|
Post by pegasus on Mar 24, 2012 3:51:37 GMT -7
TREASURE HUNT DAY
“To be or not to be ... the winner of an Oscar”. That was the question as the Academy Awards were passed out for the 21st time on this night in 1949. Actor/producer/director Robert Montgomery hosted the ceremony held at the AMPAS Theater in Los Angeles. Hamlet, produced by Lawrence Olivier for J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films, won Best Picture of 1948. Olivier also was pronounced Best Actor for his portrayal of Hamlet.
The real star of the evening, however, was the Hollywood flick, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre[/img], the story of a trio of prospectors in their search for gold in them thar hills. The search finally led them to gold in the shape of Oscar ... three Oscars, to be exact, and a nomination for Best Picture. And, as far as we know, it was the first, and remains the only time a father and son both won Academy Awards on the same night. They were presented to Walter and John Huston for their stunning work in the 1948 film. Walter was awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and his son, John, received honors for Best Director and for Best Screenplay (based on a B. Traven story). Other winners of the treasured golden statuette on this spring night were: Jane Wyman (the former Mrs. Ronald Reagan) for Best Actress (film: Johnny Belinda); Claire Trevor for Best Supporting Actress (film: Key Largo); Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for Best Music/Song ('Buttons and Bows" from the Bob Hope/Jane Russell flick, The Paleface). And although Olivier won the Best Actor Oscar, Humphrey Bogart was superb as the paranoid, and ultimately, homicidal Fred C. Dobbs in Sierra Madre. [/b][/i][/size][/color]
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Mar 25, 2012 7:44:18 GMT -7
HUMBLE HOWARD DAY
Howard Cosell (Cohen) was born on March 25th in 1918. Cosell came to be the most liked -- and the most disliked -- sports journalist across America. Cosell agreed when others described him as arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a show-off. And still others said he forgot to include “irritating, generous, funny, paranoid, charming, egomaniacal and insecure.”
A New York attorney, Cosell ventured into the world of network sports journalism through his association with WABC radio and TV in New York in the 1950’s and early 1960s. He was featured as the boxing announcer for ABC Sports and, under Roone Arledge, filled various sports positions on Wide World of Sports -- from horse racing to Olympic competition. Cosell would, in a stentorian and often difficult to understand syntax, make use of his abundant vocabulary that contained big, big words that sent sports fans scurrying for their dictionaries.
Always outspoken and frequently controversial, Cosell would Tell It like It Is, the title of one of his best selling books on the subject of sports and broadcasting. It was Cosell who would be the first to claim that Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali), would be a media star; and he championed Ali’s fight against the draft. His association with the boxer put him in front of Congressional committees and made him a regular guest lecturer in college classrooms.
Cosell later quit broadcasting boxing matches and openly expressed a loathing for that sport, and for football, as well. Humble Howard was also host of a weekly program (not a sports program) for ABC Contemporary Radio -- interviews and commentary titled, Speaking of Everything.
Cosell was a major figure, with colleague Jim McKay, in bringing the hard news story to the minds and souls of a nation in 1972 when several Olympians were tragically slain during the Winter Olympics in Germany. He later became more outspoken, even against his own colleagues who he had worked with for so many years. Many people felt that Cosell became a bitter, broken man in his later years following the death of his wife, Emmy. She was the only one who could tell him to “...shut up, Howard. Nobody cares.”
The once-powerful ‘voice that roared’ left Monday Night Football after fourteen years.
Howard Cosell died in 1995. Roon Arledge said, “Howard Cosell was one of the most original people ever to appear on American TV. He became a giant by telling the truth in an industry that was not used to hearing it and considered it revolutionary.”
[/b][/i][/size][/color]
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Mar 26, 2012 9:10:32 GMT -7
Today in History: 1774--British Parliament adopted the Coercive Acts that closed the port of Boston. 1776--Juan Bautista de Anza, one of the great western pathfinders of the 18th century, arrived at the future site of San Francisco with 247 colonists. 1797--Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patented a washing machine. 1834--the US Senate voted to censure Pres. Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. 1854--during the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia. 1862--Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of New Mexico Territory when they turn the Rebels back at Glorieta Pass. 1898--the US Supreme Court, in US v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled that a child born in the US to Chinese immigrants was a US citizen.[/b] 1899--August Busch, the businessman who built Anheuser-Busch into the world's largest brewery, was born; died 1989 at age 90. 1915--Leon Thrasher, a mining engineer from Massachusetts, drowned when a German U-boat torpedoed a cargo-passenger ship off the coast of England, becoing the first American killed in World War I. 1930--the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara. 1935--the notorious Nazi propaganda film Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present. 1939--the Spanish Civil War effectively ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco. 1941--land was cleared for Ford's Willow Run plant. 1941--the British Royal Navy destroyed three major Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean, effectively ending an possible threat to the British Navy. 1942--British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship [/i]Tirpitz . 1979--America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa. 1984, Bob Irsay (1923-1997), owner of the once-mighty Baltimore Colts, without any sort of public announcement, hired movers to pack up the team’s offices in Owings Mills, Md., in the middle of the night, while the city of Baltimore slept. 2001--Pres. Bush publicly rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate, a pact never ratified by the US Senate. 2002--the Arab League, meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, agreed on a peace plan that offered Israel normal relations in exchange for a full withdrawal from war-won lands and a Palestinian state. 2002--Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan, Poland, announced his resignation, but also protested his innocence, following accusations he'd made sexual advances toward young clerics. 2002--US Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland was convicted in a Japanese court and sentenced to nearly three years in prison for raping a woman on the southern island of Okinawa. 2006--the Duke University lacrosse team was suspended following sexual assault allegations. 2006--more than 1 million people poured into streets across France and strikers disrupted air, rail and bus travel in the largest nationwide protest over a youth labor law. 2007--Iran aired a video of 15 captured British sailors and marines; the lone female captive, shown in a white tunic and a black head scarf, said the British boats had "trespassed." 2007--in the Philippines, dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns; the crisis ended peacefully 10 hours later with the hostage-taker's surrender. 2011--vigorously defending American attacks in Libya, Pres. Obama declared that the US intervened to prevent a slaughter of civilians. RADIO CAROLINE DAY
Radio Caroline debuted as the first pirate radio station to broadcast off the coast of England. On March 29th in 1964, the combination of rock music and lively disk jockey patter played to a huge audience in Great Britain; but well out of reach of British authorities. However, that didn’t stop them from trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to shut down the radio station ship. Radio Caroline had become competition to the staid and usually dull British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Today, all that is different, as there is licensed radio competition throughout Great Britain. The BBC and the giant, government-owned network has caught up with the times by offering five different services to appeal to wide audiences. They are simply known as ‘Radio 1’ through ‘Radio 5’ ... No ‘Zees’, ‘Qs’ or ‘Bees’, just numbers that include a rock channel, a talk channel, a nostalgia/easy listening channel, a classical/fine arts channel and a news channel.
