On This Day......

[Bez]

1st September

1864

American Civil War: Confederate troops abandon the city of Atlanta, in Georgia which is occupied by the Unionists the following day.

1859

Pullman (sleeping cars) carriages are first introduced - on the Bloomington to Chicago line in the United States. Sleeping carriages designed and patented by American inventor and businessman Goerge Mortimer Pullman.

1896

Chop Suey, supposedly a traditional Chinese meal, is invented in New York

1923

An earthquake in Japan leaves the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in ruins and kills an estimated 500,000 people.

1939

British authorities begin the evacuation of more than a million woman and children from major cities as the possibility of war with Germany becomes a probability.

1951

Britain's first supermarket opens at Earl's Court in London.

[Bez]

1935 Gene Autry's first Western opens

Tumbling Tumbleweeds, the first of many Westerns starring Gene Autry, opens on this day in 1935. Autry, the son of a horse trader, had appeared in smaller parts in other Westerns. After Tumbleweeds, Autry quickly became America's favorite singing cowboy. He later launched a popular and long-running radio show, followed by a TV program in the 1950s.





1877 Crazy Horse killed

Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. A year earlier, Crazy Horse was among the Sioux leaders who defeated George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory. The battle, in which 265 members of the Seventh Cavalry, including Custer, were killed, was the worst defeat of the U.S. Army in its long history of warfare with the Native Americans.

After the victory at Little Bighorn, U.S. Army forces led by Colonel Nelson Miles pursued Crazy Horse and his followers. His tribe suffered from cold and starvation, and on May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse surrendered to General George Crook at the Red Cloud Indian Agency in Nebraska. He was sent to Fort Robinson, where he was killed in a scuffle with soldiers who were trying to imprison him in a cell.

[BTS]

On this day Sept 5th:



The Outlaw Jesse James





Part of Briggs Avenue,

Park River, Dakota Territory,

circa 1880.

The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920





The infamous Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847. At seventeen, James left his native Missouri to fight as a Confederate guerilla in the Civil War. After the war, he returned to his home state and lead one of history's most notorious outlaw gangs. With his younger brother Frank and several other ex-Confederates, including Cole Younger and his brothers, the James gang robbed their way across the Western frontier targeting banks, trains, stagecoaches, and stores from Iowa to Texas. Eluding even the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, the gang escaped with thousands of dollars.







1914: Battle of the Marne begins





On this day in World War I, the French attack advancing Germans northeast of Paris, and the Battle of the Marne begins. After the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in August 1914, Germany took the offensive in the West, hoping to defeat France before the Russians made too many advances in the East. The Germans rushed across Belgium, routing the Allies, and by September the Schlieffen Plan--the planned outflanking of the French forces--seemed headed to a triumphant conclusion. German forces crossed the Marne River to the northeast of Paris, and the French government was evacuated. However, on September 5, 1914, the French began attacking the Germans' exposed right flank, and by the next day the counterattack was total. On September 9, the exhausted Germans began their retreat, and Paris was saved. An estimated 500,000 men were killed or wounded in the Battle of the Marne.







1774



The first Continental Congress of the 13 US colonies meets at Philadelphia.

1800



Following a blockade by the Royal Navy commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson, French troops surrender the Mediterranean island of Malta to Britain.

1864



A combined fleet of British, French and Dutch ships attacks Japan in the Shimonoseki Straits after the Japanese have closed their ports to internationalshipping and expelled foreigners.

1905



US President Theodore Roosevelt negotiates the Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire,USA) to end the Russo-Japanese War. The Russians are forced to cede parts of China and Manchuria and recognise Japan's interestsin Korea.

1914



World War I: the start of the First Battle of the Marne - a French counter offensive against the Germans along a 300 mile front.

1920



Silent movie star 'Fatty' Arbuckle is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman who later died. He is acquitted of any crime but his career never recovers.

1922



American pilot James Doolittle makes the first United States coast-to-coast flight in 21 hours and 19 minutes.

1939



At the start of World War II in Europe, American President Roosevelt declares the United States to be neutral.

1945



During World War II, British forces re-occupy Singapore in the Far East.

1963



In Britain, Christine Keeler - one of the girls at the centre of the Profumo scandal along with Mandy Rice-Davies - is arrested and charged with perjury.

1969



The British commercial television channel, ITV, begins broadcasting in colour.

1969



In the United States, while many Americans join the anti-war movement, Lieutenant Calley, of the US Army, is charged with the murders of 109 men, women and children masacred by troops under his command in a village in Vietnam.

1972



Arab terrorists, members of the Black September Group, break into the Olympic Games village in Munich and seize a group of Israeli athletes ashostages. 9 Israelis, 4 terrorists and a German policeman are killed.

1975



A terrorist bomb explodes at the Hilton Hotel in London killing 2 and injuring another 60.

1975



In Sacramento, US President Gerald Ford survives an assassination attempt by Lynette Fromme - a follower of the jailed cult leader Charles Manson.

1977



West German terrorists kidnap German industrialist and businessman Hans Martin Schleyer. His body is found six weeks later in France.

1979



The BBC begins broadcasting the hit American series 'Dallas' which soon becomes one of the most popular programmes on British TV.

1980



In Switzerland, the official opening of the longest road tunnel in the world, the 10 mile long St Gotthard Tunnel - linking Goschenen to Airolo. Itsconstruction has taken 11 years and cost 690 million Swiss francs.

1986



Pakistani troops storm a hi-jacked Pan Am Boeing 747. 22 people are killed -including several of the hostages. The hi-jacking began 16 hours earlier when 4 Palestinian terrorists boarded the plane at Karachi.

1987



In London, the longest-running theatre comedy in the world, ' No Sex please - We're British' finally closes after 16 years and 6,671 performances.

1990



An historic meeting in Seoul between the Prime Ministers of North and South Korea.

1991



In Moscow, the Congress of People's Deputies brings an end to the 70-year old USSR -the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - and gives individual republics their independence.

1995



France faces worldwide condemnation for testing a nuclear bomb at an underground site at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. It sparks two days of rioting by anti-nuclear protestors on the island of Tahiti.

[Bez]

I love this stuff....I's hard to find GOOD news and FUN stuff though. Thanks for joining in.

[Bez]

Oh dear...I remember this....sign of old age..



In Britain, Christine Keeler - one of the girls at the centre of the Profumo scandal along with Mandy Rice-Davies - is arrested and charged with perjury.

1969

The British commercial television channel, ITV, begins broadcasting in colour.

1969

[Bez]

ISRAELI HOSTAGES KILLED IN MUNICH:

September 6, 1972

At Fürstenfeldbruck air base near Munich, an attempt by West German police to rescue nine Israeli Olympic team members held hostage by Palestinian terrorists ends in disaster. In an extended firefight that began at 11 p.m. and lasted until 1:30 a.m., all nine Israeli hostages were killed, as were five terrorists and one German policeman. Three terrorists were wounded and captured alive. The hostage crisis began early the previous morning when Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization stormed the Israeli quarters in the Olympic Village in Munich, killing two team members and taking nine others hostage.

The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, were publicized by organizers as the "Games of Peace and Joy." West Germans were intent on erasing the memory of the last Olympics held in Germany: the 1936 Berlin Olympics that Adolf Hitler exploited as a vehicle of Nazi propaganda. Police in Munich--the birthplace of Nazism--kept a low profile during the 1972 Games, and organizers chose lax security over risking comparison with the Gestapo police tactics of Hitler's Germany.

So just before dawn on September 5, 1972--the 11th day of the XX Olympiad-evidently no one thought it strange that five Arab men in track suits were climbing over a six-and-a-half-foot fence to gain access to the Olympic Village. The village, after all, had a curfew, and many other Olympic athletes had employed fence climbing as a means of enjoying a late night out on the town. In fact, some Americans returning from a bar joined them in climbing the fence. A handful of other witnesses hardly gave the five men a second glance, and the intruders proceeded unmolested to the three-story building where the small Israeli delegation to the Munich Games was staying.

