Interesting tidbits: 1835 – The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (which is now the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety). 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, the anniversary of which is sometimes called Evolution Day. Todays birthday crew: 1815 – Grace Darling, English heroine, famed for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838. In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Grace, looking from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands, spotted the wreck and survivors of the Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a nearby low rocky island. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half. One of the halves had sunk during the night. She and her father William determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from Seahouses (then North Sunderland), so they took a rowing boat (a 21 ft, 4-man Northumberland coble) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of nearly a mile. Grace kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young children during the night. William and three of the rescued men then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse. Grace then remained at the lighthouse while William and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered four more survivors. Meanwhile the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Grace and her father had completed the rescue. It was too dangerous to return to North Sunderland so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. The weather deteriorated to the extent that everyone was obliged to remain at the lighthouse for three days before returning to shore. The Forfarshire had been carrying 62 people. The vessel broke in two almost immediately upon hitting the rocks. Those rescued by Grace and her father were from the bow section of the vessel which had been held by the rocks for some time before sinking. All that remained at daybreak was the portside paddlebox casing. Nine other passengers and crew had managed to float off a lifeboat from the stern section before it too sank, and were picked up in the night by a passing Montrose sloop and brought into South Shields that same night. 1916 – Forrest J Ackerman, American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fictions staunchest spokesmen and promoters. Ackerman was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the worlds most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor and producer (Vampirella) from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in two documentaries related to this period in popular culture. Also called Forry, The Ackermonster, 4e and 4SJ, Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname sci-fi. In 1953, he was voted #1 Fan Personality by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else. 1948 – Spider Robinson, American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction author. Robinson made his first short-story sale in 1972 to Analog Science Fiction magazine. The story, The Guy With The Eyes (Analog February 1973), was set in a bar called Callahans Place; Robinson would, off-and-on, continue to write stories about the denizens of Callahans into the 21st century. Robinson made several short-story sales to Analog, Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and others, and worked as a book reviewer for Galaxy magazine during the mid-to-late 1970s. In 1978–79 he contributed book reviews to the original anthology series Destinies. Robinsons first published novel, Telempath (1976), was an expansion of his Hugo award-winning novella By Any Other Name. Over the following three decades, Robinson on average released a book a year, including short story anthologies. In 1996–2005, he served as a columnist in the Op-Ed section (and briefly in the technology section) of the Globe and Mail. In 2004, he pronounced himself overjoyed to begin working on a seven-page 1955 novel outline by the late Robert A. Heinlein to expand it into a novel. The book, titled Variable Star, was released on September 19, 2006. Robinson has always made his admiration for Heinlein very clear; in an afterword to Variable Star he recounts the story of how on his first visit to a public library a librarian named Ruth Siegel changed my life completely by sizing up the child in front of her and handing him a copy of the Heinlein juvenile novel Rocket Ship Galileo, after which the first ten books I ever read in my life were by Robert Heinlein, and they were all great. Early in Robinsons career, Heinlein even helped to support Robinson financially during an especially difficult period; Robinson was especially grateful because he knew that Heinlein, who at the time was supportive of the war in Vietnam, knew of Robinsons fervent opposition to the war. 1957 – Denise Crosby, American actress best known for portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar in Season One of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Yars own daughter, the half-Romulan Commander Sela, in subsequent seasons. She is also known for her numerous film and television roles and for starring in and producing the film Trekkies. She is the granddaughter of entertainer Bing Crosby. 1965 – Shirley Henderson, Scottish actress perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She also played Ursula Blake in the Doctor Who episode Love & Monsters (2006). Happy birthday guys!
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 13:25:37 +0000
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