222: POPE CALLIXTUS I IS KILLED BY A MOB IN ROME AFTER A FIVE YEAR REIGN. HE IS SUCCEEDED BY CARDINAL URBAN I.
Back when the Pope numbers first started.
1322: ROBERT THE BRUCE OF SCOTLAND DEFEATS KING EDWARD II, FORCING THE LATTER TO ACCEPT SCOTLAND'S INDEPENDENCE.
Hoot man.
1582: BECAUSE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, THIS DAY DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS YEAR IN ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, AND SPAIN.
That had to be a problem for those people who manufacture "This Week At a Glance."
1586: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, GOES ON TRIAL FOR CONSPIRACY AGAINST ELIZABETH I OF ENGLAND.
If you're in England, don't ever mess with anybody named Elizabeth.
1656: MASSACHUSETTS ENACTS THE FIRST PUNITIVE LEGISLATION AGAINST THE QUAKERS, WHO THEY REGARD AS SPIRITUALLY AND POLITICALLY SUBVERSIVE.
Oh, no, not the Quakers! But who's going to make the oatmeal?
1773: JUST BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, SEVERAL OF THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY TEA SHIPS ARE SET ABLAZE IN MARYLAND.
Ships? What ships??
1843: THE BRITISH ARREST THE IRISH NATIONALIST DANIEL O'CONNELL FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT CRIMES.
Can you imagine what they would do to him if he had actually had?
1863: CONFEDERATE TROOPS UNDER GENERAL LEE FAIL TO DRIVE THE UNION ARMY OUT OF VIRGINIA.
Confederates? Are we allowed to even talk about this part of history any more?
1884: INVENTOR GEORGE EASTMAN RECEIVES A US GOVERNMENT PATENT ON HIS NEW PAPER STRIP PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM.
Well, that's not a negative.
1890: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IS BORN.
I like Ike.
1893: ACTRESS LILLIAN GISH IS BORN.
She made it to 100, dying in 1993.
1894: POET E.E. CUMMINGS IS BORN.
Mr. "I Can't Be Bothered with Capitalizing Anything."
1908: THE CHICAGO CUBS DEFEAT THE DETROIT TIGERS, CLINCHING THE WORLD SERIES. IT WOULD BE THEIR LAST ONE TO DATE.
And may the drought continue another century.
1910: COACH JOHN WOODEN IS BORN.
And here's another one who lasted a whole century.
1912: WHILE CAMPAIGNING IN MILWAUKEE, FORMER US PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT IS SHOT AND MILDLY WOUNDED BY A MENTALLY-DISTURBED SALOON KEEPER. HE STILL CARRIES OUT HIS SCHEDULED PUBLIC SPEECH.
But it probably hurt when he talked.
1926: "WINNIE THE POOH" BY A.A. MILNE IS FIRST PUBLISHED.
Now where's that honey tree?
1933: NAZI GERMANY WITHDRAWS FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
See if we care.
1939: FASHION DESIGNER RALPH LAUREN IS BORN.
His polo shirts fit me very well.
1941: BASEBALL STAR ART SHAMSKY IS BORN.
A hero of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets and the one person on Earth that I could probably beat in a foot race.
1944: LINKED TO A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE ADOLF HITLER, FIELD MARSHALL ERWIN ROMMEL IS FORCED TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
To quote my grandmother..."dumkopf."
1947: CAPTAIN CHUCK YEAGER OF THE US AIR FORCE FILES AN AIRCRAFT FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND.
He had...ahem...the right stuff.
1959: ACTOR ERROL FLYNN DIES.
He died with his boots on. Maybe.
1964: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. RECEIVES THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
And the cash value is?
1967: FOLK SINGER JOAN BAEZ IS ARRESTED FOR PROTESTING THE VIETNAM WAR IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
Peace and love and legal fees.
1968: THE FIRST LIVE TV BROADCAST BY AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS IN ORBIT WAS PERFORMED BY THE APOLLO 7 CREW.
Performing Stupid Astronaut Tricks.
1969: THE UNITED KINGDOM INTRODUCES THE BRITISH FIFTY-PENCE COIN, WHICH EVENTUALLY REPLACES THE BRITISH TEN-SHILLING NOTE.
Pence and Shilling. Two coins that eventually became baseball players.
1977: SINGER BING CROSBY DIES.
"We're off on the road to Heaven."
1979: THE FIRST EVER GAY RIGHTS MARCH OCCURS IN WASHINGTON, DC.
And it won't be the last.
1982: US PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN PROCLAIMS A WAR ON DRUGS.
And he started by emptying Nancy's purse.
1990: CONDUCTOR LEONARD BERNSTEIN DIES.
From "On The Town" to under it.
1997: AUTHOR HAROLD ROBBINS DIES.
His last novel could be called "The Undertakers."
2003: CHICAGO CUB FAN STEVE BARTMAN INTERFERES WITH PLAY AND COSTS THE TEAM A CHANCE TO ADVANCE TO THE WORLD SERIES.
Fitting that it happened on the anniversary of the last time they won in 1908.
2009: WRESTLER LOU ALBANO DIES.
He used to drive a cab in my home town of Mount Vernon, New York.
Dinner last night: Leftover bratwurst and red cabbage.
No comments:
Post a Comment