These five men, of course, were not Olympic athletes but members of Black September, an extremist Palestinian group formed in 1971. In their athletic bags they carried automatic rifles and other weapons. They were joined in the village by three other terrorists, two of whom were employed within the Olympic compound.

Shortly before 5 a.m., the guerrillas forced their way into one of the Israeli apartments, taking five hostages. When the Palestinians entered another apartment, Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg struggled with them. He was shot to death after knocking two of his attackers down. Weightlifter Yossef Romano then attacked them with a kitchen knife, and he succeeded in injuring one terrorist before he was fatally shot. Some Israelis managed narrowly to escape through a back entrance, but a total of nine were seized. Four of the hostages were athletes--two weightlifters and two wrestlers--and five were coaches. One of the wrestlers, David Berger, had dual American-Israeli citizenship and lived in Ohio before qualifying for the Israeli Olympic team.

Around 8 a.m., the attackers announced themselves as Palestinians and issued their demands: the release of 234 Arab and German prisoners held in Israel and West Germany, and safe passage with their hostages to Cairo. The German prisoners requested to be released included Ulrike Meinhof and Andreas Baader, founders of the Marxist terrorist group known as the Red Army Faction. If the Palestinians' demands were not met, the nine hostages would be killed. Tense negotiations stretched on throughout the day, complicated by Israel's refusal to negotiate with these or any terrorists. The German police considered raiding the Israeli compound but later abandoned the plan out of fear for the safety of the hostages and other athletes in the Olympic Village. Ten West German Olympic organizers offered themselves as hostages in exchange for the Israeli team members, but the offer was declined.

Finally, in the early evening, the terrorists agreed to a plan in which they were to be taken by helicopter to the NATO air base at Fürstenfeldbruck and then flown by airliner to Cairo with the hostages. The terrorists believed they would be met in Egypt by the released Arab and German prisoners. Around 10 p.m., the terrorists and hostages emerged from the building; the Israelis bound together and blindfolded. They took a bus to a makeshift helicopter pad and were flown the 12 miles to Fürstenfeldbruck.

German authorities feared that the Israelis faced certain death upon their arrival in the Middle East. Egypt had denied the request to allow the plane to land in Cairo, and Israel would never release the Arab prisoners in question. Israel had a crack military task force ready to raid the plane wherever it landed, but the German police planned their own ambush. In the course of the transfer, however, the Germans discovered that there were eight terrorists instead of the expected five. They had not assigned enough marksmen to kill the terrorists and, moreover, lacked the gear, such as walkie-talkies and bulletproof vests, necessary to carry out such an ambush effectively. Nevertheless, shortly before 11 p.m., the sharpshooters opened fire. Their shots were off mark in the dark, and the terrorists fired back.

Toward the end of the firefight, which lasted more than two hours, the Palestinians gunned down four of the hostages in one of the helicopters and tossed a grenade into another helicopter holding the other five--killing them all. At approximately 1:30 a.m., the last terrorist still resisting was killed. All eight Palestinians were shot during the gun battle--five fatally--and a German policeman was killed. One of the helicopter pilots was also seriously injured.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Munich Games were temporarily suspended. A memorial service for the 11 slain Israelis drew 80,000 mourners to the Olympic stadium on September 6. International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage, who was widely criticized for failing to suspend the Games during the hostage crisis, was further criticized for his decision to resume them on the afternoon of September 6. On September 11, closing ceremonies ended the XX Olympiad.

On October 29, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa jet in Beirut and ordered it flown to Munich, where the three surviving Munich terrorists were being held. Germany agreed to turn the terrorists over in exchange for the release of the airliner's passengers and crew, which was carried out after the jet landed in Libya. The Black September terrorists, however, did not enjoy their freedom for long. Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, formed an assassination squad that eventually killed two of the three terrorists along with at least six others believed to have been involved in the attack on the Israeli Olympic compound. One of the Munich terrorists, Jamal al-Gashey, survives in hiding.

[Bez]

September 7

1936 Buddy Holly is born

Rock pioneer Buddy Holly is born on this day in Lubbock, Texas. Holly popularized the standard rock band format of two guitars, a bass, and drums. Legendary artists Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney were among the many musicians who have named Holly as a major influence.

As a child, Holly played piano, guitar, and fiddle. In high school, he formed a country group, Western and Bop Band, with friends. The band got some local radio play and recorded demo tapes, some of which were later released after Holly's death. Holly and two other musicians signed a contract with Decca under the name Holly and the Two Tunes, but the company chose not to release at least one of their recordings: "That'll Be the Day." Later, as lead singer for the Crickets, he recorded the song, which became a hit.

Holly and drummer Jerry Allison opened for a variety of well-known stars, including Elvis Presley, inspiring Holly to switch from country to rock and roll-a move that catapulted him to stardom. Holly and the Crickets had a regular radio show in the mid 1950s and toured the world. His blockbuster hits included "Peggy Sue," "Oh, Boy!," "Maybe Baby," and "Early in the Morning." His short life came to a tragic end on February 3, 1959. Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, fellow performers in the Winter Dance Party Tour, had chartered a plane to avoid driving from Iowa to Minnesota in bad weather. The Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed a few minutes after takeoff, killing everyone onboard. Holly was 22.

Several posthumous collections feature Holly's old demos and incomplete recordings. His life was the basis for the feature film The Buddy Holly Story and the stage musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, and a new generation was introduced to him through the 1987 popular movie La Bamba, based on Valens' life. Holly was also memorialized by Don McLean in the 1972 No. 1 hit "American Pie."







PANAMA TO CONTROL CANAL:

September 7, 1977



In Washington, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos sign a treaty agreeing to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama at the end of the 20th century. The Panama Canal Treaty also authorized the immediate abolishment of the Canal Zone, a 10-mile-wide, 40-mile-long U.S.-controlled area that bisected the Republic of Panama. Many in Congress opposed giving up control of the Panama Canal--an enduring symbol of U.S. power and technological prowess--but America's colonial-type administration of the strategic waterway had long irritated Panamanians and other Latin Americans.

The rush of settlers to California and Oregon in the mid 19th century was the initial impetus of the U.S. desire to build an artificial waterway across Central America. In 1855, the United States completed a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama (then part of Colombia), prompting various parties to propose canal-building plans. Ultimately, Colombia awarded the rights to build the canal to Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French entrepreneur who had completed the Suez Canal in 1869. Construction on a sea-level canal began in 1881, but inadequate planning, disease among the workers, and financial problems drove Lesseps' company into bankruptcy in 1889. Three years later, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, a former chief engineer of the canal works and a French citizen, acquired the assets of the defunct French company.

By the turn of the century, sole possession of the proposed canal became a military and economic imperative to the United States, which had acquired an overseas empire at the end of the Spanish-American War and sought the ability to move warships and commerce quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1902, the U.S. Congress authorized purchase of the French canal company (pending a treaty with Colombia) and allocated funding for the canal's construction. In 1903, the Hay-Herran Treaty was signed with Columbia, granting the United States use of the territory in exchange for financial compensation. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, but the Colombian Senate, fearing a loss of sovereignty, refused.

In response, President Theodore Roosevelt gave tacit approval to a Panamanian independence movement, which was engineered in large part by Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla and his canal company. On November 3, 1903, a faction of Panamanians issued a declaration of independence from Colombia. The U.S.-administered railroad removed its trains from the northern terminus of Colon, thus stranding Colombian troops sent to crush the rebellion. Other Colombian forces were discouraged from marching on Panama by the arrival of the U.S. warship Nashville.

On November 6, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on November 18 the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting the United States exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama received $10 million and an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years later. The treaty was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and Bunau-Varilla, who had been given plenipotentiary powers to negotiate on behalf of Panama. Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country's new national sovereignty.

In 1906, American engineers decided on the construction of a lock canal, and the next three years were spent developing construction facilities and eradicating tropical diseases in the area. In 1909, construction proper began. In one of the largest construction projects of all time, U.S. engineers moved nearly 240 million cubic yards of earth and spent close to $400 million in constructing the 40-mile-long canal (or 51 miles long, if the deepened seabed on both ends of the canal is taken into account). On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship.

During the next seven decades, the United States made a series of concessions to Panama, including regular increases in annual payments, the building of a $20 million bridge across the canal, and equal pay and working conditions for Panamanian and U.S. workers in the Canal Zone. The basic provisions of the 1903 treaty, specifically the right of the United States to control and operate the canal, remained unchanged until the late 1970s. In the 1960s, Panamanians repeatedly rioted in the Canal Zone over the refusal of U.S. authorities to fly the Panamanian flag and other nationalist issues. After U.S. troops crushed one such riot in 1964, Panama temporarily broke off diplomatic relations with the United States.

After years of negotiations for a new Panama Canal treaty, agreement was reached between the United States and Panama in 1977. Signed on September 7, 1977, the treaty recognized Panama as the territorial sovereign in the Canal Zone but gave the United States the right to continue operating the canal until December 31, 1999. Despite considerable opposition in the U.S. Senate, the treaty was approved by a one-vote margin in September 1978. It went into effect in October 1979, and the canal came under the control of the Panama Canal Commission, an agency of five Americans and four Panamanians.

On September 7, 1977, President Carter had also signed the Neutrality Treaty with Torrijos, which guaranteed the permanent neutrality of the canal and gave the United States the right to use military force, if necessary, to keep the canal open. This treaty was used as rationale for the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, which the saw the overthrow of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had threatened to prematurely seize control of the canal after being indicted in the United States on drug charges.

Democratic rule was restored in Panama in the 1990s, and at noon on December 31, 1999, the Panama Canal was peacefully turned over to Panama. In order to avoid conflict with end-of-the-millennium celebrations, formal ceremonies marking the event were held on December 14. Former president Jimmy Carter represented the United States at the ceremony. After exchanging diplomatic notes with Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, Carter simply told her, "It's yours."

[Bez]

September 8

1966 Star Trek premieres

On this day in 1966, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise takes off on its mission to "boldly go where no man has gone before," with the premiere of Star Trek.

Although Star Trek ran for only three years (starting in 1966) and never placed better than No. 52 in the ratings, Gene Roddenberry's series became a cult classic and spawned four television series and nine movies.

The first Star Trek spin-off was a Saturday morning cartoon, The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, which ran from 1973 to 1975 (original cast members supplied the voices). The TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in 1987 and was set in the 24th century, starring the crew of the new, larger U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, captained by Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart). This series became the highest-rated syndicated drama on television and ran until 1994.

Another spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, premiered in 1992, featuring a 24th-century crew that lived in a space station rather than a starship. Star Trek: Voyager, which debuted in 1995 and ran until 2001, was the first to feature a female captain, Kathryn Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew). In this series, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager is stranded more than 70,000 light years from Federation space and is trying to find its way home.

Meanwhile, the cast of the original Star Trek voyaged onto the big screen, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. The first film yielded disappointing returns at the box office, but its sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, in 1982 was more successful and ensured more movies in the franchise. Subsequent films included Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; Star Trek: Generations; Star Trek: First Contact; and Star Trek: Insurrection. The Star Trek books have been translated into more than 15 languages, and Star Trek conventions are held all over the United States.

In 1992, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., opened an exhibit honoring the original Star Trek television series. The exhibit featured more than 80 costumes, props, and models from the show, including Mr. Spock's pointy ears and a replica of the deck of the starship Enterprise.



1935 Sinatra discovered



Frank Sinatra, age 19, sings with a group called The Hoboken Four on the radio talent show Major Bowe's Amateur Hour. The appearance leads to a regular job with the show and many small nightclub performances.

By 1940, Sinatra was singing with the famous Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He also became

a popular screen actor, but after his vocal chords suffered damage in 1952 his career took a drastic downturn. Only after begging for a supporting role in From Here to Eternity (1953)-for which he won an Academy Award-did he make a comeback. He went on to receive an Oscar nomination for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), in which he portrayed a drug addict. His career gained steam as he aged; his voice recovered and his songs became more popular than ever. Sinatra died in 1998.

[Bez]

September 9

1939 Surprise preview of Gone with the Wind

Audiences at the Fox Theater in Riverside, California, get a surprise showing of Gone with the Wind, which the theater manager shows as a second feature. David O. Selznick sat in the back and observed the audience reaction to his highly anticipated film. The movie was released a few months later.

In the summer of 1936, Selznick had bought the film rights to Margaret Mitchell's novel of the Civil War South for an unprecedented $50,000. He hired director George Cukor immediately, and casting began in the fall. Selznick launched a nationwide talent search, hoping to find a new actress to play Scarlett. Meanwhile, he put writers to work on the script.

A year later, Selznick still hadn't found an actress or received a satisfactory script. In May 1938, running low on funds, Selznick struck a deal with MGM. He sold the worldwide distribution rights for the film to the studio for $1.5 million, and MGM agreed to lend Clark Gable to Selznick.

Filming finally began on December 10, 1938, with the burning of Atlanta scene, although Scarlett still hadn't been cast. British actress Vivien Leigh, newly arrived from London, dropped by the set to visit her agent, Myron Selznick, brother of the producer. David O. Selznick asked her to test for Scarlett. In January, Leigh signed as Scarlett, and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, and at last, principal filming began. By February, however, there was trouble on the set. Gable clashed with the director, and by February 14 Victor Fleming had replaced George Cukor. Principal filming ended on June 27, 1939.

The film debuted in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, and became an instant hit, breaking all box office records. The film was nominated for more than a dozen Oscars and won nine, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress (which went to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American actress to win the award). The movie was digitally restored and the sound remastered for its 1998 rerelease by New Line Pictures.

1956 Elvis appears on Ed Sullivan

Elvis Presley sings "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" on Ed Sullivan's immensely popular show Toast of the Town. Presley scandalized audiences with his suggestive hip gyrations, and Sullivan swore he would never book the singer on his show. However, Presley's tremendous popularity and success on other shows changed Sullivan's mind. Although Elvis had appeared on a few other programs already, his appearance on Ed Sullivan's show made him a household name.

[Bez]

Sept 10th...on this day in History.......





1960 NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits 643' HR over right field roof in Detroit

1960 Running barefoot, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila wins Rome Olympic marathon

1961 Mickey Mantle becomes 7th to hit HR # 400

1962 Rod Laver wins the Grand Slam of tennis

1963 20 black students entered public schools in Alabama

1963 Phillies beat Houston Colt .45s, 16-0

1965 Phillies 10,000th game to a decision since 1900, Phils beat Cards

1966 Beatles' "Revolver," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 6 weeks

1967 Chic White Sox Joel Horlen no-hits Det Tigers, 6-0

1967 Gibraltar votes 12,138 to 44 to remain British

1969 NY Mets sweep Montreal Expos putting them in 1st place for 1st time

1972 Emerson Fittipaldi is youngest to win an auto race World Championship

1972 US Men's olympic basketball teams 1st lose, 51-50 to USSR (disputed)

1973 Muhammad Ali defeats Ken Norton

1973 NY Jets trade pro football's leading receiver Don Maynard to St Louis

1974 Guinea-Bissau gains independence from Portugal

1974 Lou Brock ties (104) & then sets (105) baseball stolen base mark

1974 Teuvo Louhivouri sets cycling distance record of 515.8 mi in 24 hrs

1976 2 airliners collide over Yugoslavia, kills all 176 aboard

1977 Blue Jays beat Yankees 19-3 with 20 hits

1978 Arlyne Rhode sets female footbow distance record (1,113 yds & 30")

1978 4th game of the Boston Massacre; Yanks beat Red Sox 7-4. This ties them for 1st place. Yanks out hit 'em 67-21; score 42-9

1979 3 Puerto Rican nationalists who attempted to kill Truman are freed

1980 Bill Gullickson, sets rookie record of striking out 18

1982 Decca releases Beatle audition "The Complete Silver Beatles" album

1984 Discovery returns to Kennedy Space Center via Altus AFB, Okla

1984 Sean O'Keefe (11) is youngest to cycle across US (24 days)

1986 Bryan O'Connor named chairman of Space Flight Safety Panel

1988 Steffi Graf wins US Open, 1st woman Grand Slam since Court (1970)

1989 Boris Becker beats Yvan Lendl for the US Open championship

1990 19 year old Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi to win the US Open

1990 1st time since 1966 that all 8 grand slam tennis champs are different

1990 George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Helsinki

1990 Hard Rock Cafe opens in Las Vegas Nevada

1990 Iran agrees to resume diplomatic ties with Iraq

1990 Mariner Matt Young becomes 21st AL'er to strike out 4 in 1 inning

[BTS]

On this day...

