14 May
2017
14 May
'17
5 a.m.
John Gielgud (1904–2000) was an English actor and theatre director
who, along with Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, dominated the
British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family
theatrical dynasty, he became a star in the West End and on Broadway by
the 1930s, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel
career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre,
London. Though he made his first film in 1924 and had successes with The
Good Companions (1933) and Julius Caesar (1953), he did not begin a
regular film career until his sixties. He appeared in more than 60 films
between Becket in 1964 (his first Academy Award nomination) and
Elizabeth in 1998. As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur (1981) he won
the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He earned a Golden Globe
Award and two BAFTAs, and had the rare distinction of winning an Oscar,
an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. He broadcast more than 100 radio and
television dramas and made commercial recordings of many plays,
including ten of Shakespeare's. He was knighted in 1953 and was
president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1977 to 1989.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gielgud>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1264:
Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle
of Lewes and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort
the de facto ruler of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_of_Lewes>
1796:
English physician Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a
vaccine against smallpox.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner>
1878:
The last witchcraft trial in the United States opened in Salem,
Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witchcraft_trial_(1878)>
1931:
Five people were killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers opened
fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85dalen_shootings>
1940:
World War II: The bulk of Dutch forces surrendered to the
Wehrmacht, ending the Battle of the Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Netherlands>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
matriotism:
1. School, hometown, or parish pride or loyalty, as opposed to nationalism
or patriotism. [from 19th c.]
2. Love or celebration of a woman's influence upon society; the female
equivalent to male patriotism.
3. Love of the motherland, as opposed to patriotism as love of the
fatherland.
4. Pacifist patriotism; love of society as opposed to love of the state.
5. Devotion to Mother Earth, ecology, sustainability, peace, and the
survival of the human species for as long as possible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matriotism>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don't give in to hate. That leads to the Dark Side.
--The Empire Strikes Back
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Empire_Strikes_Back>