Thursday

Sep. 7, 2000

September, the First Day of School

by Howard Nemerov

Broadcast date: THURSDAY, 7 September 2000

Poem: "September, The First Day of School," by Howard Nemerov, from Trying Conclusions: New and Selected Poems 1961-1991 (University of Chicago Press).]]

It's the birth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth the First, born 1533. Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, she was born at Greenwich Palace, and ascended the throne in 1558 at the age of 25. During her reign, which came to be known as the Elizabethan Age, the British defeated the Spanish Armada, the Anglican Church was established, and England became a world power.

It's the birthday in Somerville, New Jersey, 1885 of poet Elinor Wylie.

It's the birthday in Yorkshire, England, 1887, of Dame Edith Sitwell, the poet and eccentric who said "All great art contains an element of the irrational."

It was on this day in 1927 that a 21-year-old Utah college student, Philo T. Farnsworth, transmitted the first TV picture, a dollar bill sign, and took out a patent on the new invention--the first of 165 he'd go on to get.

On this day in 1936, Charles Harden Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas. He changed his name to Buddy Holly and went on to record many hits with his band, the Crickets. He died at the age of 22, in a plane crash near Mason City, IA, trying to get to his next gig.

It's the birthday in New York, 1946, of the journalist and author Joe Klein. He's covered politics for Newsweek and The New Yorker, and is the author of the novel Primary Colors.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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