today.nukz.net: Almanac December 6

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck (December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered to be one of the foremost exponents of progressive jazz. He wrote a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.

His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote the saxophone melody for the Dave Brubeck Quartet's best remembered piece, "Take Five", which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic on one of the top-selling jazz albums, Time Out. Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, "World's Fair" in 13/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8. He was also a respected composer of orchestral and sacred music, and wrote soundtracks for television such as Mr. Broadway and the animated mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown.

Events

1060 – Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary.
1240 – Mongol invasion of Rus': Kiev under Danylo of Halych and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.
1534 – The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1648 – Colonel Pride of the New Model Army purges the Long Parliament of MPs sympathetic to King Charles I of England, in order for the King's trial to go ahead; came to be known as "Pride's Purge".
1704 – Battle of Chamkaur: During the Mughal-Sikh Wars, an outnumbered Sikh Khalsa defeats a Mughal army.
1745 – Charles Edward Stuart's army begins retreat during the second Jacobite Rising.
1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
1790 – The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
1877 – The first edition of the Washington Post is published.
1877 – Thomas Edison, using his new phonograph, makes one of the earliest recordings of a human voice, reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is completed.
1897 – London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs.
1904 – Theodore Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
1907 – A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia kills 362 workers.
1916 – World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.
1917 – Finland declares independence from Russia.
1917 – Halifax Explosion: In Canada, a munitions explosion kills more than 1,900 people and destroys part of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1917 – World War I: USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53.
1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.
1922 – One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence.
1928 – The government of Colombia sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.
1933 – U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene.
1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Finland in support of the Soviet Union during the Continuation War.
1947 – The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
1953 – Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.
1956 – A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
1957 – Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
1965 – Pakistan's Islamic Ideology Advisory Committee recommends that Islamic Studies be made a compulsory subject for Muslim students from primary to graduate level.
1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States.
1969 – Meredith Hunter is killed by the Hells Angels during a The Rolling Stones's concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
1971 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 – The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387 to 35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92 to 3).
1975 – The Troubles: Fleeing from the police, a Provisional IRA unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London, beginning a six-day siege.
1977 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
1978 – Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
1982 – The Troubles: The Irish National Liberation Army bombed a pub frequented by British soldiers in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland. It killed eleven soldiers and six civilians.
1988 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government.
1989 – The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
1991 – In Croatia, forces of the Yugoslav People's Army bombard Dubrovnik after laying siege to the city since May.
1992 – The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India is demolished, leading to widespread riots causing the death of over 1500 people.
1997 – A Russian Antonov An-124 cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67.
2001 – The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.
2005 – Several villagers are shot dead during protests in Dongzhou, China.
2005 – An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing all 84 on board and 44 more civilians.
2006 – NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
2008 – The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.

Births

846 – Hasan al-Askari, Shia Imam (d. 874)
1285 – King Ferdinand IV of Castile (d. 1312)
1421 – King Henry VI of England (d. 1471)
1478 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author (d. 1529)
1550 – Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer (baptism) (d. 1605)
1586 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer (d. 1670)
1608 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (d. 1670)
1637 – Sir Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (d. 1714)
1640 – Claude Fleury, French historian (d. 1723)
1642 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (d. 1703)
1685 – Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, mother of Louis XV of France (d. 1712)
1721 – James Elphinston, British philologist (d. 1809)
1721 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (d. 1794)
1752 – Gabriel Duvall, American jurist, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1844)
1778 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist (d. 1850)
1792 – King William II of the Netherlands (d. 1849)
1805 – Adolf Reubke, German organ builder (d. 1875)
1805 – Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, French magician (d. 1861)
1812 – Robert Spear Hudson, English businessman (d. 1884)
1823 – Friedrich Max Müller, German orientalist (d. 1900)
1833 – John S. Mosby, American Civil War figure (d. 1916)
1841 – Frédéric Bazille, French painter (d. 1870)
1849 – August von Mackensen, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1853 – Haraprasad Shastri, Indian scholar and historian (d. 1931)
1863 – Charles Martin Hall, American chemist (d. 1914)
1872 – Arthur Henry Adams, Australian writer (d. 1936)
1872 – William S. Hart, American actor (d. 1946)
1874 – Lucien Démanet, French gymnast (d. 1979)
1875 – Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer and aviator (d. 1946)
1875 – Evelyn Underhill, British poet (d. 1941)
1876 – Fred Duesenberg, German-born American automobile maker (d. 1932)
1886 – Joyce Kilmer, American poet (d. 1918)
1887 – Joseph Lamb, American ragtime composer (d. 1960)
1887 – Lynn Fontanne, British-American actress (d. 1983)
1888 – Will Hay, English comedian and actor (d. 1949)
1890 – Dion Fortune, British occultist (d. 1946)
1890 – Yoshio Nishina, Japanese physicist (d. 1951)
1890 – Rudolf Schlichter, German artist and writer (d. 1955)
1892 – Osbert Sitwell, British author (d. 1969)
1893 – Homer N. Wallin, American vice-admiral (d. 1984)
1896 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (d. 1983)
1898 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born American photojournalist (d. 1995)
1898 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (d. 1987)
1900 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (d. 1974)
1903 – Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player (d. 1946)
1904 – Ève Curie, French writer (d. 2007)
1905 – Elizabeth Yates, American children's author (d. 2001)
1908 – Pierre Graber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2003)
1908 – Baby Face Nelson, American bank robber (d. 1934)
1909 – Rulon Jeffs, American religious leader (d. 2002)
1913 – Karl Haas, German-American music educator (d. 2005)
1913 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (d. 2004)
1916 – Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and record producer (d. 1986)
1916 – Kristján Eldjárn, Icelandic museum curator and politician (d. 1982)
1917 – Kamal Jumblatt, Lebanese leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
1917 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-born American entrepreneur (d. 2008)
1919 – Paul de Man, Belgian literary critic (d. 1983)
1920 – Dave Brubeck, American pianist and composer (d. 2012)
1920 – George Porter, British chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)
1921 – Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
1921 – Piero Piccioni, Italian musician and composer (d. 2004)
1922 – John Brunt, English soldier, Victoria Cross holder (d. 1944)
1922 – Benjamin A. Gilman, American politician
1924 – Wally Cox, American actor (d. 1973)
1928 – Bobby Van, American singer (d. 1980)
1929 – Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German conductor
1929 – Frank Springer, American comics artist
1929 – Alain Tanner, Swiss filmmaker
1930 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian Prime Minister of Zambia
1931 – Zeki Müren, Turkish, singer, actor, and composer (d. 1996)
1932– Kamleshwar.Indian writer.(d.2007)
1933 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (d. 2010)
1933 – Donald J. Kutyna, former United States air force officer
1934 – Nick Bockwinkel, American professional wrestler
1935 – Jean Lapointe, Quebec singer and senator
1936 – Kenneth Copeland, American televangelist
1936 – David Ossman, American comedian
1937 – Alberto Spencer, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2006)
1938 – Patrick Bauchau, Belgian actor
1940 – Lawrence Bergman, Quebec politician
1940 – Richard Edlund, American special effects photographer
1941 – Richard Speck, American murderer (d. 1991)
1941 – Bill Thomas, American politician
1942 – Peter Handke, Austrian writer
1943 – Mike Smith, English singer and songwriter (The Dave Clark Five)
1945 – Larry Bowa, American baseball player and manager
1945 – Dan Harrington, American poker player
1945 – Shekhar Kapur, Indian filmmaker
1946 – Frankie Beverly, American singer-songwriter and record producer
1946 – Willy van der Kuijlen, Dutch footballer
1947 – Lawrence Cannon, Canadian politician
1947 – Miroslav Vitous, Czech jazz musician
1947 – Henk van Woerden, Dutch painter and writer (d. 2005)
1948 – Marius Müller-Westernhagen, German actor and musician
1948 – Don Nickles, American politician
1948 – Keke Rosberg, Finnish race car driver
1948 – JoBeth Williams, American actress
1949 – Linda Creed, American songwriter (d. 1986)
1949 – Doug Marlette, American editorial cartoonist (d. 2007)
1949 – Gregory Venables, British Anglican bishop
1950 – Joe Hisaishi, Japanese composer
1950 – Sonia Manzano, American actress and writer
1950 – Karlheinz Subklewe, German footballer
1951 – Gerry Francis, English football player and manager
1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian field hockey player
1952 – Craig Newmark, American internet entrepreneur
1953 – Tom Hulce, American actor
1953 – Gary Ward, American baseball player
1953 – Gary Goodman, Australian cricket player
1953 – Kin Shriner, American actor
1953 – Masami Kurumada, Japanese manga artist
1955 – Rick Buckler, British drummer (The Jam)
1955 – Steven Wright, American comedian
1956 – Peter Buck, American guitarist (R.E.M.)
1956 – Hans Kammerlander, Italian mountaineer
1956 – Randy Rhoads, American guitarist (d. 1982)
1957 – Adrian Borland, English musician (The Sound) (d. 1999)
1958 – Nick Park, British filmmaker and animator
1959 – Satoru Iwata, Japanese video game industry executive
1961 – David Lovering, American drummer (Pixies)
1961 – Manuel Reuter, German race car driver
1962 – Janine Turner, American actress
1963 – Ulrich Thomsen, Danish actor
1965 – Gordon Durie, Scottish footballer
1966 – Natascha Badmann, Swiss triathlete
1967 – Hacken Lee, Hong Kong singer
1967 – Judd Apatow, American film director, and screenwriter
1967 – Lucia Rijker, Dutch boxer and actress
1969 – Torri Higginson, Canadian actress
1970 – Isabelle Arnould, Belgian swimmer
1970 – Jeff Rouse, American swimmer
1970 – Adrian Fenty, American politician
1970 – Ulf Ekberg, Swedish musician (Ace of Base)
1970 – Michaela Schaffrath, German actress
1971 – José Contreras, Cuban baseball player
1971 – Richard Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
1971 – Naozumi Takahashi, Japanese voice actor
1971 – Carole Thate, Dutch field hockey player
1971 – Ryan White, American AIDS victim (d. 1990)
1972 – Heather Mizeur, American politician
1972 – Monica Santa Maria, Peruvian model and TV host (Nubeluz) (d. 1994)
1972 – Rick Short, American baseball player
1974 – Jens Pulver, American mixed martial artist
1974 – Nick Stajduhar, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Noel Clarke, English actor and writer
1975 – Adrián García Arias, Mexican footballer
1976 – Colleen Haskell, American television personality
1976 – Alicia Machado, Venezuelan actress and former Miss Universe
1976 – Lindsay Price, American actress
1977 – Kevin Cash, American baseball player
1977 – Andrew Flintoff, English cricketer
1977 – Paul McVeigh, Irish footballer
1978 – K. D. Aubert, American actress
1978 – Chris Basak, American baseball player
1978 – Darrell Jackson, American football player
1978 – Ramiro Pez, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
1979 – Tim Cahill, Australian footballer
1979 – Yanina González, Paraguayan model
1980 – Steve Lovell, British footballer
1980 – Ehren Wassermann, American baseball player
1981 – Federico Balzaretti, Italian footballer
1982 – Ryan Carnes, American actor
1982 – Alberto Contador, Spanish cyclist
1982 – Sean Ervine, Zimbabwean cricketer
1982 – Susie Wolff, Scottish racing driver
1984 – Syndric Steptoe, American football player
1985 – Shannon Bobbitt, American basketball player
1985 – Aristeidis Grigoriadis, Greek swimmer
1985 – Dulce María, Mexican actress and singer
1985 – Rudra Pratap Singh, Indian cricketer
1986 – Georgia Horsley, English model
1986 – Matt Niskanen, American ice hockey player
1988 – Sandra Nurmsalu, Estonian musician
1988 – Nils Petersen, German footballer
1989 – Felix Schiller, German footballer
1990 – Tamira Paszek, Austrian tennis player
1995 – Joy Gruttmann, German singer
1996 – Stefanie Scott, American actress
2000 – Pablo Nicolás Urdangarín y de Borbón, Spanish royal

