today.nukz.net: Almanac August 25 :: Bernstein, Costello, Burton & Tweedy

Leonard Bernstein ( August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim. According to The New York Times, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history." He is quite possibly the conductor whose name is best known to the public in general, especially the American public.

Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus, 25 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the early-1970s and later became associated with the original wave of the British Punk/New Wave movement of the mid to late-1970s. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs. His music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a "pop encyclopaedia", able to "reinvent the past in his own image".

Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for his dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 9 and Dark Shadows, and for blockbusters such as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Batman Returns, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland, which was the second highest-grossing film of 2010, and the eleventh highest-grossing film of all time.

Jeffrey Scot "Jeff" Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American songwriter, musician and leader of the band Wilco.

Events

357 – Battle of Strasbourg: Julian, Caesar (deputy emperor) and supreme commander of the Roman army in Gaul, wins an important victory against the Alemanni at Strasbourg (Argentoratum).
450 – Pulcheria becomes empress of the Byzantine Empire after her brother Theodosius II is killed during an hunting accident. She marries the Illyrian (or Thracian) senator Marcian who is crowned as emperor.
1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1258 – Regent George Mouzalon and his brothers are killed during a coup headed by the aristocratic faction under, paving the way for its leader, Michael VIII Palaiologos, to ultimately usurp the throne of the Empire of Nicaea.
1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1580 – Battle of Alcântara. Spain defeats Portugal.
1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1768 – James Cook begins his first voyage.
1825 – Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 – The New York Sun perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.
1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburo discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
1898 – 700 Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British Consul of Crete are killed by a Turkish mob in Heraklion, Greece.
1912 – The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.
1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.
1916 – The United States National Park Service is created.
1920 – Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends. The Red Army is defeated.
1921 – The first skirmishes of the Battle of Blair Mountain occur.
1933 – The Diexi earthquake strikes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
1939 – The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
1942 – World War II: second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. A Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned-back by an Allied air attack, losing one destroyer and one transport sunk, and one light cruiser heavily damaged.
1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
1945 – Ten days after World War II ends with Japan announcing its surrender, armed supporters of the Communist Party of China kill Baptist missionary John Birch, regarded by some of the American right as the first victim of the Cold War.
1948 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing: "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
1950 – President Harry Truman orders the US Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.
1961 – President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power.
1980 – Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn
1989 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the outermost planet in the Solar System.
1989 – Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary.
1991 – The Airbus A340 aircraft makes its first flight.
1991 – Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union
1991 – The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of a Croatian city by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces, between August–November 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence
1991 – Linus Torvalds announces the first version of what will become Linux.
1997 – Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill policy at the Berlin Wall.
2003 – The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).

Births

1530 – Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (d. 1584)
1561 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (d. 1632)
1620 – István Gyöngyösi, Hungarian poet (d. 1704)
1624 – François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (d. 1709)
1662 – John Leverett the Younger, American educator (d. 1724)
1707 – King Louis I of Spain, (d. 1724)
1719 – Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, French painter (d. 1795)
1724 – George Stubbs, British painter (d. 1806)
1741 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian (d. 1792)
1744 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (d. 1803)
1758 – Franz Teyber, Austrian Kapellmeister, organist and composer (d. 1810)
1767 – Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, French revolutionary and writer (d. 1794)
1776 – Thomas Bladen Capel Royal Navy Admiral (d. 1853)
1786 – King Ludwig I of Bavaria (d. 1868)
1796 – James Lick, American land baron (d. 1876)
1802 – Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (d. 1850)
1803 – Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias, Brazilian military commander (d. 1880)
1817 – Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, Founder of the Religious of the Assumption (d. 1898)
1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian composer and concert pianist (d. 1909)
1836 – Bret Harte, American writer (d. 1902)
1841 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss medical researcher; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
1845 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria (d. 1886)
1867 – James W. Gerard, American jurist and diplomat (d. 1951)
1868 – Nikolaos Levidis, Greek shooter (d. unknown)
1869 – Tom Kiely, Irish athlete (d. 1951)
1882 – Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish politician (d. 1966)
1891 – David Shimoni, Russian-born Israeli poet and writer (d. 1956)
1893 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (d. 1962)
1898 – Helmut Hasse, German mathematician (d. 1975)
1898 – Arthur Wood, England cricketer (d. 1973)
1900 – Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1902 – Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (d. 1972)
1903 – Arpad Elo, American chess writer (d. 1992)
1905 – Saint Faustina, Polish mystic (d. 1938)
1906 – Jim Smith, England cricketer (d. 1979)
1909 – Michael Rennie, English actor (d. 1971)
1910 – George Cisar, American baseball player (d. 2010)
1910 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian singer and actress (d. 1993)
1910 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter (d. 2012)
1911 – Vo Nguyen Giap (Võ Nguyên Giáp), Vietnamese general and statesman
1912 – Erich Honecker, East German politician (d. 1994)
1913 – Don DeFore, American actor (d. 1993)
1913 – Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
1915 – Walter Trampler, American violist (d. 1997)
1916 – Van Johnson, American actor (d. 2008)
1916 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1916 – Saburo Sakai, Japanese aviator (d. 2000)
1917 – Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (d. 2008)
1917 – Lisbeth Movin, Danish actress
1918 – Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (d. 1990)
1918 – Richard Greene, English actor (d. 1985)
1919 – George Wallace, American politician (d. 1998)
1921 – Monty Hall, Canadian-born game show host
1921 – Bryce Mackasey, Canadian politician (d. 1999)
1924 – Zsuzsa Körmöczy, Hungarian tennis player (d. 2006)
1921 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (d. 1999)
1925 – Thea Astley, Australian writer, (d. 2004)
1927 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player (d. 2003)
1928 – John "Kayo" Dottley, American football player
1928 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1928 – Herbert Kroemer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Bruce Allpress, New Zealand actor
1930 – Sir Thomas Sean Connery, Scottish actor
1930 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (d. 2003)
1931 – Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (d. 2007)
1931 – Regis Philbin, American television host
1933 – Patrick McManus, American outdoor humor writer
1933 – Wayne Shorter, American jazz musician (Miles Davis, Weather Report)
1933 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
1933 – István Gaál, Hungarian film director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1934 – Lise Bacon, French Canadian politician
1934 – Eddie Ilarde, Filipino disk jockey, television host, and Senator
1935 – Charles Wright, American poet
1936 – Giridharilal Kedia, Indian entrepreneur (d. 2009)
1938 – David Canary, American actor
1938 – Frederick Forsyth, English author
1939 – John Badham, American film director
1940 – José Van Dam, Belgian baritone
1941 – Marshall Brickman, American film writer
1942 – Nathan Deal, American politician, 82nd governor of Georgia
1944 – Conrad Black, newspaper magnate
1944 – Jacques Demers, Canadian hockey coach
1944 – Anthony Heald, American actor
1946 – Rollie Fingers, American baseball player
1946 – Charles Ghigna (Father Goose), American poet and children's author
1946 – Charlie Sanders, American football player
1948 – Nicholas A. Peppas, Greek chemical and biomedical engineer
1949 – Martin Amis, English novelist
1949 – Fariborz Lachini, Canadian-Iranian composer
1949 – John Savage, American actor
1949 – Gene Simmons, Israeli-born musician (Kiss)
1950 – Charles Fambrough, American jazz musician
1951 – Rob Halford, English singer (Judas Priest)
1951 – Bill Handel, American radio personality
1952 – Geoff Downes, English keyboardist (The Buggles, Yes, Asia)
1952 – Duleep Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer
1952 – Vijayakanth, Tamil actor and politician
1954 – Elvis Costello, English musician
1955 – Gerd Müller, German politician
1956 – Takeshi Okada, Japanese football manager
1956 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally driver (d. 1986)
1957 – Sikander Bakht, Pakistani cricketer
1957 – Simon McBurney, British actor, writer and theatre director
1958 – Tim Burton, American film director
1958 – Sterling Harwood, American academic
1958 – Christian LeBlanc, American actor
1959 – Steve Levy, American politician
1959 – Ruth Ann Swenson, American operatic soprano
1960 – Ashley Crow, American actress
1960 – Georg Zellhofer, Austrian footballer
1961 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist
1962 – Maris Bružiks, Latvian triple jumper
1962 – Vivian Campbell, Irish musician (Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Dio)
1962 – Shahid Mahboob, Pakistani cricketer
1962 – David Packer, American actor
1962 – Michael Zorc, German footballer
1963 – Christine McGlade, Canadian actress (You Can't Do That on Television)
1963 – Shock G, American singer and rapper (Digital Underground)
1964 – Maxim Kontsevich, Russian mathematician
1964 – Vasilios Kotronias, Greek chess grandmaster
1964 – Marti Noxon, American television writer and producer
1964 – Dan Parent, American comic book artist and writer
1964 – Blair Underwood, American actor
1964 – Joanne Whalley, British actress
1965 – Cornelius Bennett, American football player
1965 – Sanjeev Sharma, Indian cricketer
1965 – Mia Zapata, American singer (The Gits) (d. 1993)
1966 – Albert Belle, American baseball player
1966 – Robert Maschio, American actor
1966 – Derek Sherinian, American keyboardist
1967 – Tom Hollander, English actor
1967 – Jeff Tweedy, American singer (Wilco)
1968 – Rafet El Roman, Turkish singer and composer
1968 – Yuri Mitsui, Japanese actress, model and racing driver
1968 – Stuart Murdoch, Scottish musician (Belle & Sebastian)
1968 – Spider One, American musician (Powerman 5000)
1968 – Rachael Ray, American chef and television personality
1968 – Takeshi Ueda, Japanese singer and composer
1969 – Cameron Mathison, Canadian actor
1969 – Vivek Razdan, Indian cricketer
1969 – Rachel Shelley, English actress
1969 – Steve Staley, American voice actor
1969 – John Witt, author, sportswriter, actor and Ballhawk
1970 – Doug Glanville, American baseball player
1970 – Robert Horry, American basketball player
1970 – Jo Dee Messina, American country music singer
1970 – Claudia Schiffer, German model
1971 – Mike Lockwood, professional wrestler (d. 2003)
1972 – Marvin Harrison, American football player
1973 – Fatih Akin, German film director
1974 – Dave Luza, Dutch comedian
1974 – Eric Millegan, American actor
1974 – Pablo Ozuna, Dominican baseball player
1975 – Petria Thomas, Australian swimmer
1976 – Jensen Atwood, American actor
1976 – Damon Jones, American basketball player
1976 – Javed Qadeer, Pakistani cricketer
1976 – Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
1977 – Sophie Cadieux, Canadian actress
1977 – Diego Corrales, American boxer (d. 2007)
1977 – Andy McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Jonathan Togo, American actor
1978 – Kel Mitchell, American actor
1978 – Robert Mohr, German rugby player
1979 – Marlon Harewood, English footballer
1979 – Deanna Nolan, American basketball player
1980 – Neal Musser, American baseball player
1981 – Rachel Bilson, American actress
1981 – Jan-Berrie Burger, Namibian cricketer
1981 – Clare Oliver, Australian cancer activist (d. 2007)
1981 – Camille Pin, French tennis player
1983 – James Rossiter, British racing driver
1984 – Florian Mohr, German footballer
1985 – Hendra Setiawan, Indonesian badminton player
1986 – Rona Nishliu, Kosovo-Albanian singer
1987 – Stacey Farber, Canadian actress
1987 – Velimir Jovanovic, Serbian footballer
1987 – Blake Lively, American actress
1987 – Amy Macdonald, Scottish singer and songwriter
1987 – Logan Morrison, American baseball player
1987 – Whitney Stevens, Panamanian/American pornographic actress
1987 – Justin Upton, American baseball player
1987 – James Wesolowski, Australian footballer
1987 – Liu Yifei, Chinese actress and singer
1988 – Alexandra Burke, English singer
1988 – Angela Park, Brazilian/American golfer
1988 – Ray Quinn, English singer
1992 – Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese actress and singer (Berryz Kobo)
1992 – Alex Roots, English singer
1998 – China Anne McClain, American actress
1998 – Abraham Mateo, Spanish singer and musician

Deaths

79 – Pliny the Elder, Roman author, naturalist, natural philosopher and military commander (b. 23)
383 – Gratian, Roman Emperor (b. 359)
471 – Gennadius I, Patriarch of Constantinople
1192 – Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1142)
1227 – Genghis Khan, Khagan of Mongol Empire (b. 1162)
1270 – Louis IX of France (b. 1214)
1282 – Thomas Cantilupe, English saint (b. c. 1218)
1330 – Sir James Douglas, Scottish soldier (b. 1286)
1482 – Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI of England (b. 1429)
1554 – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1473)
1632 – Thomas Dekker, English dramatist (b. c. 1572)
1650 – Richard Crashaw, English poet (b. c. 1613)
1688 – Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer (b. c. 1635)
1699 – Christian V of Denmark (b. 1646)
1711 – Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, English politician
1742 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (b. 1704)
1774 – Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer (b. 1714)
1776 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1711)
1792 – Jacques Cazotte, French writer (b. 1719)
1794 – Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-born Austrian diplomat (b. 1727)
1819 – James Watt, Scottish inventor (b. 1736)
1822 – William Herschel, German-born astronomer (b. 1738)
1867 – Michael Faraday, English scientist (b. 1791)
1886 – Zinovios Valvis, Greek politician and Prime Minister (b. 1791)
1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (b. 1844)
1900 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
1904 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)
1904 – William Hall, Canadian Royal Naval sailor (b. 1827)
1908 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1852)
1924 – Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (b. 1818)
1925 – Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (b. 1852)
1930 – Frankie Campbell, American boxer (b. 1904)
1938 – Johannes van Dijk, Dutch rower (b. 1868)
1938 – Aleksandr Kuprin, Russian writer (b. 1870)
1939 – Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1904)
1940 – Jean d'Orleans, duc de Guise, Orleanist pretender to the French throne (b. 1874)
1942 – George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (b. 1902)
1945 – John Birch, American intelligence officer and missionary (b. 1918)
1950 – Earl Caddock, professional wrestler (b. 1888)
1956 – Alfred Kinsey, American research biologist (b. 1894)
1965 – Moonlight Graham, American baseball player (b. 1879)
1967 – Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1883)
1967 – Paul Muni, Polish actor (b. 1895)
1967 – George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi Party leader (b. 1918)
1968 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (b. 1910)
1970 – Tachu Naito, Japanese architect (b. 1886)
1971 – Ted Lewis, American musician and entertainer (b. 1890)
1973 – Dezso Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Hungarian politician (b. 1875)
1976 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
1977 – Károly Kós, Hungarian writer, architect, ethnologist and politician (b. 1883)
1979 – Stan Kenton, American musician and bandleader (b. 1911)
1980 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919)
1981 – Nassos Kedrakas, Greek actor (b. 1915)
1984 – Truman Capote, American author (b. 1924)
1984 – Waite Hoyt, American baseball player (b. 1899)
1984 – Viktor Chukarin, Soviet gymnast (b. 1921)
1985 – Samantha Smith, American social activist (b. 1972)
1990 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (b. 1903)
1995 – Doug Stegmeyer, American bassist (b.1951)
1997 – Camilla Spira, German actress (b. 1906)
1999 – Rob Fisher, English musician (b. 1956)
2000 – Carl Barks, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
2000 – Jack Nitzsche, American record producer (b. 1937)
2001 – Aaliyah, American R&B singer and actress (b. 1979)
2001 – Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
2001 – Philippe Léotard, French actor and singer (b. 1940)
2001 – Ken Tyrrell, British race driver and F1 team principal (b. 1924)
2002 – Giannis Gionakis, Greek actor (b. 1922)
2002 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian writer (b. 1923)
2005 – Peter Glotz, German politician (b. 1939)
2006 – Noor Mohamed Hassanali, 2nd president of Trinidad & Tobago (b. 1918)
2007 – Ray Jones, English footballer (b. 1988)
2008 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (b. 1964)
2008 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian mountaineer (b. 1959)
2009 – Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1932)
2009 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian politician (b. 1940)