100px|Elvis in 1970
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was an American singer and one of the most
important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He is often referred
to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Born in
Tupelo,
Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 13. He
began his career there in 1954 and became the leading figure of the
newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of television
appearances and chart-topping records during the late 1950s.
Conscripted in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years
later with some of his most commercially successful work. In 1968,
after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance
in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las
Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973
Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite,
Aloha from Hawaii, seen by around 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription
drug abuse severely affected his health, and he died suddenly in 1977
from cardiac arrest. With his versatile voice and unusually wide
success encompassing many genres, Presley is the best-selling solo
artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive
Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of
fame. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1297:
Francesco Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, led his men to capture the
fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the
rulers of Monaco.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco>
1904:
Blackstone Library , the first branch of the Chicago Public Library
system, was dedicated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library>
1920:
The steel strike of 1919, an attempt to organize the United States
steel industry in the wake of World War I, collapsed in complete
failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/steel_strike_of_1919>
2003:
Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashed in extensive fog during final
approach to Diyarbakır Airport in Turkey, leaving only five survivors
out of 80 people on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_634>
2010:
Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave
of Cabinda attacked the bus carrying the Togo national football team on
its way to the 2010 African Cup of Nations, killing three.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_national_football_team_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
genet (n):
(biology) A group of genetically identical individuals (plants, fungi,
bacteria etc.) that have grown in a given location, all originating
from asexual reproduction of a single ancestor
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genet>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.
--Baltasar Gracián
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n>