This Date in History - March 30

 

It's Peter Marshall's special day.  X gets the blog.

240 BC:  FIRST RECORDED PASSAGE OF HALLEY'S COMET.

And there was a later passage spurred by two spoonfuls of Haley's MO.

1282:  THE PEOPLE OF SICILY REBEL AGAINST THE ANGEVIN KING CHARLES I, IN WHAT BECOMES KNOWN AS THE SICILIAN VESPERS.

Soon it was King Charles Minus 1.

1296:  EDWARD I SACKS BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, DURING ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND.

Tweed's too warm a material for the spring anyway.

1725:  2ND PERFORMANCE OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH'S ST. JOHN PASSION.

At some point doing these history lessons, I am sure we will learn the date of the first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion.

1822:  THE FLORIDA TERRITORY IS CREATED IN THE UNITED STATES.

Prior to this, old Jewish people would migrate to New Jersey for the winter.

1842:  ANESTHESIA IS USED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AN OPERATION BY DR. CRAWFORD LONG.

100, 99, 98,...........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

1844:  ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BATTLES OF THE DOMINICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE FROM HAITI TAKES PLACE NEAR THE CITY OF SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS.

Now I'm waiting for the United States battle for independence from Haiti.  It will take place on Katonah Avenue in the Bronx.

1853:  PAINTER VINCENT VAN GOGH IS BORN.

"That's funny.  He had two ears when I got him."

1858:  HYMEN LIPMAN PATENTS A PENCIL WITH AN ATTACHED ERASER.

And gave nervous students something to chew on during final exams.

1863:  DANISH PRINCE WILHELM GEORG IS CHOSEN AS KING GEORGE OF GREECE.

A Danish guy running Greece?  Who screwed this one up?

1867:  ALASKA IS PURCHASED FROM RUSSIA FOR $7.2 MILLION BY UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

The price would have been higher but they made us take Sarah Palin as part of the deal.

1870:  TEXAS IS READMITTED TO THE UNION FOLLOWING RECONSTRUCTION.

And who screwed this one up??

1909:  THE QUEENSBORO BRIDGE OPENS, LINKING MANHATTAN AND QUEENS.

It's been jammed ever since.

1913:  SINGER FRANKIE LAINE IS BORN.

Rawhide!!!

1927:  TV HOST PETER MARSHALL IS BORN.

For years on the Hollywood Squares, nobody knew if he owned pants.

1937:  ACTOR WARREN BEATTY IS BORN.

And was out on a date the very next night.

1940:  JAPAN DECLARES NANKING CAPITAL OF A NEW CHINESE PUPPET GOVERNMENT.

Kukla, Fran, and Orrie.

1954:  THE FIRST CANADIAN SUBWAY LINE OPENS IN TORONTO.

Now Canadian homeless people finally have a place to sleep.

1965:  A CAR BOMB EXPLODES IN FRONT OF THE US EMBASSY, SAIGON, KILLING 22 AND WOUNDING 183 OTHERS.

Reason # 456 why we had no business in this war.

1968:  SINGER CELINE DION IS BORN.

And decent pop music dies.

1970:  SECRETARIAT IS BORN.

And when that thing came out, you know it had to hurt.

1972:  THE EASTER OFFENSIVE BEGINS AFTER NORTH VIETNAMESE FORCES CROSS INTO THE DMZ OF SOUTH VIETNAM.

Reason # 723 why we had no business in this war.

1980:  MY GOOD FRIEND, THE BIBSTER, MARRIES MRS. BIBSTER.

I was the only sober one at our reception table.  I offer a photo as evidence.  I'm just saying.

1981:  PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN IS SHOT IN THE CHEST OUTSIDE A WASHINGTON, DC HOTEL BY JOHN HINCKLEY JR.

You couldn't rent a copy of Taxi Driver for weeks afterward.

1986:  ACTOR JAMES CAGNEY DIES.

Sheer class and talent.  Watch him in Yankee Doodle Dandy at least once a year.

1999:  COMEDIAN GARY MORTON DIES.

Comedian?  I guess you can't list "occupation" as "Lucille Ball's second husband."

2004:  BRITISH JOURNALIST ALISTAIR COOKE DIES.

Masterpiece Casket.

2020:  SINGER BILL WITHERS DIES.

Ain't no sunshine....for sure.

2021:  NIXON AIDE G. GORDON LIDDY DIES.

Once told my writing partner that he could kill somebody with a Bic pen.

Dinner last night:  Salad.