[/size][/color]
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Mar 29, 2012 9:55:02 GMT -7
March 29th in History:
1461--the deadliest battle of the Wars of the Roses, the battle of Towton secured the thorne for the Yorkist Edward IV. 1638--Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware. 1776--Gen. Washington appointed Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam commander of the troops in New York to defend New York City and its waterways. 1792--Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot and mortally wounded by assassins during a masquerade party. 1798--the Republic of Switzerland was formed. 1806--the US Congress authorized surveying to begin for the construction of the Cumberland Road, which sped the way for 1000s of Americans heading west. 1809--In Sweden, Gustavus IV was forced to abdicate after a number of military defeats against Denmark and was succeeded by Charles XIII. 1812--the first White House wedding took place as Lucy Payne Washington, the sister of First Lady Dolley Madison, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd. 1848--for the 1st time, Niagara Falls stopped flowing due to an ice jam above the falls. 1865--the Appomattox campaign began when troops under Gen. Grant moved against Confederate trenches around Petersburg, Va. 1867--Denton True "Cy" Young, one of baseball's all-time great pitchers, still holding the record for career wins (511), was born in Gilmore, Ohio; died 1955 at age 88. 1867--the British North America Act established the Dominion of Canada comprising Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 1871--the Royal Albert Hall in London was opened by Queen Victoria in memory of her husband, Prince Albert 1879--Eugene Onegin, best known opera by Russian composer Piotr Tchaikovsky, debuted at the Maliy Theater in Moscow. 1882--the Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut. 1899--Lavrenty Beria, Russian director of the Soviet secret police, was born; died 1953 at age 54. 1901--the first Australian elections started when Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia voted for members of the first Australian parliament. 1912--English Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott died as his expedition attempted to return after reaching the South Pole. 1917--the famous race horse Man o' War was born. 1918--Samuel Moore Walton, retail magnate; founded Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was born; died 1992 at age 74. 1929--Herbert Hoover had a telephone installed in the Oval Office. 1943--World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began. 1945--Gen. Patton's 3rd Army captured Frankfurt, Germany. 1951--Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing nuclear secrets to the USSR. 1951--the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I opened on Broadway. 1951--the Mad Bomber struck in New York City's Grand Central Station with a homemade device but injuring no one. 1961--the US constitution was amended to give residents of the District of Columbia the right to vote in presidential elections. 1962--Jack Paar hosted NBC's Tonight show for the final time. 1971--Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai (mee ly) massacre. 1971--a jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. 1973--the last US combat troops left South Vietnam as Hanoi freed the remaining US prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. 1974--Mariner 10 took the first close-up pictures of the planet Mercury. 1982--an earthquake and a volcanic eruption at El Chichon in southern Mexico converted a hill into a crater, killed 1000s of people and destroyed acres of farmland. 1992--Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton acknowledged experimenting with marijuana "a time or two" while attending Oxford University, adding, "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again." 1994--Guatemala's government and leftist rebels signed a breakthrough human rights accord that boosted hopes of ending 33 years of civil war. 1999--Wayne Gretzky (NY Rangers) scored the last of his NHL record 894 goals in a home game against the NY Islanders. 2002--Israeli troops stormed Yasser Arafat's headquarters complex in the West Bank in a raid that was launched in response to anti-Israeli attacks that had killed 30 people in three days. 2006--Welsh singer Tom Jones was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. 2006--Hamas formally took over the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip. 2007--a defiant, Democratic-controlled Senate approved legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year. 2009--Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of troubled auto giant General Motors, resigned at the request of the Obama administration. 2011--gunmen held an Iraqi government center in Tikrit (tih-KREET') hostage in a grisly siege that ended with the deaths of at least 56 people, including three councilmen, plus the attackers, who blew themselves up.. THE KING AND I DAY
The wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on Margaret Langdon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam, opened March 29th in 1951 on Broadway. The King and I starred Yul Brynner in the role of the King of Siam. The king who, along with his subjects, valued tradition above all else. From this day forward, the role of the King of Siam belonged to Yul Brynner and no other. Brynner appeared in this part in more than 4,000 performances on both stage and screen (the Broadway show was adapted for Hollywood in 1956).
Anna, the English governess hired to teach the King’s dozens of children, was portrayed by Gertrude Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Brynner acted, danced and sang their way into our hearts with such memorable tunes as "Getting to Know You," "Shall We Dance," "Hello, Young Lovers," "I Whistle a Happy Tune," "We Kiss in a Shadow," "I Have Dreamed," "Something Wonderful," "A Puzzlement" and "March of the Siamese Children."
The King and I ran for a total of 1,246 outstanding performances at New York’s St. James Theatre. And has been revived several times since then.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Mar 30, 2012 9:49:53 GMT -7
March 30th in History:
1135--Moses Maimonides, Spanish-born Jewish philosopher, jurist and physician, was born in Cordoba in present-day Spain; died 1204 at age 69. 1746--Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter; who depicted political tyranny in his works, was born; died 1828 at age 82. 1822--Florida became a U.S. territory. 1842--Dr. Crawford Long became the first physician to use anesthetic (ether) in surgery. 1853--Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch Post Impressionist artist, was born in Groot-Zundert in southern Netherlands; died 1890 at age 37. 1856--the Treaty of Paris was signed putting an end to the Crimean War. 1858--Hymen Lipman was credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser. 1863--George I of Greece was elected King following the deposition of King Otto. 1867--Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly." 1870--the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. 1870--Texas was readmitted to the Union. 1880--Sean O'Casey, the noted Irish playwright, was born; died 1964 at age 84. 1909--the Queensboro Bridge (aka 59th St. Bridge), a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City, opened after 6 years of construction ,$18 million and 50 lives. 1923--the Cunard liner Laconia arrived in New York City, becoming the first passenger ship to circumnavigate the world, a cruise of 130 days. 1945--the Soviet Union invaded Austria in World War II. 1959--a narrowly divided US Supreme Court, in Bartkus v. Illinois, ruled that a conviction in state court following an acquittal in federal court for the same crime did not constitute double jeopardy. 1964--the TV game show Jeopardy!, hosted by Art Fleming, premiered on NBC. 1970--1973 Triple Crown-winning thoroughbred, Secretariat, was born at Meadow Farm in Caroline County, Va. 1972--North Vietnamese forces launched their three-pronged Easter Offensive against South Vietnam, lasting till October. 1975--the South Vietnamese city of Da Nang fell to the North. 1981--Pres. Reagan suffered a punctured lung due to an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer. 1982--the 3rd space shuttle mission was completed when the Columbia successfully landed at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, N.Mex. 1991--Patricia Bowman told authorities she'd been raped hours earlier by William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy, at the family's Palm Beach estate. 1995--the compromise "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the military under certain conditions was struck down by a federal judge in New York as unconstitutional. 1995--Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical condemning abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize. 1999--a jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades. 2002--the US joined other Security Council members in adopting a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat's headquarters was under siege. 2002--Elizabeth-Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother to Elizabeth II, died in her sleep at Royal Lodge, outside London at age 101. 2004--Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, was interred beside her mother, Wilhelmina, in the royal vaults under the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. 2006--American reporter Jill Carroll, a freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was released after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq. 2007--Pres. Bush went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he apologized to troops face to face for shoddy conditions in outpatient housing. 2007--the Food and Drug Administration said it had found melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, in samples of Menu Foods pet food. 2009--Pres. Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry, rejecting GM and Chrysler's restructuring plans and engineering the ouster of GM's chief executive, Rick Wagoner. 2011--Tilikum, the killer whale that drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., resumed performing for the first time since the woman's death. 2011--a top Libyan official, Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, defected to Britain, dealing a blow to leader Moammar Gadhafi. DOCTOR, DOCTOR DAY
From March 30th on, surgery would no longer painful -- at least, while it was being performed. Dr. Crawford W. Long performed the first operation while a patient was anesthetized by ether on this day in 1842 as he removed a tumor from the neck of a boy. Crawford had been observing several party-goers under the influence of nitrous oxide and sulfuric ether. Those folks were feeling no pain. And Crawford’s patient literally felt no pain as the good doctor removed a tumor from the boy’s neck using the party concoction.
This event has been celebrated as Doctors’ Day since this day in 1933. The idea of setting aside a day to honor physicians was conceived by Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond. Doctors throughout the United States celebrate in Dr. Crawford W. Long’s honor and, in honor of ether as an anesthetic.
Give a doctor a red carnation today. It’s the official, designated flower of Doctors’ Day.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Mar 31, 2012 10:30:39 GMT -7
March 31st in History: 1492--Isabella, Queen of Castille issued the Alhambra decree, which ordered her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. 1596--Rene Descartes, French mathematician, scientist and philosopher, was born; died 1650 at age 53. 1671--Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and consort to future King James II, died at age 33 from breast cancer at St. James's Palace, shortly after the birth of her 8th child, 1776--in a letter, Abigail Adams urges her husband John Adams, to "remember the ladies." 1811--Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist who developed the Bunsen Burner, was born in Hanover, Germany. 1836--the first installment of Charles Dickens' first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published. 1854--Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade. 1865--the final offensive of the Army of the Potomac began when Union Gen. Philip Sheridan moved against the left flank of Gen. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia near Dinwiddie Court House. Va. 1889--the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by its designer, Gustave Eiffel, during the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturers. 1914--Octavo Paz, Nobel Prize-winning Mexican poet, writer & diplomat, was born; died 1998 at age 84. 1917 The US took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark. 1927--Cesar Chavez, Mexican-American farm worker and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, was born; died 1993 at age 66. His birthday is a holiday in 8 states 1931, Notre Dame college football coach Knute Rockne, 43, was killed in the crash of a TWA plane in Bazaar, Kan. 1931--Managua, Nicaragua earthquake occurs (magnitude of 6.0) and kills approx. 2,000 people. 1932--Ford Motor Co. publicly unveiled its powerful flathead V8 engine; while not the first eight-cylinder engine, it was the first to be affordable to the general public, and proved very popular. 1933--Pres. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps. 1943--the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! opened on Broadway. 1945--The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 1948--Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe. 1949--Newfoundland (now called Newfoundland and Labrador) entered confederation as Canada's tenth province. 1954--the Air Force Academy was established at Colorado Springs, Colo. 1959--the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet and was granted political asylum in India. 1968--Pres. Johnson stunned the country by announcing at the conclusion of a broadcast address on the suspension of bombing of North Vietnam that he wouldn't seek re-election. 1971--US Army Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians. 1973--the Mississippi River reached its peak level in St. Louis during a record 77-day flood 33 people died and more than $1 billion in damages were incurred.. 1975--UCLA's legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, won his 10th national title. 1976--the N/J. Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan remained comatose and died in 1985.) 1986--167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico. 1987--the US State Department ordered home all 28 remaining US Marine guards at the Moscow embassy after two were charged with espionage. 1990--Poll Tax Riots (London) occur when violence erupted following a peaceful march to protest the new Poll Taxes - 113 injured along with 20 horses. 1991--the Warsaw Pact formally ended as Soviet commanders surrendered their powers in an agreement between pact members and the Soviet Union. 1992--the UN Security Council voted to impose air traffic and weapons sanctions against Libya for not surrendering six men wanted by the US, Britain and France in the bombings of a US jetliner and a French plane. 1993--actor Brandon Lee, 28, was shot to death during the filming of a movie in Wilmington, N.C., by a bullet fragment lodged inside a prop gun. 1994--a state of emergency was declared in the South African Zulu homeland of KwaZulu following deadly fighting in the weeks before the country's first universal-suffrage elections. 1995--Selena Quintanilla Perez was shot by the president of her fan club (Yoland Saldivar) who was embezzling money, and died from loss of blood. 1995--baseball players agreed to end a 232-day strike after a judge granted a preliminary injunction against club owners. 1999--four New York City police officers were charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets. 2004--four American civilian contractors were killed in Fallujah, Iraq; frenzied crowds dragged their burned, mutilated bodies and strung two of them from a bridge. 2002--Pope John Paul II used his Easter message to call for an end to violence in the Holy Land. 2005--Terri Schiavo died at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., 13 days after her feeding tube was removed in a wrenching right-to-die dispute. 2010--New England was hit by the worst flooding in 100 years. 2011--baseball fan Bryan Stow, a paramedic from Santa Cruz, Calif., was brutally beaten following the Dodgers' home opener against the Giants in Los Angeles. EIFFEL TOWER DAY
To the City of Lights we go, down the beautiful streets of Paris, under the Arc de Triumphe and there, before us, the site of one of the world’s most photographed and well-known landmarks, the Eiffel Tower.
It was on March 31st in 1889 that the structure opened in Gay Paree. A beautiful sight, no? Well, not so to writers, Guy deMaupassant and Alexandre Dumas, who condemned the Eiffel Tower as a “horrid nightmare.” Well, no pleasing some people, we guess...
The Eiffel Tower was named after its designer, architect, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel who built the structure for the Paris Exhibition of 1889.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 1, 2012 12:35:55 GMT -7
April Fool's Day in History: 1204--Eleanor of Aquitaine (Queen consort of France and England as wife of Henry II, died at Fontevraud Abbey. 1578--William Harvey, English physician; developed theory of blood circulation, was born; died 1657 at age 79. 1789--the House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York City; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker. 1815--Otto von Bismarck, German statesman; first chancellor of German Empire (1871-90), was born; died 1898 at age 83. 1853--Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first US city to pay its firefighters a regular salary. 1873--RMS Atlantic (a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line) ran onto rocks and sinks off the coast of Nova Scotia killing 562. 1873--Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer & piano virtuoso, was born; died 1943 at age 69. 1891--Wm. Wrigley Co. was founded in Chicago, Ill. selling chewing gum and baking powder. 1918--Great Britain's Royal Air Force was founded. 1924--Adolf Hitler was sent to prison for five years after the unsuccessful "Beer Hall Putsch" in Bavaria. 1933--Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. 1945--US forces invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa, beginning one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war. 1946--an 7.4 magnitude Aleutian Islands earthquake occured and was followed by a Pacific-wide tsunami resulting in 165 casualties. 1947--David Eisenhower, Grandson of Pres. Eisenhower, and son-in-law of Pres. Nixibm turned 65 today. 1950--Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito turned 62 today. 1960--the first weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched from Cape Canaveral. 1962--the Katherine Anne Porter novel Ship of Fools, an allegory about the rise of Nazism in Germany, was first published by Little, Brown & Co. 1963--ABC's soap opera, General Hospital, debuted. 1965--Helena Rubenstein, Polish-American cosmetics industrialist, died. 1970--Pres. Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette ads on radio and TV. 1972--the first Major League Baseball players' strike began; it lasted 12 days. 1973--Project Tiger (a wildlife conservation project to protect the Bengal Tigers) is founded. 1976--Apple Computer, Inc. was established in Cupertino, Calif 1979--Iran declared itself an Islamic Republic. 1982--the US formally transferred control of the Panama Canal Zone to the government of Panama. 1984--R&B dinger Marvin Gaye, 44, was shot to death by his father in Los Angeles, Calif. 1986--world oil prices dipped to less than $10 a barrel. 1987--Pres. Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1." 1991--Moscow food stores closed to curb panic buying in anticipation of government price increases. 1992--Pres. Bush announced a $24 billion aid package to the former Soviet republics. 1992--the National Hockey League Players' Association went on its first-ever strike, which lasted 10 days. 1996--an outbreak of "mad cow" disease forced Britain to plan the mass slaughter of cows. 1998--a US judge dismissed the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones against Pres. Clinton. 1999--a NJ man was arrested and charged with originating the "Melissa" e-mail virus, which infected more than 1 million computers worldwide. 2001--former Yugoslav Pres. Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a 26-hour armed standoff with police at his Belgrade villa. 2002--Israeli tanks and bulldozers rumbled into more Palestinian towns and massed on the edge of Bethlehem in an expansion of a West Bank offensive.. 2003--US rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq. 2008--the Pentagon made public a legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspects. 2009--Benjamin Netanyahu took office as Israel's prime minister for a second time. 2011--Afghans angry over the burning of a Quran at a small Florida church stormed a UN compound in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards. APRIL FOOLS' DAY
Or is it All Fools’ Day? One of the first reportings of All Fools’ Day was in Poor Robin’s Almanack (no, not Poor Richard; but Poor Robin) in 1760. Poor Robin said, “The first of April, some do say, is set apart for All Fools’ Day, but why the people call it so, nor I nor they themselves do know.”
What is an April Fool? Someone who you trick into doing or saying something ludicrous, nonsensical, or fake. In other words, someone you make out to be a fool.
Since this is pretty ludicrous, and you’re reading it on this April Fools’ Day, could it be that you’re an April Fool?
