today.nukz.net: Almanac January 3

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College, Oxford from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.

After his death, Tolkien's son Christopher published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda, and Middle-earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term legendarium to the larger part of these writings.

While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature—or, more precisely, of high fantasy. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.

Events

1431 – Joan of Arc is handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon.
1496 – Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
1653 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
1749 – The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
1777 – American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
1782 – Sylhet District in north-east Bangladesh is established
1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
1823 – Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico.
1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Liberia.
1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Choshu seize power.
1870 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
1888 – The refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory, measuring 91 cm in diameter, is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
1919 – At the Paris Peace Conference, Emir Faisal of Iraq signs an agreement with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop a revolt by banana workers fired by the United Fruit Company.
1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first female elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first female to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
1938 – The March of Dimes is established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1944 – World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
1945 – World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
1946 – Popular Canadian-American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
1959 – Separatists in the Maldives declare the establishment of the United Suvadive Republic.
1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1961 – A core explosion and meltdown at the SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho, kills three workers.
1961 – In Finland's worst civilian aviation accident a Aero Flight 311 crashes near Kvevlax, resulting in the deaths of all 25 people aboard.
1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights comes into effect.
1977 – Apple Inc. is incorporated.
1990 – Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
1993 – In Moscow, George Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
1994 – More than seven million people from the former Apartheid Homelands, receive South African citizenship.
1996 – The Motorola StarTAC, the first flip phone and one of the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption, goes on sale.
1997 – China announces it will spend US$27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys.
1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched.
1999 – Israel detains, and later expels, 14 members of Concerned Christians.
2002 – Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it the deadliest aviation accident in Egyptian history.

Births

106 BC – Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d. 43 BC)
1196 – Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet (d. 1782)
1710 – Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1796)
1719 – Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian (d. 1773)
1722 – Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (d. 1752)
1760 – John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1835)
1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijalkowski, Polish bishop (d. 1861)
1793 – Lucretia Mott, American women's rights activist (d. 1880)
1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, British House of Commons member (d. 1898)
1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright (d. 1857)
1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano (d. 1854)
1810 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer (d. 1897)
1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland (d. 1900)
1821 – Dragotin Dežman, Slovenian politician, archeologist and botanist (d. 1889)
1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian social activist and educator (d. 1897)
1836 – Sakamoto Ryoma, Japanese revolutionary (d. 1867)
1840 – Father Damien, Flemish missionary (d. 1889)
1855 – Hubert Bland, British socialist (d. 1914)
1856 – R. C. Lehmann, English writer (d. 1929)
1861 – William Renshaw, British champion tennis player (d. 1904)
1862 – Sir Matthew Nathan, British Governor of Queensland (d. 1939)
1865 – Henry Lytton, British actor and opera singer (d. 1936)
1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian author (d. 1946)
1873 – Ichizo Kobayashi, Japanese businessman (d. 1957)
1874 – Francis Newton, American golfer (d. 1946)
1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician (d. 1950)
1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, East Germany statesman (d. 1960)
1879 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)
1880 – Francis Browne, Irish photographer (d. 1960)
1883 – Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
1884 – Raoul von Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948)
1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American book collector and victim of the RMS Titanic sinking (d. 1912)
1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950)
1886 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
1887 – August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)
1887 – Helen Parkhurst, American educator, author, lecturer, the originator of the Dalton Plan and the founder of The Dalton School (d. 1973)
1892 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (d. 1973)
1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
1895 – Borys Lyatoshynsky, Ukrainian composer (d. 1968)
1897 – Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American children's author (d. 1990)
1898 – Carlos Keller, Chilean fascist politician (d. 1974)
1900 – Donald J. Russell, North American railroad executive (d. 1985)
1901 – Ngô Ðình Di?m, South Vietnamese politician (d. 1963)
1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
1907 – Ray Milland, British actor (d. 1986)
1909 – Victor Borge, Danish entertainer (d. 2000)
1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player (d. 2000)
1911 – John Sturges, American director (d. 1982)
1912 – Federico Borrell Garcia, Spanish Republican soldier (d. 1936)
1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and senator (d. 2002)
1912 – Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d. 2005)
1915 – Jack Levine, American painter (d. 2010)
1915 – Mady Rahl, German actress (d. 2009)
1916 – Betty Furness, American actress (d. 1994)
1916 – Warren King, American cartoonist (d. 1978)
1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author, actor and TV personality (d. 2002)
1917 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
1917 – Vernon Walters, American military officer and diplomat (d. 2002)
1919 – Herbie Nichols, jazz composer and pianist (d. 1963)
1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian musician (d. 2001)
1920 – Siegfried Buback, Attorney-General of Germany (d. 1977)
1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1922 – Bill Travers, British actor and director (d. 1994)
1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach (d. 2005)
1923 – Charles "Bud" Tingwell, Australian actor (d. 2009)
1924 – André Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston Lagaffe) (d. 1997)
1924 – Nell Rankin, American singer (d. 2005)
1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009)
1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American businessman, civil servant, and 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1926 – Sir George Martin, British record producer
1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)
1929 – Ernst Mahle, Brazilian composer
1930 – Mara Corday, American showgirl, model and actress
1930 – Marcel Dubé, Quebec playwright
1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor
1931 – Yashawant Dinkar Phadke, writer, historian and political activist from Maharashtra, India (d. 2008)
1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
1932 – Tongolele, American-born Mexican dancer
1934 – Carla Hills, American jurist, civil servant, and 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian politician and businessman
1935 – Camil Samson, Canadian politician (d. 2012)
1937 – Seri Wangnaitham, Thai dancer and choreographer (d. 2007)
1939 – Nikos Alefantos, Greek football manager
1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
1939 – Ruben Reyes, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
1941 – Van Dyke Parks, American musician
1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer (d. 2006)
1942 – John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
1943 – Jarl Alfredius, Swedish news anchor (d. 2009)
1944 – Blanche d'Alpuget, Australian novelist, biographer
1945 – Stephen Stills, American musician (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Manassas)
1946 – John Paul Jones, British musician (Led Zeppelin)
1946 – Cissy King, American entertainer
1949 – Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (d. 1965)
1950 – Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, Russian conjoined twins (d. 2003)
1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress
1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian politician
1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish politician and former President of Madrid
1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian politician
1952 – Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer
1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and writer
1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, President of the Maldives
1954 – Dean Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1990)
1954 – Ned Lamont, American businessman and political figure
1954 – Ross the Boss, American guitarist (The Dictators and Manowar)
1955 – Palmolive, British musician (The Slits, The Raincoats)
1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor and director
1956 – Willy T. Ribbs, American race-car driver
1957 – Bojan Križ??, Slovenian skier
1958 – James J. Greco, American businessman
1958 – Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean filmmaker
1963 – Vic Grimes, American professional wrestler
1963 – Alex Wheatle, British novelist
1963 – Jerome Young, American professional wrestler
1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian filmmaker
1969 – Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian bobsledder and luger
1970 – Mahaya Petrosian, Iranian actress
1970 – Matt Ross, American actor
1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice-hockey player
1972 – Yoon Chan, South Korean actor
1973 – Dan Harmon, American writer and producer
1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch professional golfer
1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ (Daft Punk)
1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress
1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
1976 – Dinara Drukarova, Russian actress
1977 – Lee Bowyer, British footballer
1977 – A.J. Burnett, American baseball player
1977 – Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress
1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
1978 – Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model
1978 – Kimberley Locke, American singer
1978 – Park Sol-mi, South Korean actress
1978 – Mike York, American ice hockey player
1979 – Chris Geddes, Canadian volleyball player
1979 – Dina Tersago, Miss Belgium 2001 and TV personality
1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete
1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
1980 – David Tyree, American football player
1981 – Naresh Iyer, Indian singer
1981 – Eli Manning, American football player
1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
1983 – Antti Arst, Estonian footballer
1984 – Billy Mehmet, Irish footballer
1984 – Arif Suyono, Indonesian footballer
1985 – John David Booty, American football player
1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
1985 – Evan Moore, American football player
1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
1986 – Jessica O'Rourke, American footballer
1986 – Jacob Timpano, Australian footballer
1987 – Leonidas Panagopoulos, Greek footballer
1987 – Anchal Joseph Indian/American fashion model
1988 – Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer
1988 – Rodrigo de la Cadena, Mexican artist and performer
1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – J. R. Hildebrand American race car driver
1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-born Nigerian footballer
1989 – Alex D. Linz, American actor
1989 – Anya Rozova, Russian/American fashion model
1989 – Kohei Uchimura, Japanese gymnast
1989 – Ayaka Umeda, Japanese singer (AKB48)
1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
1992 – Sandra Zaniewska, Polish tennis player

Deaths

235 – Pope St. Anterus
323 – Jin Yuandi, Chinese emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 276)
492 – Pope Felix III
1098 – Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
1322 – King Philip V of France (b. 1293)
1437 – Catherine of Valois, wife of Henry V of England (b. 1401)
1543 – Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (b. 1499)
1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)
1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, British astronomer (b. 1618)
1656 – Mathieu Molé, French statesman (b. 1584)
1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, British soldier (b. 1608)
1690 – Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, Lithuanian rabbi (b. 1615)
1701 – Prince Louis I of Monaco (b. 1642)
1743 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and designer (b. 1657)
1779 – Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (b. 1712)
1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, British potter (b. 1730)
1813 – Bennelong, Aborigine interlocutor (b. c.1764)
1826 – Louis Gabriel Suchet, French marshal (b. 1770)
1871 – Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian Saint (b. 1805)
1875 – Pierre Larousse, French editor (b. 1817)
1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, British novelist (b. 1805)
1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer (b. 1824)
1903 – Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hitler (b. 1837)
1911 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (b. 1851)
1915 – James Elroy Flecker, British poet (b. 1884)
1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American Major General (b. 1831)
1922 – Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, German impostor who became famous as The Captain of Köpenick (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick) in 1906 (b. 1849)
1923 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
1927 – Carle David Tolmé Runge, German physicist (b. 1856)
1931 – Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, German staesman (b. 1876)
1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
1943 – Sir Walter James, Australian politician (b. 1863)
1943 – André Fauquet-Lemaître, French polo player (b. 1862)
1944 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1873)
1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
1945 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (b. 1879)
1946 – William Joyce, American propagandist (b. 1906)
1950 – Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b. 1884)
1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
1956 – Dimitrios Vergos, Greek champion in wrestling, weightlifting and shot put (b. 1886)
1956 – Joseph Wirth, German statesman (b. 1876)
1959 – Edwin Muir, Orcadian poet, novelist and translator (b. 1887)
1962 – Hermann Lux, German footballer (b. 1893)
1967 – Mary Garden, British singer (b. 1874)
1967 – Jack Ruby, American killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)
1969 – Jean Focas, Greek-born astronomer (b. 1909)
1969 – Tzavalas Karousos, Greek actor (b. 1904)
1970 – Gladys Aylward, British missionary (b. 1902)
1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian Writer(b.1925)
1974 – Gino Cervi, Italian actor (b. 1901)
1975 – James McCormack first Director of Military Applications of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (b. 1910)
1979 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
1980 – Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist (b. 1910)
1980 – Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (b. 1892)
1980 – George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1915)
1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (b. 1883)
1988 – Rose Ausländer, German poet (b. 1901)
1988 – Joie Chitwood, American racing driver and stuntman (b. 1912)
1989 – Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1992 – Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
1993 – Johnny Most, American sports announcer (b. 1923)
2002 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican band leader (b. 1918)
2002 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch beer executive (b. 1923)
2003 – Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
2004 – Des Corcoran, Premier of South Australia (b. 1928)
2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (b. 1917)
2005 – JN Dixit, Indian government official (b. 1936)
2005 – Will Eisner, American comic book artist (b. 1917)
2006 – Steve Rogers, Australian rugby league footballer (b. 1954)
2006 – Bill Skate, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
2007 – Janos Furst, Hungarian orchestral conductor (b. 1935)
2007 – Sergio Jiménez, Mexican actor (b. 1937)
2007 – Earl Reibel, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
2007 – William Verity Jr., American industrialist and 28th Secretary of Commerce (b. 1917)
2007 – Sir Cecil Walker, Northern Irish politician (b. 1924)
2008 – Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (b. 1953)
2008 – Yo-Sam Choi, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
2008 – Werner Dollinger, German politician and economist (b. 1918)
2009 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (b. 1921)
2009 – Ulf G. Lindén, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1937)
2009 – Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and feminist scholar (b. 1928)
2010 – Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean composer (b. 1925)
2011 – Fadil Hadžic, Croatian film director (b. 1922)
2012 – Willi Entenmann, German footballer and footballcoach (b. 1943)
2012 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech writer and publisher (b. 1924)
2012 – Gatewood Galbraith, American politician (b. 1947)
2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian film director, actor and politician (b. 1930)