Tuesday, December 31, 2019
GRAHAM'S TIME BALLS AND BRETT'S MONTHLY
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GRAHAM'S TIME BALLS:
The following item was emailed to me by Graham E.
Thanks, Graham.
An interesting item to see out the old year.
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Hi Mr O,
As New Year approaches many people will watch the ball drop in Time Square at midnight. This continues a timekeeping tradition begun in 1829.
In the 1800’s few people could afford to have their own watches and clocks, instead relying on the hourly chimes of the church clock to tell time. The church clocks were not very accurate but most people had no need for precise time
Things were different for a ship’s captain. Ships needed extremely precise clocks to determine their position at sea, which they did by taking celestial readings and coordinating those readings with the time they were known to occur at another point on earth, such as at Greenwich. The breakthrough came in 1761 when John Harrison, a Yorkshire carpenter, developed a chronometer that was accurate and portable enough to do the job. But Harrison’s remarkable invention was still useless if it couldn’t be set correctly before departing on a long voyage.
The idea of the time ball was proposed in 1829 by Robert Wauchope, a Royal Navy captain. Robert suggested that the time ball be set up at the harbor and dropped at a specific moment to indicate the time. Sailors could view it through a telescope and set their chronometers accordingly.
The first time ball was erected in the harbor at Portsmouth, England. It worked so well that in 1833 another one was set up at the Greenwich Observatory on a hilltop —the same one that you see today. The first American time ball went into service in 1845 at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
There are over sixty time balls still standing at harbors around the world today. A few of them are still operating for the novelty or for tourists, like the one at Greenwich Observatory, with others operating on special occasions, such as the Times Square time ball in New York.
The Greenwich Time Ball, London, England.
Williamstown Lighthouse and Time Ball Tower, Melbourne, Victoria.
Old Windmill and Time Ball, Brisbane, Queensland.
Sydney Observatory and Time Ball, Sydney, New South Wales.
Semaphore Time Ball Tower, Adelaide, South Australia.
Customs House and Time Ball, Newcastle, New South Wales.
Time Ball, Fremantle, Western Australia.
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BRETT'S MONTHLY:
As usual, Brett B has sent a list of the coming month’s holidays and special days.
Thanks, Brett.
Click on the daily ones to expand the links.
A good item to see in the new month, the new year and the new decade (let's not debate whether the new decade begins in 2021, rather thqan 2020) . . .
Month:
- National Bath Safety Month
- National Blood Donor Month
- National Braille Literacy Month
- National Hobby Month
- Hot Tea Month
- National Oatmeal Month
- National Soup Month
Week
Celebrations:
2nd Week Letter
Writing Week
January
2020 Daily Holidays, Special and Wacky Days:
January 1
January 2
January 3
January 4
January 5
January 6
January 7
January 8
January 9
January 10
January 11
January 12
January 13
January 14
January 15
January 16
January 17
January 18
January 19
January 20
January 21
January 22
January 23
January 24
January 25
January 26
January 27
January 28
January 29
January 30
January 31
Monday, December 30, 2019
2019: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
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JANUARY:
1: Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria
following a 2017 Austrian Supreme Court decision that a law to the contrary
violated the principle of non-discrimination.
3: Chinese probe Chang'e 4 becomes the first
human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon. Chang'e No. 4 is part of the second phase of the Chinese
Lunar Exploration Program and
is named after the Chinese Moon goddess.
6: King Muhammad V of Kelantan abdicates the
throne of Malaysia, the first Malaysian monarch to do so. Np reason given although he went on medical
leave in November and, later that month, photographs emerged that appeared to
show him marrying a former Miss Moscow.
18: Fuel thieves rupture a pipeline in
Tlahuelilpan, Mexico, and a subsequent explosion kills at least 137 people and
injures dozens more.
19: An aircraft carrying new Cardiff City F.C.
footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson en route from Nantes, France,
to Cardiff, Wales, goes missing over the English Channel. Sala's body is
recovered on February 7.
25: A mine tailings dam breaks in the Brazilian
city of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais. At least 248 people are
killed, with 22 missing.
28: The U.S. Justice Department charges Chinese
tech firm Huawei with multiple counts of fraud, raising U.S.–China tensions.
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FEBRUARY:
1: U.S. President Donald Trump confirms that the
U.S. will leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, citing
Russian non-compliance. The next day, Russia follows suit with suspension of
its obligations to the treaty.
3: Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.
27–28: The 2019 North Korea–United States summit is
held in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is the second summit between United States President
Donald Trump and the North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un.
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MARCH:
13: A winter storm completes its explosive
intensification over the Southern Rocky Mountains region, which began the day
before, becoming a powerful "bomb cyclone" and triggering severe
blizzard conditions across much of the Southwestern and Central United States.
13: Australian Cardinal George Pell is sentenced
to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996.
15:
51 people are killed and 50 others
injured in terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: Al
Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, both of which were the target of
shootings by Australia-born Brenton Harrison Tarrant. It is the deadliest mass
shooting and terrorist attack in New Zealand's history and described by Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". Subsequently, Facebook announced they had
disabled 1.5 million videos of the gunman's rampage.
20: Europe's antitrust regulators fine Google
1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online
advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed
against Google by the European Union.
20: Disney acquires the rights to 21st Century
Fox leaving out a few assets to be spun-off to the newly formed Fox Corporation.
23: An estimated 400,000 people march in central
London in protest against Brexit.
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APRIL:
11: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is
arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London.
15: During Holy Week, a major fire engulfs Notre-Dame
Cathedral in Paris, resulting in the roof and main spire collapsing.
18: The full 448-page report on the investigation
into Russian interference in the 2016 United States Presidential Election (the
Mueller Report) is released in redacted form.
21: A series of bomb attacks occur at eight
locations in Sri Lanka, including three churches, four hotels and one housing
complex in Colombo, on Easter Sunday, leaving 259 people dead and over 500
injured.
25: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Russia
to hold a series of summits with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir
Putin.
30: Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates from his
throne, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in almost two centuries. The
abdication ends the Heisei era of Japan and ushers in the Reiwa era with new emperor
Naruhito ascending the throne on 1 May.
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MAY:
1: King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand marries his
personal bodyguard Suthida Tidjai – a commoner – in a surprise ceremony, making
her queen consort of Thailand.
1: Russian President Vladimir Putin signs into
law a controversial "sovereign internet" bill that allows Russian
authorities to better monitor internet routing and to steer Russian internet
traffic away from foreign servers. Proponents of the bill say it ensures
Russian internet security and decreases dependence on foreign servers while
critics argue it gives new censorship powers to the government and is a part of
a global trend of cyber-balkanization.
3: The number of deaths from the Kivu Ebola
outbreak exceeds 1,000. It is the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history,
only surpassed by the West African Ebola virus epidemic of 2013–2016.
6: Birth of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, first
child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and seventh in the line of succession
to the British throne.
10: Amid ongoing negotiations, the United States'
25 percent tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports takes effect,
escalating tensions between the two nations in the ongoing China–United States
trade war.
13: Prosecutors in Sweden reopen the rape
allegation investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Swedish
prosecutors mention their intent to seek extradition of Assange from the United
Kingdom after he has served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.
17: Taiwan's parliament becomes the first in Asia
to legalise same-sex marriage.
18: Australian federal election: Scott Morrison's
Liberal/National Coalition Government is narrowly re-elected, defeating the
Labor Party led by Bill Shorten.
24: British Prime Minister Theresa May announces
her resignation as Conservative leader, effective June 7, 2019.
30: South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo
reports that North Korea executed nuclear envoy Kim Hyok-chol and four other
diplomats in March after the failed February Hanoi summit with the United
States. The newspaper also reports that Kim Yong-chol, a top aide to Kim
Jong-un, was sentenced to hard labor during the purge.
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JUNE:
3-5: U.S. President Donald Trump makes a state
visit to the United Kingdom, meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and outgoing Prime
Minister Theresa May. It is the first official state visit to the U.K. by a
sitting U.S. president since 2011. Trump also attends D-Day commemorative
ceremonies.
7: British Prime Minister Theresa May resigns as
leader of the Conservative Party.
9: Over 1 million people in Hong Kong protest
against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China. It is the largest
protest in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.
15: Hong Kong announces it will indefinitely
suspend the controversial extradition bill, but protests continue, this time
calling for the total withdrawal of the bill and the resignation of Chief
Executive Carrie Lam.
19: Four men are charged with murdering the 298
passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the airliner shot down
while flying over Ukraine in July 2014.
30: During a trilateral gathering at the
Panmunjom Truce Village between South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North
Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump, Trump
becomes the first sitting U.S. president to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone
and enter North Korea. Trump and Kim also agree to restart stalled
denuclearization negotiations.
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JULY:
1: Japan resumes commercial whaling after a
30-year moratorium, following its withdrawal from the International Whaling
Commission.
17: JoaquÃn "El Chapo" Guzmán, former
head of the Sinaloa Cartel, which became the biggest supplier of drugs to the
U.S., is sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.
24: Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding
Theresa May.[176]
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AUGUST:
1: Danish polar research institution Polar
Portal reports a large spike in Greenland ice loss, with 11 billion tons melted
in one day and 197 gigatonnes during the month of July.
15: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) reports that July 2019 was the hottest month on record
globally, at 0.95 °C (1.71 °F) above the 20th-century average.
21: Brazil's National Institute for Space
Research (INPE) reports fires burning in the Amazon rainforest at a record
rate, with more than 36,000 in the year to date, while smoke reaches São Paulo
more than 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away.
23L German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Emmanuel Macron describe the widespread Amazon fires as an
international emergency, urging the matter to be discussed at the weekend's G7
summit.
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SEPTEMBER:
7:
US
President Donald Trump announces he "called off" planned peace talks
with the Taliban at Camp David after they claimed responsibility for the
September 2 and 5 bombings in Kabul which killed a U.S. soldier, among others.
10: The Parliament of the United Kingdom is
prorogued amid unprecedented protests from opposition MPs, who hold up signs in
the House of Commons and refuse to back the shutdown.
23: One of the largest and oldest travel firms,
Thomas Cook, goes bankrupt as last-minute rescue negotiations fail, stranding
600,000 tourists worldwide
24: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
unanimously rules that the September 2019 prorogation of Parliament was
unlawful and void.
27: 500,000 people march in a climate change
protest led by activist Greta Thunberg and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in
Montreal, Canada. 4,000,000 go on strike around the world.
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OCTOBER:
1:
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary
of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the largest-ever
military parade and mass pageant in the history of China takes place in Beijing.
4: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the
Chief Executive in Council invokes the Emergency Regulations Ordinance and
banning the face mask in public gatherings with immediate effect.
19: An estimated one million people march through
London in a protest organised by People's Vote, to demand a second referendum
on Brexit.
21: The 2019 Canadian federal election takes
place, for all 338 seats in the House of Commons of Canada. Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party win a narrow victory to form a minority
government.
23: The bodies of 39 people are found in a truck
container in Essex, England. A 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland is
arrested on suspicion of murder.
25: Tourists visit the summit of Uluru (also
known as Ayers Rock) for the last time, as a ban on climbing the famous rock in
Australia's Northern Territory comes into effect.
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NOVEMBER:
13: Public impeachment hearings against U.S.
President Donald Trump begin in the House of Representatives.
17: Police use tear gas and water cannons against
protesters who try to break through cordons and reach The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, which is at the center of a week-long standoff between
demonstrators and law enforcement. Protesters fight back with Molotov
cocktails, arrows, and bricks.
21: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
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DECEMBER:
9: The World Anti-Doping Agency votes
unanimously to ban Russia from international sport for four years for doping
offences, meaning it will be excluded from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo,
the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
9: A volcano erupts on White Island in New
Zealand, killing 19 people and injuring 28.
12: The 2019 United Kingdom general election
takes place, for all 650 seats in the House of Commons. The election resulted in a Conservative win
with a landslide majority of 80 seats[n 5] (their largest majority since 1987).
12: It is announced that Israel will hold an
unprecedented third general election in less than a year, due to the apparent
inability of any of the major parties to be able to form a decisive governing
coalition. The election will take place on March 2, 2020.
18: The U.S. House of Representatives approves
two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third
president to be impeached in the nation's history.
23: Five men are sentenced to death and another
three face 24 years in prison for their roles in the murder of dissident
journalist and Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, at the Saudi
consulate in Istanbul.
Sunday, December 29, 2019
THOSE WE LOST IN 2019, PART 2
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RUTGER HAUER
Date of death
July 19, 2019
Age at death:
75
Cause of death:
Died at home of
an unspecified illness.
Comments:
Dutch actor,
writer, and environmentalist. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public the
Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Blond,
blue-eyed, tall and handsome Hauer enjoyed an international reputation for
playing everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains.
Some more:
Rutger Hauer
came up with many inventive ideas for his characterization of Roy Batty in
Blade Runner, such as the moment where he grabs and fondles a dove. He also changed
the final speech by Batty and improvised the now-iconic line "All those
moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain". He later chose
"All those moments" as the title of his autobiography.
“I've seen
things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of
Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All
those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”
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DAVID HEDISON
Date of death
July 18, 2019
Age at death:
92
Cause of death:
Comments:
American film,
television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work
until 1959 when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived
espionage television series Five Fingers. NBC insisted that he change his name
and he proposed his middle name and he was billed as David Hedison from then
on. He was known for his role as Captain Lee Crane in Irwin Allen's television
series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968) and as CIA agent Felix
Leiter in two James Bond films, Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill
(1989).
Some more:
After Voyage to
the Bottom of the Sea concluded, Hedison was offered the role of Mike Brady on
The Brady Bunch, but turned it down, stating, "after four years of subs
and monsters, who needs kids and dogs?" The role eventually went to Robert
Reed.
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Date of death
July 10, 2019
Age at death:
62
Cause of death:
Nickerson
suffered a massive seizure and slipped into a coma after a suicide attempt, dying of pneumonia that day
Comments:
American actress
who started her career as a child actress playing bratty bubblegum-chewing
Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory;
Allison on The Electric Company; and Amy Jennings, Nora Collins, and Amy
Collins in the soap opera Dark Shadows.
Some more:
Denise Nickerson (Violet) didn't want to
do the nose-picking bit. She had a crush on Peter Ostrum (Charlie) and didn't want
to embarrass herself.
Denise Nickerson
had a Violet-esque experience in real life. She said in the DVD commentary that
one day in math class, kids started pointing at her and laughing, and one of
her friends told her she was turning purple. The make-up that had been used on
her for the film had apparently seeped into her pores and started to resurface
(which, she jokingly remarks, prevented her from getting any dates at that
school).
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RIP TORN
Date of death
July 9, 2019
Age at death:
88
Cause of death:
Not known
Comments:
American actor
and voice actor who had a career that spanned over 60 years.
Torn was nominated
for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in
Cross Creek (1983). His work includes the role of Artie the producer on The
Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning in
1996. He also won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a
Series and two CableACE Awards for his work on the show.
Some more:
In 1969, Dennis
Hopper offered Torn the role of the pot-smoking lawyer in Easy Rider. Torn
withdrew from the project after he and Hopper got into a bitter argument in a
New York restaurant ending with Hopper pulling a knife on Torn. As a result,
Torn was replaced by Jack Nicholson, whose appearance in the film launched him
into stardom.
In 1994, Hopper
told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show that it was Torn who had pulled a knife on
him. Torn sued. A judge heard from both sides, and from witnesses who had been
at the restaurant, and decided to award Torn $475,000. When Hopper appealed,
another judge doubled the award.
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Date of death
July 9, 2019
Age at death:
89
Cause of death:
Perot died on July
9, 2019, less than two weeks after his 89th birthday in Dallas, Texas, from
leukemia.
Comments:
American
business magnate, billionaire, philanthropist, and politician. He was the
founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot
Systems. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third-party
campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election. Both
campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or
independent candidate in US history.
Some more:
Perot was the son of a cotton broker. He
attended Texarkana Junior College for two years before entering the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1949. He was commissioned in
the U.S. Navy in 1953 and served until 1957, after which he worked as a
salesman for International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
In 1962 Perot
quit IBM and formed his own company, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), to design,
install, and operate computer data-processing systems for clients on a
contractual basis. EDS grew by processing medical claims for Blue Cross and
other large insurance companies, and in 1968 Perot took the firm public in a
shrewdly managed share offering whose skyrocketing prices yielded Perot, the
majority shareholder, several hundred million dollars. EDS continued to prosper
under his leadership, and in 1984 Perot sold the company to General Motors for
$2.5 billion worth of special-issue stock and a seat on GM’s board of
directors. Perot’s criticism of GM’s management prompted them to buy back his
seat for $700 million in 1986.
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LEE IACOCCA
Date of death
July 2, 2019
Age at death:
94
Cause of death:
Complications of
Parkinson's disease.
Comments:
American
automobile executive best known for the development of Ford Mustang and Pinto
cars, while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then later for reviving
the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. He served as President and CEO of Chrysler
from 1978 and additionally as chairman from 1979, until his retirement at the
end of 1992. He was one of the only executives ever to preside over the
operations of two of the Big Three automakers which he did during different
tenures.
Iacocca authored
or co-authored several books, including Iacocca: An Autobiography (with William
Novak), and Where Have All the Leaders Gone? Portfolio Magazine named Iacocca
the 18th-greatest American CEO of all time.
Some more:
Iacocca was on the
Charles Manson hit list of business leaders to be killed by the Manson Family.
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Date of death
June 24, 2019
Age at death:
81
Cause of death:
Oz
Comments:
Australian
journalist based in the United States, best known as a columnist for the New
York Post from 1976 to 2008. He was a lead reporter on the US tabloid
television program A Current Affair in the 1980s and 1990s.
Some more:
“Born in Sydney
on Jan. 21, 1938, Stephen Francis Patrick Aloysius Dunleavy came from a family
of newspapermen. At age 14, he became a copy boy at the Sydney Sun, the paper
where his father was a photographer. By 16, he’d switched to a competing paper
to escape accusations that he was benefiting from favoritism.
During that
time, he was up against his father on a story about missing hikers. According
to many who heard the oft-told tale, to prevent his competitor from getting the
story, Mr. Dunleavy slashed his father’s car tyres. He later claimed, with a
wink, that he hadn’t known the car belonged to his father.”
-
Washington Post
In 1994, film
director Oliver Stone said he used Dunleavy as the model for the evil reporter
in “Natural Born Killers.”
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JUDITH KRANTZ
Date of death
June 22, 2019
Age at death:
91
Cause of death:
Not known.
Comments:
Magazine writer
and fashion editor who only turned to fiction as she approached the age of 50.
Her first novel Scruples (1978) quickly became a New York Times best-seller and
went on to be a worldwide publishing success, translated into 50 languages. Scruples,
which describes the glamorous and affluent world of high fashion in Beverley
Hills, California, helped define a new supercharged sub-genre of the romance
novel - the bonkbuster or "sex-and-shopping" novel. She also fundamentally
changed the publishing industry by becoming one of the first celebrity authors
through her extensive touring and promotion - "a superstar of fiction".
Some more:
While raising
their sons, Nicholas and Tony, Krantz wrote features for middle-market mags.
The Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown loved her Myth of the Multiple Orgasm
piece, but nixed her idea for a round-up of sex fantasies as too raunchy.
Krantz saved the material for later.
With her sons
grown and her husband’s income stabilising, Krantz at 50 determined to do what
she never thought she could: learn to fly and to write fiction. Her first
novel, Scruples, as noted above was a worldwide success.
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GLORIA VANDERBILT
Date of death
June 17, 2019
Age at death:
95
Cause of death:
Stomach cancer.
Comments:
American artist,
author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite. She was a member of
the Vanderbilt family of New York and the mother of CNN television anchor
Anderson Cooper.
During the
1930s, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her
mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt
Whitney, each sought custody of her and control over her trust fund. Called the
"trial of the century" by the press, the court proceedings were the
subject of wide and sensational press coverage due to the wealth and prominence
of the involved parties, and the scandalous evidence presented to support
Whitney's claim that Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt was an unfit parent.
As an adult in
the 1970s, Vanderbilt launched a line of fashions, perfumes, and household
goods bearing her name. She was particularly noted as an early developer of
designer blue jeans.
Some more:
Gloria Vanderbilt left almost all of her estate to her
youngest son, Anderson Cooper — and nothing to her estranged middle son, Chris
Stokowski, according to her will. Chris
— whose father, composer Leopold Stokowski, was Vanderbilt’s second husband —
reportedly cut himself off from the family 40 years ago over a dispute with his
mother’s psychiatrist.
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Leon Redbone
Date of death
May 30, 2019
Age at death:
69
Cause of death:
Redbone died following
complications from dementia
Comments:
Singer-songwriter,
guitarist, and actor specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics.
Recognized by his Panama hat, dark sunglasses, and black tie, Redbone was born
in Cyprus of Armenian ancestry and first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada,
in the early 1970s. He also appeared on film and television in acting and voice-over
roles.
In concert
Redbone often employed comedy and demonstrated his skill in guitar playing.
Recurrent gags involved the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written
works originating well before he was born – Redbone favored material from the
Tin Pan Alley era, circa 1890 to 1910. He sang the theme to the 1980s
television series Mr. Belvedere and released eighteen albums.
Some more:
Redbone was the
voice and visual inspiration of “Leon the Snowman” in the 2003 Will Ferrell
holiday movie, “Elf.” “Oh, by the way,” he tells Ferrell’s character, “don’t
eat the yellow snow.” Over the film’s final credits, Mr. Redbone sings a duet
of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with the film’s co-star, Zooey Deschanel.
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NIKI LAUDA
Date of death
May 20. 2019
Age at death:
70
Cause of death:
Lauda died in
his sleep, at the University Hospital of
Zürich, where he had been undergoing dialysis treatment for kidney problems,
following a period of ill health
Comments:
Austrian Formula
One driver, a three-time F1 World Drivers' Champion, winning in 1975, 1977 and
1984, and an aviation entrepreneur. He is the only driver in F1 history to have
been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren, the sport's two most successful
constructors. He is widely considered one of the greatest F1 drivers of all
time. As an aviation entrepreneur, he founded and ran three airlines: Lauda
Air, Niki, and Lauda. He was a Bombardier Business Aircraft brand ambassador.
He was also a consultant for Scuderia Ferrari and team manager of the Jaguar
Formula One racing team for two years. Afterwards, he worked as a pundit for German
TV during Grand Prix weekends and acted as non-executive chairman of
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, of which Lauda owned 10%.
Having emerged
as Formula One's star driver amid a 1975 title win and leading the 1976
championship battle, Lauda was seriously injured in a crash at the 1976 German
Grand Prix at the Nürburgring during which his Ferrari 312T2 burst into flames,
and he came close to death after inhaling hot toxic fumes and suffering severe
burns. However, he survived and recovered sufficiently to race again just six
weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix. Although he lost that year's title – by
just one point – to James Hunt, he won his second championship the year after,
during his final season at Ferrari. After a couple of years at Brabham and two
years' hiatus, Lauda returned and raced four seasons for McLaren between 1982
and 1985 – during which he won the 1984 title by half a point over his teammate
Alain Prost.
Some more:
Prior to the
2006 German Grand Prix, Lauda, Bernie Ecclestone and others walked to the old
Nurburgring and had a drink at the point where Lauda had crashed in 1976. Bernie had earlier planted a pig’s ear in the
grass. When he was there with Niki
Lauda, he picked up the object, held it up and said “Niki, I’ve found your
ear.” It was reportedly taken in good
humour by Lauda.
