Stanley Holloway (1890–1982) was an English stage and film actor,
comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and
character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P.
Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues
and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his
70-year career. He had his first major theatre success in Kissing Time
in 1919. In 1921, he joined a concert party, The Co-Optimists, and his
career began to flourish. Characters from his monologues such as Sam
Small, invented by Holloway, and Albert Ramsbottom, created for him by
Marriott Edgar, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway
developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. At the
outbreak of World War II, Holloway made short propaganda films on behalf
of the British Film Institute and Pathé News and took character parts
in a series of war films including Major Barbara, The Way Ahead, This
Happy Breed and The Way to the Stars. In 1956 he was cast as the
irresponsible Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. The role brought him
international fame. In his later years, Holloway appeared in television
series in the US and the UK, toured in revues, and appeared in stage
plays in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Holloway>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
An unusually bright meteor procession blazed across the night
sky over Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Meteor_of_August_18,_1783>
1864:
American Civil War: At the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces
attempted to sever the Weldon Railroad during the Siege of Petersburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Globe_Tavern>
1920:
The Nineteenth Amendment (authors Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony pictured) to the United States Constitution was
ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage in America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution>
1966:
Vietnam War: Members from D Company of the 6th Battalion of the
Royal Australian Regiment were surrounded and attacked on all sides by a
much larger Viet Cong unit at the Battle of Long Tan, but held them off
for several hours until reinforcements arrived.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Battalion,_Royal_Australian_Regiment>
1989:
Leading Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán was
assassinated during a public demonstration in the town of Soacha,
Cundinamarca.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carlos_Gal%C3%A1n>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
social contract:
(philosophy, politics) An implicit agreement or contract among members
of a society that dictates things such as submission of individuals to
rule of law and acceptable conduct.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_contract>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I can't help believing that these things that come from the subconscious
mind have a sort of truth to them. It may not be a scientific truth, but
it's psychological truth.
--Brian Aldiss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss>
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