Wednesday, March 8, 2023

This Date in History - March 8

 

Happy birthday, Micky Dolenz.   This is the day you took your first train to Clarksville.  The last remaining Monkee.

1010:  FERDOWSI COMPLETES HIS EPIC POEM SHAHNAMEH.

Meh, indeed.

1618:  JOHANNES KEPLER DISCOVERS THE THIRD LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION.

Oh, look, they move!

1655:  JOHN CASOR BECOMES THE FIRST LEGALLY-RECOGNIZED SLAVE IN ENGLAND'S NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

And you thought all that stuff started with Donald Trump.

1702:  QUEEN ANNE, THE YOUNGER SISTER OF MARY II, BECOMES QUEEN REGNANT OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.

No I didn't leave a "p" off that word.

1775:  AN ANONYMOUS WRITER, THOUGHT BY SOME TO BE THOMAS PAINE, PUBLISHES "AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA,' THE FIRST ARTICLE IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES CALLING FOR THE EMANICIPATING OF SLAVES AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

90 or so years before Lincoln got this done.

1817:  THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE IS FOUNDED.

And immediately went down fifty points.

1844:  KING OSCAR 1 ASCENDS TO THE THRONES OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.

1874:  US PRESIDENT MILLARD FILLMORE DIES.

Tough day to be a President.

1910:  FRENCH AVIATOR RAYMONDE DE LAROCHE BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO RECEIVE A PILOT'S LICENSE.

Everybody loves Raymonde.

1917:  INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY PROTESTS IN ST. PETERSBURG MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION.

Women's Day protests?  They don't like the magazine?

1917:  THE US SENATE VOTES TO LIMIT FILIBUSTERS BY ADOPTING THE CLOTURE RULE.

Any senator who stands up to speak immediately gets a blood clot.

1921:  ACTOR ALAN HALE JR. IS BORN.

The Skipper from "Gilligan's Island."

1922:  ACTRESS CYD CHARISSE IS BORN.

Classy lady.

1922:  BROOKLYN DODGER CARL FURILLO IS BORN.

A Boy of Summer.

1930:  US PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT DIES.

Is March 8 the only date that features two Presidential deaths?

1936:  DAYTONA BEACH HOLDS ITS FIRST OVAL STOCK CAR RACE.

Before this, they drove around a square course.

1939:  BASEBALL PLAYER JIM BOUTON IS BORN.

Ball four, take your base.

1942:  WORLD WAR II - IMPERIAL JAPANESE ARMY FORCES CAPTURED RANGOON, BURMA FROM THE BRITISH.

Whoopee, we got Rangoon!

1945:  MONKEE MICKY DOLENZ IS BORN.

I saw him in the Dodger Stadium Club once.   He looks nothing like that picture now.

1947:  SONG WRITER CAROLE BAYER SAGER IS BORN.

We've been playing her songs.

1949:  MILDRED GILLARS, KNOWN AS AXIS SALLY, IS CONDEMNED TO PRISON FOR TREASON.

Not to confused with Crazy Rhonda who was jailed for...fill in your favorite crime.

1957:  EGYPT RE-OPENS THE SUEZ CANAL AFTER THE SUEZ CRISIS.

Class trips will now resume.

1957:  GHANA JOINS THE UNITED NATIONS.

Good.  I was worried.

1965:  35,000 US MARINES ARE THE FIRST AMERICAN LAND COMBAT FORCES COMMITTED DURING THE VIETNAM WAR.

First mistake of many.

1971:  THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY BETWEEN JOE FRAZIER AND MUHAMMAD ALI, WHICH FRAZIER WINS IN 15 ROUND BY UNANIMOUS DECISION.

Even that didn't shut up Ali.

1971:  COMIC HAROLD LLOYD DIES.

He actually was as good as Chaplin or Keaton.

1974:  CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT OPENS IN PARIS, FRANCE.

Not a bad honor for somebody who was an ugly man.

1975:  DIRECTOR GEORGE STEVENS DIES.

Brilliant film maker.   See "Shane."  See "A Place in the Sun."  See "Giant."

1979:  PHILIPS DEMONSTRATES THE COMPACT DISC PUBLICLY FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Yeah, who buys CDs any more?

1983:  WHILE ADDRESSING A CONVENTION OF EVANGELICALS, US PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN LABELS THE SOVIET UNION AN "EVIL EMPIRE."

No comment...just in case they are monitoring this blog.

1998:  FOOTBALL STAR RAY NITSCHKE DIES.

Always loved that last name.

1999:  ACTRESS PEGGY CASS DIES.

Little known fact about this TV game show panelist...she was once nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

1999:  BASEBALL STAR JOE DIMAGGIO DIES.

Joltin' Joe has left and gone away.

2004:  ACTOR ROBERT PASTORELLI KILLS HIMSELF.

Sat behind him on a plane about a year before this.   Hope that's not why he committed suicide.

2014:  MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 3709 DISAPPEARS EN ROUTE FROM KUALA LUMPUR TO BEIJING.

Have they found this thing yet???

2015:  WRITER SAM SIMON DIES.

One of the original writers for "The Simpsons."

2020:  ACTOR MAX VON SYDOW DIES.

I hope God doesn't hold "The Exorcist" against him.

Dinner last night:  Taylor Ham and egg sandwich.

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