today.nukz.net: Almanac October 19

David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931), pen name John le Carré, is a British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for the British intelligence services MI5 and MI6, when he began writing novels under a pen name. His third novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) became an international best-seller, and remains one of his best known works. Following the novel's success, he left MI6 to become a full-time author.

Le Carré has since established himself as an important writer of espionage fiction. In 1990, he received the Helmerich Award which is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust. In 2008, The Times ranked Le Carré 22nd on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2011, he won the Goethe Medal, a yearly prize given by the Goethe Institute.

Events

202 BC – Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the army defending Carthage.
439 – The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1216 – King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
1386 – The Universität Heidelberg held its first lecture, making it the oldest German university.
1466 – The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.
1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.
1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
1649 – New Ross town, Co. Wexford, Ireland, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell.
1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.
1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at the Battle of Ulm. 30,000 prisoners are captured and 10,000 casualties inflicted on the losers.
1812 – Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.
1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.
1822 – In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.
1864 – Battle of Cedar Creek – Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys a Confederate Army under Jubal Early.
1864 – St. Albans Raid – Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.
1866 – Venice - Annexion of Veneto and Mantua to Italy - At Hotel Europa, Austria hands over Veneto to France, which hands it immediately over to Italy.
1900 – Max Planck, in his house at Grunewald, on the outskirts of Berlin, discovers the law of black body emission (Planck's law).
1904 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
1912 – Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
1914 – The First Battle of Ypres begins.
1917 – The Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
1921 – Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.
1922 – British Conservative MPs meeting at the Carlton Club vote to break off the Coalition Government with David Lloyd George of the Liberal Party.
1933 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
1943 – Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
1944 – United States forces land in the Philippines.
1950 – The People's Liberation Army takes control of the town of Qamdo; this is sometimes called the "Invasion of Tibet".
1950 – The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War by sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river to fight United Nations forces.
1950 – Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program.
1954 – First ascent of Cho Oyu.
1956 – The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945.
1969 – The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba.
1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.
1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.
1976 – Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.
1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev 134 plane crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.
1987 – The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
1987 – Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.
1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.
2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.
2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.
2004 – Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.
2007 – Philippines: A bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.

Births

1276 – Prince Hisaaki of Japan (d. 1328)
1433 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)
1562 – George Abbot, English archbishop (d. 1633)
1582 – Dmitry of Uglich (d. 1591)
1605 – Thomas Browne, English author (d. 1682)
1610 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)
1658 – Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704)
1680 – John Abernethy, Irish minister (d. 1740)
1688 – William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
1718 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French soldier (d. 1804)
1720 – John Woolman, American preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)
1721 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)
1784 – James Henry Leigh Hunt, English critic, essayist, and poet (d. 1859)
1784 – John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)
1789 – Theophilos Kairis, Greek priest and philosopher (d. 1853)
1810 – Cassius Marcellus Clay, American politician (d. 1903)
1814 – Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek painter (d. 1878)
1826 – Ralph Tollemache, English clergyman (d. 1895)
1850 – Annie Smith Peck, American mountaineer (d. 1935)
1851 – Empress Myeongseong of Korea (d. 1895)
1858 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian-English naturalist (d. 1937)
1862 – Auguste Lumière, French director and producer (d. 1954)
1868 – Bertha Knight Landes, American politician, Mayor of Seattle (d. 1943)
1873 – Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925)
1873 – Bart King, American cricketer (d. 1965)
1876 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (d. 1945)
1882 – Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1916)
1885 – Charles Merrill, American banker, co[founded Merrill Lynch (d. 1956)
1895 – Frank Durbin, American soldier (d. 1999)
1895 – Lewis Mumford, American historian, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1990)
1896 – Bob O'Farrell, American baseball player (d. 1988)
1897 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)
1899 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan journalist, author, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1900 – Erna Berger, German soprano (d. 1990)
1900 – Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
1900 – Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1957)
1901 – Arleigh Burke, American navy admiral (d. 1996)
1903 – Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (d. 1971)
1907 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader and composer (d. 1962)
1908 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
1909 – Marguerite Perey, French physicist (d. 1975)
1910 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1910 – Shunkichi Hamada, Japanese field hockey player (d. 2009)
1910 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980)
1913 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)
1915 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian singer-songwriter, oud player, and actor (d. 1974)
1916 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
1916 – Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985)
1917 – Walter Munk, Austrian-American oceanographer
1918 – Charles Evans, English mountaineer, surgeon, and educator (d. 1995)
1918 – Russell Kirk, American author and theorist (d. 1994)
1920 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003)
1920 – LaWanda Page, American actress (d. 2002)
1920 – Harry Alan Towers, English-Canadian screenwriter and producer (d. 2009)
1922 – Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005)
1925 – Emilio Eduardo Massera, Argentine navy officer (d. 2010)
1926 – Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2009)
1926 – Joel Feinberg, American philosopher (d. 2004)
1927 – Pierre Alechinsky, Belgian painter
1928 – Lou Scheimer, American animator and voice actor, co-founded the Filmation Company
1931 – Ed Emberley, American illustrator
1931 – Manolo Escobar, Spanish singer and actor
1931 – John le Carré, English author
1932 – Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992)
1934 – Yakubu Gowon, Nigerian military leader, 3rd Head of State of Nigeria
1936 – James Bevel, American minister and activist (d. 2008)
1936 – Tony Lo Bianco, American actor
1936 – Sylvia Browne, American author and psychic
1937 – Marilyn Bell, Canadian swimmer
1937 – Peter Max, German-American illustrator
1940 – Larry Chance, American singer (Larry Chance and the Earls)
1940 – Michael Gambon, Irish-English actor
1940 – Rosny Smarth, Haitian politician, 8th Prime Minister of Haiti
1941 – Simon Ward, English actor (d. 2012)
1942 – Andrew Vachss, American lawyer and author
1943 – Robin Holloway, English composer
1943 – Takis Ikonomopoulos, Greek footballer
1943 – L. E. Modesitt, Jr., American author
1944 – George McCrae, American singer
1944 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bob Marley & The Wailers) (d. 1987)
1945 – Divine, American drag queen performer (d. 1988)
1945 – Patricia Ireland, American lawyer and activist
1945 – Gloria Jones, American singer-songwriter
1945 – John Lithgow, American actor
1945 – Jeannie C. Riley American singer
1945 – Martin Welz, South African journalist
1946 – Philip Pullman, English author
1947 – Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian writer and illustrator
1948 – Dave Mallow, American voice actor
1948 – Patrick Simmons, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Doobie Brothers)
1949 – Lynn Dickey, American football player
1949 – Jamie McGrigor, English politician
1951 – Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek physicist
1952 – Verónica Castro, Mexican actress and singer
1953 – Lionel Hollins, American basketball player and coach
1954 – Sam Allardyce, English footballer and manager
1954 – Deborah Blum, American journalist and author
1954 – Joe Bryant, American basketball player
1955 – Dan Gutman, American author
1955 – Melpo Kosti, Greek actress
1956 – Steve Doocy, American journalist and author
1956 – Grover Norquist, American activist, founded Americans for Tax Reform
1956 – Didier Theys, Belgian race car driver
1956 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993)
1956 – Bruce Weber, American basketball coach
1957 – Dorinda Clark-Cole, American singer-songwriter and pianist (The Clark Sisters)
1957 – Ray Richmond, American columnist and critic
1957 – Karl Wallinger, Welsh singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (World Party and The Waterboys)
1958 – Lou Briel, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
1958 – Tiriel Mora, Australian actor
1958 – Michael Steele, American politician, 7th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
1959 – Nir Barkat, Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem
1960 – Jennifer Holliday, American actress and singer
1961 – Sunny Deol, Indian actor
1962 – Tracy Chevalier, American author
1962 – Evander Holyfield, American boxer
1963 – Kool Keith, American rapper and producer (Ultramagnetic MCs, Analog Brothers, and Masters of Illusion)
1963 – Prince Laurent of Belgium
1964 – Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-American boxer
1965 – Brad Daugherty, American basketball player
1965 – Ty Pennington, American carpenter and television host
1966 – Sinitta, American singer-songwriter and actress
1966 – Roger Cross, Jamaican-Canadian actor
1966 – Jon Favreau, American actor, screenwriter and director
1966 – Dimitris Lyacos, Greek poet and playwright
1967 – Amy Carter, American daughter of Jimmy Carter
1967 – Yoko Shimomura, Japanese composer
1968 – Rodney Carrington, American actor and comedian
1969 – John Edward, American psychic and author
1969 – Trey Parker, American actor, animator, screenwriter, director, and producer
1969 – DJ Sammy, Spanish DJ and producer
1969 – Erwin Sánchez, Bolivian footballer
1970 – Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor
1972 – Pras, American rapper and producer (Fugees)
1972 – Keith Foulke, American baseball player
1973 – Hicham Arazi, Moroccan tennis player
1973 – Marc Beckers, German footballer
1973 – Joaquin Gage, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Joy Bryant, American actress
1976 – Omar Gooding, American actor
1976 – Desmond Harrington, American actor
1976 – Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Michael Young, American baseball player
1977 – Habib Beye, Senegalese footballer
1977 – Louis-José Houde, Canadian comedian and actor
1977 – Jason Reitman, Canadian-American director, screenwriter, and producer
1977 – Raúl Tamudo, Spanish footballer
1978 – Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian race car driver
1978 – Zakhar Dubenskiy, Russian footballer
1978 – James Roberts, English ice hockey player
1978 – Henri Sorvali, Finnish guitarist and keyboard player (Moonsorrow and Finntroll)
1979 – Marc Elliott, English actor
1979 – José Luis López, Mexican footballer
1979 – Brian Robertson, American trombonist (Suburban Legends)
1979 – Hiromi Yanagihara, Japanese singer (Country Musume) (d. 1999)
1980 – José Bautista, Dominican baseball player
1980 – Rajai Davis, American baseball player
1980 – Benjamin Salisbury, American actor
1981 – Christian Bautista, Filipino singer and actor
1981 – Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish race car driver
1982 – Gillian Jacobs, American actress
1982 – Louis Oosthuizen, South African golfer
1982 – Gonzalo Pineda, Mexican footballer
1982 – Daan van Bunge, Dutch cricketer
1983 – Cara Santa Maria, American neuroscientist and blogger
1984 – Kaio de Almeida, Brazilian swimmer
1984 – Saki Fujita, Japanese voice actress
1985 – Terry Etim, English mixed martial artist
1988 – Dot Rotten, English rapper and producer
1989 – Miroslav Stoch, Slovakian footballer
1990 – Janet Leon, Swedish singer and dancer (Play)
1991 – Colton Dixon American singer-songwriter and pianist
1993 – Abby Sunderland, American sailor
1994 – Agne Sereikaite, Lithuanian speed skater

Deaths

727 – Frithuswith, English saint (b. 650)
1216 – John, King of England (b. 1167)
1432 – John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392)
1608 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian (b. 1551)
1636 – Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician (b. 1566)
1682 – Thomas Browne, English author (b. 1605)
1723 – Godfrey Kneller, German-English painter (b. 1646)
1745 – Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667)
1790 – Lyman Hall, American physician and politician, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)
1796 – Michel de Beaupuy, French general (b. 1755)
1813 – Józef Poniatowski, Polish general (b. 1763)
1815 – Paolo Mascagni, Italian physician (b. 1755)
1842 – Aleksey Koltsov, Russian poet (b. 1808)
1851 – Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale of France (b. 1778)
1856 – William Sprague, American politician (b. 1799)
1889 – Luís I of Portugal (b. 1838)
1893 – Lucy Stone, American activist (b. 1818)
1897 – George Pullman, American engineer and businessman, founded the Pullman Company (b. 1831)
1901 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish businessman and philanthropist, founded GN Store Nord (b. 1829)
1904 – Galen Spencer, American archer (b. 1840)
1916 – Ioannis Frangoudis, Greek general (b. 1863)
1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887)
1936 – Lu Xun, Chinese author (b. 1881)
1937 – Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand-English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
1943 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
1945 – Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general and politician, 40th President of Mexico (b. 1877)
1950 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (b. 1892)
1956 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1894)
1960 – George Wallace, Australian comedian and actor (b. 1895)
1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and critic (b. 1885)
1969 – Lacey Hearn, American sprinter (b. 1881)
1970 – Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican politician, 44th President of Mexico (b. 1895)
1978 – Gig Young, American actor (b. 1913)
1983 – Maurice Bishop, Grenadian politician, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)
1984 – Jerzy Popieluszko, Polish priest (b. 1947)
1985 – Alfred Rouleau, Canadian businessman (b. 1915)
1986 – Dele Giwa, Nigerian journalist, co-founded Newswatch Magazine (b. 1947)
1986 – Samora Machel, Mozambican military commander and politician, 1st President of Mozambique (b. 1933)
1987 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945)
1987 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
1988 – Son House, American singer and guitarist (b. 1902)
1994 – Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916)
1995 – Don Cherry, American trumpet player (Codona, New York Contemporary Five, and Old and New Dreams) (b. 1936)
1997 – Glen Buxton, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
1999 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)
1999 – Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-French lawyer and author (b. 1900)
2000 – Hortense Ellis, Jamaican singer (b. 1941)
2002 – Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Russian physicist and astronaut (b. 1932)
2003 – Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (b. 1960)
2003 – Alija Izetbegovic, Bosniak lawyer, author, and politician, 1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1925)
2003 – Margaret Murie, American environmentalist and author (b. 1902)
2005 – Ryan Dallas Cook, American trombonist (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982)
2006 – James Glennon, American cinematographer (b. 1942)
2007 – Randall Forsberg, American activist and author (b. 1943)
2007 – Michael Maidens, English footballer (b. 1987)
2007 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author, sculptor and painter (b. 1925)
2008 – Richard Blackwell, American actor, fashion designer, and critic (b. 1922)
2008 – Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian and actor (b. 1937)
2009 – Howard Unruh, American murderer (b. 1921)
2009 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (b. 1918)
2010 – Tom Bosley, American actor (b. 1927)
2011 – Kakkanadan, Indian author (b. 1935)
2012 – Wissam al-Hassan, Lebanese general (b. 1965)
2012 – Wiyogo Atmodarminto, Indonesian general and politician, 10th Governor of Jakarta (b. 1922)
2012 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1922)
2012 – Raymond Dumais, Canadian bishop (b. 1950)
2012 – Mike Graham, American wrestler (b. 1951)
2012 – Walter Harrison, English politician (b. 1921)
2012 – Johann Kniewasser, Austrian skier (b. 1951)
2012 – Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (b. 1920)
2012 – Raúl Valencia, Spanish footballer (b. 1976)