History
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John Wallis *XII 3 1616 — The Life You Give
John Wallis, born December 3, 1616, (O.S. November 23), in Ashford, Kent, England, is the mathematician who contributed substantially to the origins of the calculus and was the most influential English mathematician before Isaac Newton. Wallis learned Latin, Greek, Hebrew, logic, and arithmetic during his early school years. In 1632 he entered the University of…
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Astrid Lindgren *XI 14 1907 — The Life You Give
Astrid Lindgren, born November 14, 1907, in Vimmerby, Sweden, is the influential writer of children’s books who created such memorable characters as Pippi Longstocking. Lindgren’s great popularity began in 1945 with the publication of Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking), the first of several books with Pippi as a main character. This strangely dressed girl living alone…
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Marie Curie *XI 7 1867 — The Life You Give
Marie Curie, born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Congress Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire, is the physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole…
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Bottle History
Do you know that the wine cellars in this house are older than your nation? UK PM Trowbridge, to the US ambassador — “The Diplomat”
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe *VIII 28 1749 / The Life You Give
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic, and amateur artist, considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era. Goethe is the only German literary figure whose range and international standing equal those of Germany’s supreme philosophers (who…
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On 12 June 1964, eight defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment — one of them being Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, at the Rivonia Trial I am the First Accused. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and practised as an attorney in Johannesburg for a number of years in partnership with Oliver Tambo. I am a convicted prisoner serving five years for leaving the country without a permit and for inciting people to…
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The Life You Give: Anne Frank *VI 12 1929
Anne Frank, born Annelies Marie Frank, June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, February/March 1945, is the girl whose diary of her family’s two years in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands became a classic of war literature. Early in the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, Anne’s father, Otto Frank (1889–1980), a…
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Aretha Franklin *March 25 1942 / The Life You Give
Aretha Franklin, born Aretha Louise Franklin, on March 25 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A., is the singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s. Franklin’s mother, Barbara, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, C.L. Franklin, presided over the New Bethel Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, and was a minister…
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Days with David Bowie: “Berlin Trilogy”
By 1976, David Bowie’s life in Los Angeles was in free fall. Though “Fame” and “Golden Years” were Top 10 hits the year before, Bowie was lost in a haze of cocaine addiction. To escape the drug scene in L.A., Bowie and wife Angela headed for Europe; after stops in Switzerland and France, Bowie settled…
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Frank Zappa *XII 21 1940 — The Life You Give
Frank Zappa, born Frank Vincent Zappa on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., was composer, guitarist, and satirist of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Zappa was, in no apparent order, a first-rate cultural gadfly dedicated to upsetting American suburban complacency and puncturing the hypocrisy and pretensions of both the U.S. political establishment and the…
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Día Internacional de la Tapa
Aunque a día de hoy la palabra tapa está presente en la mayoría de restaurantes y bares de todas las ciudades de España (y algunas del extranjero) este concepto ha estado siempre más ligado a Andalucía, y no sin razón. ¿De dónde proviene la ‘tapa’? Nos tenemos que remontar al siglo XIII, al reinado de…
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Garlic / Ajo — International Day of Garlic
garlicplant Allium sativum Linnaeus History garlic, (Allium sativum), perennial plant of the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae), grown for its flavourful bulbs. The plant is native to central Asia but grows wild in Italy and southern France and is a classic ingredient in many national cuisines. The bulbs have a powerful onionlike aroma and pungent taste and…
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart *I 27 1756 — The Life You Give
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, is the composer widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer…
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Marie Curie *XI 7 1867 — The Life You Give
Marie Curie, born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Congress Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire, is the physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole…












