Today in History

[Tamrin]

Tuesday, 5 October
Ancient Greece: Thesmophoria, women's festival of Demeter Oct 5 - 7
International World Teachers’ Day

1713 - Birth of Bro. Denis Diderot, France, encyclopedist (Dictionnaire Encyclopédie)

1728 - Birth of Bro. Chevalier d'Éon, French spy, English Freemason and subject of gender conjecture

1793 - The French Revolution disestablished Christianity in France

1874 - The Grand Lodge of Oklahoma was instituted

1887 - Birth of René Cassin, helped draft the International Convention of Human Rights (1968 Nobel)

1936 - Birth of Václav Havel, Czech playwright, human rights campaigner and president

1983 - Lech Walesa, Polish leader wins the Nobel Peace Prize

René Cassin
(Born this day 1887)

As corollaries to the right of every individual to life and to full participation
in society, the Declaration incorporated in the list of human rights the right
to work and a certain number of economic, social, and cultural rights

[Tamrin]

Wednesday, 6 October
Ang, Luth: Commemoration of St William Tyndale, 16th C. Protestant martyr

1831 - Birth of Richard Dedekind, mathematician (Nature & Meaning of Numbers)

1890 - Mormon Church outlaws polygamy

1914 - Birth of Thor Heyerdahl, Norway, anthropologist/explorer (Kon Tiki, Aku-Aku)

1928 - Chiang Kai-Shek becomes president of China

1949 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose), sentenced to 10 years & $10,000 fine [later pardoned]

1950 – Birth of David Brin, science fiction author

1973 - Yom Kippur War begins as Syria & Egypt attack Israel

Richard Dedekind
(Born this day 1831)

That which is provable, ought not to be believed in science without proof

[Tamrin]

Thursday, 7 October
Ancient Greece: Feast Day of Pallas Athena

1849 - Birth of James Whitcomb Riley, US, poet (The Raggedy Man)

1849 – Death of Edgar Allan Poe, US poet

1879 - Birth of Joe Hill, US labor organizer and poet/songwriter

1885 - Birth of Niels Bohr, Denmark, physicist, expanded quantum physics (Nobel 1922)

1927 – Birth of RD (Ronald David) Laing, Scottish radical 'anti-psychiatrist' and author

1931 – Birth of Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist

1939 – Birth of Clive James, Australian writer, essayist and commentator

Thomas Keneally
Australian author (Schindler’s Ark, aka Schindler’s List)
(Born this day 1935)

Australian society was a very sceptical and anti-authoritarian one.
In a very conservative way it was anti-authoritarian

[Tamrin]

Friday, 8 October

1754 - Death of Henry Fielding, English author

1847 – Birth of Rose Scott, Australian women's rights activist

1872 - Birth of John Cowper Powys, British writer (Wood & Stone)

1882 – Birth of Harry McClintock, American country music composer and labor organizer

1901 – Birth of Sir Mark Oliphant, Australian scientist and governor

1920 – Birth of Frank Herbert, American science fiction author

1941 - Birth of Jesse Jackson, US clergyman/presidential candidate

John Cowper Powys
(Born this day 1872)

It is strange how few people make more than a casual cult of enjoying Nature.
And yet the earth is actually and literally the mother of us all.
One needs no strange spiritual faith to worship the earth

[Tamrin]

Saturday, 9 October
France: Feast day of St Dionysus (Denys, Denis or Dennis) of Paris (Patron of France)

1635 - Roger Williams banished from Mass Bay Colony [advocated separation of church & state]

1806 – Death of Benjamin Banneker, astronomer/mathematician

1939 – Birth of John Pilger, progressive Australian journalist, author

1940 – Birth of John Lennon, singer / songwriter (Beatles)

1942 - The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalized Australian autonomy.

1950 – Birth of Jody Williams, American teacher, aid worker and anti-landmine activist

1967 - Death of Che Guevara, revolutionary, war criminal

Che Guevara
(Died this day 1967)

Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that
falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gun-
powder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for
the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!

[Tamrin]

Sunday, 10 October
World Day Against the Death Penalty

0732 - Battle of Tours, France: The Franks, under Charles Martel, defeated the Moors

1837 - Death of Charles Fourier, French philosopher and social theorist

1911 - Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries overthrow Manchus (Taiwan Nat'l Day)

1924 - Birth of James Clavell, British novelist, screenwriter, director and a WW II hero and POW

1930 - Birth of Harold Pinter, English playwright

1985 - Death of Orson Welles, US writer, actor (Citizen Kane)

2003 - Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights activist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Charles Fourier
(Died this day 1837)

The extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress

[Tamrin]

Monday, 11 October

1738 - Birth of Captain Arthur Phillip, first Governor of New South Wales

1852 - Australia's first university, the University of Sydney, opened.

1884 - Birth of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1st lady/crusader

1885 - Birth of François Mauriac, France, novelist/poet/playwright (Nobel 1952)

1911 - Bro. Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President (1933 – 1945), was made a Mason in Holland Lodge #8, New York City (seems he missed his wife’s birthday for the honour)

1963 - Death of Jean Cocteau, multi-talented French artist

1963 - Death of Edith Piaf, French singer and cultural icon

François Mauriac
(Born this day 1885)

No love, no friendship Can cross the path of our destiny
Without leaving some mark on it forever

[Tamrin]

Tuesday, 12 October

1681 - A London woman was publicly flogged for the crime of 'involving herself in politics'

1870 – Bro. Robert E Lee, General of the Confederate Army, dies at 63

1875 – Birth of Aleister Crowley, English occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, yogi, and possible spy

1912 – Birth of Alice Childress, American playwright and author

1915 – German firing squad executed British Nurse Edith Cavell for helping Allied soldiers escape

1977 - Psychic Romark attempts to drive blindfolded, smashed into cop van

2002 - A bomb destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people

Nurse Edith Cavell
(Executed this day 1915)

Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone
(Her last words before being shot)

[Tamrin]

Wednesday, 13 October

1307 - Knights Templar arrested

1601 - Tycho Brahe, greatest naked-eye observer, dies in Prague

1778 - The Grand Lodge of Virginia was instituted

1792 - Washington lays cornerstone of the Executive Mansion (White House)

1925 - Birth of Margaret Thatcher, (Tory) British PM (1979-90) Iron Lady

1954 – Birth of Mordechai Vanunu, former Israeli nuclear technician, whistleblower

1971 - Birth of Sacha Baron Cohen, English comedian

Sacha Baron Cohen (as Borat)
(Born this day 1971)

Borat is based actually on a guy I met in southern
Russia. I can`t remember his name. He was a doctor.
The moment I met him I was totally crying. He was an
hysterically funny guy, albeit totally unintentionally



(The new, improved Borat)

[Tamrin]

Thursday, 14 October

1066 - Battle of Hastings, in which William the Conqueror wins England

1644 - Birth of William Penn, English Quaker & founder of Pennsylvania

1884 – Birth of Lala Har Dayal, Indian revolutionary

1888 - Birth of Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer (Aloe, Garden Party)

1906 - Birth of Hannah Arendt, Germany, historian (Origins of Totalitarianism)

1916 - Bro. Dame Edith Cowan initiated into Co-masonry, Perth Australia

1989 - The Grand Lodge of Connecticut recognized the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut. This was the first US recognition of Prince Hall Masonry that remained in force, and led to similar actions by more than 2/3 of all US Grand Lodges

Lala Har Dayal
(Born this day 1884)

The missionary is the representative of a society, a polity,
a social system, a religion and a code of morality which are
totally different from our own. He comes as a belligerent
and attacks our time-honoured customs and institutions, our
sacred literature, and traditions, our historical memories and
associations. He wishes to give us a new name, a new place
of worship, a new set of social laws. He has declared war
to the knife against everything Hindu. He hates all that we
hold dear. Our religion is to him a foolish superstition; our
customs are the relic of barbarism; our forefathers are to him
black heathens condemned to burn in the fires of hell forever.
He wishes to destroy our society, history, and civilization.