Famous Johns

[Spec]

John Smith.

Classic usual english name. Like Rejean Tremblay in French.

Spec.

[Tuberski]

You are only supposed to post 1at a time.

ACK1

[molly bloom]

John Dowland, 1563-1626.

During his lifetime John Dowland was one of the few English composers whose fame spread throughout Europe .

Born in 1563 John Dowland was almost exactly contemporary with Sweelinck and Shakespeare. Of his origins and early beginnings as a musician nothing is known. As an adolescent he was 'servant' to the ambassadors of England to the court of France, spending over four years in Paris between 1580 and 1586.

During this stay - which must have greatly contributed to raising his social status and orienting his musical evolution - Dowland was converted to Catholicism under the influence of the English emigrants.

Back in England, he married and in 1588 was admitted to his degree of Bachelor of Music from Christ Church, Oxford, on the same day as Thomas Morley.

His increasing renown as composer and performer, however, did not win him Elizabeth's confidence; so in 1594, after vainly seeking a post as court lutenist, he left for a long journey which was to take him to Rome with the intention of taking lessons with the famed Luca Marenzio.

The following year he boasted the title of Bacheler of Musick in both the Vniuersities, i.e. , Oxford and Cambridge, the first to have delivered this degree right from the late XVth century ; he also published his first book of 'Ayres for voice and lute', thus initiating a genre in which England was to excel for a quarter of a century. Six editions in succession testify to the renown then enjoyed by the composer.

In 1608, after spending one third of his life abroad, he returned to his native land, only to find - not without bitterness - that the court was indifferent to his music.

He then applied himself to translating 'The Micrologus', an already ancient treatise by the German theorist Andreas Ornithoparcu, collaborated on the editions of 'The Varietie of Lute-Lessons' and of 'The Musicall Banquet' brought out by his son Robert in 1610.

In 1612 he published a fourth and last collection of works for voice and lute, under the significant title : 'A Pilgrimes Solace'. A much belated and meagre consolation indeed was his appointment this year as one of the King's Lutes. At the age of fifty, " being now gray and like the Swan, but singing towards his end ", he wore out his last creative forces in the composing of some short devotional works.

http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/history/composers/10744.php

[Winston]

Another fine actor,

John Hurt

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Winston
Another fine actor,

John Hurt

My friend Michael's mother was the nurse in the dental practice he used.

Said he was a terribly charming man, a very witty conversationalist.

[Winston]

That fits very well with the impression one gets from his performances and other appearances over the years.

But imagine him sitting in the dentist's waiting room when the nurse comes to call him up: "Hurt!!?"

Ouch.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Winston
That fits very well with the impression one gets from his performances and other appearances over the years.

But imagine him sitting in the dentist's waiting room when the nurse comes to call him up: "Hurt!!?"

Ouch.

Well at least he never turned up with the Elephant Man make-up on.

[David Floyd]

John Jay

[Winston]

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Mercator
Here's Johnny!

Inspired by the original: Johnny Carson

[Winston]

I hate to break the 4 post flood-preventing rule, but I just saw this article on CNN and found it absolutely incredible.

We have to include

John Young

NASA's longest-serving astronaut to retire

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- The longest serving astronaut in history, who flew twice to the moon and commanded the first space shuttle mission, has announced his retirement after 42 years at NASA.

John W. Young, 74, announced Tuesday his plans to leave the space agency on December 31.

Young was the first human to fly in space six times and the only astronaut to pilot four different spacecraft. He flew in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.

"John's tenacity and dedication are matched only by his humility," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "He's never sought fame and often goes out of his way to avoid the limelight."

Young joined NASA in 1962. His first mission was in 1965 as a pilot of the first manned flight of the Gemini program. He went on to command the Gemini 10 in 1966, followed by his orbit of the moon in the Apollo Command Module in 1969.

Young went back to the moon in 1972, when he and another astronaut collected more than 200 pounds of lunar samples.

"John has an incredible engineering mind, and he sets the gold standard when it comes to asking the really tough questions," said William Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space operations. "When he talks, everybody listens."

In 1981, Young commanded Columbia during the first space shuttle mission. His final space mission came in 1983, when he again commanded Columbia.

"John Young has no equal in his service to our country and to humanity's quest for space," said Jefferson D. Howell Jr., director of the Johnson Space Center, where Young was an associate director for eight years. "He is the astronaut's astronaut, a hero among heroes who fly in space."

[Zkribbler]

Jonathan Livingston Seagull