today.nukz.net: Almanac July 6

Frida Kahlo de Rivera (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954; born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón) was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and is perhaps best known for her self-portraits.

Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. She gave her birth date as July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 6, 1907. Kahlo had allegedly wanted the year of her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so that her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. At the age of six, Frida developed polio, which caused her right leg to appear much thinner than the other. It was to remain that way permanently. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.

Kahlo had a volatile marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many of which derived from a traffic accident she experienced as a teenager. These issues are represented in her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another. Kahlo suggested, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also stated, "I was born a bitch. I was born a painter."

Events

371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra, where Epaminondas defeats Cleombrotus I, takes place.
1044 – The Battle of Ménfo between troops led by Emperor Henry III and Magyar forces led by King Samuel takes place.
1189 – Richard I "the Lionheart" is crowned King of England.
1253 – Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania.
1348 – Papal bull of Pope Clement VI protecting the Jews accused to have caused the Black Death.
1415 – Jan Hus is burned at the stake.
1483 – Richard III is crowned King of England.
1484 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
1495 – First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo – Charles VIII defeats the Holy League, but ultimately ends his attempted conquest of Italy.
1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England.
1557 – King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually results in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
1573 – Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion.
1630 – Thirty-Years War: 4,000 Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga – After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
1779 – Battle of Grenada: French victory over British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
1785 – The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1801 – First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram sees a French victory over the Austrian army in the largest battle yet of the Napoleonic Wars.
1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
1887 – David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint, at the hands of the Americans, to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights.
1892 – Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.
1892 – 3,800 striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving 10 dead and dozens wounded.
1893 – The small town of Pomeroy, Iowa, is nearly destroyed by a tornado that kills 71 people and injures 200.
1905 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the second time.
1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
1919 – The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
1933 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeats the National League 4–2.
1936 – A major breach of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal in England sends millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell.
1939 – Holocaust: the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
1941 – Nazi Germany launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial.
1944 – The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut.
1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
1957 – Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.
1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles are introduced to each other when Lennon's band the Quarrymen performs at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.
1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.
1964 – Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
1966 – Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.
1967 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
1975 – The Comoros declare independence from France.
1978 – The Taunton sleeping car fire occurs in Taunton, Somerset killing twelve people.
1986 – Davis Phinney became the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France.
1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
1989 – The Israeli 405 Bus slaughter in which 14 bus passengers are killed when an Arab assaulted the bus driver as the bus is driving by the edge of a cliff.
1994 – Storm King Mountain, Glenwood Springs, Colorado: South Canyon Fire: 14 firefighters died in the fire.
1997 – The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
1998 – Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport is closed and the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok becomes operational.
1999 – U.S. Army private Barry Winchell dies from baseball-bat injuries inflicted in his sleep the previous day by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, for his relationship with transgender showgirl and former Navy Corpsman Calpernia Addams.
2003 – The 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively.
2006 – The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.

Births

1580 – Johann Stobäus, North German composer (d. 1646)
1623 – Jacopo Melani, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1676)
1678 – Nicola Francesco Haym, Italian opera librettist, composer, theatre manager and performer, and numismatist (d. 1729)
1686 – Antoine de Jussieu, French naturalist (d. 1758)
1736 – Daniel Morgan, American battlefield tactician (d. 1802)
1747 – John Paul Jones, American naval commander (d. 1792)
1766 – Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born naturalist (d. 1813)
1781 – Sir Stamford Raffles, British statesman (d. 1826)
1782 – Maria Luisa of Spain, Duchess of Lucca and Queen of Etruria (d. 1824)
1785 – William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (d. 1865)
1789 – Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen consort of the Two Sicilies, wife of Francis I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1846)
1796 – Tsar Nicholas I of Russia (d. 1855)
1817 – Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist (d. 1905)
1818 – Adolf Anderssen, German chess player (d. 1879)
1832 – Maximilian I of Mexico, Mexican emperor (d. 1867)
1837 – Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Indian scholar (d. 1925)
1838 – Vatroslav Jagic, Croatian Slavic studies scholar (d. 1923)
1859 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish poet and novelist, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
1865 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and music educator (d. 1950)
1868 – Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, member of the British Royal Family (d. 1935)
1878 – Eino Leino, Finnish poet (d. 1926)
1884 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American railroad executive, yachtsman and bridge player, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1970)
1885 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1886 – Marc Bloch, French historian (d.1944)
1887 – Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer (d. 1975)
1897 – Richard Krautheimer, German-American art historian (d.1994)
1898 – Hanns Eisler, German composer (d. 1962)
1900 – Frederica Sagor Maas, American playwright and supercentenarian (d. 2012)
1903 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
1904 – Erik Wickberg, Swedish 9th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1996)
1907 – Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (d. 1954)
1907 – George Stanley, Canadian politician and designer of the flag of Canada (d. 2002)
1912 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2006)
1914 – Vincent J. McMahon, American wrestling promoter (d. 1984)
1916 – Harold Norse, American writer (d. 2009)
1917 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand running coach (d. 2004)
1918 – Sebastian Cabot, English actor (d. 1977)
1919 – Ernst Haefliger, Swiss singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Nancy Reagan, First Lady of the United States
1923 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish Communist politician, Prime Minister and President of Poland
1925 – Gazi Yasargil, Turkish medical scientist and neurosurgeon (d. 1993)
1925 – Merv Griffin, American television show host (d. 2007)
1925 – Bill Haley, American singer (Bill Haley & His Comets) (d. 1981)
1927 – Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess player (d. 1988)
1927 – Alan Freeman, Australian-born British DJ and radio personality (d. 2006)
1927 – Janet Leigh, American actress (d. 2004)
1927 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian (d. 1997)
1927 – Nilo Soruco, Bolivian songwriter (d. 2004)
1930 – Balamurali Krishna, Indian Carnatic musician, poet and composer.
1931 – Jean Campeau, French-Canadian businessman and politician
1931 – Della Reese, American singer and actress
1932 – Herman Hertzberger, Dutch architect
1933 – Frank Austin, English footballer
1935 – Candy Barr, American stripper and actress (d. 2005)
1935 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
1936 – Dave Allen, Irish comedian (d. 2005)
1937 – Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian-born pianist and conductor
1937 – Ned Beatty, American actor
1937 – Gene Chandler, American soul singer
1938 – Luana Patten, American actress (d. 1996)
1939 – Jet Harris, English bassist (The Shadows) (d. 2011)
1939 – Mary Peters, British athlete
1940 – Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakh politician, 1st President of Kazakhstan
1940 – Jeannie Seely, American country music singer
1941 – Reinhard Roder, German football player and manager
1945 – Rodney Matthews, English fantasy artist and illustrator
1945 – Burt Ward, American actor
1946 – George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States
1946 – Fred Dryer, American football player and actor
1946 – Peter Singer, Australian philosopher
1946 – Sylvester Stallone, American actor
1947 – Richard Beckinsale, English actor (d. 1979)
1947 – Lance Clemons, American baseball player (d. 2008)
1948 – Nathalie Baye, French actress
1948 – Jean-Pierre Blackburn, French-Canadian politician
1948 – Tom Curley, American media executive
1948 – Brad Park, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 – Phyllis Hyman, American soul singer and actress (d. 1995)
1949 – Noli de Castro, Filipino broadcast journalist and radio commentator, Vice President of the Philippines
1950 – John Byrne, American comic book author and artist
1950 – Hélène Scherrer, Canadian politician
1951 – Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor
1952 – Grant Goodeve, American actor
1953 – Nanci Griffith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Allyce Beasley, American actress
1954 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player
1955 – Frank Sontag, American radio personality
1955 – William Wall, Irish writer
1956 – Casey Sander, American actor
1957 – Ron Duguay, Canadian ice hockey player
1958 – Jennifer Saunders, English actress, comedienne and screenwriter
1958 – Mark Benson, English cricket player
1959 – Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
1960 – Asahifuji Seiya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 63rd Yokozuna
1960 – Maria Wasiak, Polish CEO of Polish State Railways
1961 – Robin Antin, American reality television personality and model
1961 – Rick Price, Australian singer-songwriter
1962 – Peter Hedges, American novelist, screenwriter and film director
1963 – Todd Burns, American baseball player
1963 – Lance Johnson, American baseball player
1964 – Cristina D'Avena, Italian singer and actress
1966 – Brian Posehn, American actor
1967 – James Hannon, American filmmaker
1967 – Heather Nova, Bermudian singer-songwriter
1967 – Omar Olivares, Puerto Rican baseball player
1968 – Gaspare Manos, Italian painter and sculptor
1969 – Brian Van Holt, American actor
1969 – Fernando Redondo, Argentine footballer
1970 – Inspectah Deck, American rapper
1971 – Kenya D. Williamson, American actress
1972 – Isabelle Boulay, French-Canadian singer
1972 – Greg Norton, American baseball player
1972 – Mark Gasser, British pianist
1974 – Zé Roberto, Brazilian footballer
1974 – Babi Xavier, Brazilian presenter and actress
1975 – 50 Cent, American rapper
1975 – Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, Iranian journalist and activist
1975 – Sebastián Rulli, Argentine actor
1977 – Con Blatsis, Australian footballer
1977 – Craig Handley, Welsh film director
1977 – Makhaya Ntini, South African cricketer
1978 – Tamera Mowry, American actress
1978 – Tia Mowry, American actress
1978 – Kevin Senio, New Zealand rugby player
1979 – Nic Cester, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jet)
1980 – Kenny Deuchar, Scottish Footballer and Doctor
1980 – Pau Gasol, Spanish basketball player
1980 – Joell Ortiz, American hip hop artist
1981 – Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player
1982 – Brandon Jacobs, American football player
1983 – Gregory Smith, Canadian actor
1984 – Lauren Harris, British rock singer
1986 – Sarah Gronert, German tennis player
1986 – Derrick Williams, American football player
1987 – Kate Nash, English singer-songwriter
1987 – Matt O'Leary, American actor
1987 – Caroline Trentini, Brazilian model
1988 – Kevin Fickentscher, Swiss footballer
1990 – Ajoo, South Korean singer
1990 – Jamal Idris, Australian Rugby League player
1990 – Jeremy Suarez, American actor
1990 – Magaye Gueye, French footballer
1993 – Jeremiah Godby, American ultramarathon runner
1994 – Camilla Rosso, English actress
1994 – Rebecca Rosso, English actress

Deaths

918 – William I, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 875)
966 – Berengar II, King of Italy (b. 900)
1017 – Genshin, Japanese Tendai scholar (b. 942)
1189 – King Henry II of England (b. 1133)
1218 – Eudes III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1166)
1249 – King Alexander II of Scotland (b. 1198)
1415 – Jan Hus, Bohemian religious reformer (b. 1369)
1476 – Regiomontanus, German astronomer (b. 1436)
1480 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (b. 1416)
1533 – Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet (b. 1474)
1535 – Sir Thomas More, English philosopher (b. 1478)
1553 – King Edward VI of England (b. 1537)
1583 – Edmund Grindal, English Archbishop of Canterbury (b. c. 1519)
1585 – Thomas Aufield, English priest and Catholic martyr (b. 1552)
1684 – Peter Gunning, English royalist churchman (b. 1614)
1758 – George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe, British general (b. c. 1725)
1762 – Tsar Peter III of Russia (b. 1728)
1768 – Conrad Beissel, German-born religious leader (b. 1690)
1802 – Daniel Morgan, American Revolutionary general and politician (b. 1736)
1809 – Antoine Charles Louis Lasalle, French cavalry general (b. 1775)
1813 – Granville Sharp, British abolitionist (b. 1735)
1835 – John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1755)
1854 – Georg Ohm, German physicist (b. 1789)
1863 – Ernst Merck, German businessman and politician (d. 1811)
1868 – Sanosuke Harada, Japanese Shinsengumi Captain (b. 1840)
1883 – Ciprian Porumbescu, Romanian composer (b. 1853)
1893 – Guy de Maupassant, French author (b. 1850)
1901 – Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1819)
1902 – Maria Goretti, Italian saint (b. 1890)
1904 – Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet (b. 1845)
1907 – August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein, German linguist and theologian (b. 1826)
1916 – Odilon Redon, French painter (b. 1840)
1922 – Maria Theresa Ledochowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic nun (b. 1863)
1932 – Kenneth Grahame, English author (b. 1859)
1934 – Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist (b. 1888)
1950 – Fats Navarro, American jazz trumpetist (b. 1923)
1952 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian politician (b. 1867)
1952 – Gertrud Wolle, German actress (b. 1891)
1959 – George Grosz, German painter (b. 1893)
1960 – Aneurin Bevan, British politician (b. 1897)
1961 – Scott LaFaro, American jazz bassist (Bill Evans Trio) (b. 1936)
1961 – Woodall Rodgers, American politician (b. 1890)
1962 – William Faulkner, American writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1897)
1962 – Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1872)
1963 – Georg, Duke of Mecklenburg, Russian-born head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1899)
1964 – Claude V. Ricketts, United States naval admiral (b. 1906)
1966 – Sad Sam Jones, American baseball player (b. 1892)
1968 – Johnny Indrisano, American boxer and actor (b. 1906)
1971 – Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1901)
1972 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (b. 1942)
1973 – Otto Klemperer, German conductor (b. 1885)
1975 – Otto Skorzeny, WWII German SS commando (b. 1908)
1976 – Zhu De, Chinese Communist military leader and statesman (b. 1886)
1976 – Fritz Lenz, German geneticist (b. 1887)
1977 – Ödön Pártos, Hungarian-Israeli violist and composer (b. 1907)
1979 – Van McCoy, American music producer, musician, songwriter and orchestra leader (b. 1940)
1982 – Bob Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1905)
1986 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (b. 1908)
1989 – János Kádár, Hungarian politician (b. 1912)
1991 – Muda Lawal, Nigerian footballer (b. 1954)
1994 – Cameron Mitchell, American actor (b. 1918)
1994 – Geoff McQueen, British television screenwriter (b. 1947)
1995 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish humorist and author (b. 1915)
1996 – Kathy Ahern, American golfer (b. 1949)
1997 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1998 – Roy Rogers, American actor (b. 1911)
1999 – Carl Gunter Jr, American politician (b. 1938)
1999 – Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (b. 1901)
1999 – Barry Winchell, American soldier (b. 1977)
1999 – Gary M. Heidnik, American convicted rapist, murderer, and torturer (executed) (b. 1943)
2000 – Wladyslaw Szpilman, Polish pianist and memoir writer (b. 1911)
2002 – Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (b. 1932)
2002 – John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)
2003 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908)
2004 – Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician, 10th President of Austria (b. 1932)
2004 – Syreeta Wright, American singer (b. 1946)
2005 – Bruno Augenstein, German-born mathematician (b. 1923)
2005 – L. Patrick Gray III, American FBI director (b. 1916)
2005 – Evan Hunter, American novelist (b. 1926)
2005 – Claude Simon, French writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1913)
2005 – Richard Verreau, Canadian tenor (b. 1926)
2006 – Kasey Rogers, American actress (b. 1926)
2006 – Tom Weir, Scottish climber, author and broadcaster (b. 1914)
2007 – Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, American novelist (b.1939)
2008 – Bobby Durham, American jazz drummer (b. 1937)
2009 – Robert McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1916)
2009 – Leo Mol, Ukrainian Canadian artist and sculptor (b. 1915)
2009 – Johnny Collins, British folk and maritime music singer (b. 1938)
2009 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian writer (b. 1932)
2010 – Tilly Armstrong (alias Tania Langley and Kate Alexander), British writer (b. 1927)