Impatient with the movement to split with King George III, the Colony of Rhode Island declared their independence on this day in 1776.
That was 150 years after the Dutch bought the island we call Manhattan. Yes, the purchase price was 60 guilders, which was $24 when some wag made the conversion in 1839. But that was the value of the beads and fabric in Amsterdam, not carried over the ocean at great expense and risk. Felix S. Cohen, writing in the Minnesota Law Review in 1947, calculated that if they had stayed home and banked the money at 6% they could have bought all of Manhattan and had $450 million left over, and that included the buildings and streets. It was a good deal, but not a steal.
First impressions are durable. My first impression of Audrey Hepburn was My Fair Lady, the English accent so clear in mind that it's hard to list her as "US actress" in the birthdays below. Reading of her early life in Europe, particularly her work with the Dutch Resistance, and her later years living in Rome and Lausanne, that narrow description clearly comes up short.
1493 - Pope Alexander VI issued "Inter caeterea II," which divided possession of the New World discoveries by Spain and Portugal along a longitudinal line running 250 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan island. The Canarsie tribe of the Algonquin nation sold Manhattan Island for 60 guilders in cloth and buttons.
1979 - Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Member of Parliament for Barnet, Finchley, became Britain's first female prime minister. She was appointed prime minister, first lord of the treasury, and minister for the civil service after the General Election of the previous day. She later is the first British PM this century to prevail in three consecutive general elections, and resigned on 28 November 1990.
Rhode Island Independence Day, Rhode Island, US - Celebrates Rhode Island's separate declaration of independence from the British Crown on this day in 1776. Still a source of pride that this colony beat the other twelve by two months, the state website proclaims, "This bold and brave historic action created the first free republic in the New World."
1655 - Bartolommeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument builder - Born in Padua, he was a well regarded harpsichord maker when he was hired by Ferdinand di Medici. He moved to Fiorenza, set up shop in the Uffizi, and created the first piano, which he called a "gravicembalo col piano e forte" - harpsichord with soft and loud. Died 27 January 1731.
1784 - Carl G. Glaser, German music teacher - Of his many choral pieces, Glaser is primarily remembered for his hymn tune Azmon, to which the Church today sings "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing."
1929 - Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston, US actress - Born in Brussels, English boarding school at age five, studies dance, moves to Holland 1939. Dances at resistance fund raisers, serves as courier, Holland liberated on her 16th birthday. Modeling, dancing in chorus lines, bit parts in movies until 1951 success with Gig (stage)i, then Roman Holiday (film) in 1952, using Hepburn name. Many movies, globe-trotting abassador for UNICEF. Died in sleep at home near Lausanne, Switzerland 20 January 1993.
Dancing is wonderful training for girls; it's the first place you learn
to guess what a man is going to do before he does it.
- Christopher Morley
The making of an American begins at that point where he himself rejects
all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his
adopted land.
- James Baldwin
Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn
a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at age four.
- Katharine Hepburn
Love is like playing piano. First you must learn to play by the rules,
then you must forget the rules and play from your heart!
- Anonymous
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