Noël Coward (1899–1973) was an English playwright, composer, director,
actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time
magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and
chic, pose and poise". Coward achieved enduring success as a
playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many
of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living,
Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular
theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well
over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet
and comic revues), poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel
Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage
and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which
he starred in many of his own works. Coward won an Academy Honorary
Award in 1943 for his naval film drama, In Which We Serve, and was
knighted in 1969. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret
performer, performing his own songs, such as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen",
"London Pride" and "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans".
His plays
and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work
and style continue to influence popular culture.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No%C3%ABl_Coward>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1639:
The British East India Company bought a small strip of land on what is
today Chennai, the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, from
the King of the Vijayanagara Empire, Peda Venkata Raya.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai>
1791:
A slave rebellion erupted in the French colony of Saint-Domingue,
starting the Haitian Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution>
1864:
The Red Cross movement led by Henry Dunant officially began when
twelve European nations signed the First Geneva Convention,
establishing the International Committee of the Red Cross.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Committee_of_the_Red_Cross>
1910:
Korea was annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan–Korea
Annexation Treaty, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that
lasted until the end of World War II.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan-Korea_Annexation_Treaty>
1922:
Irish Civil War: Irish National Army commander-in-chief Michael Collins
was assassinated in an ambush while en route through County Cork at the
village of Béal na mBláth.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_%28Irish_leader%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cordial (adj):
1. Hearty; sincere.
2. Radiating warmth and friendliness; genial
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cordial>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if
you must be without one, be without the strategy.
--Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Schwarzkopf%2C_Jr.>