Today in History, 7/31

30 BC: At the Battle of Alexandria, Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
781: The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji
1588: The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1703: Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers instead.1777: The United States Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions [sic], he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."1790: The first U.S. patent is granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1803: John Ericsson is born. He designed the USS Monitor, one of the first ironclad warships.1883: Fred Quimby is born. He was the producer in charge of MGM's cartoon wing and helped make many of the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons and much of Tex Avery's more deranged cartoons.

1912: Milton Friedman, economist, is born.1917: The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.
1919: The German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to come into force on August 14).
1919: Curt Gowdy, the Voice of the Boston Red Sox, is born.1929: Don Murray is born. He is best known for playing the ape-hating Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, one of my favorite Apes movies. (For the record, it goes Planet, Conquest, Beneath, Escape and Battle. We shall not speak of the Tim Burton remake.)

1930: The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time.
1932: The Nazis win more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1932: Ted Cassidy is born. Most people remember him best as Lurch in the old Addams Family TV show.1941: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."
1943: Lobo is born. He wrote the song "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" which only makes me wish he'd run into Lobo, the DC Comics intergalactic bounty hunter.

"I'll frag that geek!"

1945: Gary Lewis, of Gary Lewis & The Playboys, is born.

1962: Wesley Snipes is born.
1963: House music DJ Fatboy Slim is born. Here's a neat video for his song "Champion Sound.

1965: JK Rowling is born.1966: Dean Cain is born. He played Superman/Clark Kent in the 90's-era Lois and Clark TV show.1970: Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/30

1502: Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
1608: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.
1619: In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
1818: Emily Bronte is born.
1825: Malden Island is discovered.

View Larger Map
1863: Henry Ford is born.
1864: At the Battle of the Crater, Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.1866: New Orleans's Democratic government orders police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.
1881: Smedley Butler, Marine Corps general, is born.1890: Casey Stengel is born. He was one of only four men to manage both the Yankees and the Mets. (the other three were Yogi Berra, Dallas Green and Joe Torre)1916: Dick Wilson is born. He is best known for playing Mr. Whipple in the Charmin commercials.

1929: Sid Kroft, of Sid & Marty Kroft is born.
1932: Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor premieres.

1936: Buddy Guy is born.

1941: Paul Anka is born. He was an early teen idol and starred with Mamie van Doren in the MST3K episode Girls Town.

1945: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), killing 883 seamen. I'd post Quint's monologue from Jaws, but it's been blacklisted from YouTube.
1947: William Atherton is born. He's made a good living playing slickly evil bureaucrats in movies like Real Genius, Die Hard and Ghostbusters.1947: Arnold Schwarzenegger is born. His first movie role was in the low-budget Hercules in New York twelve years before Conan.
1948: Jean Reno is born. If you need an evil French hitman for your movie, he's the guy.1956: Delta Burke is born.1961: Laurence Fishburne is born.1963: Lisa Kudrow is born.1964: Vivica A. Fox is born. I just watched her as the Druidic warrior priestess in the surprisingly good Idle Hands.
1965: US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
1970: Christopher Nolan, director of the rebooted Batman movies, is born.
1971: Tom Greene is born.
1975: Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/29

1565: Mary Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. It would work out poorly for both parties, with Darnly winding up strangled and Mary getting her head cut off by Elizabeth I.1567: The result of that union, the infant James VI, is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling Castle.1588: English naval forces under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
1805: Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist, is born.1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.1892: William Powell is born. He played Nick Charles in The Thin Man movies.

1905: Clara Bow is born. She was the first "It" girl, "it" in this case meaning sex appeal.1907: Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp ran from August 1-9, 1907, and is regarded as the founding of the Scouting movement.
1914: Transcontinental telephone service begins with a call from New York to San Francisco.
1921: Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1924: Elizabeth Short, victim in the Black Dahlia case, is born.1933: Captain Lou Albano is born.1941: David Warner is born. He's been the go-to guy for British villains for years.

1942: Tony Sirico is born. He played Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos. Clip is NSFW.

1953: Ken Burns is born.1953: Geddy Lee, singer and bass player for Rush, is born. Here he is to teach you about tobogganing safety:

1955: Dave Stevens is born. He created The Rocketeer comic book.1957: Jack Paar debuts as the host of The Tonight Show.
1958: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
1963: Alexandra Paul is born. She played the virgin Connie Swail in the comic Dragnet movie.
1967: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1972: Wil Wheaton is born. He played the irritating child genius Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: TNG. Fortunately, he has a sense of humor about playing one of the most hated Star Trek characters of all time. Lately he's been reviewing the old first season episodes of TNG for TVSquad.
1976: In New York City, the "Son of Sam" kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1981: Marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/28

1540: Thomas Cromwell is executed on order from Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.1586: The first potato arrives in Britain.
1609: Bermuda is first settled, by survivors of the English Sea Venture, en route to Virginia.
1866: Beatrix Potter is born.1868: The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is passed, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1901: Rudy Vallee is born in Island Pond, VT.

1914: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it failed to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin. This event leads to the outbreak of World War I.
1929: Jackie Kennedy is born.1932: US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC.
1942: Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into Russia. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so will be immediately killed.
1943: Richard Wright, keyboardist for Pink Floyd, is born.
1943: During Operation Gomorrah, the British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
1945: Jim Davis, founder of the Garfield media empire, is born.1945: The US Senate ratifies the UN charter.
1945: In heavy fog a US Army B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/27

1214: At the Battle of Bouvines, Philip II of France defeats John of England.
1663: The British Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
1733: Jeremiah Dixon is born. He, along with Charles Mason, determined what later would be called the Mason-Dixon line.
1789: The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (later renamed Department of State).
1794: During the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution." He would have his own meeting with Madame Guillotine the next day.1824: Alexandre Dumas is born.
1862: Sailing from San Francisco to Panama, the SS Golden Gate catches fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.1866: The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
1916: Keenan Wynn is born. He played irascible old guys in hundreds of movies including Bikini Beach and parts: the clonus horror. He also played Colonel "Bat" Guano in Dr. Strangelove.

1921: Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
1922: Norman Lear is born.
1931: Jerry Van Dyke is born.

1938: Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons is born.1940: The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny. By the way, don't ever do a video search for "A Wild Hare" at work, because it pulls up a bunch of "How to perform a breast self exam" videos. I have no idea why.

Merrie Melodies - A Wild Hare (1940)
by Cartoonzof2006

1944: Bobbie Gentry is born. She is best known for the Southern Gothic song Ode to Billie Joe.

1953: The Korean War armistice is signed at Panmunjon, ending three years of fighting.
1972: The F-15 Eagle flies for the first time.1974: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Richard Nixon: obstruction of justice.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/26

1775: The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department was established by the Second Continental Congress. Ben Franklin is the first Postmaster General.
1788: New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state.
1856: Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is born.
1861: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.1875: Carl Jung is born.1878: In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1894: Aldous Huxley is born.1895: Gracie Allen is born.

1903: Estes Kefauver is born. He was a firebrand Democratic Senator from Tennessee who fought racial inequality, the mob and Robert Moses all at the same time.1908: United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
1909: Vivian Vance is born. She played the sidekick Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy.
1921: Jean Shepherd is born. He is the author of many books, including the one upon which A Christmas Story is based.

1922: Blake Edwards is born. I know I'm in the minority around these parts, but I never found him the tiniest bit funny.1926: James Best is born. He is best known for playing Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard but, in his younger days, he played the hard-drinkin, shrew-hatin' Captain Thorne Sherman in the MST3K episode The Killer Shrews. Notice that the shrews are really just big friendly dogs.

1928: Stanley Kubrick is born.

1936: The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1941: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
1941: Brenton Wood is born. He did the song Gimme A Little Sign.

1943: Peter Hyams is born. He directed cult films like Outland, Stay Tuned and Timecop. He also directed the sequel to Kubrick's 2001, 2010. Here's the trailer for Outland.

1943: Mick Jagger is born.

1944: The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1945: The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
1945: Helen Mirren is born.1945: The US Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with the bomb - the Hiroshima bomb!1947: President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
1949: Roger Taylor, drummer for Queen, is born. Don't get him mixed up with Roger Taylor, drummer for Duran Duran.
1953: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.
1956: Following the World Bank's decline to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
1957: Nana Visitor is born. She played the delightfully bomabstic Major Kira on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and I still harbor a deep nerd-crush on her.1959: Kevin Spacey is born.1963: Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
1964: Sandra Bullock is born.1967: Tim Schafer is born. He designed many of the classic computer games of the 80's and 90's, such as Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. His most recent project is Psychonauts.
1989: A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.

Today in History, 7/25

285: Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.
864: The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings. Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia at the time - he would later be Holy Roman Emperor for a couple of years. There is some doubt that he was actually bald. Certain scholars think he may have been quite hirsute and the moniker was meant to be ironic. Of course, in 864, living long enough to actually go bald was quite an acheivement.
1567: Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
1603: James VI of Scotland is crowned first king of Great Britain.
1750: Henry Knox is born. He was the first Secretary of War of the US.1759: During the French and Indian War, in Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
1795: The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in northeastern Wales is laid.1797: Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife Island, Spain.1848: Arthur James Balfour is born. He is the BritishPrime Minister who issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.1861: During the Civil War, the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
1866: The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called "5-star general"). Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
1870: Maxfield Parrish is born.1894: Walter Brennan is born. Here he is in the classic Rio Bravo with Dean Martin.

1902: Eric Hoffer is born. He wrote the book The True Believer on the nature of mass movements.1923: Estelle Getty is born. Ironically, she played the oldest Golden Girl but in reality she was the youngest.1946: Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.
1952: Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States
1956: 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.1965: Bob Dylan shocks his fans at the Newport Folk Festival when he plays an electric guitar with the Paul Butterfield Blue Band.
1967: Matt LeBlanc is born. He played the dim-but-goodhearted Joey on Friends, but I remember him best as Captain What's-His-Name in that just awful Lost in Space movie.

"How you doin?"

1969: US President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.
1984: Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.