Today's Reading: "Places I Would Live" by John Reinhard from ON THE ROAD TO PATSY CLINE, published by New Rivers Press (1996).
Today is Ivy Day in Ireland, the anniversary of the death of Irish nationalist leader Charles Steward Parnell.
The organization PEN (Poets Playwrights Essayists and Novelists) was established in London in 1921.
Jazz pianist Sammy Price was born in Honey Grove, Texas, in 1908.
Actress Carole Lombard (Jane Alice Peters), who died in a plane crash in 1942 while touring to sell war bonds, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1908.
Screen star Janet Gaynor, who retired at the age of 33, was born in Philadelphia in 1906.
Writer Caroline Gordon, author of THE STRANGE CHILDREN, was born in Todd County, Kentucky, in 1895.
City planner Le Corbusier was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switerzerland, in 1887.
Charlotte Bronte's novel JANE EYRE was published in London in 1847.
Inventor George Westinghouse, the holder of over 100 patents and creator of such things as air brakes for trains, was born in Central Bridge, New York, in 1846.
Soprano Jenny Lind, known as the 'Swedish Nightingale,' was born in Stockholm, in 1820.
Today's Reading: "Fat in America" by Heid E. Erdrich from FISHING FOR MYTH, published by New Rivers Press (1997).
It's the 42nd birthday of cellist Yo Yo Ma, born in Paris to Chinese parents in 1955.
Novelist Thomas Keneally, author of SCHINDLER'S ARK, the basis for the film SCHINDLER'S LIST, was born in New South Wales, Australia, in 1935.
Playwright Leroi Jones, who took the name Imamu Amiri Baraka, was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1934.
It's the 66th birthday of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, born in Klerksdorp, South Africa, in 1931.
Writer Helen MacInnes, whose first spy novel was drawn from the diary she kept during her 1932 honeymoon in Bavaria, where she witnessed early Nazi activities, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1907.
Physicist Nils Bohr, whose model of the atomic structure helped establish the quantum theory, was born in Copenhagen, in 1885.
Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley ("When the Frost is on the Punkin," "Little Orphant Annie," and "Raggedy Man") was born in Greenfield, Indiana, in 1849.
Composer William Billings ("David's Lamentation," "When Jesus Wept," and "The Rose of Sharon") was born in Boston in 1746.
Today's Reading: "The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm" by Wallace Stevens from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF WALLACE STEVENS, published by Alfred A. Knopf.
The Tennessee Fall Homecoming Festival starts today at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee, featuring old-time mountain crafts and music.
Don Larsen pitched a perfect game for the Yankees back in 1956, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 in the fifth game of the World Series.
Molecular biologist Cesar Milstein, who developed monoclonal antibodies that gave immunity against specific diseases, was born in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, in 1926.
British biochemist Rodney Porter, who won the 1972 Nobel Prize for determining the chemical structure of an antibody, was born in Lancashire, England, in 1917.
In 1906 a machine that put a permanent wave in hair was first demonstrated to an audience in London by Karl Ludwig Nessler; the client had to wear a dozen brass curlers, each weighing nearly two pounds, the process took about six hours.
Journalist Charles Henry Dow, founder of the WALL STREET JOURNAL, began charting trends of stocks and bonds in 1897. The Dow Jones Average, as it came to be called, computed a daily industrial average by adding the value of one share of each of 12 major stocks and dividing the total by 12.
The Great Chicago Fire began on this day in 1871, supposedly started when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street.
Today's Reading: "A Little Tooth" by Thomas Lux from NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, published by Houghton Mifflin Co. (1997).
Today is Leif Ericson Day, honoring the Norwegian explorer credited with discovering Vinland, or North America.
The National Shrimp Festival starts today in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
The World Beef Expo begins in Madison, Wisconsin, today.
In Oakland, Maryland, it's the Autumn Glory Festival with banjo and fiddle contests.
Eugene O'Neill's play THE ICEMAN COMETH opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York in 1946.
Actor and director Jacques Tati, who portrayed Monsieur Hulot in a series of films, was born in Pecq, France, in 1908.
