Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) was an English actor and director who,
along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and John
Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also
played more than fifty roles in a long film career. In 1930 he had a
West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives. In the 1940s, together
with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old
Vic, building it into a highly respected company. From 1963 to 1973 he
was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a
resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there
included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of
Venice (1970). Among Olivier's films are Wuthering Heights (1939),
Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director:
Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). His later films
included The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man
(1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of
explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaks_explosion>
1905:
In support of the December Uprising in Moscow, the Council of
Workers' Deputies of Kiev staged a mass uprising, establishing the
Shuliavka Republic in the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuliavka_Republic>
1936:
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China was
kidnapped by Marshal Zhang Xueliang, a former warlord of Manchuria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%27an_Incident>
1988:
Three trains collided near Clapham Junction railway station in
London, killing 35 people and injuring 484 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Junction_rail_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fard:
1. (transitive, archaic) To paint, as the cheeks or face.
2. (transitive, archaic) To embellish or gloss over.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fard>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our duty is to feel what is great and love what is beautiful —
not to accept all the social conventions and the infamies they impose on
us.
--Madame Bovary
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Madame_Bovary>