Headline Birthdays for June 25

Antoni Gaudi 1852-1926

born in Reus, near Tarragona, Spain into a family of coppersmiths; killed in a tram accident in Barcelona June 10, 1926; Catalan architect who worked almost entirely in Barcelona; 1873-77 studies architecture at the Escola Provincial d'Arquitectura in Barcelona; 1878 gets his first public assignment, designing street lamps for the city of Barcelona; 1878 inspired by the Barcelona World Fair, a showcase for Art Nouveau; 1887-93 builds the episcopal palace in Astorga; 1888-89 the Colegio Teresiano; 1891-92 the Casa de los Botines in León; 1898-1900 Casa Calvet in Barcelona; 1904-06 rebuilds the private house of Josep Batlló in Barcelona; 1906-10 the Casa Milà (La Pedrera) apartment building [picture]; 1909 the school of the Sagrada Familia; 1914 starts work on the Sagrada Família cathedral [pictures]; on his death, Rosario Segismón, wife of the patron who had Gaudi build La Pedrera, transformed the entire main floor into a series of conventional bedrooms, in the style of Louis XVI.
Quote: "Creation continues incessantly through the media of Man. But man does not create: he discovers. Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the Creator. Copiers do not collaborate. Because of this originality consists in the returning to the origin."

Hermann Oberth 1894-1089

born in the Transylvanian town of Hermannstadt, today's Sibiu, Romania; died in Nuremberg, Germany Dec. 29, 1989; scientist, one of the founders of modern astronautics, with the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the American Robert Goddard; interest in rocketry sparked at age 11, when his mother gave him a copy of Jules Verne's From The Earth To The Moon; by age 14 envisioned a liquid fuel recoil rocket that propelled itself through space by expelling exhaust gases; realized that rockets in stages were needed, since "If there is a small rocket on top of a big one, and if the big one is jettisoned and the small one is ignited, then their speeds are added"; 1912 enrolled in the University of Munich to study medicine, but his experience in a medical unit in World War I told him he did not want to be a doctor; returned to the University of Munich to study Physics, but his 1922 doctoral thesis on rocketry was rejected; 1923 published his long pamphlet, The Rocket into Planetary Space, followed by a book version in 1929; 1929 lost the sight in his left eye while working as a technical advisor to German director Fritz Lang on his film, Girl in the Moon; 1929 fired his first liquid rocket engine, the Kegeldüse, asisted by a young scientist, Werhner von Braun; worked with him during World War II, when he became technical director of the Army-Rocket-Test-Center in Berlin-Kummersdorf, and then at Peenemünde, developing the V2 rocket, and again after the war, developing the Redstone at the US Army's Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, with his pupil von Braun [picture]. Goal: "To make available for life every place where life is possible. To make inhabitable all worlds as yet uninhabitable, and all life purposeful"; from his 1957 book, Man into Space: "

Louis Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten of Burma 1900-1979

born at Frogmore House, Windsor, England; murdered on his boat by an IRA bomb at Donegal Bay, off Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland Aug. 27, 1979; statesman, World War II naval leader, and the last Viceroy of India; as a baby, knocked the spectacles from the nose of his admiring great-grandmother, Queen Victoria; 1913 entered the Royal Navy and in 1921 became aide-de-camp to the prince of Wales; 1922 married the fashionable Edwina Ashley; 1939 commanded the destroyer Kelly, which was torpedoed several times; 1943-46 served as supreme allied commander for Southeast Asia; 1947 as the last Viceroy of India, he announced India's long-awaited independence at the historic session of the Constituent Assembly; India's first Governor General until 1948; 1952 Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean fleet; 1955 First Sea Lord; 1956 Chief of the United Kingdom defense staff.

George Orwell 1903-

born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India, the son of a British official; died of tuberculosis in London Jan. 21, 1950; journalist, author; 1911 returned to England with his family; 1917-21 attended Eton College; 1922 joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma; 1928 resigned and worked as a cook in Europe and with Lancashire miners; returned to London and worked in a bookshop while writing his first documentary books, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), Burmese Days (1934), and The Road to Wigan Pier' (1937), and the novels A Clergyman's Daughter (1935), Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), and Coming Up for Air (1939); 1936 went to fight with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War; returned to England wounded and bitter, and wrote Homage to Catalonia (1938); worked for the BBC during World War II and as literary editor for the London Tribune; best known for his novels Animal Farm (1944), and Nineteen Eighty Four (1949), satires of Stalinism and of Britain in the 1940s; his last book was Politics and the English Language (1950), which links authoritarianism with the decay of language.
Quote: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."

Clifton Chenier 1925-1987

born in Opelousas, Louisiana; died of diabetes Dec.12th, 1987; musician, accordionist, known as the king of zydeco, the party music of the black Cajuns of Louisiana, a mixture of blues, Acadian folk songs, country, R'n'B and rock 'n' roll; played and sang in a French/English patois; often wore a jewelled crown on stage, as he brought zydeco to blues festivals and rock clubs all over North America.

Carly Simon 1945-

born in New York City, the daughter of publisher Richard Simon of Simon and Schuster; started singing with her sister Lucy when the two were in college; 1969 started a solo career; 1971 had a top ten hit with That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, and won the Grammy Award as Best New Artist; 1972 had a #1 hit with You're So Vain, featuring a guest appearance by Mick Jagger, and married James Taylor; 1974 the two had a hit single with Mockingbird, a remake of a 1960s R'n'B tune by Inez and Charlie Foxx; 1981 filed for divorce from Taylor; other hits include Anticipation, Nobody Does It Better, You Belong to Me, Coming Around Again; 1988 won an Academy Award for Best Song, Let the River Run.

Other Birthdays

1373 06 25 Johanna II, Queen of Naples (1414-35)
1709 06 25 Francesco Araja, composer
1735 06 25 Benvenuto Robbio San Rafaele, composer
1796 06 25 Ferdinando Giorgetti, composer
1813 06 25 William Hugh Keim, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1823 06 25 James Dunwody Bulloch, Capt (Confederate Navy), died in 1901
1852 06 25 Antonio Gaud¡, Spanish architect (Sagrada Familia, Barcelona)
1858 06 25 Georges Courteline, [Moineaux], French playwright
1860 06 25 Gustave Charpentier, French composer (opera Louise)
1862 06 25 Vasily Georgiyevich Wrangell, composer
1864 06 25 Walther Hermann Nernst, Prussian physicist/chemist (Nobel 1920)
1865 06 25 Robert Henri, US painter, leader of Ashcan school
1878 06 25 Jean Gallon, composer
1886 06 25 Henry Hap Arnold, commanding general, US Army Air Force (WW II)
1887 06 25 George Abbott, Forestville NY, producer (Damn Yankees, Pajama Game)
1889 06 25 Ethel Glenn Hier, composer
1889 06 25 Margriet M C Baers, Flemish philosopher
1890 06 25 Marchwitza, writer
1893 06 25 Charlotte Greenwood, Phila, actress (Oklahoma, Moon over Miami)
1894 06 25 Hermann Oberth, Germany, founded modern astronautics (V2/Redstone)
1897 06 25 Basil Radford, Chester England, actor (Whiskey Galore, Night Train)
1897 06 25 Hans Barth, composer
1900 06 25 Izak D du Plessis, South African writer/director (3rd World)
1900 06 25 Lord Louis Mountbatten, of Burma, royal relative/earl/baron/admiral
1901 06 25 Adolf Brunner, composer
1903 06 25 Arthur Tracy, Russia, street singer (Vincent Lopez Show, Limelight)
1903 06 25 George Orwell, [Eric A Blair], British writer (Animal Farm, 1984)
1904 06 25 Jan van Axel, [Johannes P Kraakman], Dutch director (Overschotje)
1905 06 25 Ian Cromb, cricketer (NZ pace bowler in the early 1930's)
1906 06 25 Roger Livesey, Barry Wales, actor (Drums, Life & Death of Col Blimp)
1907 06 25 J Hans D Jensen, Germany, physicist (atomic nucleus-Nobel 1963)
1908 06 25 Fréderic Anspach, Belgian tenor
1909 06 25 Daniel Fuchs, US writer (Summer in Williamsburg)
1911 06 25 Reed Hadley, Petrolia Tx, actor (Racket Squad, Shock, Grand Canyon)
1911 06 25 William H Stein, US biochemist (Nobel 1972)
1912 06 25 Virginia Lacy Jones, US librarian/presidential advisor
1913 06 25 Aimé Césaire, Martinique, writer (Ecrivian Martiniquais)
1915 06 25 Peter Lind Hayes, SF Calif, comedian/singer (Peter Lind Hayes Show)
1916 06 25 Theodore P Toynbee, British journalist/writer (Savage Days, Barricade)
1921 06 25 Peter Charles Arthur Wishart, composer
1923 06 25 Dorothy Gilman, mystery writer
1923 06 25 Jack Hill, cricketer (Australian leg-spinner of mid 50's)
1923 06 25 Samuel Lewis Francis, painter
1923 06 25 Tony Parker, oral historian
1924 06 25 Sidney Lumet, Phila, director (Group, Pawnbroker, Fail Safe)
1925 06 25 Clifton Chenier, Opelousas La, blues singer (Bayou Blues)
1925 06 25 June Lockhart, NYC, actr (Lassie, Lost in Space, Petticoat Junction)
1925 06 25 Robert Venturi, Phila, architect (Levittown NY, Las Vegas)
1925 06 25 Ziggy Talent, Manchester NH, singer (Vaughn Monroe Show)
1926 06 25 Ingeborg Bachmann, Austria author/poet
1926 06 25 Pierre Peyo Culliford, Brussels Belgium, cartoonist (Smurfs)
1928 06 25 William Joseph Russo, composer
1930 06 25 Hugo Gabriel Gryn, rabbi
1933 06 25 Gary Crosby, Calif, actor (Bill Dana Show, Adam 12, Chase)
1933 06 25 Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian artist (glass painter)
1934 06 25 Willy Rodriguez, cricketer (occasional leg-spin bat for WI in 60's)
1935 06 25 Eddie Floyd, Montgomery Al, singer/composer (Calif Girl, Falcons)
1935 06 25 Kurt Schwertsik, composer
1935 06 25 Laurent Terzieff, Paris, actor (Head Over Heels, Milky Way) [or 7/25]
1935 06 25 Wynand Breytenbach, S African under minister of Defense (1986- )
1936 06 25 Harold Melvin, US singer (Blue Notes-My Hero)
1936 06 25 Paul Nowee, Dutch western writer (Eagle's Eye)
1937 06 25 Mirabel Morgan, author (Total Woman)
1940 06 25 Clint Warwick, [Eccles], Birmingham England, bassist (Moody Blues)
1940 06 25 Thomas K”hler, German DR, luger (Olympic-gold-1964, 68)
1941 06 25 Denys Arcand, director (Jesus of Montreal)
1942 06 25 Patrick Michael Mitchell, Ottawa, one of FBI's most wanted
1942 06 25 Wilbert Bank, actor/director (On Hope of Blessing)
1942 06 25 Willis Reed, NBA hall of fame MVP center/coach (NY Knicks)
1943 06 25 Gerrit Ger Zijlstra, sculptor
1945 06 25 Carly Simon, NYC, singer (Anticipation, You're So Vain)
1946 06 25 Allen Lanier, rock keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist (Blue Oyster Cult)
1946 06 25 Ian McDonald, London England, rock guitarist (Foreigner, King Crimson)
1948 06 25 Michael Lembeck, Bkln, actor (Max-One Day at a Time)
1949 06 25 Brenda Sykes, Shreveport La, actress (Ozzie's Girls, Getting Straight)
1949 06 25 Jimmie Walker, Bronx NY, comedian (JJ-Good Times, At Ease)
1949 06 25 Kene Holliday, NYC, actor (Tyler-Matlock, Carter Country)
1949 06 25 Phyllis George-Brown, Denton Tx, Miss Amer (1971)/sportscaster (CBS)
1950 06 25 Leonid Georiyevich Ivanov, Russia, cosmonaut (Soyuz 33)
1950 06 25 Tatyana Averina, USSR, speed skater 1K, 3K (Olympic-gold-1976)
1951 06 25 Lee Wilkof, Canton Ohio, actor (WEB, Delta House, Elliot-Newhart)
1951 06 25 Michael Francis, rocker
1952 06 25 Brian MacLeod, rock guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist (Chilliwack)
1952 06 25 Tim Finn, rocker (Split Enz, Crowded House, Puberty Blues)
1953 06 25 Ian Davis, cricketer (Australian batsman 1973-77)
1954 06 25 David Paich, rock keyboardist (Toto-Africa)
1954 06 25 John Kimmel, horse trainer
1954 06 25 Lina Romay, Barcelona Spain, actress (Conan the Barbarian)
1955 06 25 Michael Sabatino, Calif, actor (Days of Our Life, Bold & Beautiful)
1958 06 25 Debbie Green, South Korea, volleyball player (Olympic-silver-1984)
1962 06 25 Dan Turk, NFL center (Washington Redskins)
1963 06 25 Doug Gilmour, Kingston, NHL center (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1963 06 25 George Michael [Panos], British rock vocalist (Wham-I Want Your Sex)
1963 06 25 Mike Myers, Canada, comedian (SNL-Wayne's World) [or May 25]
1963 06 25 Mike Stanley, Ft Lauderdale FL, catcher (NY Yankees, Boston Red Sox)
1963 06 25 Si-An Deng, Shanghai China, Canadian badminton player (Olympics-96)
1964 06 25 Dell Curry, NBA guard (Charlotte Hornets)
1964 06 25 Phil Emery, cricketer (NSW wicket-keeper, Australia 1994)
1966 06 25 Dikembe Mutombo, NBA center (Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets)
1967 06 25 Brian Wanek, Mequon Wis, speed skater (Olympics-1994)
1967 06 25 Joan Smith, Rochester NY, biathelete (Olympics-1994)
1967 06 25 Matt Leblanc, Newton Mass, actor (Joey-Friends)
1967 06 25 Roshan Jurangpathy, cricketer (2 Tests for Sri Lanka 1985-86)
1969 06 25 Alina Ivanova, Ukraine, race walker (indoor 3K world record)
1969 06 25 Armand Benneker, Dutch soccer player (MVV)
1969 06 25 Jurgen Streppel, soccer player (Telstar/RKC)
1970 06 25 Aaron Sele, Golden Valley MN, pitcher (Boston Red Sox)
1970 06 25 Ana Rosa Brito, Miss Puerto Rico Universe (1997)
1971 06 25 Michael Tucker, South Boston VA, outfielder (KC Royals)
1971 06 25 Mike Sutherland, CFL offensive linebacker (Montreal Alouettes)
1971 06 25 Robert Reichel, Litinov CZE, hockey forward (NY Islanders, Oly-G-98)
1971 06 25 Ryan Carey, CFL safety (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1971 06 25 Steve Tikolo, cricketer (outstanding Kenyan batsman in 1996 World Cup)
1972 06 25 Amy Wickus, Baraboo Wisconsin, 800m/1500m runner
1972 06 25 Carlos Delgado, Aguadilla Puerto Rico, infielder (Toronto Blue Jays)
1973 06 25 Milan Hnilicka, hockey goaltender (Team Czech Oly-Gold-1998)
1973 06 25 Rene Corbet, Victoriaville, NHL left wing (Colorado Avalanche)
1973 06 25 Whitney Post, Wayland Mass, rower (Olympics-96)
1974 06 25 Lee Cole, WLAF cornerback (Rhein Fire)
1974 06 25 Leeland McElroy, running back (Arizona Cardinals)
1974 06 25 Vernon Crawford, linebacker (New England Patriots)
1975 06 25 Alberto Costa, Lerida Spain, tennis pro
1976 06 25 Marina Alofagia McCartney, Miss New Zealand Universe (1997)
1979 06 25 Brandi Lynn Burkhardt, Miss Maryland Teen USA (1997)
1979 06 25 Kelli Jones, Miss Kentucky Teen USA (1997)

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