Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss Premieres (1911)

Still regularly performed, Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most acclaimed comic operas of Richard Strauss, the leading composer of romantic opera in the early 20th century. It is loosely based on the works of Molière and Louvet de Couvrai and tells the story of the shifting romantic attachments of four principal characters. Strauss, who often abandoned tonality to emphasize the humor or drama of a scene, composed Der Rosenkavalier in collaboration with what poet? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Douglas MacArthur Day

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), five-star general and supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific during World War II, was born on this day in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it was MacArthur who supervised the surrender ceremony in Tokyo. He directed the demobilization of Japanese military forces and the drafting of a new constitution. His birthday is observed in his home state of Arkansas, where he is widely remembered as one of the state’s most famous sons. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Paul Leonard Newman (1925)

Newman was an American actor who captured the darker, less heroic aspects of his best-remembered roles, such as those in The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. After eight nominations, he finally won an Academy Award for The Color of Money in 1986. In 1982, he launched his “Newman’s Own” line of food products, donating the profits to various charitable causes. Why was Newman once placed on Richard Nixon’s enemies list? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Day After Roswell

In his book The Day After Roswell, US Army Lt. Colonel Philip Corso claims he participated in the study of extraterrestrial technology recovered from the alleged 1947 Roswell UFO crash. According to Corso, the reverse engineering of these artifacts indirectly led to the development of accelerated particle beam devices, fiber optics, lasers, integrated circuit chips, and Kevlar. Corso also claimed knowledge of a covert government group that had been tasked with what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

First Emmy Awards for Excellence in Television (1949)

The Emmy Awards are given for outstanding achievement in US television. They are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which was founded in 1946 and which held the first award ceremony in 1949. Its members vote on outstanding programs, actors, directors, and writers in such categories as drama, comedy, and variety. The Emmy’s name is taken from the nickname “immy” for the image orthicon, a television camera tube. Who won the very first Emmy? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Burns Night

Burns Night is the anniversary of the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns. The day is celebrated not only in Scotland but also in Newfoundland, and wherever there are devotees of this lusty poet. The celebrations generally take the form of recitations of Burns’s poetry, the imbibing of quantities of single-malt Scotch whiskey, and the serving of haggis, a Scottish dish made of a sheep’s or calf’s innards (liver, heart, etc.) boiled in its stomach. At the point of the carving of the haggis, it is traditional to recite “To a Haggis,” with its line, “Great chieftain o’ the pudding race!” Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Govert Teuniszoon Flinck (1615)

A student of Rembrandt, Flinck was a Dutch painter who is remembered mainly for his numerous portraits, many of which are held in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. Among his most famous works is the Blessing of Jacob, one of his many religious subjects. However, Flinck was also known for painting scenes from history, such as the Peace of Münster, which illustrates the famous treaty with 19 life-size figures. Flinck even painted his own likeness in the canvas. Where is it? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

King Zog

Zog I, born Ahmet Zogolli, was president of Albania from 1925 to 1928 and king from 1928 to 1939. During the worldwide depression of the 1930s, Zog’s government became almost completely dependent on Italy. Ultimately unable to check Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s increasing control over his country, Zog was forced into exile. He formally abdicated in 1946, when Albania became a communist republic after WWII. How many assassination attempts is Zog said to have survived during his reign? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary