43BC Ovid - Roman poet (Medea, Epistolae, Metamorphoses)
1823 Ned Buntline - US adventurer and writer of 19th century dime novels. He was born Edward Zane Carroll Judson in Stamford, New York, and wrote more than 400 novels and countless other short stories and articles. Perhaps more than any single writer, Ned Buntline was responsible for creating a highly romanticised image of the US West as the setting for great adventure and excitement. In 1845 he founded a sensationalistic magazine, called Ned Buntline's Own, in Nashville, which he filled with all manner of outrageous stories, having a particular affinity for nautical adventures. By the time he was in his late 20s, Buntline had earned the title "King of the Dime Novels" and was making an excellent living. After travelling to San Francisco in 1869, Buntline realised he could easily adapt his stock adventure plots to a setting in the US West. At about the same time he met a handsome young scout and buffalo hunter named William Frederick Cody. Buntline's decision to write a dime novel starring Buffalo Bill Cody made the relatively unknown scout into a national media star, and his book, The Scout of the Plains, grossly exaggerated Cody's western adventures. The public loved the thrilling tale, and Buntline turned the novel into a play that he staged in Chicago. In 1872, Buntline convinced Cody to travel to the city and play himself in the production. Cody was a poor actor, but his participation brought in people and money. Cody broke with Buntline after a year, but the national fame he gained because of Buntline's work eventually allowed Buffalo Bill to create his famous Wild West show. Buntline churned out other western dime novels, and he eventually became the nation's top literary money earner, surpassing the income of writers like Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Buntline prized his wealth, but he remained scornful of his own work. "I found that to make a living I must write 'trash' for the masses, for he who endeavours to write for the critical few, and do his genius justice, will go hungry if he has no other means of support"
1828 Henrik Ibsen - Norwegian poet and playwright (A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Peer Gynt, The Wild Duck, The Pillars of Society, An Enemy of the People) He was born in Norway in a small logging town, the eldest of five siblings
1856 Frederick W. Taylor - US inventor and efficiency expert who helped industries worldwide become more efficient with his "Modern Methods of Industrial Management". One of his leading doctrines which has made a deep impression on business and industry, is that a man who proves incompetent at one job should be fitted in where he can give good service, instead of being discharged. His life work was chiefly devoted to the simplification of industrial processes to reduce costs and increase outputs. In 1889 he began his special work of reorganising the management of manufacturing establishments. A plant that he made over was made over from top to bottom. He laid out the system from the duties of the boy who carried drinking water to the unskilled labourers to the duties of the President, giving his solution to the problems of shop, office, accounting department and sales department, and emphasising the necessity for the humane treatment of labour. For his invention of the Taylor-White process of treating modern high-speed tools he received a gold medal from the Paris Exposition of 1900. He had received about 100 patents for various inventions, many of which are in general use
1896 Wilfred 'Wop' May - Canadian pilot and World War I air ace. May was being pursued by German ace Manfred von Richthofen when the Red Baron was shot down
1903 Edgar Buchanan Actor (Petticoat Junction, Cades County, McLintock!, Cimarron, Judge Roy Bean, Hopalong Cassidy, Cheaper By the Dozen, Shane, Penny Serenade)
1906 Ozzie Nelson - Bandleader and actor (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet)
1907 Hugh MacLennan - Canadian author (Two Solitudes, The Watch that Ends the Night, Barometer Rising) He won the Governor-General's award three times for fiction, and twice for non-fiction and was a Rhodes scholar
1908 Sir Michael Redgrave - British stage and screen actor (Goodbye Mr. Chips, Heidi, Importance of Being Earnest, Nicholas and Alexandra, The Lady Vanishes) He is the father of Vanessa, Lynn, and Corin Redgrave , the grandfather of Natasha and Joely Richardson and Jemma Regrave, and the son of Australian silent movie legend, Roy Redgrave
1917 Dame Vera Lynn - British singer who became the "Forces Sweetheart" during WWII (We'll Meet Again, White Cliffs of Dover)
1922 Larry Elgart - Musician, lead alto sax and bandleader with his brother Les (Hooked On Swing, The Bandstand Boogie)
1922 Ray Goulding - Comedian and half of the comedy team Bob and Ray
1922 Carl Reiner - Actor (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle), director (Fatal Instinct, The Jerk, Oh! God, Summer Rental, All of Me), comedian (Your Show of Shows), writer (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Man with Two Brains) He is the father of Rob Reiner