Historian Bruce Catton, author of POTOMAC: MR. LINCOLN'S ARMY; GLORY ROAD; and A STILLNESS AT APPOMATTOX, was born in Petoskey, Michigan, in 1899.
The Washington Monument, designed by Robert Mills, was opened to the public in 1888.
Physicist Max von Laue, a Nobel laureate for his measurement of the wavelength of x-rays by their diffraction through the closely spaced atoms in a crystal, was born in Koblenz, Germany, in 1879.
"The father of the modern drugstore," Charles Rudolph Walgreen, was born near Galesburg, Illinois, in 1873.
Educator Francis Parker, a founder of progressive elementary schools in the United States, was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, in 1837.
In 1779 the Luddite riots began in Manchester, England, in reaction to the introduction of machinery for spinning cotton. The instigator was Ned Ludd, a workmen who thought that such automation would put people out of work.
Today's Reading: "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" by Ezra Pound from COLLECTED SHORTER POEMS, published by Faber & Faber.
The Jewish holiday Yom Kippur begins at sundown today.
The Arkansas State Fair and Livestock Show opens in Little Rock.
The Gumbo Festival begins today in Bridge City, Louisiana.
In Helena, Arkansas, the King Biscuit Blues Festival starts today.
The National Wild Turkey Calling Contest and Turkey Trot Festival begins today in Yellville, Arkansas.
It's the 67th birthday of playwright Harold Pinter (THE BIRTHDAY PARTY; HOMECOMING; BETRAYAL), born in London in 1930.
Novelist James Clavell, author of SHOGUN and NOBLE HOUSE, was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1924.
Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1917.
Sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, was born in Stampa, Switzerland, in 1901.
Giuseppe Verdi (LA TRAVIATA; RIGOLETTO; AIDA; OTELLA) was born near Busseto, in what was then the southeastern corner of France, in 1813.
English physicist Henry Cavendish, who measured the density and mass of the Earth by a method known as the Cavendish experiment, was born in Nice, France, in 1731.
Today's Reading: "Mrs. Snow" by Donald Justice from A DONALD JUSTICE READER, published by University Press of New England.
The Chowderfest in Mystic, Connecticut, begins today.
The Eldon Turkey Festival starts today in Eldon, Missouri.
The Guatier Mullet Festival begins today in Guatier, Mississippi, with a mullet cookoff.
The Oyster Festival begins today at Chincoteague Island, on the Atlantic coast just south of Maryland, in Virginia.
Jazz drummer Art Blakey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1919.
Choreographer Jerome Robbins, winner of the 1962 Oscar for the choreography of the film WEST SIDE STORY, was born in New York City in 1918.
Journalist Joseph Alsop was born in Avon, Connecticut, in 1910.
Billiards champion Willie Hoppe was born in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, New York, in 1887.
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Francois Mauriac was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1885.
Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in 1884.
Henry Heinz, who became known as the 'Pickle King,' was born in Pittsburgh in 1844.
The founder of the YMCA, Sir George Williams, was born in Dulverton, Somerset, England, in 1821.
Today's Reading: "Christian, n." by Ambrose Bierce from THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY 7:49-50.
Today is Columbus Day (officially observed in the United States tomorrow), the day that Columbus is thought to have set foot on the Bahamian island of Guanahani, although some believe that the day may actually have been the 13th.
The Burgoo Festival begins today in North Utica, Illinois, with the burgoo stew said to have been made by the pioneers in that area.
It's the 62nd birthday of Italian lyric tenor Luciano Pavarotti, born in Modena, Italy, in 1935.
Comedian and social activist Dick Gregory was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1932.
Child psychologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Coles was born in Boston in 1929.
Architect Charles Sumner Greene, who, with his brother Henry, created the bungalow-style house, was born in Brighton, Ohio, in 1868.
Writer and reformer George Washington Cable, author of OLD CREOLE DAYS and THE GRANDISSIMES, was born in New Orleans in 1844.
In 1609 the song "Three Blind Mice" was published in London, believed to be the earliest printed secular song.