701 St Sergius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

1513 Battle of Flodden Fields; English defeat James IV of Scotland

1739 Slave revolt in Stono SC led by Jemmy (25 whites killed)

1776 Continental Congress renames "United Colonies," "United States"

1817 Alexander Lucius Twilight, probably 1st black to graduate from US college, receives BA degree at Middlebury College

1830 Charles Durant, 1st US aeronaut, flies a balloon from Castle Garden, NYC to Perth Amboy, NJ

1839 John Herschel takes the 1st glass plate photograph

1841 Great Lakes steamer "Erie" sinks off Silver Creek NY, kills 300

1850 California becomes 31st state

1850 Territories of New Mexico & Utah created

1862 Lee splits his army & sends Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry

1867 Luxembourg gains independence

1875 Lotta's Fountain (Kearny & Market) dedicated

1880 President Hayes visits SF

1892 Almalthea, 5th moon of Jupiter, discovered by EE Barnard at Lick

1895 The American Bowling Congress formed (NYC)

1904 Boston Herald again refers to NY baseball club as Yankees, when it reports "Yankees take 2," Yankee name not official till 1913

1908 Orville Wright makes 1st 1-hr airplane flight, Fort Myer, Va

1911 1st airmail service (British Post Office)

1912 J Verdrines becomes 1st to fly over 100 mph (107 mph/172 kph)

1913 Assn for Study of Negro Life & History organizes in Chicago

1914 Boston Brave George Davis no-hits Phila Phillies, 7-0

1919 Boston's police force goes on strike

1922 St Louis Brown Baby Doll Jacobson hits 3 triples beating Tigers 16-0

1926 National Broadcasting Co created by the Radio Corporation of America

1927 Tony Lazzeri Day at Yankee Stadium

1928 Silvio Cator of Haiti, sets then long jump record at 26' ¬"

1932 Frank Crosetti ties record, strikes out twice in 1 inning

1936 Yanks clinch 8th pennant

1942 1st bombing on continental US soil, Mount Emily Or (WW2)

1943 Italy surrenders to the Allies

1944 Allied forces liberate Luxembourg

1944 Bulgaria liberated from Nazi control (often referred to as the invasion of Bulgaria by Russia) (National Day)

1945 Japanese in S Korea, Taiwan, China, Indochina surrender to Allies

1945 Jimmie Foxx hits his 534th & final HR

1945 Phila A's Dick Fowler no-hits St Louis Browns, 1-0

1948 Bkln Dodger Rex Barney no-hits NY Giants, 2-0

1948 People's Democratic Republic of Korea proclaimed

1950 1st use of TV laugh track-Hank McCune

1956 Elvis Presley appears on national TV for 1st time (Ed Sullivan)

1957 Nashville's new Hattie Cotton Elementary School dynamited

1958 Pirate Roberto Clemente ties record of 3 triples in a game

1960 4th American Football League plays 1st game (Denver 13, Boston 10)

1963 Landslide into Vaiont Dam emptys lake, kills 3-4,000 (Italy)

1965 Sandy Koufax pitches his 4th no-hitter, a perfect game vs Cubs (1-0)

1965 Tibet is made an autonomous region of China

1966 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an avante-garde art exposition

1967 1st successful test flight of a Saturn V

1968 1st US Open, held as an "open" (Arthur Ashe-wins)

1968 Minn Tommy Krammer passes for 6 touchdowns vs Green Bay (42-7)

1969 Allegheny 853 collides with Piper Cherokee above Indiana, kills 82

1971 1,000 convicts seize Attica, NY prison

1971 John Lennon & Yoko Ono appear on the Dick Cavett Show (ABC-TV)

1971 John Lennon releases the "Imagine" album

1971 NHL great Gordie Howe retires

1975 Viking 2 launched toward orbit around Mars, soft landing

1977 1st TRS-80 computer sold

1978 3rd game of the Boston Massacre; Yanks beat Red Sox 7-0

1978 Balt Orioles pull their 7th triple play (5-4-3 vs Toronto)

1979 John McEnroe beats Vitas Gerulaitis, for the US Open Tennis title

1979 Sid Bernstein offers $« billion for a Beatle reunion

1979 Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) weds Fouzia Ali at Kensington Mosque

1981 Vernon E Jordan resigns as president of National Urban League

1982 Columbia mated with SRBs & external tank in preparation for STS-5

1982 Conestoga 1, 1st private commercial rocket, makes suborbital flight

1983 Challenger returns to Kennedy Space Center via Sheppard AFB, Texas

1983 Radio Shack announces their color computer 2 (the Coco2)

1983 Vitas Gerulatis bets his house that Martina Navratilova can't beat the 100th ranked male tennis player

1984 Calif Angel Michael Witt is 11th to pitch a perfect baseball game

1984 John McEnroe beats Ivan Lendl, for the US Open Tennis title

1986 NYC jury indicts Gennadly Zakharov (Soviet UN employee) of spying

1987 Gary Hart admits to cheating on his wife on "Nightline"

1987 Larry Bird (Celtics), begins NBA free throw streak of 59

1987 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 4,500th batter

1988 US swamps New Zealand at 27th America`s Cup: NZ set to appeal

1989 Steffi Graf beats Martina Navratalova for the US Open championship

1990 Bush & Gorbachev meet in Helsinki & urge Iraq to leave Kuwait

1991 Only 1,695 fans watch Boston Red Sox play Clevland



Birthdates which occurred on September 09:

1585 Cardinal A Jean de Plessicide de Richelieu Louis XIII chief minister

1754 William Bligh nasty ship's captain (HMS Bounty)

1828 Leo Tolstoy Russia, novelist (War & Peace, Anna Karenina)

1850 Harishchandra India, poet/dramatist/father of modern Hindi

1853 Frederick R Spofforth Australia, cricketer (Demon)

1868 Mary Austin Ill, feminist/nature writer (Land of Little Rain)

1877 Frank Chance baseball player/manager, Tinkers to Evers to Chance

1880 Viking Eggeling Sweden, artist/film maker (Diagonal Symphony)

1887 Alfred Landon (R-Ks) pres candidate (1932, 1936)

1890 Harland Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken founder/colonel

1898 Frank (Fordham Flash) Frisch NYC, baseball player (NL MVP 1931)

1899 Neil Hamilton Lynn Mass, actor (Commisioner Gordon-Batman)

19-- Nick Ramus Seattle Wash, actor (Gus-Falcon Crest)

19-- Randy Stumpf Belleville Ill, actor (Joey Dee-Flatbush)

1900 James Hilton hotel magnate (Hilton Hotels)

1907 Pinky Tomlin Eureka Springs Ark, singer/actor (Tip-Waterfront)

1908 John Haeton US, bobsled (Olympic-silver-1928, 48)

1912 Kurt Sanderling Arys Germany, conductor (E Berlin Symph 1960-77)

1919 Jacques Marin Paris, actor (Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo)

1919 Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder gambler/sportscaster (lay you 5 to 1)

1924 Jane Greer Wash DC, actress (Prisoner of Zenda, Clown)

1924 Nino Bibbia Italy, bobsled (Olympic-gold-1948)

1925 Cliff Robertson La Jolla Calif, actor (Charly)/spokesman for AT&T

1932 Sylvia Miles NYC, actress (Midnight Cowboy, Farewell My Lovely)

1935 Chaim Topol Tel Aviv Israel, actor (Fiddler on the Roof)

1941 Les Braid England, bass (Swinging Blue Jeans-You're No Good)

1941 Otis Redding Georgia, rocker (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay)

1942 Inez Foxx Greensboro NC, rocker (Mockingbird, Hi Diddle Diddle)

1943 Roger Waters rocker (Pink Floyd-The Wall)

1946 Billy Preston singer/pianist, the 5th Beatle (David Brenner Show)

1947 Lynn Fitzgerald marathoner (ran 133 miles 939 yards in 24 hrs)

1949 Joe Theismann NFL QB (Redskins)

1949 John Curry England, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1976)

1950 Tom Wopat Lodi Wisc, actor (Luke Duke-Dukes of Hazzard)

1951 Michael Keaton Pitts Pa, actor (Gung Ho, Batman)

1951 Robert Desiderio Bronx NY, actor (Det Kennedy-Heart of the City)

1952 Angela Cartwright England (Make Room for Daddy, Lost in Space)

1952 Dave Stewart rocker (Eurythmics-Here Comes the Rain Again)

1966 Brenda Epperson actress (Ashley-Young & Restless)

1966 David Bennent Lausanne, actor (Tin Drum, Legend)

1969 Scott DeFreitas Newton Mass, actor (Andy Dixon-As the World Turns)



Deaths which occurred on September 09:

1087 William I The Conqueror, King of England, & Duke of Normandy, dies

1817 Paul Cuffe entrepreneur/ civil rights activist, dies at 58

1962 Pat Rooney vaudevillian, dies at 82

1971 Billy Gilbert (Great Dictator, His Gal Friday), dies at 76

1975 John McGiver actor (Patty Duke Show, Jimmy Stewart Show), dies at 61

1976 Mao Tse-Tung Chinese communist party chairman (1949-76), dies at 82

1990 Samuel K Doe Liberian president, killed by rebels

[Bez]

ATTACK ON AMERICA:

September 11, 2001..............we all know the details...I will just send my wishes to everyone in the US who will be remembering this day 4 years ago.

[Bez]

September 10



1942 The War And The Gas Pump

Following the example of several European nations, President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandated gasoline rationing in the U.S. as part of the country's wartime efforts. Gasoline rationing was just one of the many measures taken during these years, as the entire nation was transformed into a unified war machine: women took to the factories, households tried to conserve energy, and American automobile manufacturers began producing tanks and planes. The gasoline ration was lifted in 1945, at the end of World War II.

[Bez]

September 11

1921 Fatty Arbuckle arrested

The San Francisco police arrest actor and director Fatty Arbuckle on suspicion of manslaughter. Starlet Virginia Rappe had died of a ruptured bladder several days after an alleged sexual assault by the 350-pound Arbuckle at a wild drinking party in San Francisco. Although a jury eventually found Arbuckle not guilty, the scandal destroyed his career.

Born Roscoe Arbuckle in 1887 in Kansas, Arbuckle worked as a plumber's assistant before launching his performing career. After appearing on the vaudeville circuit, Arbuckle--nicknamed Fatty for his generous physique--began appearing in short comedies. He signed with production company Keystone in 1913 and appeared regularly as a Keystone Kop--the bumbling, slapstick police force that were a staple of many Keystone movies between 1914 and the early 1920s. Arbuckle made various other silent comedies with prominent co-stars, including Charlie Chaplin. In 1916, he began writing and directing his own movies, and in 1917 he discovered comedian Buster Keaton, who became one of the most sought-after film comedians of the 1920s and '30s.

Arbuckle's involvement in Rappe's death created the largest scandal in the history of early Hollywood. After two hung juries, Arbuckle was acquitted in 1922, but his films were banned and his career seemed finished. However, in 1925, he began directing again, under the pseudonym William Goodrich, and worked with such stars as Marion Davies and Eddie Cantor. An attempt to rehabilitate his acting career in 1932 through a European tour failed. He died the following year.

[Bez]

September 12

1918 Cannonball's Run

Cannonball Baker, born Erwin G. Baker, discovered his special talent soon after buying his first motorcycle -- he was capable of exceptional stamina and endurance on the road. His lean frame sat naturally atop his Indian V-twin, and his toughened stance and leather riding trousers seemed to announce to the world that he was ready to outride all challengers. Made a celebrity by his 3,379-mile cross-country motorcycle trek, "Cannonball" became a symbol of the American motorcycle rider, synonymous with wild cross-country journeys. His fame led to other tours and promotional trips, and he completed his most extensive tour on this day - a 17,000 mile, 77-day trip to all 48 state capitals - yet another testament to his legendary endurance.





1992 Anthony Perkins dies

On this day, actor Anthony Perkins dies of AIDS.

Best known for his role as Psycho killer Norman Bates, Perkins was born in New York. The son of an actor, Perkins became interested in theater in his teens. After summer stock productions and Broadway performances, he appeared in his first film, The Actress (1953), followed by Friendly Persuasion (1956), for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. In many of his early movies, he played a neurotic young man, but none as disturbed as the murderous Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's masterful Psycho.

Psycho represented the peak of Perkins' career. For the next decade, he made undistinguished films in France, Germany, and Italy and appeared in a few American films, including Catch-22 (1970) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974). In the last decade of his life, Perkins made a career out of reprising his Norman Bates role, in Psycho II (1980); Psycho III (1986), which he also directed; and Psycho IV (1991), a cable movie.

[chonsigirl]

Sep. 13

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx



1692: French writer Michel de Montaigne, who introduced the essay as a literary form, dies in France at the age of 59.



1759: British general James Wolfe and French general Joseph de Montcalm are both fatally wounded at the battle of Québec. The British victory there ends the French empire in North America.



1922: The highest temperature ever recorded, 58° C (136° F), is measured at Al Aziziyah, Libya.



1942: The German seige of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the Soviet Union begins. Their failure to take the city during the four-month battle will halt their drive toward Moscow.



1943: Chiang Kai-Shek, the longtime military leader of Nationalist China, is elected president of the country.



1993: Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin meet at the White House signing of a peace accord, which calls for limited Palestinian self-rule in Israeli-occupied territories.

[Bez]

BORN ON THE 13th SPETEMBER



1941 Oscar Arias S nchez president of Costa Rica (1986- ) (Nobel 1987)

1944 (Winifred) Jacqueline Bisset England, actress (Class, Deep, Secrets)

1944 Peter Cetera Chicago, lead singer (Chicago-25 or 6 to 4, Old Days)

1948 Clyde Kusatsu Honolulu Hawaii, actor (Ali-Bring 'em Back Alive)

1948 Nell Carter Birmingham Ala, actress (Nell-Gimme a Break, Lobo)

1951 David Clayton-Thomas singer (Blood Sweat & Tears-You've Made Me So Very Happy, Spinning Wheel)

1952 Karen Wyman Bronx NY, singer (Long & Winding Road)

1953 Taryn Power LA Calif, actress (Maria)

1956 Joni Sledge Phila, vocalist (Sister Sledge-We are Family)

1958 Ann Dusenberry Tucson Az, actress (Jaws 2, Lies, Basic Training)

1965 Zak Starsky drummer, son of Beatle Ringo

1971 Stella Nina McCartney daughter of Paul & Linda McCartney

[Bez]

September 15

1954 Marilyn Monroe's skirt scene filmed

The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on this day during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist. The couple divorced shortly after.

Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortensen and also known as Norma Jean Baker, had a tragic childhood. Her mother, a negative cutter at several film studios, was mentally unstable and institutionalized when Norma Jean was five. Afterward, the little girl lived in a series of foster homes, where she suffered from neglect and abuse, and later lived in an orphanage. At age 16, she quit high school and married a 21-year-old aircraft plant worker named Joe Dougherty.

In 1944, her husband was sent overseas with the military, and Monroe worked as a paint sprayer in a defense plant. A photographer spotted her there, and she soon became a popular pin-up girl. She began working as a model and divorced her husband two years later. In 1946, 20th Century Fox signed her for $125 a week but dropped her after one film, from which her scenes were cut. Columbia signed her but also dropped her after one film. Unemployed, she posed nude for a calendar for $50; the calendar sold a million copies and made $750,000.

Monroe played a series of small film roles until 1950, when Fox signed her again. This time, they touted her as a star and began giving her feature roles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she starred with Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, playing fortune hunter Lorelei Lee. Her tremendous sex appeal and little-girl mannerisms made her enormously popular.

After her divorce from baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, Monroe searched for more serious roles and announced she would found her own studio. She began studying acting with the famous Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. She gave an impressive comic performance in Bus Stop in 1955. The following year, she married intellectual playwright Arthur Miller. She appeared in the hit Some Like It Hot in 1959.

She made her last picture in 1961, The Misfits, which Miller wrote especially for her. She divorced him a week before the film opened. She attempted one more film, Something's Got to Give, but was fired for her frequent illnesses and absences from the set, which many believed to be related to drug addiction. In August 1962, she died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Her death was ruled a possible suicide. Since her death, her popularity and mystique have endured, with numerous biographies published after her death. Her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio continued to send flowers to her grave every day for the rest of his life.



1890 Agatha Christie is born



Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, is born on this day in Torquay, Devon, England.

Raised and educated at Ashfield, her parents' comfortable home, Christie began making up stories as a child. Her mother and her older sister Madge also made up stories: Madge told especially thrilling tales about a fictional, mentally deranged older sister. Agatha married Colonel Archibald Christie in 1914, before World War I, and had one daughter. While her husband was off fighting in World War I, Christie worked as an assistant in a pharmacy, where she learned about poisons. She began to write on a dare from her sister and produced her first mystery novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who would appear in 25 more novels during the next quarter century. The novel found modest success, and she continued writing. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) became a bestseller, and she enjoyed phenomenal success for the rest of her life.

However, about this time Christie entered a period of emotional turmoil after the death of her mother and a divorce from her first husband. She disappeared for 11 days, eventually turning up at a health spa. Her disappearance was highly publicized, and an expensive government search ensued. She was later criticized for not coming forward with her whereabouts earlier.

In 1930, she married archeologist Sir Max Mallowan and accompanied him on expeditions to the Middle East, which became the setting for many of her novels. She created Miss Marple, one of her most beloved detectives, in 1930. All told, Christie wrote some 80 novels, 30 short story collections, and 15 plays, plus six romances under the pen name Mary Westmacott. She was knighted in 1971 and died in 1976, just a year after she killed off Poirot in the novel Curtain: Hercule Poirot's Last Case. Poirot received a front-page obituary in the New York Times on August 6, 1975. By the time Christie died, more than 400 million copies of her books had been sold in more than 100 languages.

[observer1]

Just curious Bez..... are you a sports fan, by chance??

[Bez]

MAYFLOWER DEPARTS ENGLAND:

September 16, 1620

The Mayflower sails from Plymouth, England, bound for the New World with 102 passengers. The ship was headed for Virginia, where the colonists--half religious dissenters and half entrepreneurs--had been authorized to settle by the British crown. However, stormy weather and navigational errors forced the Mayflower off course, and on November 21 the "Pilgrims" reached Massachusetts, where they founded the first permanent European settlement in New England in late December.

Thirty-five of the Pilgrims were members of the radical English Separatist Church, who traveled to America to escape the jurisdiction of the Church of England, which they found corrupt. Ten years earlier, English persecution had led a group of Separatists to flee to Holland in search of religious freedom. However, many were dissatisfied with economic opportunities in the Netherlands, and under the direction of William Bradford they decided to immigrate to Virginia, where an English colony had been founded at Jamestown in 1607.

The Separatists won financial backing from a group of investors called the London Adventurers, who were promised a sizable share of the colony's profits. Three dozen church members made their way back to England, where they were joined by about 70 entrepreneurs--enlisted by the London stock company to ensure the success of the enterprise. In August 1620, the Mayflower left Southampton with a smaller vessel--the Speedwell--but the latter proved unseaworthy and twice was forced to return to port. On September 16, the Mayflower left for America alone from Plymouth.

In a difficult Atlantic crossing, the 90-foot Mayflower encountered rough seas and storms and was blown more than 500 miles off course. Along the way, the settlers formulated and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that bound the signatories into a "civil body politic." Because it established constitutional law and the rule of the majority, the compact is regarded as an important precursor to American democracy. After a 66-day voyage, the ship landed on November 21 on the tip of Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts.

After coming to anchor in Provincetown harbor, a party of armed men under the command of Captain Myles Standish was sent out to explore the area and find a location suitable for settlement. While they were gone, Susanna White gave birth to a son, Peregrine, aboard the Mayflower. He was the first English child born in New England. In mid-December, the explorers went ashore at a location across Cape Cod Bay where they found cleared fields and plentiful running water and named the site Plymouth.

The expedition returned to Provincetown, and on December 21 the Mayflower came to anchor in Plymouth harbor. Just after Christmas, the pilgrims began work on dwellings that would shelter them through their difficult first winter in America.

In the first year of settlement, half the colonists died of disease. In 1621, the health and economic condition of the colonists improved, and that autumn Governor William Bradford invited neighboring Indians to Plymouth to celebrate the bounty of that year's harvest season. Plymouth soon secured treaties with most local Indian tribes, and the economy steadily grew, and more colonists were attracted to the settlement. By the mid 1640s, Plymouth's population numbered 3,000 people, but by then the settlement had been overshadowed by the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north, settled by Puritans in 1629.

The term "Pilgrim" was not used to describe the Plymouth colonists until the early 19th century and was derived from a manuscript in which Governor Bradford spoke of the "saints" who left Holland as "pilgrimes." The orator Daniel Webster spoke of "Pilgrim Fathers" at a bicentennial celebration of Plymouth's founding in 1820, and thereafter the term entered common usage.

[Bez]

observer1 wrote: Just curious Bez..... are you a sports fan, by chance??


I am actually...Motor sports, football, rugby, tennis, athletics...etc. etc. I'm in my element when the big events are on.

The stuff I'm posting here is pretty general so that there is something for everyone...I'm learning a lot along the way....hope you find it just a little bit interesting.:-6

[Bez]

September 17

1884 A California judge sets a record for trying criminal cases

Judge Allen disposes of the 13 criminal cases on his Oakland, California, docket in only six minutes. Although he apparently set a new record for speed, defendants in Oakland's criminal court did not stand much of a chance of gaining an acquittal. In a 40-year period at the turn of the century, only 1 defendant in 100 was acquitted.

The following transcript from an 1895 trial was printed in the Oakland Tribune:

"I didn't think I was drunk, your Honor," said Gus Harland.

"Not drunk?" said the court.

"Not very drunk."

"How drunk?"

"Well--I could see the moon."

"It was raining hard Sunday night when I arrested that man," said the officer.

"Six dollars or three days. Next."

Although Judge Allen was notoriously speedy, the quick disposition of criminal cases was not necessarily commonplace in early American courts. In the early 1800s, criminal courts were often held up by those who used them to settle personal problems. For instance, in Philadelphia, a man named Henry Blake was prosecuted by his wife in criminal court "for refusing to come to bed and making too much noise, preventing her from sleeping." Today, the courts would immediately dismiss such a domestic squabble.

[Bez]

September 18



1975 Patty Hearst captured



Newspaper heiress and wanted fugitive Patty Hearst is captured in a San Francisco apartment and arrested for armed robbery.

On February 4, 1974, Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California, by two black men and a white woman, all three of whom were armed. Her fiancý, Stephen Weed, was beaten and tied up along with a neighbor who tried to help. Witnesses reported seeing a struggling Hearst being carried away blindfolded, and she was put in the trunk of a car. Neighbors who came out into the street were forced to take cover after the kidnappers fired their guns to cover their escape.

Three days later, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small U.S. leftist group, announced in a letter to a Berkeley radio station that it was holding Hearst as a "prisoner of war." Four days later, the SLA demanded that the Hearst family give $70 in foodstuffs to every needy person from Santa Rosa to Los Angeles. This done, said the SLA, negotiations would begin for the return of Patricia Hearst. Randolph Hearst hesitantly gave away some $2 million worth of food. The SLA then called this inadequate and asked for $4 million more. The Hearst Corporation said it would donate the additional sum if the girl was released unharmed.

In April, however, the situation changed dramatically when Patty Hearst declared, in a tape sent to the authorities, that she was joining the SLA of her own free will. Later that month, a surveillance camera took a photo of her participating in an armed robbery of a San Francisco bank, and she was also spotted during the robbery of a Los Angeles store.

On May 17, police raided the SLA's secret headquarters in Los Angeles, killing six of the group's nine known members. Among the dead was the SLA's leader, Donald DeFreeze, an African American ex-convict who called himself General Field Marshal Cinque. Patty Hearst and two other SLA members wanted for the April bank robbery were not on the premises.

Finally, on September 18, 1975, after crisscrossing the country with her captors--or conspirators--for more than a year, Hearst, or "Tania," as she called herself, was captured in a San Francisco apartment and arrested for armed robbery. Despite her later claim that she had been brainwashed by the SLA, she was convicted on March 20, 1974, and sentenced to seven years in prison. In May 1977, she was released on probation and returned to a more routine existence. She later married her bodyguard.

[Bez]

1960 "The Twist" hits No. 1

"The Twist," by Chubby Checker, hits the top of the charts. The song was one of the most successful singles in history. The only song to top the chart twice-it was No. 1 again in 1962-"The Twist" stayed on the charts for a total of 39 weeks and launched a national dance craze.



1932 24-Hour Racing

The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah have been the site of dozens of world speed records, but Ab Jenkins set a new kind of record in Bonneville today. Jenkins completed the first 24-hour solo run, driving 2,710 miles nonstop in a single day. His stock Pierce Arrow V-12 averaged 112.94mph.

[Bez]

September 20

1975 David Bowie's first chart-topper

David Bowie scores his first No. 1 hit with "Fame," from his album Young Americans.

Bowie, born David Jones, attended high school in London but dropped out to play music with a series of bands. He became interested in theater and art movements in the mid 1960s, studying mime and Japanese Kabuki theater. He formed his own mime company while recording several albums. His first album, The World of David Bowie, was released in 1967. Like his next few albums, it presented Bowie as a singer-songwriter.

Bowie's intense interest in theater ultimately led to the creation of the glamorous, androgynous Ziggy Stardust character, introduced in the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972). Intended as a parody of larger-than-life rock stars, Ziggy was actually taken seriously by many rock critics and fans, and made Bowie a major star.

Bowie toured England and the United States before retiring the Ziggy persona in July 1973. He continued to win fans with his later albums Diamond Dogs and Young Americans and reinvented himself as a mainstream pop singer in the 1980s with Let's Dance. In 1989, he released an album with his new band, Tin Machine.

Meanwhile, he also launched an acting career on stage and screen and became one of the earliest artists to take an interest in the Internet and new media--his concert staff was using email in the early 1980s. In 1988, he launched the first artist newsgroup on the Internet and he was the first artist to release an Internet-only single: "Telling Lies," in 1997. The same year, he allowed investors to participate in his financial future when he issued "Bowie Bonds"-a 10-year security paying investors 7.9 percent. He raised some $55 million through the bond issue. The following year, he launched his own Internet service provider, BowieNet.

[Bez]

September 22

1893 America's First Automobile

America's first automobile was not built by a Henry Ford or Walter Chrysler, but by Charles and Frank Duryea, two bicycle makers. Charles spotted a gasoline engine at the 1886 Ohio State Fair and became convinced that an engine-driven carriage could be built. The two brothers designed and built the car together, working in a rented loft in Springfield, Massachusetts. After two years of tinkering, Charles and Frank Duryea showed off their home invention on the streets of Springfield, the first successful run of an automobile in the U.S.

1953 Highway Madness In L.A.

Los Angeles is widely known for its traffic and smog, miles of freeway stretching in every direction--the ultimate automobile city. Indeed, its highway system is one of the most extensive in the nation, famous for its criss-crossing interchanges. The first of these interchanges, the world's first four-level interchange structure, was opened on this day. The massive concrete structure connected the freeways of Hollywood, Harbor, Santa Ana, and Arroyo Seco.

[Bez]

September 23

1862 Leo Tolstoy marries Sophie Andreyevna Behrs

On this day, Count Leo Tolstoy married Sophie Andreyevna Behrs. The 34-year-old Tolstoy was nearly twice the age of his teenage bride.

After losing his parents as a child, Tolstoy inherited a large estate and was raised by relatives. He began studies at Kazan University at age 16 but was disappointed in the quality of education and returned to his estate in 1847 without a degree. He proceeded to live a wild and dissolute life in Moscow and St. Petersburg for the next four years. In 1851, he joined the army and fought in the Crimean war. He wrote about his wartime experiences in the successful Sebastapol Sketches, published in 1855. He also wrote several other autobiographical works while in the army.

In 1857, Tolstoy visited Europe and became interested in education. He started a school for peasant children on his estate and studied progressive educational techniques. The year after his marriage, he published his first successful novel, The Cossacks. Tolstoy and his wife proceeded to have 13 children over the next 17 years.

Tolstoy was constantly engaged in a spiritual struggle between his responsibilities as a wealthy landlord and his desire to renounce his property altogether. Some of his inner turmoil appeared in his great masterpieces War and Peace (1865-1869) and Anna Karenina

(1875-1877). Later in his life, he tried to give away the rights to his works, but his wife gained control of the copyrights for all his work published before 1880. Tolstoy became increasingly radical, embraced anarchism, and was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1910, he fled his home secretly with his youngest daughter but caught pneumonia and died at a remote railway station a few days later.

[Bez]

Born today...24th September



Linda McCartney (1941 - 1998)

Jim Henson (1936 - 1990)

Phil Hartman (1948 - 1998)

Fats Navarro (1923 - 1950)

[Bez]

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL INTEGRATED:

September 25, 1957

Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in educational facilities was unconstitutional. Five days later, the Little Rock School Board issued a statement saying it would comply with the decision when the Supreme Court outlined the method and time frame in which desegregation should be implemented.

Arkansas was at the time among the more progressive Southern states in regard to racial issues. The University of Arkansas School of Law was integrated in 1949, and the Little Rock Public Library in 1951. Even before the Supreme Court ordered integration to proceed "with all deliberate speed," the Little Rock School Board in 1955 unanimously adopted a plan of integration to begin in 1957 at the high school level. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed suit, arguing the plan was too gradual, but a federal judge dismissed the suit, saying that the school board was acting in "utmost good faith." Meanwhile, Little Rock's public buses were desegregated. By 1957, seven out of Arkansas' eight state universities were integrated.

In the spring of 1957, there were 517 black students who lived in the Central High School district. Eighty expressed an interest in attending Central in the fall, and they were interviewed by the Little Rock School Board, which narrowed down the number of candidates to 17. Eight of those students later decided to remain at all-black Horace Mann High School, leaving the "Little Rock Nine" to forge their way into Little Rock's premier high school.

In August 1957, the newly formed Mother's League of Central High School won a temporary injunction from the county chancellor to block integration of the school, charging that it "could lead to violence." Federal District Judge Ronald Davies nullified the injunction on August 30. On September 2, Governor Orval Faubus--a staunch segregationist--called out the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School and prevent integration, ostensibly to prevent the bloodshed he claimed desegregation would cause. The next day, Judge Davies ordered integrated classes to begin on September 4.

