Me, back in my days as a deep sea diver.*


Birthdays: Roman Pompey Magnus, Miguel de Cervantes, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Rudolph Diesel (inventor of the engine), Enrico Fermi, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lech Walesa, Stanley Kramer, Bryant Gumbel, Greer Garson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ian McShane, Anita Ekberg, Andrew Dice-Clay, cartoonist Russ Heath, Tom Sizemore, Emily Lloyd is 37, Stephanie Miller, Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy from the Radio Ranch, who first recorded Rudholf the Red Nosed Reindeer and owned the California Angels Baseball Team, would have been 100 today!

In the Medieval calendar this was The Feast of Mickelmuss or MichaelMass In Old London this was the beginning of the winter lighting season when every tenth store had to maintain a candle in a street lamp and light it after dark, until Lady Day March 25th.

1066-WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR LANDS IN ENGLAND. When King Edward the Confessor died childless he left the throne kinda up for grabs. Earl Harold son of Godwin kinda promised Duke William of Normandy that he would step aside and let him be king but later took the crown for himself. So Duke William kinda invaded with 30,000 Norman knights and support troops. Duke William was an illegitimate son of Robert the Devil and was called William the Bastard until the conquest when he became William the Conqueror.
When William's ship landed at Pevensey Beach near Dover Duke William leapt out into the surf to be the first to set foot in Britain. However in front of the whole army he stumbled and fell to his knees. Quickly realizing that if he didn't act fast the men would regard this as a dangerously bad omen, he grabbed two fistfuls of muddy sand in his clenched fists, raised them up and declared : "Ah Britain! Now I have you!" His men cheered and he went on to victory at Hastings on Oct. 16th.

1798- At the court of Naples Admiral Horatio Nelson was given a 40th birthday party by his friend and patron, the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton. At this party Nelson first shows the signs of getting seriously turned on by Hamilton's hot young wife Emma. Sir William was 69, Emma was 30 and was known to be sleeping around. The party was broken up when Nelson's stepson, who was serving as one of his lieutenants, got so drunk he made a scene. The love affair between Nelson and Mrs. Hamilton in defiance of all social stigmas scandalized even that notorious age. Yet Sir William Hamilton seemed more interested in his ancient Roman pottery . Hamilton got more upset at the news of a shipload of antique vases sinking than being told that his wife was shivering the admiral’s timbers.
Shiver me timbers,blow me down; if you ain't the purtiest girl in town.."

1829- BOBBIES- Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington had been complaining for years that the city of London needed it's own regular police force instead of relying on irregular militia like the Bow Street Runners or the Horse Guards to do with urban maintenance. At this time sections of North London were so tough they were labeled on maps “No-Go”. On this day London's reorganized police force, The Greater Metropolitan Police Force based at Scotland Yard, went on duty. The constables, because they were formed by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, were nicknamed "Bobbie's Boys" or "Bobbies". They’re also nicknamed Old Bill. Some Irish groups called them Peelers.

1862- THE GENERAL DISTURBANCE- The Yankeee army in Tennessee had a morale problem among it's senior officers. Major General Bull Nelson got into an argument with Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis -no relation to the President of the Confederacy. In a hotel lobby Davis confronted the 6' 5", 300 pound Nelson and flung a business card in his face. Nelson bellowed "Get outta my way you puppy !" and slapped him so hard he flew across the room. Whereupon General Davis drew a pistol and shot General Nelson in the chest."Tom, he's murdered me!" Bull Nelson said to a friend as he collapsed and died. Amazingly Davis was never tried or court-martialed because he was needed on the battlefield. I guess arguments between nations take precedence. Davis was finally cashiered out of the army when during Sherman's March through Georgia he was accused of destroying a bridge before a crowd of runaway slave families could cross, knowing they would be left at the mercy of the pursuing Confederates.

1913-Rudolph Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine, celebrated his 55th birthday by jumping of his yacht into the English Channel and drowning himself.

1930- First day of shooting on the Tod Browning horror classic Dracula. Hungarian actor and recreational morphine addict Bela Lugosi played the lead role he had already made famous on stage. Lugosi was identified with the character Dracula for the rest of his life and when he died he was buried in the Dracula cape.

1933- The movie A Bill of Divorcement introduced the star Katherine Hepburn.

1938- THE MUNICH AGREEMENT- Hitler duped war weary England & France that if he ate Czechoslovakia he would be satisfied. Prime Minister Chamberlain proclaims back home :"Peace in our Time." At the conference at Bertchesgarden the British and French prime ministers never conferred, never even had lunch with each other. And no one would give a hearing to Czech Premier Benes, who’s country after all was being dissolved.

1953- The television show “Make Room for Daddy” premiered, making a star out of big nosed nightclub entertainer Danny Thomas. The Lebanese Thomas had tried to break into films with no luck. He burst into tears after Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn suggested he get a nose job and forget about it. Danny Thomas at one time was the richest man in Beverly Hills. On his show perfected the “spit-take”- he always seemed to have a mouth full of coffee when someone gave him surprising news.

1959-Hanna Barbera's "Quick Draw McGraw" tv show. Ba ba Louie and El Kabong!

1961- Russian ballet star Rudolph Nureyev, acclaimed as the greatest dancer of his age, defects to the west in Paris and was granted asylum.

1967- Patent issued for the first push button electronic calculator. It ushered in what we called back then "The Push-Button Age".

1969- The TV series Love American Style premiered.

1976- At his birthday party musician Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shot his bass player Norman Owens in the chest with s 357 magnum. He said he was using the gun to try and open a soft drink bottle and it accidentally went off. Owens survived and sued Lewis.

1982- Tylenol recalled hundreds of thousands of bottles of capsules after a lunatic laced some with cyanide killing seven. The killer was never found.

1996- The first Nintendo Game system, the first 64 bit game system, debuted in the US. It sold 500,000 the first day.

*Just kidding. That's an image of Diver Dan (1961 kiddie show), with Surgeon Sturgeon and Baron Barracuda.