today.nukz.net: Almanac December 13

Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy. He is also a Grammy Award winning musician, producing three albums which have charted highly on the Billboard 200: Unpredictable, which topped the chart, Best Night of My Life and Intuition.

Born in Terrell, Texas, Foxx was raised by his mother's adoptive parents. He performed in high school and was awarded a scholarship to United States International University. In his twenties, Foxx began performing stand-up at comedy clubs and eventually joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991; this exposure helped him land film roles and star in his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. He released his debut album, Peep This, in 1994, but did not gain significant musical success until 2004, when he was featured in the song "Slow Jamz" by Twista and Kanye West. Also in 2004, Foxx played critically acclaimed roles in the films Collateral and Ray. He released his second album, Unpredictable, in 2005, which was helped by his collaboration on Kanye West's number-one single "Gold Digger". His third album Intuition was released in 2008 and was anchored by the single "Blame It". Foxx released his fourth studio album, Best Night of My Life, in 2010.

Events

558 – King Chlothar I reunites the Frankish Kingdom after his brother Childebert I has died. He becomes sole ruler of the Franks.
1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
1545 – Council of Trent begins.
1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the National Guard of the United States.
1642 – Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
1643 – English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.
1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.
1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose Burnside.
1867 – Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, England, United Kingdom, killing six.
1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking – Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese.
1937 – Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.
1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.
1941 – World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
1943 – World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.
1959 – Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
1960 – While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaim him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.
1962 – NASA Relay 1 launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
1967 – Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels
1968 – Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military government.
1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
1974 – Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations
1977 – A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis, Indiana-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.
1979 – The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.
1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
1988 – Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland after the United States authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.
1989 – Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch an attack on a British Army nonpermanent vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.
2000 – The "Texas Seven" escape from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.
2001 – The Parliament of India Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.
2002 – Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
2003 – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).

Births

1521 – Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
1533 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)
1553 – King Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
1585 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)
1640 – Robert Plot, English naturalist (d. 1696)
1662 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
1684 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian, philosopher, and author (d. 1754)
1720 – Carlo Gozzi, Italian dramatist (d. 1804)
1724 – Franz Aepinus, German scientist (d. 1802)
1780 – Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist (d. 1849)
1784 – Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
1797 – Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
1804 – Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (d. 1873)
1814 – Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse (d. 1880)
1816 – Ernst Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor, and industrialist (d. 1892)
1818 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
1836 – Franz von Lenbach, German painter (d. 1904)
1854 – Herman Bavinck, Dutch theologian and churchman (d. 1921)
1856 – Svetozar Boroevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1920)
1860 – Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
1864 – Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
1867 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (d. 1917)
1870 – Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1940)
1871 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
1874 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian-born pianist (d. 1944)
1883 – Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist (d. 1950)
1884 – Aimilios Veakis, Greek actor (d. 1951)
1887 – George Polya, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1985)
1887 – Alvin York, American soldier & Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
1897 – Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect (d. 1961)
1897 – Drew Pearson, American journalist (d. 1969)
1900 – Jonel Perlea, Romanian conductor (d. 1970)
1902 – Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1986)
1902 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist, (d. 1979)
1903 – Ella Baker, American civil rights activist (d. 1986)
1903 – Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
1906 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
1906 – Sir Laurens van der Post, South African author (d. 1996)
1910 – Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971)
1910 – Sol Saks, American screenwriter (d. 2011)
1911 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d. 1999)
1911 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (d. 1972)
1913 – Arnold Brown, the 11th General of The Salvation Army (d. 2002)
1913 – Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
1914 – Alan Bullock, British author of the first biography of Hitler written in any language. (d. 2004)
1915 – Curd Jürgens, German-born Austrian actor (d. 1982)
1915 – Ross Macdonald, American-born author (d. 1983)
1915 – B. J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa 1966-1978 (d. 1983)
1917 – John Hart, American actor (d. 2009)
1919 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German flying ace of World War II (d. 1942)
1920 – George Shultz, American economist, statesman, and 60th United States Secretary of State
1923 – Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1923 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (d. 2003)
1925 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian
1926 – George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
1928 – Eve Meyer, American model (d. 1977)
1929 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
1930 – Robert Prosky, American actor (d. 2008)
1934 – Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (d. 2012)
1935 – Joe Christopher, American baseball player
1935 – Ken Hall, American football player
1935 – Lindy McDaniel, American baseball player
1936 – His Highness Prince Shah Karim al-Husseini Aga Khan IV, Present Imam (leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims
1936 – J. C. Martin, American baseball player
1937 – Rob Houwer, Dutch film producer
1937 – Ulf G. Lindén, Swedish entrepreneur (d. 2009)
1937 – Ron Taylor, Canadian baseball player
1938 – Alvin Curran, American composer
1938 – Heino, German folk singer
1939 – Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (d. 2002)
1941 – John Davidson, American actor and game show host
1941 – Bessel Kok, Dutch businessman and chess organiser
1942 – Anna Eshoo, American politician
1943 – Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
1943 – Gösta Winbergh, Swedish tenor (d. 2002)
1944 – Dick Dees, Dutch politician
1944 – Hwang Jang Lee, Korean martial artist and film actor
1944 – Marti Webb, British actor and singer
1945 – Herman Cain, American businessman, radio host, and politician
1945 – Kathy Garver, American actress
1945 – Brian McGuire, Australian racing driver (d. 1977)
1947 – Darlene Cates, American actress
1947 – Rex Hagon, Canadian actor and host
1947 – Dave Hamilton, American baseball player
1948 – Lester Bangs, Rock critic (d. 1982)
1948 – Jeff Baxter, American guitarist (Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)
1948 – Lillian Board, British track and field athlete (d. 1970)
1948 – Ted Nugent, American guitarist
1948 – Brian Wilson, Scottish politician
1949 – Robert Lindsay, English actor
1949 – Randy Owen, American country singer and guitarist (Alabama)
1949 – Luc Sala, Dutch entrepreneur and writer
1949 – Tom Verlaine, American singer and guitarist (Television)
1949 – Paula Wilcox, English actress
1950 – Wendie Malick, American actress
1950 – Tom Vilsack, 40th Governor of Iowa and 30th United States Secretary of Agriculture
1950 – Heather North, American television and voice actress
1952 – Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog), American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
1953 – Ben Bernanke, American economist and current United States Chairman of the Federal Reserve
1953 – Bill Castro, Dominican baseball player
1953 – Jim Davidson, British comedian
1953 – Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player and General Manager
1954 – John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
1954 – Steve Forbert, American singer-songwriter
1954 – Tamora Pierce, American author
1954 – Emma Bull, American science fiction and fantasy author
1956 – Dale Berra, American baseball player
1956 – Majida El Roumi, Lebanese soprano, singer
1956 – Phil Hubbard, American basketball player
1957 – Steve Buscemi, American actor
1957 – Morris Day, American singer (The Time)
1957 – Eric Marienthal, American saxophonist
1957 – Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
1958 – Lynn-Holly Johnson, American figure skater and actress
1959 – Jim Barrell, American professional wrestler
1959 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
1960 – Rusty Cundieff, American actor
1960 – Daggubati Venkatesh, Indian actor
1961 – Harry Gregson-Williams, English composer
1961 – Irene Saez, Miss Universe 1981 and Venezuelan politician
1961 – Gary Zimmerman, American football player
1962 – Roger Ilegems, Belgian track cyclist and road bicycle racer
1962 – Jamie Raskin, American law professor and politician
1962 – Rex Ryan, American football coach
1962 – Rob Ryan, American football coach
1962 – Kendra Slewenski, English netballer
1964 – Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, Japanese musician (X Japan) (d. 1998)
1965 – Marko Mäetamm, Estonian artist
1965 – Jackie Clune, British entertainer and actress
1966 – Ross Burden, New Zealand celebrity chef
1966 – Don Roff, American writer and filmmaker
1966 – Mike Tirico, sports broadcaster
1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor and singer
1967 – Bo Pelini, American football coach
1967 – NeNe Leakes, American actress
1969 – Tony Curran, Scottish actor
1969 – Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player
1969 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer (d. 2007)
1970 – Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Austrian mountaineer
1972 – Niki Evans, English singer
1972 – Chris Grant, Australian football player
1973 – Christie Clark, American actress
1974 – Sara Cox, English TV and radio presenter
1974 – Debbie Matenopoulos, American television personality and actress
1974 – Nicholas McCarthy, English guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
1975 – Bates Battaglia, American ice hockey player
1975 – Tom DeLonge, American guitarist (blink-182, Angels & Airwaves)
1975 – Kostas Kiassos, Greek footballer
1975 – Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player
1976 – Josh Fogg, American baseball player
1976 – Søren Friis, Danish footballer
1976 – Radoslaw Sobolewski, Polish footballer
1977 – Sascha Kindred, British Paralympic swimmer
1977 – Peter Stringer, Irish rugby union footballer
1978 – Olav Bjortomt, British quiz champion
1978 – Ryo Kawakita, Japanese guitarist (Maximum the Hormone)
1978 – BJ Penn, American mixed martial artist
1980 – Patrik Antonius, Finnish poker player
1980 – Ryan France, English footballer
1980 – Satoshi Tsumabuki, Japanese actor
1980 – Bosco Wong, Hong Kong Singer and Actor
1981 – Amy Lee, American singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
1981 – Liam Lawrence, Irish footballer
1982 – Anthony Callea, Australian singer/songwriter
1982 – Dan Hamhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player
1982 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian racing driver
1982 – Dominik Werling, German footballer
1983 – Matt Deis, American bassist
1983 – Otylia Jedrzejczak, Polish swimmer
1984 – Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish swimmer
1984 – Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer
1985 – Michael Bumpus, American football player
1985 – Laurence Leboeuf, Canadian actress
1985 – Alby Mathewson, New Zealand rugby player
1986 – Dennis Bermudez, American mixed martial artist
1986 – Mathieu Gnanligo, Beninese sprinter
1987 – James Eagan Holmes, American, accused perpetrator of the 2012 Aurora shootings
1988 – Rickie Fowler, American golfer
1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer
1991 – Senah Mango, Togolese footballer

