Dan Leno (1860–1904) was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was perhaps best known, aside from his music hall act, for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1888 to 1904. As a youth, he was famous for his clog dancing, and in his teen years, he became the star of his family's act. As a solo artist, he became increasingly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s, when he was one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. He developed a music hall act of talking about life's mundane subjects, mixed with comic songs and surreal observations, and created a host of mostly working- class characters to illustrate his stories. In 1901, still at the peak of his career, he performed his "Huntsman" sketch for Edward VII at Sandringham. The monarch was so impressed that Leno became publicly known as "the king's jester". Leno continued to appear in musical comedies and his own music hall routines until 1902, although he suffered increasingly from alcoholism. This, together with his long association with dame and low comedy roles, prevented him from being taken seriously as a dramatic actor. He suffered a mental breakdown in early 1903 and was committed to a mental asylum, but was discharged later that year. After one more show, his health declined, and he died aged 43.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Leno
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
217 BC:
Second Punic War: The Carthaginians under Hannibal executed one of the largest military ambushes in history when they overwhelmingly defeated the Romans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Trasimene
1898:
In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam from Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Guam
1919:
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttled the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow to prevent the ships from being seized and divided amongst the Allied Powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_in_Scapa_Flow
1948:
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-Scale_Experimental_Machine
1963:
Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope Paul VI (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI
1964:
Three civil rights workers were lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
angst: 1. A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety. 2. More commonly, painful sadness or emotional turmoil, as teen angst. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angst
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. --Reinhold Niebuhr https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr