Portrait by Giovanni Boldini
On this day in 1901, Italian Romantic composer, Giuseppe Verdi, died in the Grand Hotel et de Milan in Milan, Italy at the age of 87. Born Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi on 10 October 1813 in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, then in the Département Taro which was a part of the First French Empire after the annexation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. Primarily known for his operas; Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff. In my opinion, Verdi is one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world. Some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture – such as “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto, “Va, pensiero” (The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco, “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” (The Drinking Song) from La traviata and the “Grand March” from Aida. Verdi’s masterworks dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition. Verdi was married to Giuseppina Strepponi (1859 – 1897 her death). 
The Final Footprint – Verdi and his wife were initially entombed in Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. Their bodies were dis-entombed and re-entombed in The Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, a rest home for retired opera singers and musicians which was founded by Verdi. It is located at 29 Piazza Buonarotti in Milan. The building was designed in the neo-Gothic style by Italian architect, Camillo Boito. A plaque outside the building reads: GVARDANO GL’ITALIANI GVARDA REVERENTE IL MONDO TVTTO A QVESTE SPOGLIE ONORANDE DI GIVSEPPE VERDI QVI RICOMPOSTE IN GLORIA PERPETVA NELLA DOLCE DIMORA OSPITALE DAL SOMMO MAESTRO VOLVTA. A bronze statue of Verdi was erected in Piazza G. Verdi in Busseto. A bronze bust was placed outside of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
#RIP #OTD in 1922 pioneer investigative journalist (Ten Days in a Madhouse), industrialist, inventor, charity worker, record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, Nellie Bly died of pneumonia at St. Mark’s Hospital, New York City, aged 57. Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx
On this day in 1972 gospel singer, Civil Rights activist, The Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson died at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois, of heart failure and diabetes complications, at the age of 60. Born on October 26, 1911 in New Orleans. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career.
“I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free”, Jackson once said about her choice of gospel, adding, “It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.”
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Two cities paid tribute: Chicago and New Orleans. Beginning in Chicago, outside the Greater Salem Baptist Church, 50,000 people filed silently past her mahogany, glass-topped coffin in final tribute to the queen of gospel song. The next day, as many people who could—6,000 or more—filled every seat and stood along the walls of a city public concert hall, the Arie Crown Theater of McCormick Place, for a two-hour funeral service. Her pastor, Rev. Leon Jenkins, Mayor Richard J. Daley and Mrs. Coretta Scott King eulogized her during the Chicago funeral as “a friend – proud, black and beautiful”. Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald paid their respects. Joseph H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., delivered the eulogy at the Chicago funeral. Aretha Franklin closed the rites with a moving rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”.
Three days later, a thousand miles away, the scene repeated itself: the long lines, the silent tribute, and thousands filling the great hall of the Rivergate Convention Center in downtown New Orleans. Mayor Moon Landrieu and Louisiana Governor John J. McKeithen joined gospel singer Bessie Griffin. Dick Gregory praised Jackson’s “moral force” as the main reason for her success. Lou Rawls sang “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”. The funeral cortège of 24 limousines drove slowly past her childhood place of worship, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, where her recordings played through loudspeakers. The procession made its way to Providence Memorial Park in Metairie, Louisiana, where she was entombed. Despite the inscription of her birth year on her gravestone as 1912, she was actually born in 1911.
| John Updike | |
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 in 1989 |
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On this day in 2009, novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic, John Updike died of lung cancer at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, at the age of 76. Born John Hoyer Updike on March 18, 1932 in Reading, Pennsylvania. One of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others were Booth Tarkington and William Faulkner), Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children’s books during his career.
Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems appeared in The New Yorker starting in 1954. He also wrote regularly for The New York Review of Books. Perhaps best known for his “Rabbit” series (the novels Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit at Rest; and the novella Rabbit Remembered), which chronicles the life of the middle-class everyman Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom over the course of several decades, from young adulthood to death. Both Rabbit Is Rich (1982) and Rabbit at Rest (1990) were recognized with the Pulitzer Prize.
Describing his subject as “the American small town, Protestant middle class”, Updike was recognized for his careful craftsmanship, his unique prose style, and his prolific output, writing on average a book a year.
His fiction is distinguished by its attention to the concerns, passions, and suffering of average Americans, its emphasis on Christian theology, and its preoccupation with sexuality and sensual detail. In my opinion, he is one of the great American writers. Updike’s distinctive prose style features a rich, unusual, sometimes arcane vocabulary. He described his style as an attempt “to give the mundane its beautiful due”.
Updike married Mary E. Pennington, an art student at Radcliffe College, in 1953, while he was still a student at Harvard. She accompanied him to Oxford, England, where he attended art school. They divorced in 1974. In 1977 Updike married Martha Ruggles Bernhard, with whom he lived for more than thirty years in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. He died of lung cancer at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, on January 27, 2009, at the age of 76.
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A cenotaph was placed for Updike at Robeson Lutheran Church Cemetery in Plowville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Updike demonstrated his own fear of death in some of his more personal writings, including the poem “Perfection Wasted” (1990):
And another regrettable thing about death
is the ceasing of your own brand of magic…
On this day in 2010, writer J. D. Salinger died in Cornish, New Hampshire at the age of 91. Born Jerome David Salinger in Manhattan on January 1, 1919. Perhaps best known for his widely-read novel The Catcher in the Rye. Following his early success publishing short stories and The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.
Salinger was raised in Manhattan and began writing short stories while in secondary school. Several were published in Story magazine in the early 1940s before he began serving in World War II. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” appeared in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his later work. The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951. The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to public attention and scrutiny. Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed Catcher with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953); a volume containing a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961); and a volume containing two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled “Hapworth 16, 1924”, appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.
In February 1955, at the age of 36, Salinger married Claire Douglas a student at Radcliffe.
In 1972, at the age of 53, Salinger had a relationship with 18-year-old Joyce Maynard. Maynard, at this time, was already an experienced writer for Seventeen magazine. The New York Times had asked Maynard to write an article for them which, when published as “An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back On Life” on April 23, 1972, made her a celebrity. Salinger wrote a letter to her warning about living with fame. After exchanging 25 letters, Maynard moved in with Salinger the summer after her freshman year at Yale University.
Salinger was romantically involved with television actress Elaine Joyce for several years in the 1980s. The relationship ended when he met Colleen O’Neill (b. June 11, 1959), a nurse and quiltmaker, whom he married around 1988.
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Salinger was cremated.
On this day in 2014 singer, songwriter and social activist Pete Seeger died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, at the age of 94. Born Peter Seeger on May 3, 1919 at the French Hospital, Midtown Manhattan.
A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene”, which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture, workers rights, and environmental causes.
As a songwriter perhaps best-known for his songs; “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” (with additional lyrics by Joe Hickerson), “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)” (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” (also with Hays), and “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. “Flowers” was a hit recording for the Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). “If I Had a Hammer” was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963) while the Byrds had a number one hit with “Turn! Turn! Turn!” in 1965.
Seeger was one of the folk singers responsible for popularizing the spiritual “We Shall Overcome” (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists) that became the acknowledged anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song”, Seeger said it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional “We will overcome” to the more singable “We shall overcome”.
Seeger married Toshi Aline Ota in 1943, whom he credited with being the support that helped make the rest of his life possible. The couple remained married until Toshi’s death in on 9 July 2013 in Beacon, at the age of 91.
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Seeger was cremated.
RIP #OTD in 2017 actress (Hiroshima mon amour, Amour, Thérèse Desqueyroux) Emmanuelle Riva died from cancer in Paris, aged 89. Cimetière de Charonne, Paris.
#RIP #OTD in 2021 actress (The Last Picture Show; Young Frankenstein; High Anxiety; History of the World, Part I; Spanglish; The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and comedienne Cloris Leachman died at her home in Encinitas, California, aged 94. Cremation
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On this day in 1855, French writer, poet, essayist and translator Gérard de Nerval died by hanging himself from a sewer grating in the Rue de la vieille-lanterne, a narrow lane in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, at the age of 46. Born Gérard Labrunie in Paris on 22 May 1808. He was a major figure of French romanticism who worked in many genres. He is best known for his poems and novellas, especially the collection Les Filles du feu (The Daughters of Fire), which includes the novella Sylvie and the poem El Desdichado.
On this day in 1962, Sicilian mobster, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, died from a heart attack in the Naples International Airport in Naples, Italy at the age of 64. Born Salvatore Lucania on 24 November 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Palermo, Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in America. He was instrumental in creating the five Mafia crime families in New York City and in establishing the first commission. Luciano was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family. He and his associate Meyer Lansky, were instrumental in the development of the “National Crime Syndicate” in the United States. On 17 January 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition remained in force until its repeal in 1933 and reduced the consumption of alcohol but had the unintended effect of stimulating the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. Organized crime gained a new source of revenue through illegal alcohol sales. In the 1920’s, New York’s two leading mobsters were Joe “The Boss” Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. They were engaged in what would be known as the infamous Castellammarese War. Luciano worked his way up to be Masseria’s top aide, but Luciano made a deal with Maranzano whereby Luciano would set up the death of Masseria in return for Maranzano’s support of Luciano becoming the head of the Masseria family and thus ending the destructive war. Masseria was assassinated in a Coney Island restaurant by Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, and Joe Adonis. Maranzano then declared Luciano his number two man, and set up the Five Families of New York (Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno) under him, promising that they would all be equal and all be free to make money. However, Maranzano declare
d himself capo di tutti capi (Boss of all Bosses), which meant every Don in the country had to pay up to him. Luciano began planning to eliminate Maranzano. Luciano became the most powerful mobster in the country when Maranzano was killed in his office. Luciano set up The Commission comprised of the heads of the Five Familes plus; the Philadelphia crime family, the Buffalo crime family, Los Angeles crime family and the Chicago Outfit of Al Capone; later, the Detroit crime family, and Kansas City crime family. Genovese became Luciano’s Underboss, while Frank Costello was his consigliere. Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola, Anthony Strollo, Adonis, and Anthony Carfano all served as caporegimes. Lansky and Siegel were both unofficial advisors. I suppose he was lucky in that he died from a heart attack as opposed to being murdered.
The Final Footprint – Luciano is entombed in the Lucania Family Private Mausoleum in Saint John Cemetery, Middle Village, New York. The inscription on his crypt plate reads: IL NOSTRO CARO FRATELLO (our dear brother) SALVATORE LUCANIA and shows his birth and death dates.
On this day in 2020, 5x NBA Champion, Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant died along with his 
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On this day in 1990, Oscar nominated actess, Ava Gardner, died from pneumonia, in her London home at the age of 67. Born Ava Lavinia Gardner on 24 December 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina. Her Academy Award for Best Actress nomination was for her work in Mogambo (1953). Gardner appeared in several high-profile films from the 1950s to 1970s, including; Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), The Sun Also Rises (1957), On the Beach (1959), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Earthquake (1974), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). She was married three times; Mickey Rooney (1942 – 1943 divorce), Artie Shaw (1945 – 1946 divorce) and Frank Sinatra (1951 – 1957 divorce). Gardner would later say in her autobiography that of all the men she had had, Sinatra was the love of her life. Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines and Sinatra was savaged by gossip columnists, the Hollywood establishment, the Roman Catholic Church, and by his fans. Sinatra’s career was suffering while hers was prospering. Reportedly, Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized both Sinatra’s acting and singing careers. They reportedly remained friends after the divorce. Gardner had other famous friendships; Howard Hughes and Ernest Hemingway.
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On this day in 41 AD, Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated, the result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers, in the cryptoporticus (underground corridor) beneath the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill, at the age of 28. Born Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus in Antium (modern Anzio and Nettuno) on 31 August 12 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula’s father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome’s most beloved public figures. The young Gaius earned the nickname Caligula (meaning “little soldier’s boot”, the diminutive form of caliga, hob-nailed military boot) from his father’s soldiers while accompanying him during his campaigns in Germania. When Germanicus died at Antioch in AD 19, his wife Agrippina the Elder returned to Rome with her six children where she became entangled in a bitter feud with Tiberius. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. Untouched by the deadly intrigues, Caligula accepted the invitation to join the emperor on the island of Capri in AD 31, to where Tiberius, himself, had withdrawn five years earlier. With the death of Tiberius in AD 37, Caligula succeeded his great uncle and adoptive grandfather as Emperor. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Emperor Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his reign. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself; he initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the Empire annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania as a province. 
On this day in 1920, painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani died of tubercular meningitis at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris at the age of 35. Born Amadeo Clemente Modigliani on 12 July 1884 in Livorno, Italy. Modigliani worked mainly in France and is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by elongation of faces and figures, that were not received well during his lifetime, but later found acceptance. Modigliani spent his youth in Italy, where he studied the art of antiquity and the Renaissance, until he moved to Paris in 1906. 
