Elisabeth Beresford MBE, also known as Liza Beresford, was an English author of children's books. She is best known for creating The Wombles. Born into a literary family, she worked as a journalist, but struggled for success until she created the Wombles in the late 1960s. Their recycling theme was noted especially and the Wombles became popular with children across the world. While Beresford wrote many other works, the Wombles remained her best-known.

1926Frank Finlay, English actor (died 2016)^[†]

Francis Finlay, was an English actor. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello (1965). His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova. This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Finlay starred alongside famous Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli in Tinto Brass' The Key, the most successful Italian film of the 1983–1984 season. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire. A four-time BAFTA nominee, Finlay won one for his television performances in 1974.

1926Clem Labine, American baseball player and manager (died 2007)^[†]

Clement Walter Labine was an American right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) best known for his years with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950 to 1960.

1926János Rózsás, Hungarian author (died 2012)^[†]

János Rózsás was a Hungarian writer.

1926Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (died 1999)^[†]

Norman Wexler was an American screenwriter whose work included films such as Saturday Night Fever, Serpico and Joe. A New Bedford, Massachusetts native and 1944 Central High School graduate in Detroit, Wexler attended Harvard University before moving to New York in 1951.

Historical Events

1926Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.^[†]

Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press called her "Queen of the Waves".

1926First public screening using the Vitaphone process^[†]

Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack is not printed on the film, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at 33+1⁄3 rpm and typically 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter, are played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film is projected. Its frequency response is 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound".