George Formby Sr (1875–1921) was one of the greatest music hall
performers of the early 20th century. His comedy and songs played upon
Lancashire stereotypes, and he was popular around Britain. His nickname,
"The Wigan Nightingale", was coined because of the way he would use his
bronchial cough as a comedic device. Born into poverty, he sang on
street corners before starting a professional career in the 1890s, when
he built up a following in Lancashire. He also developed a series of
stage characters, including that of "John Willie", an accident-prone
northerner. Formby had a successful recording career and made the
transition from music hall to revue in 1916. He suffered from
tuberculosis, and a stage accident in 1916 weakened him further; after
he contracted influenza in the 1918 pandemic, he died in 1921 at the age
of 45. Formby's act, and one of his costumes, inspired Charlie Chaplin
to create the Tramp, his signature film character. Formby's son used
parts of his father's act when starting his stage career and, once
established, also changed his name to George Formby; he went on to
become the top British male star in box office takings between 1937 and
1943.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby_Sr>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
American Revolution: James Wilson and his colleagues were
forced to defend themselves after a mob, angered by his successful legal
defense of 23 people from exile, converged on his house, resulting in
six deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilson>
1876:
Texas A&M; University opened as the first public institution of
higher education in the U.S. state of Texas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_A%26M_University>
1917:
First World War: The British devastated the German defence in
the Battle of Broodseinde, which prompted a crisis among the German
commanders and caused a severe loss of morale in the German Fourth Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Broodseinde>
1957:
Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to
orbit the Earth, was launched by an R-7 rocket from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1>
2010:
The dam holding a waste reservoir in western Hungary collapsed,
freeing 1 million cubic metres (1,300,000 cu yd) of red mud, which
flooded nearby communities and killed at least nine people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajka_alumina_plant_accident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hoyden:
(archaic) A rude, uncultured or rowdy girl or woman.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hoyden>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every age has its temptations, its weaknesses, its dangers. Ours
is in the line of the snobbish and the sordid.
--Rutherford B. Hayes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes>