SOPHOCLES, Greek playwright, born (d: 406 BCE); the second of three great ancient Greek tragedians. He was preceded by Aeschylus, and was followed by or contemporary to Euripides. According to the Suda, a tenth century AD encyclopedia, he wrote 123 or more plays during the course of his life. For almost 50 years, he was the dominant competitor in the dramatic competitions of ancient Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. His first victory was in 468 BC, although scholars are no longer certain that this was the first time that he competed.

He has, of course, come down to us as the author of tragedies, two of which, Oedipus Rex and Electra, have been ill-used by Freud and his followers to beat up on mommies and daddies of Gay men and women. No one seems ever to have questioned why, if Oedipus was so hung-up on his mother and hated his father, he didn’t grow up to be a fag. What’s more, Electra, who hated her mother and loved her father doesn’t show the slightest signs of dykiness. Sophocles’ greatness as a dramatist notwithstanding, he is remembered as well as the comic butt of Euripides’ ridicule because his clothing had been stolen by a male hustler when he wasn’t looking. His own two favorite butts belonged to the boys Smicrenes and Demophon.

Several ancient writers have commented on Sophocles' love of youths. Athenaeus alleged that in addition to seeking and keeping female courtesans, "Sophocles was fond of young lads, as Euripides was fond of women." He quotes from a now-lost book by Ion of Chios regarding an incident of Sophocles flattering a serving boy at a symposium and then using a strategem to kiss and embrace him, as well as another, ascribed to Hieronymus of Rhodes, in which Sophocles is tricked by the above-referenced hustler. Plutarch, in his "Life of Pericles," mentions an incident, during a naval expedition, in which Sophocles praised the beauty of a young recruit. Pericles rebuked him by warning that a general must keep not only his hands clean, but also his eyes.

SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT, OTTOMAN SULTAN  was born (d. 1566); the tenth and longest‐serving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1520 to 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the Islamic world, as the Lawgiver (in Turkish Kamuni; Arabic:, al-Qanuni), deriving from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Within the empire, Suleiman was known as a fair ruler and an opponent of corruption.

As well as being a capable goldsmith and distinguished poet, Suleiman was also a great patron of artists and philosophers, overseeing the golden age of the Ottoman Empire's cultural development. He is twenty‐five years of age, tall, but wiry, and of a delicate complexion. His neck is a little too long, his face thin, and his nose aquiline. He has a shade of a mustache and a small beard; nevertheless he has a pleasant mien, though his skin tends to pallor. He is said to be a wise Lord, fond of study, and all men hope for good from his rule."

Historians claim that Suleiman, in his youth, had an admiration for Alexamnder the Great as he wanted very much to learn how he had managed to unite the peoples of the east and the west.

Pargali Ibrahm Pasha was the boyhood friend of Suleiman. Ibrahim was originally Greek Orthodox and when young was educated at the Palace School as a devshirme (the systematic abduction of young boys from conquered Christians lands by the Ottomann sultans as a form of regular taxation in order to build a loyal slave army).

As the Sultan's male favorite, he shared Suleiman's quarters and his tent while at home and on campaign. Suleiman made him the royal falconer, then promoted him to first officer of the Royal Bedchamber. Eventually, Ibrahim Pasha became the Grand Vizier in 1523 and commander in chief of all the armies. Suleiman also conferred upon Ibrahim pasha the honor of beylerbey of Rumelia, granting Ibrahim authority over all Turkish territories in Europe, as well as command of troops residing within them at times of war.

According to a 17^th century chronicler, Ibrahim had asked Suleiman not to promote him to such high positions, fearing for his safety, to which Suleiman replied that under his reign no matter what the circumstance, Ibrahim would never be put to death.

Ibrahim would eventually fall from grace with the Sultan. During his thirteen years as Grand Vizier, his rapid rise to power and vast accumulation of wealth had made Ibrahim many enemies among the Sultan's court.

Reports had reached the Sultan of Ibrahim's imprudence committed during a campaign against the Persian Safavid empire, in particular his adoption of the title serasker sultan was seen as a grave affront to Suleiman. Suleiman's suspicion of Ibrahim was worsened in a quarrel between the latter and the Minister of Finance Iskender Chelebi. The dispute ended in the disgrace of Chelebi on charges intrigues against the Sultan, with Ibrahim convincing Suleiman to sentence the Minister to death. Before his death however, Chelebi's last words were to accuse Ibrahim of conspiracy against the Sultan. Since these were his dying words, Suleiman became convinced of Ibrahim's disloyalty and on March 15, 1536, Ibrahim's lifeless body was discovered in the Topkapi palace.

BRAD DAVIS (d: 1991) was an American actor, best known for his role in the 1978 film Midnight Express. Davis was born Robert Creel Davis in Tallahassee, Florida to Eugene Davis, a dentist whose career declined due to alcoholism, and his wife, the former Anne Creel. His brother Gene is also an actor. According to an article in The New York Times published in 1987, Davis' mother sexually abused him as a child. As an adult, he was an alcoholic and an intravenous drug user before becoming sober in 1981. Davis was known as "Bobby" during his youth, but took Brad as his stage name in 1973.

At 17, after winning a music talent contest, Davis worked at Theatre Atlanta. He later moved to New York City and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as studied acting at the American Place Theater. After a role on the soap opera How to Survive a Marriage, he performed in off-Broadway plays. In 1976 he was cast as Sally Field's love interest in the television film Sybil. He played the lead role in Larry Kramer's play about AIDS, The Normal Heart (1985). His most successful film role was as the main character in Midnight Express (1978), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor. He also had a small role in Roots. The steamy shower scene in "Midnight Express" and Davis' portrayal of the sexy gay sailor in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film adaptation of Jean Genet's Querelle (1983) made him a gay film icon.

Diagnosed with AIDS in 1985, Davis kept his condition secret until shortly before his death. Although it was announced he died of AIDS in 1991 in Los Angeles, he actually died of an intentional drug overdose. Near death and in severe pain in a hospital, he opted to return home and end his life on his own terms.

MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM, American writer, born; An award-winning American writer writer, best known for his 1998 novel "The Hours," which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the PEN?Faulkner Award in 1999.

Although Cunningham is Gay and has been partnered for 18 years, he dislikes being referred to as only a "Gay writer”, according to a  PlanetOut article because, while being Gay does greatly influence his work, he feels that it is not (and should not be) his defining characteristic. 

THOMAS "TOM" NEUWIRTH born; Better known as the drag persona CONCHITA WURST, is an Austrian singer. Wurst represented Austria and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copehagen, Denmark. The singer uses female pronouns for self description when in the role of Wurst

In 2007, Neuwirth reached the final of the 2007 Austrian casting show Starmania and returned to television in 2011 in drag as the character "Conchita Wurst," a persona he created in response to earlier experiences, and said, "This is about an important message, it's call for tolerance for everything that seems different."

While in German, Wurst means 'sausage,' the performer compares the choice of last name to the common German expression 'Das ist mir doch alles Wurst,' which translates as 'it's all the same to me,' and 'I don't care,' stating that the name emerged from the first meaning of the expression and added, "It doesn't really matter where one comes from, and what one looks like." In the same interview the performer stated that the first name was from a Cuban friend.

The character Conchita Wurst, has participated in the ORF production The Hardest Jobs of Austria, working in a fish factory, and in Wild Girls, in which a group of candidates had to survive in the deserts of Namibia together with native tribes.

Neuwirth graduated from the Graz School of Fashion in 2011, and has lived in various locations in Vienna.

The great Russian composer of the Romantic era PYOTR ILLYICH TCHAIKOVSKY died in St. Petersburg on this date, nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique.