermath of the battle, Cleopatra took refuge in the mausoleum she had commissioned for herself. Antony, informed that Cleopatra was dead, stabbed himself with his sword. Before he died, another messenger arrived, saying Cleopatra still lived. Antony had himself carried to Cleopatra's retreat, where he died after bidding her to make her peace with Octavian. When the triumphant Roman arrived, she attempted to seduce him, but he resisted her charms. Rather than fall under Octavian's domination, Cleopatra committed suicide, possibly by means of an asp, a poisonous Egyptian serpent and symbol of divine royalty. Octavian then executed her son Caesarion, annexed Egypt into the Roman Empire, and used Cleopatra's treasure to pay off his veterans. In 27 BC, Octavian became Augustus, the first and arguably most successful of all Roman emperors. He ruled a peaceful, prosperous, and expanding Roman Empire until his death in AD14 at the age of 75
1884 Dr James Collis Browne British inventor of Chlorodyne, the famous patent medicine for stomach upsets. He developed the medicine while out in India, where he had plenty of scope to test the remedy on the British troops in his care
1993 Richard Jordan, age 55 Actor (Captains and the Kings, The Bunker, Hunt for Red October, Dune, Logan's Run, Rooster Cogburn, Kamouraska)
2003 Charles Bronson, age 81 Actor (Death Wish series, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Valachi Papers, Sandpiper, Raid on Entebbe, Miss Sadie Thompson, Battle of the Bulge, House of Wax, You're in the Army Now)
On this Day
1611 Newly appointed Governor John Guy issued Newfoundland's first laws. They were to protect forests and harbours and regulate the fishery
1860 The first trams in Britain began running, operated by the Birkenhead Street Railway
1862 Union forces were defeated by the Confederates under Stonewall Jackson at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia
1881 The first stereo system was patented by Clement Ader of Germany, for a telephonic broadcasting service
1889 Joseph Marshall Stoddart, managing editor of Lippincott's Magazine, met with two promising young writers in London. They were Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde. Stoddart commissioned a short novel from each of them. Wilde delivered The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Conan Doyle produced The Sign of the Four
1901 Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. The canny Scot had watched a dustblowing machine in action, and reversed it
1936 Donald Duck first appeared in comic strip form
1939 The great evacuation of children from British cities began. With the Second World War four days away, thousands of children were moved out into the country to avoid the anticipated German bombing
1941 The Second World War siege of Leningrad began as Nazi forces severed the last railroad link between Leningrad and the rest of the Soviet Union
1963 The hot-line communications link between Washington, DC, and Moscow went into operation. It was established to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear war
1968 The Beatles launched the Apple record label with the song Hey Jude
1988 Ontario marathon swimmer Vicki Keith waded ashore in Toronto, completing her swim of all five of the Great Lakes. During the swim, which began July 1st, Vicki set a women's world distance record for the butterfly stroke
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