By StephanieLee Elliott
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (/ˈtaʊnzənd/; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.
Townshend has written more than 100 songs for 12 of the Who’s studio albums. These include concept albums, the rock operas Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1973), plus popular rock radio staples such as Who’s Next (1971); as well as dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilation albums such as Odds & Sods (1974). He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs.
While known primarily as a guitarist, Townshend also plays keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass guitar, and drums; he is self-taught on all of these instruments and plays on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to an array of other artists’ recordings. Townshend has also contributed to and authored many newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, and he has collaborated as a lyricist and composer for many other musical acts.
In 1983, Townshend received the Brit Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 1990 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who. Townshend was ranked No. 3 in Dave Marsh‘s 1994 list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists. In 2001, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of the Who; and in 2008 he received Kennedy Center Honors. He was ranked No. 10 in Gibson.com’s 2011 list of the top 50 guitarists, and No. 37 on Rolling Stone‘s 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists of all time. He and Roger Daltrey received The George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at UCLA on 21 May 2016.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Whitsunday, or Pentecost, is the seventh Sunday after Easter. For Christians, this commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of flame upon the apostles. Because the disciples were said to have begun baptizing thousands of people soon afterward, Whitsunday or Pentecost became the traditional time for baptisms. Whit, a corruption of white, refers to the white baptismal garments worn on this day. It is also a time of spring festivals throughout Europe, with echoes of pagan spring rites such as morris dancing and dressing a young boy in greenery (Jack-in-the-Green) and marching him through the village.
Traditional weather lore has it that St. Dunstan was a great brewer who sold himself to the devil on the condition that the devil would blight the apple trees to stop the production of cider, Dunstan’s rival drink. This is said to be the cause of the wintry blast that usually comes about this time.
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII’s second wife) –
- Robert B. Thomas (founder of The Old Farmer’s Almanac) –
- Nathaniel Hawthorne (writer) –
- T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia”“) –
- Ogden Nash (poet) –
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (U.S. First Lady) –
- Walter Lord (author) –
- Charles Grodin (actor, talk show host) –
Born
- Johns Hopkins (philanthropist) –
- Carl Akeley (artist, biologist, & conservationist) –
- Malcolm X (civil rights activist) –
- Lorraine Hansberry (playwright) –
- Francis Richard Scobee (astronaut) –
- Nora Ephron (author & director) –
- Pete Townshend (musician) –
- Andre the Giant (wrestler & actor) –
- Jodi Picoult (author) –
- Kevin Garnett (basketball player) –
Events
- Dark Day in New England–
- Author Oscar Wilde released from jail–
- First Jumping Frog Jubilee in Calaveras County, California–
- 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Imperial Valley, California–
- Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. It was the first major league no-hitter of the season–
- In Kansas, paraplegic Anna Sarol — with the assistance of braces, a walker, and her siblings — took steps across the graduation stage to receive her high school diploma. She had worked towards this moment ever since a gymnastics accident nearly four years before had left her paralyzed from the waist down.–
Weather
- Dark Day: Darkness fell at noon throughout New England due to smoke from western forest fires.–
- 99 degrees F at Central Park, New York City–
- Heavy rain and golf ball-size hail destroyed 80 percent of the crops in northwestern Texas–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