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 2, 2012 9:38:51 GMT -7
April 2nd in History: 742--Charlemagne, King of the Franks, King of the Lombards and Charles I of the Holy Roman Empire, was born; died 814 at age 71. 1513--Spain's Ponce De Leon landed at what is now St. Augustine, Fla., to search for the Fountain of Youth. 1792--the US Congress passed the Coinage Act authorizing the US Mint to coin money, inscribed with the Latin words "E Pluribus Unum," a motto meaning "Out of Many, One." 1805--author Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark; died 1875 at age 70. 1860--the first Italian Parliament met at Turin. 1863--Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled, as rioting erupted in Richmond, Va., sparked by an angry crowd's demand for bread at a bakery. 1865--after a 10-month siege, Union forces under Gen. Grant captured the trenches around Petersburg, Va. 1877--the first White House Easter Egg Roll was conducted. 1875--Walter Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Corporation, was born; died 1940 at age 65. 1891--Max Ernst, the German painter and sculptor influential in the Surrealist movement, was born; died 1976 at age 94, one day before his 95th birthday. 1912--the just-completed RMS Titanic left Belfast to begin its sea trials eight days before the start of its ill-fated maiden voyage. 1917--Pres. Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” 1917--Jeannette Rankin, a representative from Montana, took her seat as the first woman elected to Congress. 1932--Charles Lindbergh left $50,000 in a New York City cemetery in hope of regaining his kidnapped son. 1941--German Lt. Gen. Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox", began the recapture of Libya. 1956--the soap operas As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiered on CBS television. 1968--the science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey had its world premiere in Washington, D.C. 1972--North Vietnamese troops captured part of Quang Tri. 1974--French Pres. Georges Pompidou died in Paris. 1975--the South Vietnamese evacuation of Qui Nhon began. 1979--anthrax poisoning killed 62 in Russia. 1982--Argentine troops stormed the Falkland Islands, overwhelming the small British Royal Marine unit stationed there. 1987--the US Senate overrode a Reagan veto by one vote to enact a highway bill that allowed states to raise speed limits to 65 mph in certain areas. 1989--Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev began a visit China. 1991--Iraq crushed monthlong insurgencies by northern Kurds and southern Shiite Muslims. 1992--a New York jury convicted mob boss John Gotti in five killings, racketeering and other charges. 1995--an explosion in Gaza killed eight people, including a leader of the military wing of Hamas. 2000--Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke that left him comatose. 2002--Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, beginning a 39-day standoff. 2005--Pope John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, died at his Vatican apartment after 25 years as head of the Catholic Church. 2006--US journalist Jill Carroll returned to Boston after being held in Iraq for 82 days by kidnappers. 2006--at least 50 people were killed in Iraq in violence that included a mortar attack, military firefights and roadside bombings. 2007--the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. 2007--a tsunami in the Solomon Islands killed at least 50 people. 2007--The US and South Korea ended 10 months of negotiations with an agreement on bilateral free trade. 2008--the opposition leader in the Zimbabwe presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, who refused to concede, widespread violence cropped up as a long, drawn-out political drama continued. 2009--a 19-count federal racketeering indictment was returned against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who denied doing anything illegal. 2011--highly radioactive water leaked into the sea from a crack at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant. UGLY DUCKLING DAY
Denmark’s most famous author, Hans Christian Andersen, was born on April 2nd in 1805. His life was a true tale of the boy who went from rags to riches. He was born to a poor family; his father, a shoemaker, died when Hans was 11 years old. When he was just 14, Hans left his hometown of Odense, Denmark and traveled to Copenhagen where he, literally, became a starving artist (actor, singer, dancer). It was there that he met the man who became his lifelong friend and benefactor, Jonas Collin. With Collin’s help, Andersen received a royal scholarship and completed his education.
By his 25th birthday, Hans was on his way to a writing career that would make him one of the most widely-read authors in the world. His first recognition came for his many plays and novels. Five years later, he penned his first of 168 fairy tales. Maybe you recognize a few ...
The folk tales: "The Tinder-Box," "Little Claus and Big Claus;" tales that made fun of human faults: "The Emperor’s New Suit" (also known as "The Emperor’s New Clothes"), T"he Princess and the Pea;" tales based on his life: "The Ugly Duckling," "She was Good for Nothing," and others, some philosophical, some with sly humor and some with serious moral messages: "The Snow Queen," "The Red Shoes," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Marsh King’s Daughter."
As Andersen’s popularity rose in the 1840s, he found himself rubbing shoulders with kings and queens, famous composers, poets and novelists. He became wealthy enough to visit throughout Europe, writing about his experiences as he traveled. In Sweden is often considered his best travel book. The sensitive writer also wrote his own story in 1855, The Fairy Tale of My Life. Hans Christian Anderson died a lonely man on August 4, 1875, but his stories and fairy tales live on, entertaining children and adults, inspiring new writers.
In fact, the Hans Christian Andersen Award is presented every other year to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. The ‘Little Nobel Prize’, as it is often called, is the highest international recognition bestowed on an author (since 1956) and to an illustrator (since 1966). It is presented by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
"The Ugly Duckling" would be proud.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 3, 2012 9:39:56 GMT -7
April 3rd in History:
33--Jesus Christ crucified (according to astronomer Humphreys & Waddington) 1043--Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. 1559--the 2nd Peace of Cateau-Cambrsis treaty was signed by Spain and France, ending the Italian Wars. 1657--Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell refused tje Emg;osj crown. 1776--Congress authorized privateers to attack British vessels. 1776--George Washington received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard College. 1783--Sweden and US signed a treaty of friendship and commerce. 1783--Washington Irving, author who wrote "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", was born; died 1859 at age 76. 1790--the US Revenue Marine Service (US Coast Guard) was established. 1860--the Pony Express postal service began with riders leaving St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento at the same time. 1865--as the Civil War drew to a close, Richmond, Va., and nearby Petersburg surrendered to Union forces. 1882--Jesse James was shot to death by Robert Ford, a former gang member who hoped to collect the reward on James' head. 1895--Oscar Wilde's criminal libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry opened. 1898--Henry R. Luce, the American magazine publisher who created Time, Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated, was born; died 1967 at age 68. 1913--British suffragette Emily Pankhurst sentenced to 3 years in jail. 1917--Lenin leaves Switzerland for St Petersburg, Russia. 1918--the Allied Supreme War Council formally made France's Gen. Ferdinand Foch commander in chief on the Western Front. 1922--Stalin appointed General Secretary of Communist Party. 1923--Doris Day, actress {Pillow Talk and singer {"Que cera, cera"}, turned 89 today. 1926--second flight of a liquid-fueled rocket by Robert Goddard. 1926--Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Mercury astronaut; one of three who died in Apollo I fire in 1957 at age 40. 1930--Ras Tafari became Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia. 1934--Dame Jane Goodall, primatologist, turned 78 today. 1936--Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed for killing the 20-month-old son of Charles A. Lindbergh. 1942--Japanese forces began their final assault on Bataan against American and Filipino troops who surrendered six days later; the capitulation was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March. 1944--the US Supreme Court ruled that barring blacks from voting violated the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 1946--Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander held responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed by firing squad outside Manila. 1948--Pres. Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan, aimed to help European countries recover from World War II. 1950--Michigan Hudsonville-Standale tornado was an F5 tornado that devastated the area killing 18 and injuring 340. 1968--Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., less than 24 hours before he was assassinated. 1974--Super Tornado Outbreak (biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history) involves 148 confirmed tornados in 13 US states that kill 315 with nearly 5,500 injured. 1975--Pres. Ford said losses in South Vietnam shouldn't be regarded as a sign that US commitments wouldn't be fulfilled elsewhere. 1979--Jane M. Byrne was elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Wallace D. Johnson. 1986--IBM PC Convertible (IBM's first laptop computer and 1st to use 3.5" floppy disks) was released. 1988--Mario Lemieux won the NHL scoring title, stopping Wayne Gretzky's scoring streak. 1989--Richard M. Daley was elected mayor of Chicago, the post his father had occupied for 21 years. 1991--the UN Security Council passed the cease-fire resolution to end the Persian Gulf War. 1995--the baseball owners and players approved an agreement, ending what was then the longest strike in sports history. 1996--a USAF CT-43 crashed in Croatia killed 35 people, including US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and other officials and business leaders on an official trade mission. 1996--the FBI raided a Montana cabin and arrested former college professor Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber whose mail bombs had killed three people and injured 23 more since the 1970s. 1997--Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said construction of a Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem would continue, despite a series of fatal confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians. 2000--a federal judge ruled that Microsoft Corp. had violated U.S. antitrust laws. 2002--Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank's largest city, Nablus, laid siege to a refugee camp in Jenin, battling Palestinians who'd barricaded entrances and fought back with bombs and guns and also encircled 100s of Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Bethlehem church marking Jesus' birthplace. 2003--Pres. Bush told US Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that victory was at hand in Iraq. 2003--as cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) mounted the World Health Organization advised against travel to Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong. 2004--as Spanish police closed in, three men believed to be behind the Madrid train bombings blew themselves up, also killing one officer and injuring 11 others. 2005--Syria said it would withdraw all troops from Lebanon. 2006--a Virginia jury decided confessed al-Qaida member Zacarias Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty. 2006--former Liberian Pres. Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. 2007--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] led a delegation to the Mideast for peace talks with Syria and Israel that brought a shower of criticism from the White House. 2007--TGV (French high-speed train) brokke a world speed record when it achieved a speed of 574.8 km/h or 357.2 mph. 2008--as FAA regulators opened congressional testimony about national airline safety concerns, rising fuel costs and the economy, three bankrupt air carriers, Aloha, Skybus and ATA, ceased operations. 2009--a Vietnamese immigrant opened fire in an immigrant community center in Binghamton, N.Y., killing 13 people before taking his own life. 2009--Iowa's Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. 2011--the US agreed to NATO's request for a 48-hour extension of American participation in coalition air strikes against targets in Libya. 2011--US Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew fatally shot himself at a remote Afghanistan patrol base; three Marines were court-martialed for alleged hazing. PONY EXPRESS DAY
Pony Express mail service began April 3rd in St. Joseph, Missouri. The year was 1860 and the first Pony Express rider was heading for California. The next day, another rider left Sacramento, California heading east for Missouri.
Each rider had a 75 to 100 mile run before a switch was made with another rider. The switch was made at one of 190 way stations along the route; each way station being about ten to fifteen miles apart.
The Pony Express riders delivered the mail within ten days (similar to our current snail mail) for postage paid of $5 per ounce.
This style of mail service became antiquated within a short two years, being put out to pasture by the advent of the overland telegraph.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 4, 2012 16:14:12 GMT -7
GIAMATTI DAY
What do baseball, literature and Yale University have in common? If you said Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, you would be absolutely correct! Angelo Giamatti was born on April 4th in 1938 in the Boston area, growing up in South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Better known as A. Bartlett Giamatti, he was educated at Yale and became a professor of literature at the highly respected university. In 1978 Giamatti became Yale’s youngest president.
Having gone as far as he could go at Yale, the professor, who had always been a Boston Red Sox fan, decided to take baseball more seriously. It was 1986 and Bart, as he was then known, was made president of major-league baseball’s National League.
Three years later, Bart Giamatti became Commissioner of Baseball. As Commissioner, he hoped to keep baseball an outdoor game that was played on real grass, "Americans have become accustomed to associating summer’s renewal of the earth and fall’s harvest with baseball. You can’t conceive of baseball being played in the winter. It is fitted to the season in an extraordinary way."
Bart Giamatti’s last role as Commissioner was played out just eight days before his death on September 1, 1989. He gave Pete Rose a life sentence: no more baseball (because Rose had bet on the game).
April 4th in History
1460--the University of Basle in Swizerland was established. 1541--Ignatius of Loyola became 1st superior-general of Jesuits. 1581--Francis Drake was awarded a knighthood for being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the Earth. 1655--the English navy beat the Barbary pirates in the battle at Postage Farina, Tunis. 1721-- Robert Walpole was appointed First Lord under George I, serving as the de facto first Prime Minister. 1776--Gen. Washington began marching his unpaid soldiers from their headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., toward New York in anticipation of a British invasion. 1788--the publication of the Federalist Papers, one of the greatest works on US political theory, was completed. 1818--Congress decided the US flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state. 1841--Pres. William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after serving for one month, the first to die in office; succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, 10th President of the US. 1850--the city of Los Angeles was incorporated. 1859--"Dixie" was performed publicly for the first time by Bryant's Minstrels at Mechanics' Hall in New York. 1862--the Civil War battle of Yorktown began. 1887--Susanna Medora Salter was elected as the first woman mayor in the US, serving for one year in Argonia, Kan. 1896--the Yukon gold rush began with the announcement of a strike in the Northwest Territory of Canada. 1902--British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships at Oxford University in England. 1905-- Kangra (India) earthquake killed close to 19,800 people and destroyed most buildings. 1912--China proclaimed a republic in Tibet, a move fiercely opposed by Tibetans. 1914--the first serialized moving picture, The Perils of Pauline starring Pearl White, opened i New YOrk City. 1915--Muddy Waters, blues musician, was born; died 1983 at age 68. 1918--the World War I 2nd battle of the Somme ended. 1928--Maya Angelou, poet, turned 84 today. 1932--after 5 years of research, Professor C.G. King, of the University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C. 1933--theNavy airship USS Akron crashed in New Jersey, killing 73 people in one of the first air disasters in history. 1949--representatives of 12 nations gathered in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the NATO alliance. 1960-- Senegal declared its independence from France. 1968--Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of a Memphis hotel. 1969--Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first total artificial heart (developed by Domingo Liotta) into Haskell Karp for 64 hours until a human heart was available. 1974--Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's career home run record by hitting his 714th round-tripper in Cincinnati. 1975--Microsoft Corporation was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, N.Mex. 1975--more than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a US Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after takeoff from Saigon. 1973--World Trade Center in New York City was dedicated in a ribbon cutting ceremony, the two buildings having cost the Port Authority $900 million. 1981--Henry Cisneros became the first Hispanic elected mayor of a major U.S. city - San Antonio, Texas 1983--the space shuttle Challenger lifted off on its inaugural mission. 1988--the Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct and removed him from office. 1991--Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) and four others were killed when their chartered airplane collided with a helicopter over a schoolyard near Philadelphia. 1992--Sam Moore Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, died of cancer at 74. His retail store chain helped make him one of the world's richest men. 1993--Pres.l Clinton and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin ended their two-day summit in Canada, with a larger than expected U.S. aid pledge of $1.62 billion. 2000--the Nasdaq composite index plunged 574 points (more than 13%) but then rose 500 points in one of the wildest days ever on Wall Street. 2001--former Philippine Pres. Joseph Estrada, ousted in January during a popular uprising, was indicted for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. 2002--Pres. Bush demanded Israelis stop attacks on Palestinians and pull back. 2002--two teenagers were sentenced to long prison terms in the murders of Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop. 2003--ccoalition forces encircled Baghdad and secured Saddam International Airport in overnight fighting. 2004--3 explosions killed five people and hurt at least 100 others at a residential housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2005--Pope John Paul II's body lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Cause of death was said officially to be septic shock and cardio-circulatory failure. 2006--an Iraqi tribunal announced that former leader Saddam Hussein faced genocide charges for gassing Kurds in the 1980s. 2007--radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.; later fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC. 2007-- Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad announced the surprise release of 15 captive British sailors and marines. 2008--police raided a West Texas polygamist ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and removed 400 minors after reports of sexual abuse of children. 2008--Chinese paramilitary police are reported to have killed eight people after opening fire on several hundred protesting Tibetan monks and villagers at a monastery in the Sichuan province. 2011--the Obama administration gave up on trying avowed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators in civilian federal courts and said it would prosecute them instead before military commissions.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 5, 2012 15:37:50 GMT -7
SUPERSTAR DAY
Some of the world’s best-known superstars were born on April 5th, starting in 1900 with Spencer Tracy. A year later Melvyn Douglas made the scene, followed in seven years by Bette Davis. Then eight years later Gregory Peck was born. For those of you who lost track, that would be 1916.
By 1979 they had collected a total of seven Oscars between them. Bette Davis copped the Best Actress Award in 1935 for her performance in Dangerous and then again in 1938 for Jezebel. It was the same year that Spencer Tracy took home the Best Actor trophy for his role as Father Flanagan in Boys Town. The year before, Tracy won the coveted statue for Captains Courageous. In 1962 the honors went to Gregory Peck for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird. Melvyn Douglas picked up his two Oscars as Best Supporting Actor in Hud in 1963 and Being There in 1979.
Other movies associated with these timeless superstars include Father of the Bride and Inherit the Wind for Spencer Tracy, As You Desire Me for Melvyn Douglas, Gentleman’s Agreement and Roman Holiday for Gregory Peck and All About Eve and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? for Bette Davis. Go rent a few of these classic films and see what movies were really about ... when Those Were the Days.
April 5th in History
1588--Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (Leviathan) and political theorist, was born; died 1679 at age 91. 1614--Pocahontas, daughter of a chief, married English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Va. 1621--the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts on a monthlong return trip to England. 1768--the first US Chamber of Commerce was founded in New York City. 1792--Pres. Washington cast the first veto, rejecting a measure for apportioning representatives among the states. 1856--Booker T. Washington, the educator and reformer who became a spokesperson for blacks at the turn of the 20th century, was born in Franklin County, Va; died 1915 at age 59. 1862--the monthlong siege of Yorktown began in Virginia. (eventually, the Confederate defenders were finally able to slip away and head toward Williamsburg.) 1887--in Tuscumbia, Ala., Anne Sullivan achieved a breakthrough as her blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller, learned the meaning of the word "water" as spelled out in the Manual Alphabet. 1895--playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused the writer of homosexual practices. 1933--Pres. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Civilian Conservation Corps. 1951--Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death in New York for stealing atomic secrets for the Soviet Union. 1968--violence erupted in several US cities in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1976--reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. 71, died of kidney failure during a flight from Acapulco, Mexico, to Houston. 1982--the British fleet sailed to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentina. 1984--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the highest-scoring player in NBA history with 31,421 career points. (He retired with 38,387 points.) 1986--two US servicemen and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a West Berlin disco that Washington blamed on Libya. In retaliation, U.S. jetfighters bombed Tripoli and Benghazi 10 days later. 1987--Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut. 1988--a 15-day hijacking ordeal began as gunmen forced a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in Iran. 1991--former Sen. John Tower [R-Tex.] and 22 others were killed in a commuter plane crash in Brunswick, Ga. 1993--a Salvadoran Boeing 767 jetliner ran off the runway on landing in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and crashed into a residential area. All 213 people aboard the plane survived. 1999--one of two men charged in the October 1998 beating death of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two life sentences. 1999--Libya handed over for trial two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to be tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law. 2002--the coffin of The Queen Mother Elizabeth was carried on a gun carriage through the streets of London to lie in state at Westminster Abbey.2002--the International Committee of the Red Cross called Israel's attacks on its vehicles and facilities "totally unacceptable." 2004--the California Supreme Court ruled that a defendant who kills a pregnant woman can be charged with murdering the fetus even if he didn't know she was pregnant. 2004--suspected Maoist rebels torched at least 18 oil tankers carrying fuel from India to Nepal. 2005--US officials feared Iraqi guerrilla leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was behind the well-orchestrated attack on Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison in which 44 U.S. troops were wounded. 2006--I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former aide to U.S. Vice Pres. Cheney, reportedly told a federal grand jury that Pres. Bush authorized him to leak classified information to a reporter. 2007--FBI Special Agent Barry Lee Bush was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent as a stakeout team closed in on three suspected bank robbers in Readington, N..j. 2007-- A Greek cruise ship, the Sea Diamond, sank off an Aegean Sea island, forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people; two French tourists went missing and were presumed to have drowned. 2007--Iran released the 15-member British naval crew seized in the Persian Gulf and held for 13 days. 2007--the US Defense Department said it planned to deploy 12,000 more National Guard members to Iraq and Afghanistan. 2008--An official US Army survey said the US Army was alarmed about potential mental health problems in soldiers deployed repeatedly to war zones. 2010--an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Charleston, W.Va., killed 29 workers. 2010--in a televised rescue, 115 Chinese coal miners were freed after spending eight days trapped in a flooded mine, surviving an accident that had killed 38.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 6, 2012 17:38:12 GMT -7
LOWELL THOMAS DAY
Lowell Thomas, one of America’s most respected newscasters was born in Woodington, Ohio and grew up in Colorado. With degrees from the University of Colorado, New York University, and Columbia University, he became one of the best educated newsmen in the business.
And he started in the business at the age of 19 as a reporter for the New York Daily News. Thomas gained notoriety when -- as cameraman Harry Chase filmed -- he reported his eye witness account of author T.E. Lawrence’s 1917 escapades. Lawrence was the British military liaison to the Arabs in their revolt against the Turks. Lowell Thomas’ romantic and adventurous tales of the Brit he referred to as “Lawrence of Arabia,” played to audiences throughout the world, making Lawrence a movie star and Thomas a millionaire.
Lowell Thomas began his long broadcasting career in 1930, as a replacement for NBC’s Floyd Gibbons. His career spanned over five decades and three networks. The first sixteen years were spent at NBC where his broadcasts became so important that the network placed two microphones in front of him -- just in case one failed. Thomas would scoop the other networks and the newspapers wielding a clout and influence never before heard on the airwaves.
After NBC, Thomas moved to CBS, where he stayed for thirty years. His travel adventures made for good news stories and he incorporated them into his nightly news program in a feature called the Tall Tale Club.
Then, in his last years (Thomas died Aug. 29, 1981), he hosted Lowell Thomas Remembers, a series on National Public Radio. We remember Lowell Thomas as the consummate news broadcaster, and the first to broadcast at one time or another from a ship, an airplane, a submarine and a coal mine.
So long, until tomorrow.
April 6th in History
648 BC--the earliest total solar eclipse, chronicled by Greeks, was recorded. 1199--King Richard the Lionheart (Richard I) died after being wounded while besieging the castle of Chalus in France. 1483--Raphael, Italian painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance, was born; died 1520 at age 37. 1580--an earthquake badly damaged St Paul's Cathedral and other churches in London. 1652--Jan van Riebeeck landed at Table Bay, at the Cape, South Africa, to establish a trading station for the Dutch East India Co. 1663--Charles II of England signed the Carolina Charter. 1789--the first US Congress began regular sessions at Federal Hall in New York City. 1830--The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints was founded in a log cabin in Fayette, N.Y. by Joseph Smith. 1851--Portland, Ore., was founded. 1862--the Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day. 1868--Mormon Church leader Brigham Young married his 27th, and last, wife. 1886--the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia, was incorporated. 1893--Salt Lake Temple (largest and best-known temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was dedicated. 1896--after 1,500 years, the first modern Olympics formally opened in Athens, Greece. 1909--Robert E. Peary, Matthew Henson rand four Inuitseached the North Pole. 1917--the US Dongress declared war on Germany. 1928--James D. Watson, co-Nobel Prize-winning scientist (discovery of the DNA double helix)), turned 84 today. 1931--nine black youths accused of raping two white women went on trial in Scottsboro, Ala. All were convicted in a hasty trial but by 1950 were free by parole, appeal or escape. 1936--Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak resulted in 17 tornadoes striking the southeastern U.S. and killing approx. 436. 1937--country singer Merle Haggard turned 75 today. 1938--Du Pont researchers Roy Plunkett and Jack Rebok accidentally created the chemical compound that was later marketed as Teflon. 1941--Germany invaded Greece and Yugoslavia, and heavily bombed Belgrade. 1942--Japan bombed India for the first time and attacked ports in Madras. 1945--the Japanese warship Yamato and nine other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the US fleet off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day. 1947--the first Tony Awards, honoring distinguished work in the theater, were presented in New York City. 1954--a month after being criticized by Edward R. Murrow on CBS' See It Now[/img], Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, [R-Wis.] given the chance to respond on the program, charged that Murrow had, in the past, "engaged in propaganda for Communist causes." 1965--the US launched the I[/i]ntelsat I, also known as the "Early Bird" communications satellite, into orbit. 1968--federal troops and National Guardsmen were ordered out in Chicago, Washington and Detroit, as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1982--an unprecedented blizzard for April dumped 1-2 feet of snow bringing the northeast coast of the US to a halt. 1991--Iraq's parliament accepted a permanent cease-fire in the Gulf War. 1992--the European Community recognized the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina as an independent state. 1992--science fiction pioneer Isaac Asimov, 72, died after a lengthy illness. 1994--the presidents of the African nations of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a plane crash in Kigali, tiggering bloody fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups that left hundreds of thousands of people dead. 1996--rioting broke out in Liberia following the arrest of factional leader Roosevelt Johnson on murder charges. 1998--US health officials announced that tamoxifen, a synthetic hormone, prevented breast cancer in women at high risk. 2003--UN officials said they had reports that at least 966 people had been killed three days earlier in a dozen Congolese villages in an area rich in minerals. 2005--Prince Rainier III of Monaco, 81, one of Europe's longest-reigning monarchs, died from multiple organ failure; he was succeeded by his son, Prince Albert. 2006--health officials said bird flu continued to spread with the United Kingdom and Burkino Faso reporting their first cases. 2006--a translation of the so-called "Gospel of Judas" was released 18 centuries after it was written and 30 years after its discovery in Egypt. 2007--a UN-sponsored scientific panel warned of dire consequences unless worldwide buildup in greenhouse gases was cut back. 2007--the Solomon Islands were hit for a second day with an earthquake that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. The death toll stood at 30 from the first quake, which measured at 8. 2007--British sailors and marines newly freed by Iran said they were blindfolded, isolated in cold stone cells and tricked into fearing execution while being coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters. 2007--a suicide bomber smashed a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas into a police checkpoint in Ramadi, Iraq, killing 27 people. 2008--American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled some 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers. 2008--dozens of human rights protesters were arrested in London after they clashed with police who lined the route of the Olympic torch relay to Beijing. 2009--a 5.8 earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy killing 307. 2011--Portugal became the third debt-stressed European country to need a bailout. 2012--the Jewish celebration of Passover began at sunset. Thought for Today: "Never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning." —Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), author & mathematician.
