This Date in History - February 8

Happy birthday, Audrey.  Bang zoom!!!

421:  CONSTANTIUS II BECOMES CO-EMPEROR OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE.

He shared the job?  What?  There was a tie?  I figured that, in those days, the way you solved a deadlock was by simply thrusting a sword into somebody's stomach.

1575:  UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN IS FOUNDED AND GIVEN THE MOTTO PRAESIDIUM LIBERTATIS.

If you insist...

1587:  MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, IS EXECUTED ON SUSPICION OF HAVING BEEN INVOLVED IN THE BABINGTON PLOT TO MURDER HER COUSIN, QUEEN ELIZABETH I.  

Mary, now Queen of Nothing.

1601:  ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2ND EARL OF ESSEX, REBELS AGAINST QUEEN ELIZABETH I AND THE REVOLT IS QUICKLY CRUSHED.

Don't fess with that feisty Queen Elizabeth I.

1693:  THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA, IS GRANTED A CHARTER BY KING WILLIAM III AND QUEEN MARY II.  

Had things been different in earlier years, that college might have been called Mary and Robert.

1828:  AUTHOR JULES VERNE IS BORN.

Little did he know at the time, but his book would wind up as the basis of one of the most ridiculous Best Picture Oscars in film history.

1837:  RICHARD JOHNSON BECOMES THE FIRST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CHOSEN BY THE SENATE.

He later settled in the western town of Rock Ridge, where all Johnsons could leave peacefully together.

1855:  THE DEVIL'S FOOTPRINTS MYSTERIOUSLY APPEAR IN SOUTHERN DEVON.

I'd be more curious on how they appeared in the first place.

1856:  BARBU DIMITRIE STIRBEI ABOLISHES SLAVERY IN WALLACHIA.

So that's the country that started a chain of mens' clothing stores?

1865:  IN THE UNITED STATES, DELAWARE VOTERS REJECT THE 13TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, AND VOTE TO CONTINUE THE PRACTICE OF SLAVERY.

Just in case you thought the state's utter stupidity began with their repeated election of that moron Joe Biden to the Senate.

1910:  THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA ARE INCORPORATED.

Prior to this, old ladies had no way to cross busy streets.

1915:  D.W. GRIFFITH'S CONTROVERSIAL FILM "THE BIRTH OF A NATION" PREMIERES IN LOS ANGELES.

A major early moment in film history.  All fans should see this once.  Myself, I have a Blu-Ray version of it.

1921:  ACTRESS LANA TURNER IS BORN.

No imitation of life needed.

1922:  ACTRESS AUDREY MEADOWS IS BORN.

I met her once.  And, no, she didn't ask me for a cigarette.

1922:  PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING INTRODUCES THE FIRST RADIO IN THE UNITED STATES.

I wonder which of two stations he was tuned to.

1924:  THE FIRST STATE EXECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES BY GAS CHAMBER TAKES PLACE IN NEVADA.

The Vegas oddsmakers were betting on who the first victim would be.

1925:  ACTOR JACK LEMMON IS BORN.

One of the great.  He stars in my top two favorite movies of all time---"The Apartment" and "Some Like It Hot."

1931:  ACTOR JAMES DEAN IS BORN.

If only he had been a Rebel Without a Car.

1932:  COMPOSER JOHN WILLIAMS IS BORN.

On a planet many decades ago....

1933:  ACTOR JACK LARSON IS BORN.

Jimmy Olsen!!!

1942:  COMEDIAN ROBERT KLEIN IS BORN.

Sessue yes....

1942:  DURING WORLD WAR II, JAPAN INVADES SINGAPORE.

On Robert Klein's birthday?  Shame on them.

1942:  MUSIC PRODUCER TERRY MELCHER IS BORN.

Doris Day's only child and she outlived him.  That's sad.

1952:  ELIZABETH II IS PROCLAIMED QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Did she know what a bitch Elizabeth I was?

1956:  BASEBALL MANAGER CONNIE MACK DIES. 

For those of you who are not baseball fans, no, this isn't a woman.

1960:  QUEEN ELIZABETH II ISSUES AN ORDER-IN-COUNCIL, STATING THAT SHE AND HER FAMILY WOULD BE KNOWN AS THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR.

Well, at least, this didn't require killing anybody.

1965:  AFTER TAKING EVASIVE MANUEVERS TO AVOID A MID-AIR COLLISION IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM JFK AIRPORT IN NY, EASTERN FLIGHT 663 CRASHES INTO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, KILLING EVERYBODY ABOARD.

Now do you want to buy that flight insurance??

1968:  ACTOR GARY COLEMAN IS BORN.

When he died in 2010, he likely was no taller than he was on this day in 1968.

1978:  PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ARE BROADCAST ON RADIO FOR THE FIRST TIME.

And the sale of Unisom sleeping tablets drops through the floor.

1987:  ACTRESS HARRIET MACGIBBON DIES.

Mrs. Drysdale on the Beverly Hillbillies!!!!

2001:  DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE OPENS TO THE PUBLIC IN ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA.

They are already doing a make-over because, frankly, this was a big bust of an amusement park.

2007:  MODEL ANNA NICOLE SMITH DIES.

Five years later, I still don't give a shit.

Dinner last night:  Taylor Ham on sourdough.