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John Cleese

John Cleese

.]] John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for playing Basil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Biography

John Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England to Reginald Francis Cleese and Muriel Cross. His family's surname was previously "Cheese", but his father, an insurance salesman, changed his surname to "Cleese" upon joining the army in 1915 [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=John%20Cleese]. As a boy, Cleese was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, from which he was expelled for a humorous defacing of school grounds: he used painted footsteps to suggest that the school's statue of Field Marshal Douglas Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. His talent for comedy progressed with his membership of the Cambridge Footlights Revue while he was studying for a law degree at Downing College at the University of Cambridge. Here he met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. As Cleese's comic reputation flourished, he was soon offered a position as a writer with BBC Radio, working on, among others, sketches for The Dick Emery Show. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (which was so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title). He then joined the Cambridge Revue, Cambridge Circus, for a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, and decided to stay on in America performing on and off-Broadway, including in the musical Half a Sixpence. It was during this time he met future Python Terry Gilliam and his future wife, American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on February 20 1968. After his return to England, he started performing as a cast member of the highly successful BBC Radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which ran from 1965 to 1974. His fellow cast members were Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, David Hatch and Jo Kendall. On his return to London in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report, an important landmark in satire and British Comedy in the 1960s. The writing staff chosen for The Frost Report were, in many ways, the finest comedic minds of the 1960s United Kingdom, consisting of many writers and performers who would go on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. It was whilst working on The Frost Report, in fact, that the future Pythons developed their unique writing styles that would become so significant later. Cleese and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures (some of which were performed by Cleese). Terry Jones and Michael Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that open with idyllic countryside panoramas. Eric Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost's monologue. It was during this period that Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook. Peter Cook Such was the popularity of the series that, in 1966, John Cleese and Graham Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show, during which time the Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch). John Cleese and Graham Chapman also wrote episodes of Doctor in the House. These series were successful and, in 1969, Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, due to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Michael Palin on The Frost Report an enjoyable experience, and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on Do Not Adjust Your Set, with Eric Idle and Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam doing animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, been offered a series for ITV, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the mean time, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones and Idle. This union led to the creation of Monty Python. Many have suggested that this important landmark in comedy was brought about by Cleese's desire to work with Palin, who Cleese has maintained is his favourite Python to work with. Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four series from 1969 to 1974 on BBC. Cleese is particularly remembered for the "Cheese Shop", "The Ministry of Silly Walks", and "Dead Parrot" sketches. Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese — who was probably the most experienced and well known member of the group, and who was beginning to find working with Chapman an unfair strain — began to become agitated, wanting to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he did not appear in the fourth series, and received only a minor writing credit. This did not stop him, however, from writing for and starring in the Monty Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. In 1971, Connie Booth gave birth to Cynthia Cleese, their only child. Having left Python, Cleese went on to achieve possibly greater success in the United Kingdom as the awful hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with Connie Booth. The series won widespread critical acclaim and is still considered one of the finest examples of British comedy. The series also famously starred Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from Barcelona"), Prunella Scales as Basil's fire-breathing dragon of a wife Sybil, and Booth as waitress Polly. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real character, Donald Sinclair, whom he encountered when he and the rest of the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles hotel in Torquay whilst filming Monty Python's Flying Circus. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair threw Eric Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb", complained about Terry Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town. The series portrayed stereotypical British attitudes towards sex, death, complaining, violence towards employees and unhappy marriages, often simultaneously embodied in Cleese's madcap physical performances. The first series began on 19 September 1975, and whilst not an instant hit, soon gained momentum. However, the second series did not appear until 1979, during which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had broken down. Despite this the two reprised their writing and performing roles in the second series. Fawlty Towers famously comprised only twelve episodes. Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to prevent a gradual decline in the quality of the series. During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. He also rejoined the Pythons for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. He married Barbara Trentham on 15 February 1981. Their daughter Camilla was born 1984. In 1988 he wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and fellow python Michael Palin. Wanda became the most successful British film ever. Cynthia Cleese starred as John's daughter. However, his marriage was in trouble and in 1990 he and Trentham divorced. On 28 December 1992 he married Alice Faye Eichelberger, his third blonde American actress wife. Cleese gave a stirring [http://www.geocities.com/fang_club/chapman_memorial.html eulogy] at Graham Chapman's memorial service, in which Eric Idle included the word 'fuck'. Many considered this to be the perfect tribute to his friend and comic partner. Cleese also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings and More Bloody Meetings about how to set up and run successful meetings. These were produced by his company Video Arts. With Robin Skynner, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and how to survive them, and Life and how to survive it. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese. In 1996, Cleese declined the British honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, ironically referred to by Bond as R. In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day, the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. He is currently an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, his term having been extended until 2006. Although he makes occasional, well-received appearances on the Cornell campus, he lives in the town of Montecito, California. From 1970 to 1973 Cleese was rector of St Andrews University. In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders The Comedian's Comedian, Cleese's peers showed their appreciation of his talent when he was voted second only to Peter Cook. Also in 2005, a long-standing piece of internet humor, "The Revocation of Independence", was wrongly attributed to Cleese. John Cleese recently lent his voice to the BioWare video game Jade Empire. His role was that of an "outlander" named Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a British colonialist stereotype who refers to the people of the Jade Empire (effectively like the ancient Chinese) as a lot of savages in need of enlightenment. While perhaps a small role in John Cleese's respect, such lines as "half of you can't even grow a decent moustache" and "your idea of honour is outdated, too. (shoots player). PERCIVAL! My towel" were a welcome touch of humour. From 10 November to 9 December 2005 Cleese will be touring New Zealand with his stage show 'John Cleese — His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems'. Cleese describes it as "a one-man show with several people in it, which pushes the envelope of acceptable behaviour in new and disgusting ways." The show was developed in New York with William Goldman and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a writer and actor.

Cleese in Spamalot

From the 14 March 2005 issue of New York Magazine (article entitled, "King Mike and the Quest for the Broadway Grail", by Bill Zehme):
God’s voice, no less, imbues Arthur and knights with their theatrical quest (because they require one), and since that Divine Voice (on tape) belongs to John Cleese, no less, greater poetics are at obvious work. “Actually, I ad-libbed a bit,” Cleese offers from his California home. “When Arthur says, ‘Good idea, God!,’ I ad-libbed the line, ‘Of course it’s a good idea! I’m fucking God!’ ” He adds, “I don’t think it survived.” [http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/11475/]

Further reading

Further information about John Cleese can be found in the following books:
- From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980, ISBN 0413469506.
- Footlights! — 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' — Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd, 1983, ISBN 0413511502.

Radio credits


- I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

Television credits


- The Frost Report (1966)
- Frost on Sunday
- Do Not Adjust Your Set
- At Last the 1948 Show
- The Avengers (1968, guest appearance as Egg Clown-Face collector in the episode Look (Stop Me if You've Heard this One)...)
- The Goodies (1973, guest cameo appearance as a Genie in the episode The Goodies and the Beanstalk)
- Doctor Who (1979, guest cameo appearance as an Art Lover in the episode City of Death as a favour to writer / script editor Douglas Adams)
- How to Irritate People (1968) with Michael Palin
- Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)
- Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979)
- Cheers
- 3rd Rock from the Sun (1998–2001) as recurring character Dr. Liam Neesam.
- Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central) (2002) as Red
- Will & Grace (2003-2004) as recurring character Lyle Finster.
- Numerous commercials, including for supermarket chain Sainsbury's, snack firm Planters and a British government Stop Smoking campaign
- Party political broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats and predecessor, the SDP-Liberal Alliance

