Almanac May 23 :: Artie Shaw

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004), better known as Artie Shaw, was an American clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led one of America's most popular big bands of the late 1930s and early '40s. Their signature song, a 1938 version of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine", was a wildly successful single and one of the era's defining recordings. Musically restless, Shaw was also an early proponent of Third Stream, which blended classical and jazz, and recorded some small-group sessions that flirted with be-bop before retiring from music in 1954.

Events

• 1430 – Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
• 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.
• 1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
• 1568 – The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
• 1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years' War.
• 1609 – Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
• 1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.
• 1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
• 1706 – Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal Villeroi.
• 1788 – South Carolina ratifies the Constitution as the 8th American state.
• 1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").
• 1829 – Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna.
• 1844 – Declaration of the Báb: a merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith, and Bahá'ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
• 1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• 1900 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
• 1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
• 1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
• 1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1934 – American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
• 1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
• 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
• 1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
• 1945 – World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
• 1948 – Thomas C. Wasson, US Consul-General assassinated in Jerusalem.
• 1949 – The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
• 1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China.
• 1958 – Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
• 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.
• 1992 – Italy's most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than 2 months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
• 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building are imploded.
• 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released.
• 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
• 2002 – The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
• 2004 – Part of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
• 2006 – Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
• 2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.

Births

• 1052 – King Philip I of France (d. 1108)
• 1100 – Emperor Qinzong of China (d. 1161)
• 1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish polymath (d. 1682)
• 1617 – Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (d. 1692)
• 1696 – Johann Caspar Vogler, German organist and composer (d. 1763)
• 1707 – Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (d. 1778)
• 1718 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (d. 1783)
• 1729 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian writer (d. 1799)
• 1734 – Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician/hypnotist (d. 1815)
• 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (d. 1801)
• 1790 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)
• 1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso (d. 1870)
• 1795 – Charles Barry, English architect (d. 1860)
• 1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and feminist (d. 1850)
• 1820 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (d. 1887)
• 1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, American jurist (d. 1891)
• 1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American Union Civil War general (d. 1881)
• 1834 – Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)
• 1844 – `Abdu'l-Bahá, Iranian religious figure (d. 1921)
• 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (d. 1896)
• 1855 – Isabella Ford, English feminist and union activist (d. 1924)
• 1865 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian politician (d. 1942)
• 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American automotive executive (d. 1966)
• 1879 – Elizabeth Gunn, New Zealand paediatrician (d. 1963)
• 1879 – Dezso Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)
• 1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (d. 1939)
• 1883 – Ferenc Talányi, Slovene writer, partisan and painter (d. 1959)
• 1884 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist (d. 1965)
• 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)
• 1888 – Zack Wheat, American baseball player (d. 1972)
• 1889 – Ernst Niekisch, German politician (d. 1967)
• 1890 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)
• 1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1974)
• 1893 – Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1977)
• 1895 – Billy Smith, English footballer (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German Waffen-SS officer (d. 1966)
• 1898 – Scott O'Dell, American author (d. 1989)
• 1898 – Josef Terboven, German Nazi official (d. 1945)
• 1900 – Hans Frank, German lawyer and Nazi official (d. 1946)
• 1902 – Frank Buckland, Canadian sports administrator (d. 1991)
• 1906 – Pran Nath Thapar, Indian military officer (d. 1975)
• 1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
• 1908 – Hélène Boucher, French aviatrix (d. 1934)
• 1908 – Paul Dozois, Canadian politician (d. 1984)
• 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, American author (d. 1952)
• 1910 – Hugh Casson, British architect and painter (d. 1999)
• 1910 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and musician (d. 1986)
• 1910 – Artie Shaw, American clarinetist and bandleader (d. 2004)
• 1911 – Paul Mayer, German Roman Catholic Cardinal (d. 2010)
• 1912 – Betty Astell, English actress (d. 2005)
• 1912 – Jean Françaix, French composer (d. 1997)
• 1912 – John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
• 1918 – Denis Compton, English cricketer (d. 1997)
• 1919 – Avraham Drori, Polish-born Israeli politician (d. 1964)
• 1919 – Ruth Fernández, Puerto Rican singer (d. 2012)
• 1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer (d. 2011)
• 1919 – Robert Bernstein, American comic book writer (d. 1988)
• 1920 – Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
• 1921 – James Blish, American author (d. 1975)
• 1921 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English musician (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
• 1923 – Walter Wolfrum, German fighter pilot (d. 2010)
• 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German researcher and writer
• 1924 – Clyde King, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 2008)
• 1925 – Mac Wiseman, American musician
• 1926 – Basil Salvadore D’Souza, Indian Roman Catholic bishop (d. 1996)
• 1928 – Jeannie Carson, English actress and comedian
• 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
• 1928 – Nigel Davenport, English actor
• 1928 – Pauline Julien, French Canadian singer (d. 1998)
• 1929 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
• 1930 – Friedrich Achleitner, German poet
• 1931 – Barbara Barrie, American actress
• 1933 – Joan Collins, English actress
• 1934 – Robert Moog, American inventor (d. 2005)
• 1935 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish writer (d. 2009)
• 1936 – Ingeborg Hallstein, German opera singer
• 1936 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
• 1938 – Peter Preston, English journalist and author
• 1939 – Reinhard Hauff, German film director
• 1939 – Michel Colombier, French composer and songwriter (d. 2004)
• 1939 – Jack McCarthy, American poet
• 1940 – Giles Gordon, Scottish literary agent (d. 2003)
• 1942 – K. Raghavendra Rao, Indian film director
• 1942 – Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher
• 1943 – General Norman Johnson, American singer (Chairmen of the Board) (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Vicky Moscholiou, Greek singer (d. 2005)
• 1943 – Alan Walden, American rock music manager and promoter
• 1944 – John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
• 1945 – Padmarajan, Indian film director (d. 1991)
• 1946 – Frederik de Groot, Dutch actor
• 1946 – H. Paul Shuch, American SETI scientist
• 1947 – Bernard Comrie, English linguist
• 1947 – Ann Hui, Hong Kong film director
• 1947 – Jane Kenyon, American poet (d. 1995)
• 1948 – Reggie Cleveland, Canadian baseball player
• 1949 – Daniel DiNardo, American Roman Catholic cardinal
• 1949 – Alan Garcia, Peruvian politician
• 1950 – Bruce Hay, Scottish rugby player (d. 2007)
• 1950 – Martin McGuinness, Northern Irish politician
• 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
• 1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek politician
• 1952 – Anne-Marie David, French singer
• 1953 – Dick Stellingwerf, Dutch politician
• 1954 – Marvin Hagler, American boxer
• 1954 – Hans Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
• 1955 – Luka Bloom, Irish singer-songwriter
• 1956 – Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
• 1956 – Mark Shaw, New Zealand rugby player
• 1956 – Buck Showalter, American baseball player and manager
• 1956 – Albert Voorn, Dutch equestrian
• 1957 – Mark Arnold, American actor
• 1957 – Jimmy McShane, Northern Irish singer (Baltimora) (d. 1995)
• 1958 – Mitch Albom, American writer
• 1958 – Drew Carey, American actor, comedian and game show host
• 1958 – Serge Dupire, French Canadian actor
• 1958 – François Feldman, French singer
• 1958 – Paul Street, American author and historian
• 1959 – Ryuta Kawashima, Japanese neuroscientist
• 1959 – Marcella Mesker, Dutch tennis player
• 1959 – Bob Mortimer, English comedian
• 1960 – Linden Ashby, American actor
• 1961 – Karen Duffy, American actress
• 1963 – Wally Dallenbach Jr., American race car driver and announcer
• 1963 – Gregg Hughes, American radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)
• 1964 – Ruth Metzler-Arnold, Swiss politician
• 1965 – Charlie Hayes, American baseball player
• 1965 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
• 1965 – Athanasios Skourtopoulos, Greek basketball player and coach
• 1965 – Tom Tykwer, German film director
• 1966 – Graeme Hick, English cricketer
• 1966 – Gary Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Ernst-Paul Hasselbach, Dutch TV host and producer
• 1967 – Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician
• 1967 – Phil Selway, English drummer (Radiohead)
• 1968 – Guinevere Turner, American actress
• 1970 – Yigal Amir, Israeli assassin of Yitzhak Rabin
• 1970 – Nanette Burstein, American director/producer
• 1970 – Matt Flynn, American musician
• 1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver
• 1971 – Laurel Holloman, American actress
• 1971 – George Osborne, British politician
• 1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian racing driver
• 1973 – Jacopo Gianninoto, Italian musician
• 1973 – Maxwell, American singer
• 1973 – Mirjam Sterk, Dutch politician
• 1973 – Ron Trent, American DJ and producer
• 1974 – Ken Jennings, American game show contestant
• 1974 – Jewel, American singer
• 1974 – Mónica Naranjo, Spanish singer
• 1974 – Charlie Yeung, Hong Kong actress and singer
• 1975 – Kim Sung-soo, South Korean actor
• 1976 – Kelly Monaco, American actress
• 1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer
• 1977 – Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
• 1977 – Annabel Kosten, Dutch freestyle swimmer
• 1978 – Mike González, American baseball player
• 1978 – Carolyn Moos, American model and professional basketball player
• 1978 – Scott Raynor, American drummer (blink-182)
• 1979 – Rasual Butler, American basketball player
• 1979 – Brian Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Martin Giroux, French singer
• 1979 – Kirk Saarloos, American baseball player
• 1980 – Gary Brackett, American football player
• 1980 – Lane Garrison, American actor
• 1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
• 1981 – Pierre Lapointe, Canadian singer
• 1981 – Gwenno Saunders, Welsh dancer and singer (The Pipettes)
• 1982 – Cyrill Gloor, Swiss footballer
• 1982 – Malene Mortensen, Danish singer
• 1982 – Tristan Prettyman, American musician
• 1983 – Heidi Range, English singer (Sugababes)
• 1983 – Alex Shelley, American professional wrestler
• 1984 – Sam Milby, Filipino-American actor and commercial model
• 1984 – Adam Wylie, American actor
• 1985 – Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
• 1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
• 1986 – Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer
• 1988 – Morgan Pressel, American golfer
• 1990 – Kristína Kucová, Slovak tennis player
• 1991 – Sarah Jarosz, American musician and singer-songwriter
• 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter

Deaths

• 1125 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
• 1304 – Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer
• 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)
• 1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
• 1524 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (b. 1487)
• 1662 – John Gauden, English bishop and writer (b. 1605)
• 1670 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
• 1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (b. 1622)
• 1701 – William "Captain" Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
• 1749 – Graf Valentin Potocki, Polish Jewish nobleman
• 1752 – William Bradford, English-born printer (b. 1663)
• 1754 – John Wood, the Elder, English architect (b. 1704)
• 1783 – James Otis, American lawyer and patriot (b. 1725)
• 1786 – Móric Benyovszky Hungarian count (b. 1746)
• 1813 – Geraud Duroc, French general (b. 1772)
• 1815 – Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American clergyman and botanist (b. 1753)
• 1825 – Ras Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia
• 1841 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
• 1846 – Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (b. 1778)
• 1855 – Charles Robert Malden, English explorer (b. 1797)
• 1857 – Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)
• 1868 – Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (b. 1809)
• 1886 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)
• 1893 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman (b. 1805)
• 1895 – Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist and physicist (b. 1798)
• 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (b. 1828)
• 1908 – François Coppée, French poet and novelist (b. 1842)
• 1920 – Svetozar Boroevic, Austrian field marshal (b. 1856)
• 1934 – Clyde Barrow, American outlaw (b. 1909)
• 1934 – Bonnie Parker, American outlaw (b. 1910)
• 1937 – John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)
• 1945 – Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900)
• 1949 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter (b. 1872)
• 1960 – Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor (b. 1870)
• 1965 – Earl Webb, American baseball player (b. 1897)
• 1966 – Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)
• 1967 – Lionel Groulx, French Canadian priest and historian (b. 1878)
• 1975 – Moms Mabley, American comedian (b. 1894)
• 1981 – Gene Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
• 1981 – Rayner Heppenstall, English novelist (b. 1911)
• 1981 – George Jessel, American actor (b. 1898)
• 1981 – David Lewis, Canadian labour lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
• 1988 – Aya Kito, Japanese diarist (b. 1962)
• 1989 – Georgy Tovstonogov, Russian theatre director (b. 1915)
• 1989 – Karl Koch, West German hacker (b. 1965)
• 1991 – Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
• 1991 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian politician (b. 1907)
• 1992 – Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (b. 1948)
• 1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939)
• 1994 – Ray Candy, American professional wrestler (b. 1951)
• 1994 – Joe Pass, American jazz guitarist (b. 1929)
• 1996 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian dissident journalist (b. 1934)
• 1998 – Telford Taylor, American lawyer, prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1908)
• 1999 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1965)
• 2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
• 2003 – Jean Yanne, French actor and director (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish scientist (b. 1919)
• 2005 – Fat-Tone, American rapper (b. 1981)
• 2006 – Clifford Antone, American businessman (b. 1949)
• 2006 – Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Ian Copeland, American music promoter (b. 1949)
• 2006 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (b. 1967)
• 2008 – Utah Phillips, American folksinger and activist (b. 1935)
• 2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of the Republic of Korea (b. 1946)
• 2010 – José Lima, Dominican baseball player (b. 1972)
• 2010 – Simon Monjack, English actor, producer, & writer (b. 1970)
• 2010 – Gane Todorovoski, Macedonian literary critic, poet, & publicist (b. 1929)
• 2010 – Leonida Georgievna, Grand Duchess of Russia (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

• Birthday of Guru Amar Das (Sikhism)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • Desiderius of Vienne
  • Quintian, Lucius and Julian
  • May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Declaration of the Báb (Bahá'í Faith)
• Labour Day (Jamaica)
• Students' Day (Mexico)
• World Turtle Day