30 July 2013

doppelganger

[dop-uhl-gang-er; German daw-puhl-geng-er]

noun

– a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person, e.g. he thought he saw his doppelganger.

Also, Doppelgänger.
Also called doubleganger.

Origin:
1850–55; < German: literally, double-walker

Today’s aphorism

A person who has not done one half his day’s work by ten o clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.

– Emily Bronte

On this day

30 July 1626 – earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills 70,000 people.

30 July 1818 – birthday of Emily Bronte, author of the novel, ‘Wuthering Heights‘.

30 July 1836 – birthday of Henry Ford, American industrialist and car maker.

30 July 1898 – W.K. Kellogg invents cornflakes.

30 July 1956 – the United States officially adopts ‘In God We Trust’ as the national motto.

30 July 1958 – birthday of Kate Bush, English singer/songwriter. In 1978, she had a hit song with ‘Wuthering Heights‘, a song about the novel of the same name which was written by Emily Bronte (whose birthday is also today). She followed this up with a number of other hits, including ‘Babooshka‘ and ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes‘.

30 July 1969 – birthday of Simon Baker, Australian actor. Stars in the TV series, ‘The Mentalist‘.