Category: Today’s Birthday

Wenceslaus III was king of Bohemia and of Hungary. Unable to assert his authority in Hungary, even with the help of his father, Wenceslaus II, he relinquished his claim to Duke Otto of Bavaria in 1305. He attempted to assert his hereditary claim to the Polish crown but was assassinated while marching to Poland. After an interregnum, John of Luxemburg, who married Wenceslaus’s sister, was elected king of Bohemia. Wenceslaus III was the last member of what dynasty? Discuss

Logan was an American stage and film director and writer. He studied in Moscow under Constantin Stanislavsky and began to direct and act on Broadway and work on Hollywood films in the 1930s. He served as an intelligence officer in WWII, after which he directed a series of hit plays and musicals, including South Pacific, which he cowrote with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Why, when it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950, were only Rodgers and Hammerstein initially listed as awardees? Discuss

After fighting in the Union army in the American Civil War, Hayes served in the US House of Representatives and then as governor of Ohio. In 1876, he won the Republican nomination for president. His opponent, Samuel Tilden, won a larger popular vote, but the election was so close that a special commission had to decide the issue. It eventually ruled in Hayes’s favor. What concessions did Hayes make as part of a secret compromise reached with Southerners during the electoral dispute? Discuss

The son of Scottish and Cherokee parents, Ross served in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson against the Creeks. Elected principal chief of the eastern Cherokee in 1828, he resisted government attempts to seize Cherokee farms and lands in Georgia and unsuccessfully petitioned Jackson to defend the tribe’s rights. In 1838, he was forced to lead his people on the infamously long, hard journey to the Oklahoma Territory. In Native American lore, this journey is known as what? Discuss

Turner was an American slave who believed that he had been chosen to lead the slaves out of bondage. He took a solar eclipse in 1831 as a sign and began his rebellion with a few trusted fellow slaves. They killed his master’s family and went from house to house, freeing slaves and killing the white people they found. The rebels grew to more than 70 before the state militia quashed the insurrection. Turner was tried and hanged along with 56 others. What laws were passed in response to the revolt? Discuss

Andrews is a British actress and singer best known for her roles in films such as The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, for which she won an Academy Award. However, she was first a Broadway musical star. She made her London debut at age 12 in a revue and her New York City stage debut seven years later. She went on to originate the roles of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and Guinevere in Camelot. She also made several films with her director husband. Who was he? Discuss

After receiving a doctorate in physics in Germany in 1906, Geiger traveled to England, where he assisted chemist Ernest Rutherford. In 1908, they designed an instrument to detect and count alpha particles, positively charged ionizing particles produced by radioactive decay. He then returned to Germany, directing radiation research at several universities. Two decades later, Geiger developed the sensitive, portable radiation counter that now bears his name. Geiger was a member of what “club”? Discuss

Frustrated by the way his fountain pen’s sharp tip would tear paper and by the amount of time he wasted filling the pen with ink and cleaning up smudges, László Bíró set to work developing a better pen. A Hungarian newspaper editor, he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly and without smudging, but it was too viscous for use with existing pens. With the help of his brother, a chemist, he developed the modern ballpoint pen. How long did it take him to build his pen? Discuss

Famed American TV host Ed Sullivan started out as a journalist and gossip columnist but was hired by CBS to host the variety program that eventually became The Ed Sullivan Show because of his talent for discovering interesting performers. The program, featuring diverse entertainment, became a national institution for over 20 years, while Sullivan’s terse introductions of guests and distinctive mannerisms made him a popular target for comedians. What acts were banned from Sullivan’s show? Discuss

Influenced by the verismo—”realism”—school, Nobel Prize-winning Italian novelist Grazia Deledda wrote her first stories while just a teen and was still having her works published after her death. Her work is lyric and in part naturalistic and combines sympathy and humor with occasional touches of violence. In her approximately 40 novels, the ancient ways of her native Sardinia often come into conflict with modern mores. What are her most famous works? Discuss