[/size][/color]
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 8, 2012 17:54:45 GMT -7
GET ALONG LITTLE DOGIE DAY
Godshall Ranch, Apple Valley, California was the site of the first Intercollegiate Rodeo on April 8th in 1939. The students who competed came from just about every major college and university campus in the western United States.
The young cowboys and cowgirls competed under the guidance of world champion professional cowboys. Assisting were Harry Carey, Dick Foran, Curley Fletcher, Tex Ritter and Errol Flynn. These stars were used to performing their own rodeo tricks. There were no stunt men or stunt women in those days. The Hollywood stars roped their own little dogies.
The competition was such a success and drew so much attention that it sparked the creation of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association now headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington.
Coincidentally, the ‘Father of Canadian Rodeo’ was born in 1872 on April 8th in Payson, Utah. O. Raymond Knight produced Canada’s first rodeo, Raymond Stampede in 1902. A year later, he built the first grandstand for rodeo fans and the first chute to channel riders and their steeds as they enter the arena.
April 8th in History
217--Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antonius), Roman emperor noted for his brutality, was assassinated as he launched a second campaign against the Parthians. 1093--Winchester Cathedral (one of the largest cathedrals in England) was dedicated by Bishop Walkelin 14 years after its construction began. 1513--explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain. 1778--John Adams arrived in Paris to replace Silas Dean in negotiations with France. 1795--George IV (then the Prince of Wales) marries his cousin Caroline of Brunswick at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace. 1820--the Venus de Milo (ancient Greek statue created between 130 and 100 BC that is believed to depict Aphrodite) iwa discovered by a farmer on the Greek island in a buried niche. 1834--Cornelius Lawrence became the first US mayor elected by popular vote in a city election in New York City. 1864--The Confederates routed Union troops at the Battle of Mansfield, La. 1873--Alfred Paraf of New York City patented oleomargarine. 1898--Lord Kitchener captured the Mahdi at Atbara River after defeating his Sudanese army. 1904--Longacre Square (intersection in midtown Manhattan of 42nd St, Bloomingdale Road and 7th Avenue) is renamed Times Square. 1904--Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale. It settled all global differences between them, including disputes over Newfoundland, West Africa, Egypt and Morocco. 1911--an explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Ala., claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts loaned out from prisons. 1913--the 17th amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was ratified. 1916--five were killed in a California road race. 1917--Austria-Hungary, an ally of Germany, severed diplomatic relations with the US. 1935--the US Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of Pres. Roosevelt's "New Deal." 1938--Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general, turned 74. 1939 --one day after invading Albania, Italian troops took the capital, Tirana, and King Zog fled to Greece. 1944--the Soviets attacked the Germans in a drive to expel them from the Crimea. 1946--the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for its final session. 1950--Sen. Joseph McCarthy labels Professor Owen Lattimore "extremely dangerous" in a carefully worded public speech, but stops short of calling him a Soviet spy. 1952--Pres.Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike. 1961--a suspected bomb exploded aboard the passenger liner MV Dara in the Persian Gulf, causing it to sink; 238 of the 819 people aboard were killed. 1953--in Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta was convicted of involvement with the Mau Mau insurrection and was sentenced with five others to seven years' hard labor. 1960 --the US Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Bill. 1969--The Montreal Expos and the New York Mets played in New York's Shea Stadium, what was the first international baseball game in the major leagues. 1970--the Senate rejected Pres. Nixon's nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court 1971 - Chicago became the first rock group to play New York's Carnegie Hall. 1973--Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, draftsman and sculptor who co-founded the Cubist movement, died in Mougins, France from heart failure at age 91. 1974--Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's long-standing career record. Aaron ended with 755 home runs. 1977--Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted he had violated the country's currency laws; he later resigned. 1990--Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the ailment at age 18. 1990--Twin Peaks premiered on ABC-TV. 1992--tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS that he had contracted from a blood transfusion. 1993--Marian Anderson, the first African-American singer to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera, died at age 91. 1994--Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, 27, was found dead in his Seattle home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. 2002--Suzan-Lori Parks became the first black woman to win a Pulitzer {roze for drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. 2002--Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein temporarily halted his country's oil exports, a move, he said, was aimed at damaging US economy. 2002--Israel announced it would pull back from two West Bank cities, taking note of Pres. Bush's plea. 2005--world leaders joined 250,000 pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome's St. Peter's Square . 2005--Eric Rudolph agreed to plead guilty to four bombings, including one at the 1966 Olympics in Atlanta, in order to escape the death penalty. 2006--a White House spokesman said Pres.Bush approved a leak of classified information, as charged in the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby case,. 2007--officials said three explosions in Iraq killed at least 29 people and wounded 52 others. 2008--Bahrain World Trade Center (reportedly the world's first building to integrate wind turbines) was completed. 2009--Somali pirates hijacked the US-flagged sk Alabama. (The crew retook the cargo ship, and Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates holding the ship's American captain.) 2011--Congressional and White House negotiators struck a last-minute budget deal ahead of a midnight deadline, averting a federal shutdown and cutting billions in spending.
Thought for Today: "The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants." — Gen. of the Army Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 9, 2012 16:47:06 GMT -7
3-D MOVIE DAY
The year was 1953. Warner Brothers, the first of the major Hollywood studios to introduce 3-D motion pictures, chose April 9th to premiere The House of Wax at the Paramount Theatre in New York City. The stage show preceding the movie was headed by singer Eddie Fisher. The film’s stars, Vincent Price, Phyllis Kirk and Frank Lovejoy attended the premiere.
A precursor to Warner’s 3-D presentation occurred in 1922 when The Power of Love opened in Los Angeles. The feature-length movie was filmed in a stereoscopic process called Fairall.
The first official 3-D movie (viewed with special glasses), Bwana Devil, premiered in LA five months before the major studios got into the act. It starred Robert Stack and Barbara Britton. Although the critics panned the flick as “low-grade melodrama with Polaroid glasses,” the long lines at the box office convinced Warner and others to plan their own 3-D productions. In fact, 23 3-D films were released in 1953, The House of Wax being the first.