Deaths

558 – Childebert I, king of the Franks (b. c. 496)
1048 – Abu Ray?an al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
1124 – Pope Callixtus II
1126 – Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
1204 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
1250 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
1404 – Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1336)
1466 – Donatello, Florentine artist and sculptor (b. 1386)
1516 – Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (b. 1462)
1521 – Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
1557 – Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician
1565 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (b. 1516)
1603 – Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (b. 1540)
1621 – Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)
1716 – Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)
1721 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway (b. 1676)
1729 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)
1754 – Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
1769 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
1783 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)
1784 – Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)
1814 – Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Belgian-born Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)
1835 – John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)
1837 – Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)
1863 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (b. 1813)
1868 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (b. 1794)
1881 – August Senoa, Croatian writer (b. 1838)
1883 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
1893 – Georg August Rudolph, German politician (b. 1816)
1895 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)
1908 – Augustus Le Plongeon, French antiquitarian (b. 1825)
1919 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (b. 1850)
1922 – Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic politician and poet (b. 1861)
1924 – Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (b. 1850)
1930 – Fritz Pregl, Slovenian-born Austrian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)
1931 – Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)
1932 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
1934 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1854)
1935 – Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
1940 – Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
1940 – Manuel de Escandón, Mexican polo player (b. 1857)
1940 – George Regas, Greek actor (b. 1890)
1942 – Wlodimir Ledochowski, Austrian-born Polish religious figure (b. 1866)
1944 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French artist (b. 1866)
1944 – Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (b. 1908)
1945 – Irma Grese, German concentration camp supervisor (b. 1923)
1945 – Josef Kramer, German concentration camp commandant (b. 1906)
1945 – Elisabeth Volkenrath, Polish-born German concentration camp supervisor (b. 1919)
1947 – Nicholas Roerich, Russian-born painter (b. 1874)
1950 – Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1902)
1954 – John Raymond Hubbell, American writer (b. 1879)
1955 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
1958 – Tim Moore, American actor (b. 1887)
1960 – Dora Marsden, British editor, writer (b. 1882)
1961 – Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
1962 – Harry Barris, American popular singer (b. 1905)
1969 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral (b. 1886)
1969 – Spencer Williams, Jr., American actor (b. 1893)
1973 – Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
1979 – Jon Hall, American actor (b. 1915)
1981 – Pigmeat Markham, American entertainer (b. 1904)
1983 – Alexander Schmemann, Estonian Orthodox Christian priest and theologian (b. 1921)
1983 – Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (b. 1933)
1986 – Heather Angel, British actress (b. 1909)
1986 – Ella Baker, American civil rights activist (b, 1903)
1986 – Smita Patil, Indian Actress (b.1955)
1992 – K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (b. 1899)
1992 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and heir (b. 1899)
1993 – Vanessa Duriès, French novelist (b. 1972)
1994 – Norman Beaton, Guyanese actor (b. 1934)
1994 – Michalis Nikolinakos, Greek actor (b. 1923)
1995 – Ann Nolan Clark, American children's author (b. 1896)
1996 – Edward Blishen, English author (b. 1920)
2001 – Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (Death) (b. 1967)
2002 – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian musician (The Lovin' Spoonful) (b. 1944)
2003 – William V. Roth, Jr., American politician (b. 1921)
2004 – Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball player (b. 1934)
2004 – David Wheeler, English computer scientist (b. 1927)
2005 – Timothy Jordan II, American musician (The All American Rejects, Jonezetta) (b. 1981)
2005 – Stanley Tookie Williams, American convicted murderer (b. 1953)
2006 – Lamar Hunt, American sports executive (b. 1932)
2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor (b. 1936)
2007 – Mark Partridge, Rhodesian politician (b. 1922)
2008 – John Drake, New Zealand rugby union footballer (b. 1959)
2008 – Kathy Staff, British actress (b. 1928)
2010 – Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)
2010 – Enrique Morente, Spanish flamenco singer (b. 1942)
2010 – Woolly Wolstenholme, British musician (b. 1947)
2011 – Kabir Chowdhury, Bangladeshi National Professor (b. 1923)