July 10, 2023 July 10th, 2023 |
Quiz: Has director Martin Scorcese ever done a voice in an animated film?
Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: In what story did we first hear, “ ..Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
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History for 7/10/2023
Birthdays: John Calvin, Marcel Proust, James McNeill Whistler, Nicholas Tesla, Carl Orff, Camille Pissarro, Adolphus Busch the founder of Budweiser, George DiChirico, Jacky "Legs" Diamond, Arlo Guthrie, Jake LaMotta, Joe Shuster- one of the creators of Superman, Fred Gywnne, David Brinkley, Arthur Ashe, Queen Camilla, Jessica Simpson is 43, Chiwetel Ejiofor is 46.
138AD- Death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian at age 62. Antoninus Pius became emperor after promising him to adopt as his heir young Marcus Aurelius. Hadrian, although suffering a lingering illness, had arranged that Antoninus would have no rivals by ordering the deaths of anyone even thinking of wanting to be emperor. He even ordered the killing of his brother-in-law Servianus, who was ninety years old.
1040 - Lady Godiva (Godgifu) goes for a ride on horseback in the nude through the streets of Coventry to embarrass her husband, Leofric, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes on the poor.
1099- The magical-mystical knight of Spain, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, called El Cid, died at the castle of Valencia. Rodrigo had taken a loosely written promise from King Alfonso of Castile that he could keep any territory he took from the Moors, and used it to build a private army. He captured the city of Valencia and ruled it like an independent prince. Nine years after his death, his wife Jimena surrendered Valencia to the Almohavid Moors. But the legend of El Cid Campeador, lived on.
1460 - Wars of Roses: Richard of York defeated King Henry VI at Northampton.
1554- The day after King Henry VIII’s sickly son Edward died at 15, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed as England’s’ Queen. This was a desperate gamble of powerful Protestant factions to keep Henry’s eldest child Mary from ascending the throne. Mary was a bigoted Catholic and made no secret her desire to charbroil all those who turned from the Roman Church. So, they found 16 year old Lady Jane Grey, a niece with a thin claim on the throne. It didn’t work, Mary became queen anyway, Elizabeth kept her head down, and Lady Jane lost hers.
1588- French philosopher Michel de la Montaigne spent one night in the Bastille prison. The Bordeaux native had arrived in Paris in the midst of the nasty political fight between Huguenots and Catholics and was arrested as a traitor. Queen Mother Catherine de Medicis ordered his prompt release.
1649- The Battle of ZBARAZH- Ukrainian Cossack rebel Bogdhan Khmielnitski besieged Polish warlord Prince Jeremy Wisnowiecki with the aid of the Crimean Tatars under Tugai Bey. After an epic battle, The Polish King Jan Casimir bribed the Crimean Khan into changing sides, which forced Bogdan to make peace. But the peace confirmed Bogdan Khmeilnitski as the Hetman of an autonomous Cossack Ukraine. In 1654 Bogdan pledged allegiance to the Russian Czar in Moscow and the Ukraine would not be free of Russian rule until 1989. And now an invasion.
1815- After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the allied armies occupying Paris start to squabble. The Prussians (Germans) were disappointed they didn’t get to shoot Napoleon, burn Paris or do any other fun stuff. At least they wanted to blow up a Seine River bridge Nappy named for their humiliating defeat, the Pont de Jena. When the Duke of Wellington denounced this action as barbaric, General von Gneisenau sneered: “you would do the same if it was Pont du Yorktown!” the big British defeat in the American Revolution. Wellington wouldn’t speak to von Gneisenau afterwards.
The Prussians got to set off gunpowder charge, but the bridge was built too solid and wouldn’t collapse. They compromised and changed its name to Pont de Louvre.
1832- President Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter of the Bank of the United States. Jackson felt a strong centralized bank would concentrate too much power away from the states and invite abuse, while proponents felt it was necessary to regulate banking like the Bank of England did. It was the most hotly debated issue of his presidency. He was roundly criticized as 'King Andrew I ' for defying Congress and public will. After several more decades of frequent financial panics and recessions, The Federal Reserve act of 1913 finally duplicated the same benefits as a national bank.
1873 - French poet Paul Verlaine wounded Arthur Rimbaud in a pistol duel.
1881 -Jesse James robbed his last bank, The Davis and Sexton Bank of Iowa. Then he changed his name to Mr. Howard and tried to live quietly with his wife Zerelda Mimms in Missouri. He called her “Z”.
1890- Wyoming became a state.
1892 - 1st concrete-paved street built in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
1925- THE SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL-Tennessee school teacher John Thomas Scopes went on trial for violating a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution to children. Scopes was defended by famed lawyer Clarence Darrow sent by the ACLU, the prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan.
The trial evolved (forgive the pun) from a small claims misdemeanor to a debate on Charles Darwin’s theory itself. This day the media descended upon the little town of Dayton Tennessee, which had hoped to attract attention for its slumping economy. It was the first trial broadcast live on Chicago radio WGN nationwide.
Hundreds of spectators attended from hillbillies with squirrel rifles, a chimpanzee in a suit called Mr. Joe Mendy to columnist H.L. Mencken, packing 4 bottles of bootleg scotch and a typewriter. Darrow humiliated Bryan in the debate by pointing out the contradictions in the Bible, but Scopes was found guilty anyway. The ban on teaching evolution remained in Tennessee until 1967.
1932- In a baseball game against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indian pitcher Eddie Rommel perfects the knuckleball pitch.
1940- THEIR FINEST HOUR-This day saw the first German bombing raids over London known as the "Battle of Britain". It went on all Summer into late September. The Luftwaffe's mission, in preparation for a Nazi amphibious invasion of England- Operation Sea Lion, was to destroy the RAF and British industrial and supply areas, mostly around southeast London. This is why today the areas east of the Tower of London have so many modern glass buildings. Despite being outnumbered by three to one, the RAF prevailed, prompting Churchill's famous: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much, owed by so many, to so few."
1941- Jazz great Jelly Roll Morton died at 50 in Los Angeles from complications of asthma. He liked to call himself the inventor of jazz. As debatable as that claim was, he was one of the first musicians to develop a personal solo style distinct from the rest of his band. Legend is his mother practiced voodoo in New Orleans, and she told him the reason for his fame and fortune was because she had pledged his soul to the Devil. He spent his last hours in a panic with his wife Mabel anointing his head with Holy oil.
1943- Allied Armies hit the beaches in Sicily.
1950 - "Your Hit Parade" premieres on NBC (later CBS) TV.
1953- NIKITA KHRUSCHEV took power in Moscow. After the death of Josef Stalin there was the inevitable shuffle of party bureaucrats jockeying for top job. Commissars Bulganin, Malenkov and Molotov tried to hold power, but the little bald Ukrainian with the big smile had the last laugh. At a secret meeting of the Presidium, Khrushchev arrested Laventi Beria, Stalin's dreaded chief executioner. Beria broke down and wept for his life before he was shot. Khrushchev was more merciful with his other rivals: Bulganin was made manager of a Siberian power station, Molotov was made ambassador to Outer Mongolia. The colorful Comrade Khrushchev held power until 1964.
1976- the last wooden slide rule produced. The K&E company gave it to the Smithsonian.
1985 - Coca-Cola Co admitted New Coke was a big mistake and announced it would resume selling old formula Coke.
1987- The environmental group Greenpeace first called attention to themselves by a large ship called the Rainbow Warrior used to enter atomic tests sites to protest. This day in Auckland Harbor, The Rainbow Warrior was sunk by a bomb placed on her hull by French commandos. The blast killed a photographer. Rainbow Warrior had been in the Pacific to protest France’s nuclear testing there. The Government of New Zealand determined the French were responsible. In the ensuing scandal the French Defense minister resigned and the commandos went to jail.
1987- The Brave Little Toaster premiered in theaters. Directed by Jerry Rees.
1979 - Chuck Berry sentenced to 4 months for $200,000 in tax evasion. The old rocker said:” It never fails, every ten years I wind up in jail for something.”
1985- “We Don’t Need Another Evil. “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome opened in theaters.
1991-Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as first (and so far only) popularly elected President of Russia.
1992-A U.S. federal judge sentenced Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega to 40 years in prison for being a drug pusher, dictator and never returning the CIA washroom keys.
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Yesterday’s Quiz: In what story did we first hear, “ ..Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Answer: In the movie The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy spots the old sideshow ringmaster she knew operating the controls to the big scary head of the wizard.