April 4th in History
1416--Henry V of England has his coronation at Westminster Abbey. 1492--Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance, became ill suddenly and died at age 43. 1682--French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France. 1770--Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay (Australia). 1778--Jeremiah Wadsworth was named commissary general of the Continental Army. 1816--the first all-black US religious denomination, the AME church, was organized in Philadelphia. 1833--the first municipally supported public library opened in Peterborough, N.H. 1859--Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) received his Mississippi pilot's license. 1865--Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. 1866--the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, which granted blacks the rights and privileges of US citizenship and formed the basis for the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. 1881--After a one-day trial, Billy the Kid was found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County, N. Mex.sheriff and was sentenced to hang 1898--Paul Robeson, singer, actor & black activist, was born; died 1976 at age 78. 1869--the Hudson Bay Co. ceded its territory to Canada. 1898--Curly Lambeau, football coach and founder of the Green Bay Packers, was born; died 1965 at age 67. 1903--Gregory Pincus, the American scientist whose discoveries led to the development of the first birth-control pills, was born; died 1967 at age 84. 1912--on the day Fenway Park opened, the Boston Red Sox defeated Harvard 2-0. 1918--the World War I battle of Lys began. 1926--Hugh Hefner, Playboy magazine founder, turned 86 today. 1928--Mae West made her New York debut in a titillating play called Diamond Lil, which critics detested, but the public loved. 1939--on Easter Sunday, contralto Marian Anderson gave a free open-air concert before more than 75,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her use of Constitution Hall because of her race. 1940--Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. 1942--US and Philippine defenders on Bataan capitulated to Japanese forces. 1945--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian and anti-Nazi was executed in Flossenburg concentration camp. 1947--a tornado roared through at least 12 towns in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 169 people, traveling 221 miles. 1959--NASA introduced America's first seven astronauts ( Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton) to the public, all military test pilots (Project Mercury). 1959--Frank Lloyd Wright. architect, interior designer, writer and educator, died at age 91 in Phoenix, Ariz. 1962--Sophia Loren won the Best Actress Oscar for Two Women, Maximilian Schell for Judgment at Nuremberg and West Side Story won for Best Picture. 1963--by an act of Congress, British statesman Winston Churchill became an honorary U.S. citizen. 1965--the newly built Astrodome in Houston featured its first baseball game, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York Yankees. (The Astros won, 2-1, in 12 innings.) 1967--the Boeing 737 makes its maiden flight. 1969--the Chicago Eight, indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention, plead not guilty. 1970--Paul McCartney announced the official split of the Beatles. 1976--the US and the Soviet Union agreed on the size of nuclear tests for peaceful use. 1983--the space shuttle Challenger ended its first mission with a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. 1987--Secretary of State George Shultz states that he is "damned angry" about possible Soviet spy activity in the American embassy in the Soviet Union. 1989--troops clashed with nationalist demonstrators in the capital of the Soviet republic of Georgia. 1991--the Soviet republic of Georgia declared its independence. 1992--a federal jury in Miami convicted deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega on cocaine trafficking charges. 1996--former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski [D-Ill.] pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. 1996--Pres. Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. (However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.) 1997--a government of unity was launched in Angola, three years after the end of the country's 19-year civil war, with the seating of 70 members of the rebel UNITA party in parliament. 1998--tornadoes and storms took 39 lives in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. 1999--Cincinnati, Ohio tornado resulted in 59 confirmed cyclones that struck in the early morning hours, killing 6 people in total. 2000--Peru's Pres. Alberto Fujimori failed to win a first-round election victory, forcing a run-off in May that he won. However, a vote-fraud scandal forced him to step down later in the year. 2001--American Airlines' parent company acquired bankrupt Trans World Airlines. 2002--Great Britain said goodbye to the Queen Mother Elizabeth with a funeral at Westminster Abbey. 2002--Palestinian militants killed 13 Israeli soldiers during intense fighting in a refugee camp in Jenin, West Bank. 2003--the mood in Iraq became exuberant as Iraqis, with help from Americans, toppled a 20-foot statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square. 2004--authorities in Bulgaria said at least 40 people were injured, some seriously, in a toxic gas attack on a police station in Sofia. 2005--Charles, Prince of Wales, marries Camilla Parker Bowles at Windsor Guildhall in a civil ceremony, the 1st time a royal has been civilly wed in England She took the title duchess of Cornwall. 2005--Authorities in Zambia, said at least 42 schoolchildren were killed near Lusaka when the truck in which they were riding overturned. 2007--Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad announced that his country could produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale. 2007--tens of thousands of Shiites marched in Iraq to demand that U.S. forces leave their country. 2007--the death toll in the earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands was placed at 39 with nearly 7,000 people homeless. 2008--the World Bank reported that worldwide food prices had risen 83% over the past three-years. 2011--a man armed with several weapons opened fire in a crowded shopping mall in the Netherlands, killing six people before committing suicide. 2011--Sidney Lumet, the award-winning director of such American film classics as Network, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and 12 Angry Men, died in New York at age 86. 2012--Easter Monday - Monday after Easter when egg rolling is done on the White House lawn.
Thought for Today: "Thinking is like loving or dying. Each of us must do it for ourselves." —Josiah Royce (1855-1916), philosopher.
|
|
|
Post by pegasus on Apr 10, 2012 17:53:50 GMT -7
PGA DAY
Inaugurated in 1916, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) held its first championship tournament April 10th. This first PGA Championship title went to Britisher, Jim Barnes. Barnes won the match-play event at Siwanoy golf course in Bronxville, NY and was presented with a trophy and the major share of the $2,580 purse.
Much has changed in the PGA since that spring day in 1916. The event was changed to a 72-hole, stroke-play game in 1958. The LPGA for women golfers was instituted in 1950 and the Senior PGA Tour for players 50 and older began in 1982.
Two players have won the title five times: Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus. Hagen also holds the record for most consecutive wins from 1924 through 1927. The lowest 72-hole total of 271 was garnered by Bobby Nichols in 1964. The honors of being the oldest champion belongs to Julius Boros. He won in 1968 at the age of 48 plus 140 days; while Gene Sarazen was given the title of youngest champion. In 1922, Gene was just 20 years and 173 days old when he took home the PGA title.
We won’t even mention what today’s PGA purses are worth. Fore!
April 10th in History
1790--merchant Robert Gray docked at Boston Harbor, becoming the first American to circumnavigate the globe. He sailed from Boston in September 1787. 1849--William Hunt of New York patented the first safety pin. 1864--Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico. 1919--Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary during the Mexican Revolution, was ambushed and killed in Morelos by government forces. 1942-- Japanese soldiers herded U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war on Bataan in the Philippines and forced them to march to another camp. During the six-day "Death March," more than 5,200 Americans and many more Filipinos died. 1963 The U.S. nuclear submarine "Thresher" sank in the Atlantic Ocean 220 miles east of Boston. All 129 men on board were lost. 1971 The U.S. table tennis team arrived in China, the first U.S. group to penetrate the so-called Bamboo Curtain since the 1950s. 1972 During his first visit to the United States in 20 years, movie pioneer and comic genius Charlie Chaplin accepted an honorary Academy Award for his "incalculable" contribution to the art of filmmaking. 1991 An Italian ferry headed to Sardinia collided with an oil tanker near Leghorn, Italy, killing 151 passengers and crew. The tanker crew survived. 1992 Charles Keating Jr., considered a symbol of the nation's savings and loan debacle, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for securities fraud. 1992 In a formal Gulf War report, the Pentagon said allied bombers destroyed more Iraqi electrical generating facilities than necessary, causing undue postwar hardship on civilians. 1994 Two U.S aircraft bombed a Serbian command post in Bosnia. It was the first NATO air attack against ground forces. 1996 U.S. President Bill Clinton vetoed a ban on so-called partial birth abortions. The U.S. Congress was unable to override the veto.
|
|