Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Spotlight
William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, was born on this date in 1911. The winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature, Golding was working as a teacher in England when he wrote the allegorical novel about a group of boys stranded on an island whose behavior becomes crueler and more barbaric as time passes (1954). Some of his other books include Pincher Martin (1956) and Rites of Passage (1980), winner of the Booker Prize. Queen Elizabeth II knighted Golding in 1988.

Quote
"My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are gray faces that peer over my shoulder." — Sir William Golding

Word of the day
ephesian -- /i FEE zhen/ a jovial companion; a thief; a roysterer (© )

Holiday
International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today's News

• Jacques Chirac: French president says dialogue, not sanctions, is the way to defuse Iranian nuclear crisis (story)
• Warner Music: to license and distribute videos through YouTube (story)
• J.R.R. Tolkien: new work to be published posthumously next year (story)
• Pete Rose: Cincinnati Reds player and manager signed baseballs with apology for betting (story)

Today's History

• New Zealand: became the first country to grant women the vote (1893)
• Butch Cassidy: notorious outlaw and his partner, the Sundance Kid, robbed their first bank as a duo in Winnemucca, Nevada (1900)
• Ötzi the Iceman: 5,000-year-old tattooed mummy was discovered near Austrian-Italian border (1991)

Today's Birthdays

• George Cadbury: chocolatier and social reformer (1839-1922)
• Adam West: star of TV's Batman (78)
• Cass Elliot: singer with The Mamas & The Papas (1941-1974)
• Jeremy Irons: Oscar- and Tony-winning British actor (58)