Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) was an American actress of film, stage,
and television. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited
personality, Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned more
than 60 years. She won a record four Academy Awards, and in 1999 was
named by the American Film Institute as Hollywood's top female legend.
Hepburn began acting in college, and spent four years in the theatre
before entering films in 1932. She became an instant star, but after a
series of unsuccessful films was named "box office poison". The
Philadelphia Story revived her career, and she subsequently formed a
popular alliance with Spencer Tracy that lasted 25 years. In middle age
Hepburn found a niche playing spinsters, such as in The African Queen,
and became a Shakespearean stage actress. She continued to work into old
age, making her final screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87.
Hepburn is remembered as an important cultural figure, as she came to
epitomize the "modern woman" in 20th-century America and helped change
perceptions of women.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1588:
An apparently spontaneous public uprising arose in staunchly
Catholic Paris against the moderate policies of Henry III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Barricades>
1926:
The Trades Union Congress, a federation of British trade
unions, announced that it would end its week-long general strike "in
defence of [coal] miners' wages and hours".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike>
1942:
World War II: Soviet forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko
launched a major offensive in the eastern Ukraine, only to be encircled
and destroyed by German troops two weeks later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov>
1998:
Four students were shot and killed at Trisakti University in
Indonesia, leading to widespread riots and eventually the fall of
Suharto.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisakti_shootings>
2008:
In Postville, Iowa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
conducted the largest-ever raid of a workplace and arrested nearly 400
immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_Raid>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
deskfast:
Breakfast eaten at work, particularly while sitting at a desk.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deskfast>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under
any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to
advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with
this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those
who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of
what they may claim.
--L. Neil Smith
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Neil_Smith>