1081: ALEXIOS I KOMNENOS IS CROWNED BYZANTINE EMPEROR AT CONSTANTINOPLE, BRINGING THE KOMNENIAN DYNASTY TO FULL POWER.
Talk about a big ego. Komnenos naming his own dynasty. Self-involved to the Nth degree.
1147: FIRST HISTORICAL RECORD OF MOSCOW.
Landed at #5 on that week's top hits of WABC.
1581: FRANCIS DRAKE IS KNIGHTED FOR COMPLETING A CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD.
Oh!!!! Circumnavigation! That's a different joke.
1721: SIR ROBERT WALPOLE ENTERS OFFICE AS THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM UNDER KING GEORGE I.
10 Downing Street when it was new construction.
1821: US PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON ENACTS A NINETY-DAY EMBARGO ON TRADE WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM.
The great tea bag shortage of 1821.
1814: NAPOLEON ABDICATES FOR THE FIRST TIME.
You mean he did it more than once???
1818: THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS ADOPTS THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES.
Just in case you think Betsy Ross did all that sewing for nothing.
1841: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON DIES OF PNEUMONIA BECOMING THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO DIE IN OFFICE AND THE ONE WITH THE SHORTEST TERM.
He lasted 32 days in office. Probably didn't even last long enough to see the new business cards.
1850: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA IS INCORPORATED AS A CITY.
Once the smog cleared, they realized it was there.
1853: ABE'S SON, TAD LINCOLN, IS BORN.
He lasted longer in the White House than Harrison but not by much.
1859: BRYANT'S MINSTRELS DEBUT "DIXIE" IN NEW YORK CITY IN THE FINALE OF A BLACKFACE MINSTREL SHOW.
I am eagerly awaiting the 2012 revival.
1865: A DAY AFTER UNION FORCES CAPTURE RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN VISITS THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL.
Abe spikes the football. Sadly, he has a little over a week left to live.
1873: THE KENNEL CLUB IS FOUNDED.
Coincidentally, this also marks the construction of the girls dorm at Fordham University.
1887: ARGONIA, KANSAS ELECTS SUSANNA M. SALTER AS THE FIRST FEMALE MAYOR IN THE UNITED STATES.
Okay, so we blame Argonia, Kansas...
1895: DANCER ARTHUR MURRAY IS BORN.
One, two, two, one, three, four, four, three...
1906: ACTRESS BEA BENADERET IS BORN.
....it is run by Kate. Come and be her guest at the Junction....
1906: JOURNALIST JOHN CAMERON SWAYZE IS BORN.
He died in 1995. Might have been his ticker.
1924: BASEBALL STAR GIL HODGES IS BORN.
God bless you for 1969.
1928: WRITER MAYA ANGELOU IS BORN.
There once was a hermit named Dave. He lived by himself in a cave...
1932: ACTOR ANTHONY PERKINS IS BORN.
Mother?
1939: FAISAL II BECOMES KING OF IRAQ.
Anybody wondering what happened to Faisal I?
1942: BASEBALL STAR JIM FREGOSI IS BORN.
The Mets traded Nolan Ryan to get him. Perhaps the worst trade in baseball history.
1945: DURING WORLD WAR II, AMERICAN TROOPS LIBERATE OHRDRUF FORCED LABOR CAMP IN GERMANY.
If you know how to pronounce "Ohrdruf," please call me.
1947: ACTOR LUKE HALPIN IS BORN.
He swam with Flipper. And who knows what else he did with that fish?
1949: TWELVE NATIONS SIGN THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY CREATING NATO.
Just twelve? The dues must have been damn expensive.
1958: GANGSTER JOHNNY STOMPANATO IS KILLED.
Knife wound to the gut from Lana Turner's daughter. Or maybe it was Lana Turner? We will never know.
1964: THE BEATLES OCCUPY THE TOP FIVE POSITIONS ON THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 POP CHART.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
1965: ACTOR ROBERT DOWNEY JR. IS BORN.
He slept in a crib on this night. And again years later when he was 30.
1967: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DELIVERS HIS "BEYOND VIETNAM" SPEECH IN NEW YORK CITY'S RIVERSIDE CHURCH.
And one year later to the day...
1968: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. IS ASSASSINATED AT A MEMPHIS MOTEL.
Killed in the evening so he missed check-out time.
1968: NASA LAUNCHES APOLLO 6.
Nothing much happened so, sorry, no Ron Howard movie yet.
1969: DR. DENTON COOLEY IMPLANTS THE FIRST TEMPORARY ARTIFICIAL HEART.
It was obviously a rental and not a purchase.
1970: ACTOR BYRON FOULGER DIES.
He was one of the engineers on Petticoat Junction. He died on Bea's birthday as well as the day the last episode aired in prime time.
1973: THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IN NEW YORK CITY IS OFFICIALLY DEDICATED.
Oh, well.
1972: POLITICIAN ADAM CLAYTON POWELL DIES.
You mean "politician/crook?"
1973: MAGICIAN DAVID BLAINE IS BORN.
Poof, he's here.
1973: MICROSOFT IS FOUNDED AS A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BILL GATES AND PAUL ALLEN.
And, thanks to them, I can type that sentence on this blog.
1979: ACTOR EDGAR BUCHANAN DIES.
And the Petticoat Junction curse of April 4 continues.
1979: PRESIDENT ALI BHUTTO OF PAKISTAN IS EXECUTED.
What season was he on Petticoat Junction?
1983: SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER MAKES ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE INTO SPACE.
Gee, that lasted about as long as William Henry Harrison.
1983: ACTRESS GLORIA SWANSON DIES.
Sunset Boulevard now closed. Use Wilshire as a detour.
1984: PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN CALLS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL BAN ON CHEMICAL WEAPONS.
I'm glad everybody paid attention to that.
1999: BASEBALL STAR EARLY WYNN DIES.
Now Late Wynn.
2007: DIRECTOR BOB CLARK DIES.
In a car crash. The director of the wonderful "Christmas Story." A sad loss.
Dinner last night: Pasta and meatballs.
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