Deaths

343 – Saint Nicholas (b. 270)
672 – Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya (b. ca. 710)
1185 – King Afonso I of Portugal (b. 1109)
1352 – Pope Clement VI (b. 1291)
1562 – Jan van Scorel Dutch painter and architect (b. 1495)
1618 – Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (b. 1556)
1658 – Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (b. 1601)
1672 – King John II Casimir of Poland (b. 1609)
1675 – John Lightfoot, English churchman (b. 1602)
1716 – Benedictus Buns, Dutch Carmelite and composer (b. 1642)
1718 – Nicholas Rowe, English poet and dramatist (b. 1674)
1746 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (b. 1665)
1771 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (b. 1682)
1779 – Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (b. 1699)
1788 – Jonathan Shipley, British bishop and politician (b. 1714)
1855 – William John Swainson, English naturalist and artist (b. 1789)
1867 – Jean Pierre Flourens, French physician (b. 1794)
1868 – August Schleicher, German linguist (b. 1821)
1878 – Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek artist (b. 1814)
1879 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American industrialist (b. 1814)
1882 – Anthony Trollope, British author (b. 1815)
1882 – Alfred Escher, Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur (b. 1819)
1889 – Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)
1892 – Ernst Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist (b. 1816)
1921 – Jesse Carleton, American golfer (b. 1862)
1924 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author, screenwriter and naturalist (b. 1863)
1934 – Duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1863)
1949 – Leadbelly, American musician (b. 1888)
1951 – Harold Ross, American magazine editor (b. 1892)
1955 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player (b. 1874)
1956 – B. R. Ambedkar, social reformer and architect of the Constitution of India (b. 1891)
1956 – John Geiger, American rower (b. 1873)
1961 – Frantz Fanon, West Indian psychiatrist and writer (b. 1925)
1964 – Evert van Linge, Dutch footballer (b. 1895)
1964 – Consuelo Vanderbilt, American socialite (b. 1877)
1972 – Janet Munro, British actress (b. 1934)
1976 – João Goulart, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
1982 – Jean-Marie Seroney, Kenyan politician (b. 1927)
1983 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer (b. 1903)
1985 – Burr Tillstrom, American puppeteer (b. 1917)
1988 – Roy Orbison, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter (b. 1936)
1989 – Frances Bavier, American actress (b. 1902)
1989 – Sammy Fain, American popular music composer (b. 1902)
1989 – John Payne, American actor (b. 1912)
1990 – Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
1990 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first prime minister (b.1903)
1991 – Sir Richard Stone, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1991 – Mimi Smith, maternal aunt and guardian of John Lennon (b. 1906)
1993 – Don Ameche, American actor (b. 1908)
1994 – Heinz Baas, German footballer (b. 1922)
1996 – Pete Rozelle, commissioner of the National Football League (b. 1926)
1997 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch freestyle swimmer. (b. 1918)
1998 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor. (b. 1921)
2000 – Werner Klemperer, German actor (b. 1920)
2000 – Aziz Mian, Pakistani singer (b. 1942)
2001 – Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand sailor and environmentalist (b. 1948)
2001 – Charles McClendon, Hall of Fame college football coach (b. 1923)
2002 – Philip Berrigan, American civil rights activist (b. 1923)
2003 – Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (b. 1909)
2003 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (b. 1918)
2003 – Jerry Tuite, American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
2004 – Raymond Goethals, Belgian football coach (b. 1921)
2005 – William P. Yarborough, Lieutenant General of the US Army and designer of "jump wings" (b. 1912)
2005 – Charly Gaul, Luxembourger cyclist (b. 1932)
2005 – Devan Nair, 3rd President of Singapore (b. 1923)
2005 – Danny Williams, South African singer (b. 1942)
2006 – John Feeney, New Zealand documentary film-director (b. 1922)
2006 – Betty Moschona, Greek actress (b. 1927)
2007 – Katy French, Irish supermodel and socialite (b. 1983)
2010 – Mark Dailey, Canadian television journalist and announcer (b. 1953)
2011 – Dobie Gray, American singer and songwriter (b. 1940)