1928 Fred McFeely Rogers - Protestant minister, composer and TV host (Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood, Butternut Square, Mister Rogers, The Children's Corner) Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the son of Nancy Rogers and James H. Rogers, a brick manufacturer, he was an only child until his parents adopted a baby girl when he was 11. He spent many hours inventing adventures for his puppets and playing the piano. Mr. Rogers graduated magna cum laude from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida in 1951 with a music composition degree. Right after graduating from Rollins he was employed at the NBC studios in New York, first as a gofer and eventually as a floor director for shows like The Kate Smith Evening Hour and Your Hit Parade. In 1953 he was invited to help with programming at WQED in Pittsburgh, which was just starting up as the US's first community-supported public television station. Studying part-time, he earned a divinity degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1962, and was ordained by the Presbyterian Church. He first appeared on TV as Mr. Rogers in 1963 on a show called Mister Rogers when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation asked him to start a show with himself as the on-camera host. The CBC-designed sets and other details became part of the permanent look of Rogers productions. Mr. Rogers returned to WQED where Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood had its premiere in 1966. In 1999 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Mr. Rogers had been awarded dozens of awards for excellence and public service, including four daytime Emmys, the lifetime achievement award of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
1931 Hal Linden - Actor (Barney Miller, How to Break up a Happy Divorce, Starflight One, A New Life)
1935 Ted Bessell Actor (That Girl, Gomer Pyle USMC)
1937 Jerry Reed - Singer (Amos Moses, When You're Hot You're Hot, She Got the Goldmine I Got the Shaft), songwriter (US Male, Guitar Man), actor (Gator, Smokey & the Bandit)
1948 John de Lancie Actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Torchwood: Miracle Day, Final Descent, Legend, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Days of Our Lives)
1948 Bobby Orr - Hockey defenseman with the NHL's Boston Bruins, and Hart Memorial Trophy winner in 1970, 1971 and 1972
1950 William Hurt - Actor (Broadcast News, The Accidental Tourist, Altered States, The Big Chill, Trial by Jury, Children of a Lesser God)
1951 Jimmie Vaughan - Rock musician with The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Tuff Enuff) He is the brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the all-time blues guitar greats
1957 Spike Lee - Director (He Got Game, Malcolm X, Jungle Fever, Do the Right Thing)
1957 Theresa Russell - Actress (Black Widow, Kafka, Public Enemies, The Razors Edge, The Last Tycoon)
1958 Holly Hunter - Actress (The Piano, Broadcast News, The Firm, Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Saving Grace)
1959 Steve McFadden British actor (EastEnders)
1970 David Rapaport Actor (Boston Public, Prison Break, The War at Home, Cop Land)
1979 Freema Agyeman British actress (Doctor Who, Law & Order: UK, Little Dorrit, Torchwood, New Amsterdam)
Died this Day
1413 Henry IV - The first English monarch from the Lancastrian dynasty. He died after years of illness, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry V
1549 Thomas Seymour - Lord High Admiral of England. He married King Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr. When she died, he planned to marry Princess Elizabeth, but instead was arrested for treason, and executed
1727 Sir Isaac Newton, age 85 - British mathematician, astronomer and physicist who discovered the law of gravity. He is buried at Westminster Abbey
1899 Martha M. Place - She was the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. The Brooklyn woman was put to death at Sing Sing for the murder of her stepdaughter
1945 Lord Alfred (Bosie) Douglas - The one-time intimate of Oscar Wilde, and the cause of his downfall
1964 Brendan Behan - Irish playwright (Borstal Boy, The Hostage, The Quare Fellow)
On this Day
1565 King Philip of Spain made a contract for the settlement of Florida
1602 The Netherlands government formed the Dutch East India Company. It became one of the most powerful companies in the world during its 96 year history
1780 James Watt, Scottish inventor, began manufacturing the first duplicator, which he had invented to help with the burden of office work generated by his steam engine business
1806 The foundation stone of Dartmoor Prison in Devon was laid. It opened three years later to house French prisoners of war, but by 1850 it was being used to house British prisoners
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris, beginning his Hundred Days rule. It ended at the Battle of Waterloo
1816 The US Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions
1819 London's elegant and exclusive Burlington Arcade opened
1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, was published. It sold 300,000 copies within three months and was so widely read that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, "So this is the little lady who made this big war"
1878 Postmaster-General John Delaney and meteorologist John Higgins installed Newfoundland's first telephone
1896 US Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect US citizens in the wake of a revolution
1945 British troops liberated Mandalay, Burma from the Japanese, bringing the Allies one step closer to liberating all of Burma. Rangoon, the capital, would fall in May, returning Burma to British hands
1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1970 In Paris, Canada signed a treaty with 19 other countries to found La Francophonie, a body for cultural and technological exchange among French-speaking nations
1974 An attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth. A gunman fired six shots, and then tried to drag her out of her car, but fled as passers-by joined her bodyguard and the police to foil the attempt. Ian Ball was later caught and charged with attempted murder
1988 Eight-year-old DeAndra Anrig became airborne when the string of her kite was snagged by an airplane flying over Shoreline Park in Mountain View, California. She was lifted ten feet off the ground and carried eight yards until she let go of the string. Anrig was not seriously hurt
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