… is Napoleon’s birthday. He was born August 15, 1769 (and died in 1821, at age 51). As an adult, Napoleon was just over 5-feet, 6-inches tall (1.686 m), about average for his countrymen at the time.
Four time Oscar nominee for best supporting actress (one win), Ethel Barrymore was born on this date in 1879.
Pulitzer-winning author Edna Ferber was born 121 years ago today. She’s known best for So Big (Pulitzer prize in 1924), Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace.
T.E. Lawrence was born on this date in 1888. the third illegitimate son of the seventh Baronet of Westmeath. The Writer’s Almanac has a good brief bio, which includes this:
Lawrence had learned to speak and read Arabic, and when World War I began, he went to work for Britain’s intelligence agency. Then, in 1916, he decided to join the armed forces on the ground, to encourage Arab revolt against the ruling Ottoman Turks, who had allied with Germany for the war. He wore long robes and headcloths and his comrades did, and he led Arab tribes in guerilla warfare in the desert, blowing up railroad tracks to impede enemy transport. He led his Arab forces in a decoy mission to distract the Turkish army so that British forces were able to invade Palestine and Syria. At one point, Lawrence was captured, beaten, and raped by a Turkish governor.
He accompanied the Arab delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris, and then Winston Churchill appointed him the political advisor on the Middle East. He was 31 years old and famous all over the world.
TV chef Julia Child was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, on this date in 1912.
Wisecracking DIck Van Dyke Show co-star Rose Marie is 86.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 71.
Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, is 59.
Grace, that is, actress Debra Messing, is 41.
Ben Affleck is 37.
Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gene Upshaw was born on August 15th in 1945. Upshaw played for the Raiders, 1967-1981. (Ahh, the glory years.) Upshaw had a second career as Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association. He died last August.
The Wizard of Oz premiered 70 years ago tonight.
Today is the Feast of the Assumption, the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the feast celebrates both the “happy departure of Mary from this life” and the “assumption of her body into heaven.” That she “was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things” is a principle of Catholic dogma.
Re: T.E. Lawrence
… then at the end of the war the British turned on the Arabs, refused to acknowledge the commitments they had made with the Arab leaders for self-rule, turned the contested lands over to the Turks, and divided up the rest of the Arabian lands among the European Allies for colonial rule.