Filmography


- The Magic Christian (1969)
- The Best House in London (1969)
- The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) (writer and actor)
- Romance with a Double Bass (1974) (writer and actor)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) (writer and actor: Sir Lancelot, Tim the Enchanter, swallow obsessed guard #2, Peasant #1, the Black Knight)
- The Life of Brian (1979) (writer and actor: various roles including Reg)
- The Secret Policeman's Ball (1980)
- The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
- Time Bandits (1981) (as a gormless Robin Hood)
- Privates on Parade (1982) (Major Giles Flack)
- Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) (writer and actor) (various roles)
- Silverado (1985) (plays Langston an English sheriff in a town in the western USA. His first line, as he walks in to a bar to break up a brawl, is, "What's all this, then?")
- Clockwise (1986) (as Mr. Stimpson, a school headmaster)
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988) (writer and actor) (as lawyer Archie Leach (Cary Grant's real name))
- Bullseye! (1990) (as Man on the Beach in Barbados Who Looks Like John Cleese)
- An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (Cat R. Waul)
- Splitting Heirs (1993) (Raoul P. Shadgrind)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
- Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) (Dr. Julien Plumford)
- Fierce Creatures (1996) (as Rollo Lee, manager of an English zoo; the novelization suggests that he is actually the twin brother of Archie Leach from A Fish Called Wanda, with a slight change of surname)
- The Out-of-Towners (1999)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999) (a James Bond film) (as Q's assistant, nicknamed R by Bond)
- Quantum Project (2001) (as father of Steven Dorf's chracter)
- Rat Race (2001) (as eccentric millionaire Donald P. Sinclair)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) (as the ghost "Nearly Headless Nick")
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (ditto)
- Die Another Day (2002) (second appearance in a James Bond film; replaces Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series)
- Shrek 2 (2004) (voice of Princess Fiona's father, King Harold)
- Around the World in 80 Days (2004) (Grizzled Sergeant)
- Valiant (2005) (Mercury)

Video game credits


- Starship Titanic (1998) Simon & Schuster Interactive (voice of the Bomb) — (Credited as Kim Bread)
- 007 Racing (2000) Electronic Arts
- The World Is Not Enough (video game) (2000) Electronic Arts
- Agent Under Fire (video game) (2001) Electronic Arts
- Everything or Nothing (video game) (2003) Electronic Arts
- Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged (2004) Atari
- Jade Empire (2005) Bioware

Trivia


- In 1915, Reginald Cheese, John Cleese's father, signed up for the army and changed his last name to "Cleese," in order to avoid numerous jokes.
- In 2003, John Cleese took part in Mike Oldfield's re-release of the original 1973 version of Tubular Bells, in album Tubular Bells 2003. He took over the ‘Master of Ceremonies’ part, in which he announced the various instruments eccentrically, from the late Vivian Stanshall.
- A species of lemur, Avahi cleesei, has been named in his honour.

External links


- [http://www.thejohncleese.com/ Official web site]
- [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/cleesejohn/cleesejohn.htm John Cleese] at the Museum of Broadcast Communication website
- [http://www.bbcamerica.com/genre/comedy_games/monty_pythons_flying_circus/mp_cleese_bio.jsp John Cleese] — BBC America
-
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/c/cleese_john.shtml John Cleese] — BBC Guide to Comedy
- [http://www.montypythonpages.com/CSection/index.html A Taste of Cheese]
- [http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&cf=gen&id=1800017738 John Cleese] — Yahoo Movies
- [http://www.the-numbers.com/people/JCLEE.html John Cleese] — The Numbers
- [http://orangecow.org/pythonet/otherprepythonshows.html The Origin of Monty Python] Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John Cleese, John ja:ジョン・クリーズ simple:John Cleese

October 27

October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining.

Events


- 625 - Honorius I becomes Pope.
- 939 - Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
- 1553 - Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
- 1644 - Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
- 1795 - The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
- 1797 - Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
- 1810 - United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
- 1838 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state.
- 1870 - Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1904 - First New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes biggest in United States of America, and one of the biggest in world.
- 1916 - Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
- 1946 - First commercially-sponsored television program airs (Geographically Speaking, sponsored by Bristol-Myers).
- 1948 - Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
- 1949 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
- 1953 - British nuclear test Totem 2 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
- 1954 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
- 1958 - Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who was appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
- 1961 - NASA launched the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
- 1962 - Major Rudolph Anderson of the US Air Force became the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane was shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
- 1973 - The Canyon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
- 1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
- 1990 - Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
- 1991 - Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1995 - Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
- 1997 - Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
- 1998 - Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor of Germany for the first time.
- 2002 - Trades unionist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as President of Brazil.
- 2004 - End of the Curse of the Bambino: Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox won Game 4 of the World Series 3-0, sweeping the series in 4 games over the St. Louis Cardinals on a night featuring a full lunar eclipse, becoming champions for the first time since 1918.
- 2004 - Matti Nykänen, once a very successful Finnish ski-jumper, is found guilty of attempt of manslaughter and sentenced to a two year and two month jail term for stabbing a family friend.
- 2005 - Iran launches its first satellite, sina 1, into space.
- 2005 - Harriet Miers withdraws her nomination to the US Supreme Court
- 2005 - Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers

Births


- 1156 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (d. 1222)
- 1401 - Catherine of Valois, queen of Henry V of England (d. 1437)
- 1466 - Erasmus, Dutch humanist and theologian (d. 1536)
- 1728 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
- 1744 - Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
- 1760 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
- 1782 - Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
- 1811 - Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875)
- 1811 - Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
- 1842 - Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (d. 1928)
- 1844 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
- 1858 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
- 1873 - Emily Post, etiquette author (d. 1960)
- 1877 - George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1894 - Oliver Leese, British general (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)
- 1910 - Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
- 1914 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
- 1917 - Oliver Tambo, South African freedom fighter (d. 1993)
- 1918 - Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Nanette Fabray, American actress
- 1920 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India
- 1922 - Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
- 1923 - Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (d. 1997)
- 1924 - Ruby Dee, American actress
- 1925 - Albert Medwin, American inventor
- 1931 - Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian writer
- 1932 - Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
- 1939 - John Cleese, British actor and writer
- 1940 - John Gotti, American gangster (d. 2002)
- 1946 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1950 - Fran Lebowitz, American writer
- 1953 - Peter Firth, British actor
- 1957 - Jeff East, American actor
- 1958 - Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
- 1963 - Marla Maples, American actress and model
- 1967 - Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver)
- 1970 - Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth)
- 1972 - Evan Coyne Maloney, American filmmaker
- 1972 - Brad Radke, baseball player
- 1977 - Jiří Jarosík, Czech footballer
- 1978 - Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
- 1980 - Tanel Padar, Estonian singer
- 1980 - Jeku, electronic musician Jake Jensen
- 1984 - Kelly Osbourne, English television personality

Deaths


- 939 - King Athelstan I of England
- 1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
- 1312 - John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
- 1327 - Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland
- 1331 - Abu al-Fida, Arab hitorian and geographer (b. 1273)
- 1430 - Vytautas the Great, Grand Prince of Lithuania
- 1439 - Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)
- 1449 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)
- 1505 - Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
- 1553 - Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)
- 1561 - Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador
- 1573 - Laurentius Petri, first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1499)
- 1617 - Ralph Winwood, English politician
- 1670 - Vavasor Powell, Welsh non-conformist leader (b. 1617)
- 1674 - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
- 1675 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
- 1789 - John Cook, American farmer and President of Delaware (b. 1730)
- 1917 - Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)
- 1949 - Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
- 1949 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
- 1953 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
- 1962 - Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
- 1968 - Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
- 1975 - Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)
- 1977 - James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)
- 1980 - Steve Peregrin Took, English singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
- 1980 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1990 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
- 1990 - Elliott Roosevelt, American war hero, author, and advertising executive (b. 1910)
- 1992 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)
- 1996 - Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1999 - Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
- 2000 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
- 2003 - Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
- 2005 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. saints - October 27th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
  - St. Abraham the Poor
  - St. Abban of Murnevin
  - St. Capitolina
  - St. Desiderius
  - St. Elesbaan
  - St. Florentius
  - St. Frumentius, the saint who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia.
  - St. Gaudiosus
  - St. Namatius
  - St. Odhran
  - St. Vincent, Sabina, & Christeta
- Turkmenistan - Independence Day (from USSR, 1991)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Independence Day (from Britain, 1979)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 26 - October 28 - November 27 - September 27 - more historical anniversaries ko:10월 27일 ms:27 Oktober ja:10月27日 simple:October 27 th:27 ตุลาคม

1939

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March


- January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson.
- January 13 - Black Friday: 71 people die across Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bushfires.
- January 24 - Earthquake kills 30.000 in Chile – about 50.000 sq mi razed
- January 26 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
- February 2 - Hungary joins Anticomintern Pact
- February 10 - Falangists take Catalonia
- February 27 - United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government
- February 27 - Borley Rectory burns
- February 27 - Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- March 2 - Pius XII becomes Pope
- March 3 - In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
- March 14 - Slovak provincial assemble proclaims independence - priest Jozef Tiso becomes the president of independent Slovak government
- March 15 - German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to WWII
- March 16 - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran
- March 22 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
- March 28 - Dictator Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War
- March 28 - The last message from an adventurer Richard Halliburton - he disappears later
- March - End of the Great Arab Revolt in the British mandate of Palestine (started 1936)

April-June


- April 4 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
- April 7 - Italy invades Albania - King Zog flees
- April 11 - Hungary leaves the League of Nations
- May 2 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
- May 7 - Spain leaves the League of Nations
- May 22 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
- June 4 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying a cargo of 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
- June 17 - Last public execution in France - murderer Eugene Weidmann is decapitated by the guillotine.
- June 23 - Turkey annexes Hatay

July-August

Hatay]
- July 4 - The concentration camp Neuengamme becomes autonomous.
- July 6 - Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
- August 2 - Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
- August 23 - Hitler and Stalin divide eastern Europe between themselves. Finland, the Baltic states and eastern Poland to the USSR. Western Poland to Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
- August 25 - An IRA bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England killing five people.
- August 27 - A Heinkel 178, the first jet-powered aircraft, flies for the last time.
- August 30 - Poland begins mobilization

September-October


- September 1 - World War II: Polish September Campaign - Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war
- September 2 - Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
- September 3 - World War II: France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany.
- September 5 - World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
- September 6 - World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
- September 10 - Canada declares war on Germany.
- September 16 - Cease Fire ending undeclared Border War between The Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
- September 17 - Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
- September 27 - Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.
- October 8 - World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
- October 11 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop the atomic bomb.
- October 15 - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.

November-December


- November 4 - World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
- November 6 - World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau
- November 6 - The Hedda Hopper Show debuts with Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
- November 8 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
- November 8 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
- November 15 - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- November 16 - Al Capone released from Alcatraz
- November 30 - Winter War begins: Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
- December 2 - La Guardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
- December 14 - League of Nations expels the USSR because of attacking Finland
- December 25 - A Christmas Carol was read before a radio audience for the first time.
- December 27 - Earthquake in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, destroys the town of Erzingan - about 100.000 dead
- December 26 - Mining strike in Boringae, Belgium
- December 30 - USSR invades Finland

unknown dates


- Batman created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger).
- Nuclear fission discovered independently by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
- Kirlian photography invented by Semyon Kirlian
- Siam changes its name to Thailand
- A logging crew sets off a second forest fire in the Tillamook Burn, which destroys 190,000 acres (769 km²)

