today.nukz.net: Almanac May 8

Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as a group leader and a solo performer. His improvisations draw not only from the traditions of jazz, but from other genres as well, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music. In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize, the first (and to this day only) recipient not to share the prize with a co-recipient, and in 2004 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. In 2008, he was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in the magazine's 73rd Annual Readers' Poll.

Events

413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, who are plundered by the Visigoths.
589 – Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo.
1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts.
1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia.
1846 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1877 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
1886 – Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
1924 – the Klaipeda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipeda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappeared after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against the British rule in India.
1941 – The German Luftwaffe launch a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Rheims, France, to an unconditional surrender.
1945 – Halifax Riot when thousands of civilians and servicemen went on a rampage through Halifax.
1945 – End of the Prague uprising, today celebrated as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
1946 – Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine.
1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1970 – The Hard Hat riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
1972 – Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1972 – Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.
1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
1978 – First ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, sergeant-at-arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
1984 – Thames Barrier officially opened.
1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day.
1997 – A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.

Births

1326 – Joanna I of Auvergne, queen of France (d. 1360)
1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
1521 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (d. 1597)
1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (d. 1698)
1629 – Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697)
1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German marshal (d. 1706)
1653 – Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshall of France (d. 1734)
1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French writer (d. 1747)
1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (d. 1726)
1735 – Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811)
1738 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1809)
1753 – Miguel Hidalgo Mexican revolutionary (d. 1811)
1786 – Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest (d. 1859)
1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1885)
1825 – George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer (d. 1898)
1828 – Jean Henri Dunant, Founder of the Red Cross; Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
1828 – Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk (d. 1898)
1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American musician (d. 1869)
1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter (d. 1910)
1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, French Canadian lyricist (d. 1920)
1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist (d. 1909)
1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American theater producer and impresario (d. 1919)
1850 – Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
1853 – Dan Brouthers, baseball player (d. 1932)
1858 – Heinrich Berté, Austrian operetta composer (d. 1924)
1858 – John Meade Falkner, English novelist (d. 1932)
1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (d. 1925)
1884 – Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (d. 1972)
1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player (d. 1988)
1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby player (d. 1963)
1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer and businessman (d. 1967)
1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American aviation executive (d. 1962)
1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American bishop (d. 1979)
1895 – Edmund Wilson, American writer (d. 1972)
1898 – Alojzije Stepinac, Croatian catholic cardinal (d. 1960)
1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American voice actor (d. 1959)
1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-born British economist and philosopher, Nobel laureate (d. 1992)
1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
1903 – Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
1904 – John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996)
1905 – Red Nichols, American musician (d. 1965)
1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director (d. 1977)
1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American children's book author and publisher (d. 1975)
1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American singer (d. 1981)
1911 – Robert Johnson, American blues musician (d. 1938)
1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator (d. 1984)
1914 – Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980)
1915 – Milton Meltzer, American writer (d. 2009)
1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian industrialist
1916 – Swami Chinmayananda, Indian spiritualist (d. 1993)
1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and filmmaker (d. 1996)
1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist (d. 1991)
1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author (d. 2003)
1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, President of Tanzania
1926 – David Attenborough, English naturalist
1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian
1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish film director (d. 2003)
1928 – Theodore Sorensen, American lawyer and special counsel to John F. Kennedy (d. 2010)
1929 – Claude Castonguay, Quebec politician
1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (d. 2007)
1930 – Heather Harper, Irish singer
1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet
1932 – Julieta Campos, Cuban-born Mexican writer (d. 2007)
1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
1932 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970)
1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark
1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer
1937 – Bernard Cleary, Canadian politician
1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian politician
1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
1937 – Mike Cuellar, American baseball player (d. 2010)
1940 – Peter Benchley, American author (d. 2006)
1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician
1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)
1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer
1940 – Emilio Delgado, American actor
1941 – Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopian singer
1941 – John Fred, American singer (d. 2005)
1941 – Bill Lockyer, American politician
1942 – Norman Lamont, British politician
1942 – Pierre Morency, French Canadian poet and playwright
1942 – Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer
1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, British bassist (The Yardbirds)
1944 – Gary Glitter, English singer
1944 – Bill Legend, British musician (T. Rex)
1945 – Keith Jarrett, American musician
1946 – André Boulerice, French-Canadian politician
1946 – Jonathan Dancy, British philosopher
1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, Nobel laureate
1948 – Felicity Lott, English singer
1948 – Steve Braun, American baseball player
1948 – Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer
1950 – Robert Mugge, American music documentary filmmaker
1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer (Earth, Wind & Fire)
1951 – Mike D'Antoni, American professional basketball coach
1951 – Chris Frantz, American musician (Talking Heads)
1951 – Deborah Harmon, American actress
1952 – Peter McNab, Canadian ice hockey player
1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-born American drummer (Van Halen)
1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
1954 – Stephen Furst, American actor
1954 – David Keith, American actor
1954 – John Michael Talbot, American Roman Catholic singer-songwriter-guitarist who is founder of a monastic community, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity (Mason Proffit)
1955 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian politician
1956 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor
1957 – Bill Cowher, American professional football coach
1957 – Gary Lunn, Canadian politician
1957 – Marie Myriam, French singer
1958 – Lovie Smith, American professional football coach
1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player
1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer
1960 – Eric Brittingham, American bassist
1961 – Janet McTeer, British actress
1961 – Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler
1961 – David Winning, Canadian film director
1963 – Terry Christian, British radio and television presenter
1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Quebec singer and songwriter
1963 – Anthony Field, Australian musician and actor
1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
1963 – Robin Jarvis, British writer
1963 – Izabela Kloc, Polish politician
1963 – Rick Zombo, American ice hockey player
1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress
1964 – Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
1964 – Dave Rowntree, British musician (Blur)
1966 – Marta Sánchez, Spanish singer
1966 – Claudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer
1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Quebec politician
1968 – Johan Pehrson, Swedish politician
1968 – Jamie Summers, American porn star
1969 – Akebono Taro, American sumo wrestler, the 64th Yokozuna
1970 – Luis Enrique, Spanish football player
1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer
1972 – Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese artist
1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian
1973 – Kris Hudson-Lee, English musician
1974 – Jon Tickle, English entertainer
1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer
1975 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
1975 – Gastón Mazzacane, Argentine racing driver
1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian musician and songwriter
1976 – Ian Watkins, Welsh singer and actor (Steps)
1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian hip-hop artist (d. 2011)
1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American blues rock guitarist and singer
1977 – Theodoros Papaloukas, Greek basketball player
1977 – Jennifer Walcott, American glamor model
1978 – Matthew Davis, American actor
1978 – Jang Woo Hyuk, Korean singer
1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
1978 – Josie Maran, American model
1980 – Keyon Dooling, American basketball player
1980 – Panayiotis Kafkis, Greek basketball player
1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer
1980 – Benny Yau, Canadian entertainer
1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian athlete
1981 – Björn Dixgård, Swedish guitarist, singer, songwriter
1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
1981 – Yasuko Tajima, Japanese swimmer
1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player
1982 – Buakaw Por. Pramuk, Thai Muaythai kickboxer
1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentine-born German rugby player
1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
1983 – Roberto Vitiello, Italian footballer
1983 – Matt Willis, British singer (Busted)
1984 – Nadine Chandrawinata, Indonesian beauty pageant contestant
1985 – Mashio Miyazaki, Japanese actress
1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Marvell Wynne, American footballer
1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
1989 – Lars Eller, Danish ice hockey player
1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English Footballer
1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player

Deaths

1192 – Duke Ottokar IV of Styria (b. 1163)
1278 – Emperor Duanzong of China (b. 1268)
1319 – King Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270)
1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
1538 – Edward Fox, English bishop
1668 – Catherine de Saint-Augustin, French-born Canadian nun (b. 1632)
1672 – Jean-Armand du Peyrer, Comte de Tréville and French Officer (b. 1598)
1766 – Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister (b. 1693)
1773 – Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (b. 1728)
1781 – Richard Jago, English poet (b. 1715)
1785 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (b. 1719)
1785 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (b. 1701)
1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743)
1819 – King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii
1822 – John Stark, American revolutionary war general (b. 1728)
1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (b. 1781)
1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1770)
1842 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (b. 1790)
1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest (b. 1785)
1873 – John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (b. 1806)
1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author (b. 1831)
1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
1907 – Edmund G. Ross, American Senator (b. 1826)
1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
1943 – Mordechaj Anielewicz, Polish Resistance Fighter (b. 1919)
1944 – Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
1945 – Wilhelm Rediess, SS and Police leader of Nazi-occupied Norway (b. 1900)
1945 – Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (b. 1883)
1945 – Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of Nazi-occupied Norway (b. 1898)
1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900)
1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician (b. 1865)
1952 – William Fox, Austrian-born film producer (b. 1879)
1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
1967 – LaVerne Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1911)
1969 – Remington Kellogg, American naturalist (b. 1892)
1975 – Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
1981 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
1982 – Neil Bogart, American record executive (b. 1943)
1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (b. 1890)
1984 – Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1916)
1985 – Karl Marx, German composer (b. 1897)
1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction writer (b. 1918)
1985 – Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
1986 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and writer (b. 1922)
1987 – Doris Stokes, British psychic medium (b. 1920)
1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer (b. 1924)
1991 – Jean Langlais, French composer and pianist (b. 1907)
1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
1992 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player [AAGPBL] (b. 1933)
1993 – Avram Davidson, American writer (b. 1923)
1994 – George Peppard, American actor (b. 1928)
1995 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (b. 1953)
1996 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
1996 – Dominguín, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
1996 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (b. 1912)
1996 – Larry Levis, American poet (b. 1946)
1998 – Bebe Rebozo, American banker and Watergate figure (b. 1912)
1999 – Sir Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921)
1999 – Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
2000 – Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet (b. 1918)
2000 – Alexander Chislenko, Russian-American transhumanist (b. 1959)
2000 – Dédé Fortin, singer Québécois to group Les Colocs (b. 1962)
2000 – Henry Nicols, AIDS activist (b. 1973)
2001 – Koby Mandell, Israeli-American terror victim (b. 1987)
2005 – Jean Carrière, French writer (b. 1928)
2005 – Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentine racing driver (b. 1981)
2006 – Iain Macmillan, Abbey Road photographer (b. 1938)
2008 – Eddy Arnold, country music star (b. 1918)
2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian football player (b. 1982)
2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
2009 – Bud Shrake, American writer (b. 1931)
2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)