This Date in History - February 11

Happy birthday, Thomas Alva Edison.   We're going to celebrate a lot of birthdays today and you'll soon know why.

660 BC:  JAPAN IS FOUNDED BY EMPEROR JIMMU.

No relation to Shamu.

55:  TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS CAESAR BRITANNICUS, HEIR TO THE ROMAN EMPERORSHIP, DIES UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES IN ROME.  THIS CLEARS THE WAY FOR NERO TO BECOME EMPEROR.

Britannicus?  I prefer Funk and Wagnall.

244:  EMPEROR GORDIAN III IS MURDERED BY MUTINOUS SOLDIERS IN MESOPOTAMIA.

Probably the lesson on one of those many days I slept through World History in the tenth grade.

1531:  HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND IS RECOGNIZED AS SUPREME HEAD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

His wives all knew that already.

1659:  THE ASSAULT OF COPENHAGEN BY SWEDISH FORCES IS BEATEN BACK WITH HEAVY LOSSES.

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.

1790:  THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, ALSO KNOWN AS QUAKERS, PETITIONS THE US CONGRESS FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

Talk about trendsetters.

1794:  THE FIRST SESSION OF THE US SENATE OPENS TO THE PUBLIC.

Back when people were actually interested in how our government used to work.

1812:  MASSASCHUSETTS GOVERNOR ELBRIDGE GERRY "GERRYMANDERS" FOR THE FIRST TIME.

That's not what we heard from his mistress.

1847:  INVENTOR THOMAS ALVA EDISON IS BORN.

Let there be light.

1858:  BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS' FIRST VISION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AT LOURDES.

Yeah, sure, whatever you say.

1861:  THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNANIMOUSLY PASSES A RESOLUTION GUARANTEEING NONINTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY IN ANY STATE.

Obviously, they don't pay attention to the Quakers.

1889:  THE MEIJI CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN IS ADOPTED AND THE FIRST NATIONAL DIET WILL START IN 1890.

I don't eat sushi.

1909:  BOXER MAX BAER IS BORN.

Jethro Senior.

1916:  EMMA GOLDMAN IS ARRESTED FOR LECTURING ON BIRTH CONTROL.  

If you ever saw a picture of Emma, you wouldn't need birth control.

1917:  AUTHOR SIDNEY SHELDON IS BORN.

The Other Side of the Birth Canal.

1919:  FRIEDRICH EBERT IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF GERMANY.

His vice president was Wolfgang Siskel.

 1919:  ACTRESS EVA GABOR IS BORN.

Meanwhile, sister Zsa Zsa has lasted to the age of 214.

1920:  ACTOR BILLY HALOP IS BORN.

A Dead End Kid.

1921:  POLITICIAN LLOYD BENTSEN IS BORN.

A Dead End Candidate.

1926:   ACTOR LESLIE NIELSEN IS BORN.

And don't call me Shirley or old.

 1934:  ACTRESS TINA LOUISE IS BORN.

How did she manage three seasons on that island without sleeping with the Professor, the Skipper, Thurston Howell, Gilligan, and...hell, even Mary Ann?

1936:  ACTOR BURT REYNOLDS IS BORN.

The first day where he was buck naked for the camera.  There would be others.

1937:  A SIT-DOWN STRIKE ENDS WHEN GENERAL MOTORS RECOGNIZES THE UNITED AUTO WORKERS.

How did they recognize them?  They were the ones sitting down.

1939:  A LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING FLIES FROM CALIFORNIA TO NEW YORK IN 7 HOURS, 2 MINUTES.

And what was the movie?

1941:  MUSICIAN SERGIO MENDES IS BORN.

Brazil '41.

1943:  GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IS SELECTED TO COMMAND THE ALLIED ARMIES IN EUROPE.

First stop Normandy.

1953:  US PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER REFUSES A CLEMENCY APPEAL FOR JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG.

What a ten-year ride for Ike.

1963:  AUTHOR SYLVIA PLATH DIES.

Got her wish.

1964:  POLITICIAN SARAH PALIN IS BORN.

Which means that two failed Vice Presidential candidates were born on this day.

1968:  THE MEMPHIS SANITATION STRIKE BEGINS.

This is why Martin Luther King Jr. wound up there on April 4.

1969:  ACTRESS JENNIFER ANISTON IS BORN.

I'll be there for you.

1973:  THE FIRST RELEASE OF AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR FROM VIETNAM BEGINS.

So all that picketing wasn't in vain.

1976:  ACTOR LEE J. COBB DIES.

Nice salad.

1978:  CHINA LIFTS A BAN ON WORKS BY ARISTOTLE, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, AND CHARLES DICKENS.

Which prompts the very first book report assignment in Shanghai.

1982:  ACTRESS ELEANOR POWELL DIES.

So that's the tap dancing I hear above me.

1990:  NELSON MANDELA IS RELEASED FROM A SOUTH AFRICAN PRISON AFTER 27 YEARS.

So how was the food?

1994:  ACTOR WILLIAM CONRAD DIES.

Well, you know it wasn't from malnutrition.

2002: BASEBALL COACH FRANK CROSETTI DIES.

Hold up at third!

2006:  AUTHOR PETER BENCHLEY DIES.

He wrote "The Deep."  Now he is.

2012:  SINGER WHITNEY HOUSTON DIES.

Around the corner from my house and it totally ruined my....well, keep reading.

2013:  POPE BENEDICT XVI BECOMES THE FIRST PONTIFF TO RESIGN IN MORE THAN HALF A MILLENIUM.

To those of you who are confused, Nixon only thought he was a pope.

WHENEVER:  I AM BORN.

I told you it was a special birth date.

Dinner last night:  Leftover roast chicken and vegetables.