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Date of death
May 17, 2019
Age at death:
103
Cause of death:
Wouk died in his
sleep at the age of 103 in his home in Palm Springs, California, on May 17,
2019, 10 days shy of his 104th birthday.
Comments:
American author
best known for historical fiction such as The Caine Mutiny (1951) which won the
Pulitzer Prize.
His other major
works include The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, historical novels about
World War II, and non-fiction such as This Is My God, an explanation of Judaism
from a Modern Orthodox perspective, written for Jewish and non-Jewish
audiences. His books have been translated into 27 languages.
The Washington
Post called Wouk, who cherished his privacy, "the reclusive dean of
American historical novelists". Historians, novelists, publishers, and
critics who gathered at the Library of Congress in 1995 to mark Wouk's 80th
birthday described him as an American Tolstoy.
Some more:
Wouk kept a
personal diary from 1937, from age 22. On September 10, 2008, Wouk formally
presented the Library of Congress with his journals, which number more than 100
volumes as of 2012 at a ceremony that honoured him with the first Library of
Congress Lifetime Achievement Award for the Writing of Fiction (now the Library
of Congress Prize for American Fiction). Wouk often referred to his journals to
check dates and facts in his writing, and he was hesitant to let the originals
out of his personal possession. A solution was arrived at: a scanning service
bureau was selected to scan the entire set of volumes into digital formats.
--------oOo-------
BOB HAWKE
Date of death
May 16 2019
Age at death:
89
Cause of death:
“Natural causes”
oz
Comments:
Australian
politician who served as Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Labor
Party from 1983 to 1991. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Wills from
1980 to 1992.
Hawke was born
in Bordertown, South Australia. He attended the University of Western Australia
and went on to study at University College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. In
1956, Hawke joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) as a research
officer. Having risen to become responsible for wage arbitration, he was
elected ACTU President in 1969, where he achieved a high public profile.
After a decade
serving in that role, Hawke announced his intention to enter politics, and was
subsequently elected to the House of Representatives as the Labor MP for Wills
in Victoria. Three years later, he led Labor to a landslide victory at the 1983
election and was sworn in as Australia's 23rd Prime Minister. He went on to
lead Labor to victory three more times, in 1984, 1987 and 1990, making him the
most electorally successful Labor Leader in history.
The Hawke
Government created Medicare and Landcare, brokered the Prices and Incomes
Accord, established APEC, floated the Australian dollar, deregulated the
financial sector, introduced the Family Assistance Scheme, announced
"Advance Australia Fair" as the official national anthem, initiated
superannuation pension schemes for all workers and oversaw passage of the
Australia Act that removed all remaining jurisdiction by the United Kingdom from
Australia. During his time as Prime Minister, Hawke recorded the highest
popularity rating ever measured by an Australian opinion poll, reaching 75%
approval in 1984.
In June 1991,
Treasurer Paul Keating unsuccessfully challenged for the leadership, believing
that Hawke had reneged on the Kirribilli Agreement. Keating mounted a second
challenge six months later, this time narrowly succeeding. Hawke subsequently
retired from Parliament, pursuing both a business career and a number of
charitable causes, until his death in 2019, aged 89. Hawke remains Labor's
longest-serving and Australia's third-longest-serving Prime Minister.
Some more:
“ . . . from
veteran ABC political journo Barrie Cassidy, who worked for the prime minster
as press secretary from 1986 to 1991.
Reflecting on
his old boss on ABC News Breakfast on Friday, Cassidy told a yarn he says
proves Hawke’s egalitarian streak was not just rhetoric. The press secretary was with Hawke one day at
the MCG, chaperoning a delegation of US dignitaries, including federal
congressmen, when he was bemoaning the plan to take the official bus back to
the Hyatt hotel.
“A couple of
young guys turned up and said ‘Hey, Hawkey, you legend’. And he said, ‘if I’m
such a legend, give me a lift back to the friggin’ pub’,” Cassidy recounted.
“And they said
‘righto’ and he got in the car with all these Americans watching and he drove
off with these complete strangers. And he talked to me the next day and said ‘They
were great guys [and] they put their mums on the mobile phone and I had to talk
to them on the way to the hotel’.
“[The Americans]
couldn’t believe a former prime minister would do that [but]…that’s how he
operated.”
--------oOo-------
TIM CONWAY
Date of death
May 14, 2019
Age at death:
85
Cause of death:
Conway was
diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus in 2018 and he died from
complications of that condition.
Comments:
American actor,
comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 20
TV shows, TV series and films, portraying different characters in each. Among
his more notable roles, he portrayed the inept Ensign Parker in the 1960s World
War II TV situation comedy McHale's Navy, was a regular cast member (1975–78)
on the TV comedy The Carol Burnett Show where he portrayed his recurrent iconic
characters Mister Tudball, Oldest Man and Dumb Private, co-starred with Don
Knotts in several films (1979–80), was the title character in the Dorf series
of eight sports comedy direct-to-video films (1987–96), and provided the voice
of Barnacle Boy in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–2012).
Twice, in 1970 and in 1980–81, he had his own TV series.
He won six
Primetime Emmy Awards during his career, four of which were awarded for The
Carol Burnett Show, including one for writing.
Some more:
Ernest Borgnine
and Tim Conway voiced the characters of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on the
cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants (1999).iihju
--------oOo-------
DORIS DAY
Date of death
May 13, 2019
Age at death:
97
Cause of death:
Doris Day died after
having contracted pneumonia.
Comments:
American
actress, singer, and animal welfare activist. She began her career as a big
band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1
recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting
Better All the Time" with Les Brown & His Band of Renown. She left
Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to
1967.
Some more:
Day’s real name
was Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff. While
working for orchestra leader Barney Rapp in 1939, she adopted the stage surname
"Day", at Rapp's suggestion. Rapp felt that "Kappelhoff"
was too long for marquees, and he admired her rendition of the song "Day
After Day".
--------oOo-------
PEGGY LIPTON
Date of death
May 11 , 2019
Age at death:
72
Cause of death:
Lipton was
diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004, received treatment, and ultimately died of
the illness in Los Angeles.
Comments:
American
actress, model, and singer. She made appearances in many of the most popular
television shows of the 1960s before she landed her defining role as flower
child Julie Barnes in the crime drama The Mod Squad (1968–1973), for which she won
the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 1970.
After The Mod
Squad, Lipton married producer Quincy Jones and began a 15-year hiatus from acting,
in which she raised her two children, Kidada and Rashida Jones. She returned to
acting in 1988, performing in many TV roles, including Norma Jennings in David
Lynch's Twin Peaks.
Some more:
Lipton had affairs
with Paul McCartney and Elvis Presley.
--------oOo-------
PETER MAYHEW
Date of death
April 30, 2019
Age at death:
74
Cause of death:
Heart attack.
Comments:
English-American
actor, best known for portraying Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series. He
played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977
original to 2015's The Force Awakens before his retirement from the role.
Some more:
His height was a
product of Marfan syndrome, not gigantism; "I don't have the big head",
Mayhew said when asked about the cause of his height. His peak height was 7
feet 3 inches (2.21 m).
When casting the
original Star Wars (1977), director George Lucas needed a tall actor who could
fit the role of the hairy alien Chewbacca. He originally had in mind
6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse chose to play Darth
Vader. This led Lucas to cast Mayhew, who was working as an orderly in the
radiology department of King's College Hospital, London. He became aware of a casting call for Star
Wars which was filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. The 7-foot-3-inch
(2.21 m) tall actor was immediately cast as Chewbacca after he stood up to
greet Lucas. Mayhew continued working as
an orderly - at Mayday Hospital (now Croydon University Hospital) - in between
filming the original Star Wars trilogy.
Mayhew modelled
his performance of Chewbacca after researching the behaviour of bears, monkeys
and gorillas he saw at London Zoo. Lucas said Mayhew was "the closest any
human being could be to a Wookiee: big heart, gentle nature and I learnt to
always let him win". The character did not have any lines, the sounds he
made being derived from sound recordings of animal noises.
--------oOo-------
\
Date of death
March 30, 2019
Age at death:
83
Cause of death:
No record in the
news items.
Comments:
English-Australian
musician, pianist, conductor, musical director and television personality who
worked at the Australian Nine Network for 38 years. Known primarily for his
appearances on the Don Lane tonight show, The Mike Walsh Show and Midday, Harvey also
composed a number of the theme songs for the network's programs.
Some more:
Known as a
practical joker and for making "wild bets", he grew a beard as a
result of losing a 1965 bet to Don Lane on a football match.
--------oOo-------
LUKE PERRY
Date of death
March 4, 2019
Age at death:
52
Cause of death:
Perry suffered a
massive ischemic stroke at his home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles on February
27, 2019. After a second stroke, his family followed the medical team's
recommendations to remove him from life support.
Comments:
American actor.
He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills,
90210 from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He also starred as Fred
Andrews on the CW series Riverdale, had guest roles on notable shows such as
Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Simpsons, and Will
& Grace, and also starred in several films, including Buffy the Vampire
Slayer (1992), 8 Seconds (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), and Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood (2019), his final feature performance.
Some more:
In an interview
with Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990s, Perry said he auditioned for 215 acting jobs
in New York before getting work on a television commercial.
--------oOo-------
JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT
Date of death
February 10,
2019
Age at death:
74
Cause of death:
Cardiac arrest
Comments:
American actor.
He was best known for having played helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the
television series Airwolf (1984–1987) and the protagonist, Matt Johnson, in the
1978 film Big Wednesday. He also starred as Byron Henry in The Winds of War.
Some more:
His failed
career was partly the result of alcoholism, which had begun to have a serious
impact on his work during Airwolf (1984). In later projects he would
occasionally show up completely inebriated, unaware of the scene being shot and
unable to say his lines. Vincent suffered
permanent damage to his voice after getting into a near-fatal auto accident in
1996 that resulted in a broken neck. Paramedics had to insert a tube down his
throat and the tube damaged one of his vocal cords. In 2012 Vincent had to have the lower half of
his right leg amputated due to a leg infection he contracted because of
complications from peripheral artery disease. Thereafter he had a prosthetic
right foot and sometimes had to use a wheelchair to get around.
--------oOo-------
KARL LAGERFELD
Date of death
February 19,2019
Age at death:
85
Cause of death:
Complications from
pancreatic cancer.
Comments:
German creative
director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist who lived in
Paris.
He was known as
the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from
1983 until his death, and was also creative director of the Italian fur and
leather goods fashion house Fendi, and of his own eponymous fashion label. He
collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related project.
Lagerfeld was
recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves,
and high, starched, detachable collars.
Some more:
In 1955, after
living in Paris for two years, Lagerfeld entered a coat design competition
sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. He won the coat category and
befriended Yves Saint Laurent, who won the dress category, and was soon after
hired by Pierre Balmain. He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later
apprentice, for three years.
--------oOo-------
LEONARD CASLEY
Hutt River
Principality 50 cent coin depicting Leonard Casley
Date of death
February 13,
2019
Age at death:
93
Cause of death:
Lung infection
oz
Comments:
Self-proclaimed
Prince of the Principality of Hutt, formerly Hutt River Province, located about
500 kilometres north of Perth in Western Australia’s Mid West, Casley declared in
1970 that his property was seceding from Western Australia because of a dispute
over wheat quotas and was henceforth an independent country. Although Casley
owned about 4,000 hectares, the quotas introduced would allow only about 40 hectares
of wheat to be grown. Casley set up borders, entry requirements, stamps, passports
and local currency, making the Principality a tourist attraction. The Principality is not recognised by the WA
or Australian governments and, in 2017, the Supreme Court ordered Casley and
his son Graeme to pay $3 million after the ATO demanded they pay income tax for
the eight financial years between June 2006 and 2013. The High Court has also rejected independent status. In February 2017, at the age of 91 and after
ruling for 45 years, Casley abdicated the throne in favor of his youngest son, Prince
Graeme.
Some more:
In April 2016,
the Principality received a letter from Queen Elizabeth II which communicated
the Queen's good wishes on the anniversary of the founding of the Principality
46 years ago, on 21 April 1970. The letter from Buckingham Palace is signed by
Sonia Bonici, Senior Correspondence Officer. It reads in part: “I am to convey
Her Majesty’s good wishes to you and to all concerned for a most enjoyable and
successful celebration on 23rd and 24th of April to mark the forty-sixth
anniversary of the Principality of Hutt River.” The Queen was replying to a
letter from Prince Leonard congratulating her on her 90th birthday.
--------oOo-------
RON SMITH
Date of death
January 10, 2019
Age at death:
90
Cause of death:
Undisclosed
Comments:
English comic
artist whose career spanned almost fifty years. Primarily producing strips for
the two main publishers, DC Thomson and IPC Magazines, Smith was best known for
drawing Judge Dredd for 2000 AD and the Daily Star.
Some more:
Smith flew
photo-reconnaissance Spitfires in WW2.
--------oOo-------
JIMMY HANNAN
Date of death
January 7, 2019
Age at death:
81
Cause of death:
Cancer
oz
Comments:
Australian radio
and television personality, variety show host, singer, entertainer and game
show host of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the pioneers of television, he appeared
regularly on variety show In Melbourne Tonight, and later hosted his own
musical variety show Jimmy, later called Tonight with Jimmy Hannan. Hannan
hosted music show Saturday Date from 1963 until 1967, which featured such
performers as Billy Thorpe and Olivia Newton-John. He won the 1965 Gold Logie
award for most popular personality on Australian television.
Some more:
His single
“Beach Ball”, which was released in 1963, featured the Bee Gees singing backup
and providing background chat to give the single a ‘party’ atmosphere. The
single went to Number 1 on the Australian charts, capitalising on the huge
craze of ‘surf’ music.
--------oOo-------
ANNALISE BRAAKENSIEK
Date of death
January 6, 2019
Age at death:
Cause of death:
Braakensiek’s
body was found in her apartment. Speculation
as to suicide has been disputed by her friends who maintain that she may have
been the victim of an accident, caused by an overdose of ‘downers’ or sleeping
pills.
oz
Comments:
Australian
model, actress, television presenter, businesswoman and campaign ambassador.
Some more:
Braakensiek had
often been open about her struggles with depression and was an ambassador for suicide
prevention charity R U OK.
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