Ongoing events


- Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January


- January 2 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- January 2 - John McBon, Argentianian Tv Star Ed the Repairman
- January 3 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
- January 6 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
- January 10 - Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
- January 10 - Bill Toomey, American athlete
- January 11 - Ann Heggtveit, Canadian skier
- January 17 - Maury Povich, American talk show host
- January 18 - James Gritz, U.S. Presidential candidate
- January 19 - Phil Everly, American musician
- January 20 - Chandra Wickramasinghe, British Astonomer, Scientist, Poet.
- January 21 - Wolfman Jack, American disk jockey and actor (d. 1995)
- January 22 - Ray Stevens, American musician
- January 29 - Germaine Greer, Australian writer

February-March


- February 6 - Mike Farrell, American actor
- February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
- February 10 - Roberta Flack, American singer
- February 10 - Peter Purves, British actor and television presenter
- February 12 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist
- February 13 - Beate Klarsfeld, Romanian Nazi hunter
- February 21 - Gert Neuhaus, German artist
- February 28 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor
- March 8 - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
- March 13 - Neil Sedaka, American singer
- March 20 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
- March 26 - James Caan, American actor
- March 31 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
- March 31 - Volker Schlöndorff, German film director

April-May


- April 2 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
- April 4 - Hugh Masakela, South African musician
- April 7 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- April 7 - Sir David Frost, English television personality
- April 13 - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 13 - Paul Sorvino, American actor
- April 16 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
- April 22 - Jason Miller, American actor (d. 2001)
- May 1 - Judy Collins, American singer and songwriter
- May 7 - Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 7 - Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- May 7 - Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
- May 7 - Marco St. John, American actor
- May 9 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- May 12 - Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
- May 13 - Harvey Keitel, American actor
- May 19 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
- May 19 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)
- May 21 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
- May 23 - Reinhard Hauff, German film director
- May 25 - Ian McKellen, English actor
- May 29 - Al Unser, American race car driver
- May 30 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor

June-August


- June 3 - Ian Hunter, English singer (Mott the Hoople)
- June 6 - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
- June 9 - Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
- June 9 - Dick Vitale, American basketball broadcaster
- June 11 - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
- July 5 - Booker Edgerson, American football player
- July 14 - George E. Slusser, American scholar and writer
- July 21 - John Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
- July 26 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
- July 26 - Bob Lilly, American football player
- August 5 - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
- August 17 - Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
- August 22 - Carl Yastrzemski, baseball player
- August 29 - Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director
- August 30 - John Peel, English disk jockey (d. 2004)

September-December


- September 6 - Brigid Berlin, American actor and artist
- September 8 - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
- September 8 - Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese moleular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- September 9 - Ron McDole, American football player
- September 16 - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
- September 23 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- September 30 - Len Cariou, Canadian actor and singer
- September 30 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 1 - George Archer, American golfer (d. 2005)
- October 7 - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
- October 7 - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 7 - Bill Snyder, American football coach
- October 14 - Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
- October 24 - F. Murray Abraham, American actor
- October 27 - John Cleese, British actor
- October 30 - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 31 - Ron Rifkin, American actor
- November 1 - Barbara Bosson, American actress
- November 21 - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian politician
- November 23 - Bill Bissett, Canadian poet
- November 27 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
- December 2 - Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
- December 8 - James Galway, Irish flutist
- December 18 - Robert T. Bennett, American politican
- December 18 - Michael Moorcock, English writer
- December 18 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Deaths


- January 2 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- January 23 - Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
- January 24 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
- January 28 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- February 10 - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
- February 11 - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
- February 12 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
- February 22 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
- March 2 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
- March 19 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
- April 7 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- June 4 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
- June 19 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
- June 26 - Ford Maddox Ford, English writer (b. 1873)
- July 14 - Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and decorative artist (b. 1860)
- August 2 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
- August 11 - Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
- September 18 - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (b. 1885)
- September 23 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
- October 7 - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
- November 12 - Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
- November 28 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
- December 22 - Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
- December 23 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Ernest Orlando Lawrence
- Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka
- Physiology or Medicine - Gerhard Domagk
- Literature - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
- Peace - not awarded Category:1939 ko:1939년 ms:1939 ja:1939年 simple:1939 th:พ.ศ. 2482

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the