On This Day
Certainly not something I'm likely to do often, but in the pre-dawn I found myself idly wondering what had happened on this day in history. Obviously, a great deal will be missing from these lists -- I've just chosen what meant something to me for this reason or that.
Born on this date:
1759 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin writer/mother of Mary Shelley (Mother of the Mother of Frankenstein would be a terrible title, wouldn't it?)
1886 Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] jazz singer/silent film actor (Mammy!)
1907 John "Duke" Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] Winterset IA, actor (Just in case you were wondering why so many John Wayne movies were on TV this week.)
1908 Robert Morley Semley Wiltshire England, actor (High Road to China, African Queen)
1913 Peter Cushing Kenley Surrey England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Star Wars, Dr Who)
1919 Jay Silverheels actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger) (What you
1923 James Arness Minneapolis MN, actor (Matt Dillon-Gunsmoke, Thing)
1926 Miles Davis Alton IL, jazz trumpeter/pioneered cool jazz (Porgy & Bess)
1948 Stevie [Stephanie Lynn] Nicks Phoenix AZ, rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Bella Donna)
1949 Hank Williams Jr Shreveport LA, country singer (All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight, There's A Tear In My Beer)
1949 Philip Michael Thomas Columbus OH, actor (Miami Vice)
1951 Sally Kristen Ride Los Angeles CA, 1st US woman astronaut (STS-7, STS 41G)
1962 Bob[cat] Goldthwait Syracuse NY, comedian (Police Academy, Scrooged)
1964 Lenny Kravitz singer/guitar (911 is a Joke, Are You Gonna Go My Way?)
Kickin' It (the bucket) today:
1703 Samuel Pepys English marine expert (Diary)/composer, dies at 70
1939 Charles H Mayo US surgeon/co-founder (Mayo Clinic), dies at 74
1943 Edsel Ford owner (Ford Motor Company), dies at 49 (And, in his name...)
1995 Isadore "Friz" Freling cartoon director (Sylvester), dies at 88
From the How'd That Work Out? file:
1521 Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers (Surely that'll fix the problem...)
1805 Napoleon is crowned king of Italy
1896 Last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, crowned
1938 House Committee on Un-American Activities begins work (Just in case you thought they were strictly a 1950s fad.)
1942 If you were a Jew in Belgium, then today the Nazis required that you wear a Jewish star
1948 South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy
1994 Michael Jackson (35) weds Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley (26)
Some random milestones and moments:
1790 Territory South of River Ohio created by Congress (Included primarily for the arrogance of language. Apparently Congress was a New World Mt. Olympus at that stage, filled with gods...)
1798 British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara (But, see, they were insurgents, so it was okay...)
1805 Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains (102 years later and I still haven't.)
1864 Territory of Montana is formed (Noted in part because Montana has been coming up as a topic in my life almost eerily often in the past few weeks.)
1887 Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state
1896 Dow Jones begins an index of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
1924 President Coolidge signs Immigration Law (restricting immigration) (Some things keep coming back.)
1930 Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution (Selling, serving or drinking it, however, didn't go back to being legal until 1933, so it's an interesting decision.)
1927 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 15 millionth Model T automobile
1937 San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens
1966 Thich Nu Thanh Quang, a Buddhist nun, immolated herself in the city of Hué South-Vietnam. (For more on protesters and fire, look here.)
1969 Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth
1973 Beatles' "The Beatles 1967-1970" album goes #1 (Nostalgia, so soon.)
1974 During a David Cassidy concert in London a 14 year old is trampled (People forget that he was a major musical pop star.)
1977 "Beatlemania" opens in Winter Garden Theater on Broadway (Nostalgia gets worse.)
1977 Movie "Star Wars" debuts
1978 1st legal gambling casino opens in Atlantic City (And, before the summer was out, I found myself in one with the White family, playing for part of a day despite being under age.)
1979 "Dancin' Fool" by Frank Zappa hits #45
1987 Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1989 Danish parliament allows legal marriage among homosexuals (God must still be winding up to smite them, I suppose. Now we can't ask Falwell what God's thinking...)
1990 Philadelphia Phillies retire Mike Schmidt's uniform #20 (Not a sports fan, but it's a local milestone.)
Finally, those looking for big fireworks can note plenty of (mostly) nuclear action today:
1945 US drop fire bombs on Tokyo (The US was big on firebombing back then. Unfortunately, that was small stuff compared to what would come the following year.)
1946 Patent filed in US for H-Bomb (We'd barely used the fission weapons and they're already out of style.)
1958 US performs nuclear test at Enwetak
1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 Nixon & Brezhnev signs SALT accord
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site (Interesting juxtaposition, these two in '72. I vaguely recall it, and seem to recall this being one of those seemingly crossed moves intended to appeal half to doves and half to hawks.)
1983 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1989 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Republic of China
So, why don't we all have mutant powers by now? We wuz robbed! Someone get Stan Lee on the phone. We need answers...
Certainly not something I'm likely to do often, but in the pre-dawn I found myself idly wondering what had happened on this day in history. Obviously, a great deal will be missing from these lists -- I've just chosen what meant something to me for this reason or that.
Born on this date:
1759 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin writer/mother of Mary Shelley (Mother of the Mother of Frankenstein would be a terrible title, wouldn't it?)
1886 Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] jazz singer/silent film actor (Mammy!)
1907 John "Duke" Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] Winterset IA, actor (Just in case you were wondering why so many John Wayne movies were on TV this week.)
1908 Robert Morley Semley Wiltshire England, actor (High Road to China, African Queen)
1913 Peter Cushing Kenley Surrey England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Star Wars, Dr Who)
1919 Jay Silverheels actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger) (What you
1923 James Arness Minneapolis MN, actor (Matt Dillon-Gunsmoke, Thing)
1926 Miles Davis Alton IL, jazz trumpeter/pioneered cool jazz (Porgy & Bess)
1948 Stevie [Stephanie Lynn] Nicks Phoenix AZ, rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Bella Donna)
1949 Hank Williams Jr Shreveport LA, country singer (All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight, There's A Tear In My Beer)
1949 Philip Michael Thomas Columbus OH, actor (Miami Vice)
1951 Sally Kristen Ride Los Angeles CA, 1st US woman astronaut (STS-7, STS 41G)
1962 Bob[cat] Goldthwait Syracuse NY, comedian (Police Academy, Scrooged)
1964 Lenny Kravitz singer/guitar (911 is a Joke, Are You Gonna Go My Way?)
Kickin' It (the bucket) today:
1703 Samuel Pepys English marine expert (Diary)/composer, dies at 70
1939 Charles H Mayo US surgeon/co-founder (Mayo Clinic), dies at 74
1943 Edsel Ford owner (Ford Motor Company), dies at 49 (And, in his name...)
1995 Isadore "Friz" Freling cartoon director (Sylvester), dies at 88
From the How'd That Work Out? file:
1521 Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers (Surely that'll fix the problem...)
1805 Napoleon is crowned king of Italy
1896 Last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, crowned
1938 House Committee on Un-American Activities begins work (Just in case you thought they were strictly a 1950s fad.)
1942 If you were a Jew in Belgium, then today the Nazis required that you wear a Jewish star
1948 South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy
1994 Michael Jackson (35) weds Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley (26)
Some random milestones and moments:
1790 Territory South of River Ohio created by Congress (Included primarily for the arrogance of language. Apparently Congress was a New World Mt. Olympus at that stage, filled with gods...)
1798 British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara (But, see, they were insurgents, so it was okay...)
1805 Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains (102 years later and I still haven't.)
1864 Territory of Montana is formed (Noted in part because Montana has been coming up as a topic in my life almost eerily often in the past few weeks.)
1887 Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state
1896 Dow Jones begins an index of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
1924 President Coolidge signs Immigration Law (restricting immigration) (Some things keep coming back.)
1930 Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution (Selling, serving or drinking it, however, didn't go back to being legal until 1933, so it's an interesting decision.)
1927 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 15 millionth Model T automobile
1937 San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens
1966 Thich Nu Thanh Quang, a Buddhist nun, immolated herself in the city of Hué South-Vietnam. (For more on protesters and fire, look here.)
1969 Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth
1973 Beatles' "The Beatles 1967-1970" album goes #1 (Nostalgia, so soon.)
1974 During a David Cassidy concert in London a 14 year old is trampled (People forget that he was a major musical pop star.)
1977 "Beatlemania" opens in Winter Garden Theater on Broadway (Nostalgia gets worse.)
1977 Movie "Star Wars" debuts
1978 1st legal gambling casino opens in Atlantic City (And, before the summer was out, I found myself in one with the White family, playing for part of a day despite being under age.)
1979 "Dancin' Fool" by Frank Zappa hits #45
1987 Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1989 Danish parliament allows legal marriage among homosexuals (God must still be winding up to smite them, I suppose. Now we can't ask Falwell what God's thinking...)
1990 Philadelphia Phillies retire Mike Schmidt's uniform #20 (Not a sports fan, but it's a local milestone.)
Finally, those looking for big fireworks can note plenty of (mostly) nuclear action today:
1945 US drop fire bombs on Tokyo (The US was big on firebombing back then. Unfortunately, that was small stuff compared to what would come the following year.)
1946 Patent filed in US for H-Bomb (We'd barely used the fission weapons and they're already out of style.)
1958 US performs nuclear test at Enwetak
1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 Nixon & Brezhnev signs SALT accord
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site (Interesting juxtaposition, these two in '72. I vaguely recall it, and seem to recall this being one of those seemingly crossed moves intended to appeal half to doves and half to hawks.)
1983 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1989 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Republic of China
So, why don't we all have mutant powers by now? We wuz robbed! Someone get Stan Lee on the phone. We need answers...
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