On this day in 1965, British Army veteran, politician, statesman, author, historian, The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill, Knight of the Garter, Order of Merit, Companion of Honour, Territorial Decoration, Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Deputy Lieutenant, Fellow of the Royal Society, died at his home in Hyde Park, London, England at the age of 90. Born Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill on 30 November 1874 in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England into the Spencer family a British noble family descended in the male line from Henry Spencer (died c. 1478), male-line ancestor of the Earls of Sunderland, the later Dukes of Marlborough, and the Earls Spencer. Churchill was a grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Diana, Princess of Wales was a member of the Spencer family as a daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer. As of this date, he is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and he was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Beginning in 1932, Churchill took the lead in warning about the danger of German rearmament. On the outbreak of WWII, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His steadfast refusal to consider defeat, surrender or a compromise peace, helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the War when Britain stood alone in its active opposition to Hitler. Churchill was particularly noted for his speeches and radio broadcasts, which helped inspire the British people and the embattled Allied forces. His first speech as prime minister was the famous “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat”. Two other equally famous quotes were given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words:
On this day in 1803, Irish brewer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder of the Guinness brewery business, Arthur Guinness died in Dublin at the approximate age of 78. Born into the Irish Protestant Guinness family in 1724 or 1725 in 
On this day in 1944, painter Edvard Munch died in his house at Ekely near Oslo, about a month after his 80th birthday. Born in a farmhouse in the village of Ådalsbruk in Løten on 12 December 1863. Munch’s intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. Perhaps best known for The Scream (1893). 
On this day in 1989 prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter, Salvador Dali died while his favorite record of Tristan and Isolde played, of heart failure at Figueres, Spain at the age of 84. Born Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech on 11 May 1904, in the town of Figueres, in the Empordà region, close to the French border in Catalonia. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, perhaps best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. Perhaps his best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí’s expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. Dalí attributed his “love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes” to an “Arab lineage”, claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. Dalí married Elena Ivanovna Diakonova “Gala”.
On this day in 2005, U.S. Navy veteran, television host, comedian, Emmy winner, American icon, Johnny Carson, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of respiratory failure arising from emphysema, in Los Angeles, California at the age of 79. Born John William Carson on 23 October 1925 in Corning, Iowa. NBC invited him to replace Jack Paar as host of The Tonight Show, who would leave in March 1962. Carson declined the offer, but NBC asked him again after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, and Joey Bishop also refused. Carson accepted in March and on 1 October 1962, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson premiered. His announcer and sidekick was Ed McMahon throughout the program. McMahon’s opening line, “Heeeere’s Johnny” became a hallmark. Carson’s trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left where Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band were located. Paul Anka wrote the theme song (“Johnny’s Theme”), a reworking of his “Toot Sweet”. In May 1972, the show moved from New York to Burbank, California. Carson often joked about “beautiful downtown Burbank”. Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including; Art Fern the “Tea Time Movie” announcer, Carnac the Magnificent and Floyd R. Turbo American. Carson retired from show business on 22 May 1992, when he stepped down as host of The Tonight Show. His farewell was a major media event, and stretched over several nights. It was often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, particularly the farewell statement he delivered on his 4,531st and final Tonight Show:
How ironic: Johnson and the Kennedys, inextricably linked in life. And linked in death.
On this day in 1995, American philanthropist, the wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, and the mother of nine children, among them United States President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and United States Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy, Countess (title granted by Pope Pius XII), Rose Kennedy died from complications from pneumonia at the age of 104 in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Born Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald on 22 July 1890 in the North End neighborhood of Boston. 
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On this day in 2010, actress and singer Jean Simmons died 
Simmons was married and divorced twice. She married Stewart Granger in Tucson, Arizona on 20 December 1950. In 1956, Granger and she became U.S. citizens. The couple divorced in 1960. On 1 November 1960, Simmons married director Richard Brooks. Simmons and Brooks divorced in 1980. Simmons moved to the East Coast of the US in the late 1970s, briefly owning a home in New Milford, Connecticut. Later, she returned to California, settling in Santa Monica, California, where she lived until her death.
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And on this day in 2021 “Hammer” or “Hammerin’ Hank“, professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976, Hank Aaron died in his sleep in his Atlanta residence at the age of 86. Born Henry Louis Aaron in Mobile, Alabama on 5 February 1934.
On this day in 1793, King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, then King of the French from 1791 to 1792, Louis XVI, was executed by guillotine at the age of 37 at the Place de la Révolution, now known as the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Born Louis Auguste de France, Duc de Berry on 23 August 1754 in the Palace of Versailles. Louis-Auguste was the third son of Louis, the Dauphin of France, and thus the grandson of Louis XV of France. His brothers and father predeceased Louis XV, thus Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. On 16 May 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia (better known by the French form of her name, Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife, the formidable Empress Maria Theresa. Louis XV died on 10 May 1774 and Louis-Auguste Dauphin was crowned king on 11 June 1775 at the age of 20. Suspended and arrested as part of the insurrection of the 10th of August in 1792 during the French Revolution, he was tried by the National Convention and found guilty of high treason, the only king of France ever to be executed. Although Louis XVI was beloved at first, his indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to eventually view him as a symbol of the perceived tyranny of the Ancien Régime and gave him the nickname Oncle Louis (“Uncle Louis”). Louis was also nicknamed Louis le Dernier (Louis the Last), a derisive use of the traditional nicknaming of French kings.
On this day in 1950, novelist, essayist, journalist and critic George Orwell died from a 
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On this day in 1998, actor, director and producer Jack Lord died of congestive heart failure at his home in Honolulu, at age 77. Born John Joseph Patrick Ryan on December 30, 1920 in Brooklyn. Perhaps best known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, which ran from 1968 to 1980. Lord was the first actor to play the character Felix Leiter in the James Bond film series, introduced in the first Bond film, Dr. No.
On this day in 2002, jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress Peggy Lee died of complications from diabetes and a heart attack in Bel Air, Los Angeles, at the age of 81. Born Norma Deloris Egstrom on May 26, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota. Her career spanned six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman‘s big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and performer. During her career, she wrote music for films, acted, and recorded conceptual record albums that combined poetry and music. Lee was nominated for twelve Grammy Awards, winning Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for her 1969 hit “Is That All There Is?” In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
On this day in 1984, competition swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmuller died from pulmonary edema in Acapulco at the age of 79. Born 2 June 1904 in Szabadfalva (Freidorf), Austro-Hungarian Empire (today part of Timișoara (Temeschwar), Romania). Perhaps best known for playing Edgar Rice Burroughs‘s Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s and for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century.
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On this day in 1993, Oscar, Tony, Grammy and Emmy-winner, actress, humanitarian, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Audrey Hepburn died at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland at the age of 63 from appendiceal cancer. 
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On this day in 2012, singer, songwriter Etta James died from leukemia five days before her 74th birthday, at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California. Born Jamesetta Hawkins on 25 January 1938, in Los Angeles. Her style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “The Wallflower”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she wrote the lyrics. James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and was the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. James was married to Artis Mills. 
On this day in 1997, U.S. Army and U.S Air Force veteran, poet, novelist, eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, James Dickey, died in Columbia, South Carolina at the age of 73. Born James Lafayette Dickey on 2 February 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Clemson and later graduated from Vanderbilt. Dickey taught at Rice University and The University of South Carolina. Perhaps best known for his novel Deliverance (1970). The film version was released in 1972 starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight and Ned Beatty and was nominated for an Academy Award. Both the book and the movie are unforgettable. I highly recommend both.
On this day in 1998, singer, songwriter, musician, the King of Rockabilly, Carl Perkins died at the age of 65 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee from throat cancer after suffering several strokes. Born Carl Lee Perkins on 9 April 1932 in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Perkins, who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning in 1954, is perhaps best known for his song is “Blue Suede Shoes”. Charlie Daniels said, “Carl Perkins’ songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins’ sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed.” Paul McCartney claimed that “if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.” Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters Halls of Fame; and was a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient.
On this day in 1936, poet, writer, Nobel Prized recipient, Rudyard Kipling, died in Middlesex Hospital, London, England at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Born Joseph Rudyard Kipling on 30 December 1865 in Bombay, British India. He was named after Rudyard Lake in Rudyard, Staffordshire, England where his parents met. Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), many short stories including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888); and his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and If— (1910). The Jungle Book is one of my favorite books from childhood. Memorizing If is a rite of passage for the children of one of my friends. Kipling was married to Carrie Balestier. On marriage, he wrote that marriage principally taught “the tougher virtues—such as humility, restraint, order, and forethought“. Partly in response to the tragic death of his only son, John in 1915 in the Battle of Loos, Kipling joined Sir Fabian Ware’s Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the group responsible for the garden-like British war graves that can be found to this day dotted along the former Western Front and all the other locations around the world where troops of the British Empire lie buried. His most significant contribution to the project was his selection of the biblical phrase “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” (Sirach 44.14, KJV) found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves and his suggestion of the phrase “Known unto God” for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen. Kipling chose the inscription “The Glorious Dead” on the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London.
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