That morning, 100 armed National Guard troops encircled Central High School. A mob of 400 white civilians gathered and turned ugly when the black students began to arrive, shouting racial epithets and threatening the teenagers with violence. The National Guard troops refused to let the black students pass and used their clubs to control the crowd. One of the nine, 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, was surrounded by the mob, which threatened to lynch her. She was finally led to safety by a sympathetic white woman.

Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann condemned Faubus' decision to call out the National Guard, but the governor defended his action, reiterating that he did so to prevent violence. The governor also stated that integration would occur in Little Rock when and if a majority of people chose to support it. Faubus' defiance of Judge Davies' court order was the first major test of Brown v. Board of Education and the biggest challenge of the federal government's authority over the states since the Reconstruction Era.

The standoff continued, and on September 20 Judge Davies ruled that Faubus had used the troops to prevent integration, not to preserve law and order as he claimed. Faubus had no choice but to withdraw the National Guard troops. Authority over the explosive situation was put in the hands of the Little Rock Police Department.

On September 23, as a mob of 1,000 whites milled around outside Central High School, the nine black students managed to gain access to a side door. However, the mob became unruly when it learned the black students were inside, and the police evacuated them out of fear for their safety. That evening, President Eisenhower issued a special proclamation calling for opponents of the federal court order to "cease and desist." On September 24, Little Rock's mayor sent a telegram to the president asking him to send troops to maintain order and complete the integration process. Eisenhower immediately federalized the Arkansas National Guard and approved the deployment of U.S. troops to Little Rock. That evening, from the White House, the president delivered a nationally televised address in which he explained that he had taken the action to defend the rule of law and prevent "mob rule" and "anarchy." On September 25, the Little Rock Nine entered the school under heavily armed guard.

Troops remained at Central High School throughout the school year, but still the black students were subjected to verbal and physical assaults from a faction of white students. Melba Patillo, one of the nine, had acid thrown in her eyes, and Elizabeth Eckford was pushed down a flight of stairs. The three male students in the group were subjected to more conventional beatings. Minnijean Brown was suspended after dumping a bowl of chili over the head of a taunting white student. She was later suspended for the rest of the year after continuing to fight back. The other eight students consistently turned the other cheek. On May 27, 1958, Ernest Green, the only senior in the group, became the first black to graduate from Central High School.

Governor Faubus continued to fight the school board's integration plan, and in September 1958 he ordered Little Rock's three high schools closed rather than permit integration. Many Little Rock students lost a year of education as the legal fight over desegregation continued. In 1959, a federal court struck down Faubus' school-closing law, and in August 1959 Little Rock's white high schools opened a month early with black students in attendance. All grades in Little Rock public schools were finally integrated in 1972.

[Bez]

September 26

1990 X rating abolished

The Motion Picture Association of America abolishes the "X" rating, replacing it with "NC-17," a rating designating a film with content inappropriate for viewers under age 17.

The change was prompted when the Code and Ratings System Administration of the Motion Picture Association of America gave 10 mainstream films the X rating, which had typically been reserved for pornography. When Henry and June was rated X, director Philip Kaufman teamed up with civil liberties advocate and law professor Alan Dershowitz to convince authorities to adopt the NC-17 category.

Until the late 1960s, American films were unrated. Instead, the industry's self-imposed regulations, the Production Code, dictated permissible screen content. The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America adopted the code in 1930; it went into strict effect in 1934. The code outlined specific details of what was suitable for a film, including requirements that a movie not "lower the standards of those who see it." The code forbade the portrayal of drug trafficking, "excessive and lustful kissing," seduction, and mixed-race relationships. It also stated that movies should not portray villains sympathetically or make fun of clergy members.

Though the code was a guideline rather than a law, few producers risked making films that violated its standards. Social changes in the 1960s rendered the code increasingly obsolete, though, and it was revised to suggest restraint in sexual themes (rather than forbidding them), among other changes. The industry then introduced its first ratings system, including categories G for general audience, MPG (all ages admitted but parental guidance suggested), and R (no one under 16 admitted). In 1970, MPG was replaced by PG (parental guidance suggested), and R movies restricted admission of people under the age of 17 unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. In 1984, the PG-13 rating was added at the request of moviemaker Steven Spielberg, who wanted to address concerns raised by parents of preteens who thought that some of his films, including the "Indiana Jones" series and Gremlins, were too scary for their children, even though they fit within the other guidelines for a PG movie.



1957 West Side Story opens

The musical West Side Story opens at the Winter Garden Theater in New York. The musical, featuring music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, updated and retold the story of Romeo and Juliet and set the romance in contemporary New York. The show was the first Broadway credit for Sondheim. When the show was released as a movie in 1961, it won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.



1987 Whitney Houston hits No. 1

Whitney Houston's single "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" debuts. The song came from her second album, Whitney, which was released in June 1987 and became the first album by a female artist to debut at the top of the charts.

Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1963. A cousin of singer Dionne Warwick and the daughter of a gospel singer, Houston grew up singing in a church choir and landed professional management by the time she was 15. She made numerous live appearances and provided guest vocals for several recordings. She also developed a modeling and acting career, appearing on magazine covers and on such sitcoms as Silver Spoons. In 1985, she released her first album, Whitney Houston, which yielded several hit singles, including "You Give Good Love" and "Saving All My Love for You." Her next album, Whitney (1987), scored seven consecutive No. 1 singles. In the early '90s, she developed her acting career with starring roles in The Bodyguard (1992), Waiting to Exhale (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996) and Cinderella (1997).

[Bez]

September 27

1928 A Ford Cornerstone Is Laid

The first cornerstone of the Henry Ford Museum was laid today, the first step in establishing one of the most extensive collections of automotive history in the world. Although the museum is named after Henry Ford, its collection extends well beyond the Ford Motor Company. Its holdings include product literature, advertising and promotional materials, thousands of books, and almost 300 cars. The museum also hosts exhibits on everything from agriculture to industry and is located in Dearborn, Mich.

1925 Fighting with the Dragon

Construction on the infamous Nurburgring racing circuit, often referred to as a "green hell," began today. The 13-mile course through the Eifel forests was considered the most dangerous segment of road on the planet, curving around 72 corners and covering a rise and fall of almost a 1,000 feet. The circuit held a strange spell over many drivers, beckoning the brave to test their skill. The "green hell" proved lethal to many, and was once rumored to average 20 accidents a day. Racer Jochen Rind referred to the Nurburgring as "Fighting with the Dragon." Racing events are no longer officially held on the circuit, but the course is often used by auto manufacturers to test new models.

[Bez]

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR INVADES ENGLAND:

September 28, 1066

Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history.

William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, by his concubine Arlette, a tanner's daughter from the town of Falaise. The duke, who had no other sons, designated William his heir, and with his death in 1035 William became duke of Normandy at age seven. Rebellions were epidemic during the early years of his reign, and on several occasions the young duke narrowly escaped death. Many of his advisers did not. By the time he was 20, William had become an able ruler and was backed by King Henry I of France. Henry later turned against him, but William survived the opposition and in 1063 expanded the borders of his duchy into the region of Maine.

In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself.

In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim. In addition, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway had designs on England, as did Tostig, brother of Harold. King Harold rallied his forces for an expected invasion by William, but Tostig launched a series of raids instead, forcing the king to leave the English Channel unprotected. In September, Tostig joined forces with King Harald III and invaded England from Scotland. On September 25, Harold met them at Stamford Bridge and defeated and killed them both. Three days later, William landed in England at Pevensey.

With approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry, William seized Pevensey and marched to Hastings, where he paused to organize his forces. On October 13, Harold arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day William led his forces out to give battle. At the end of a bloody, all-day battle, King Harold II was killed--shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend--and his forces were defeated.

William then marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England, in Westminster Abbey, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king's court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English. William I proved an effective king of England, and the "Domesday Book," a great census of the lands and people of England, was among his notable achievements. Upon the death of William I in 1087, his son, William Rufus, became William II, the second Norman king of England.

[Bez]

September 29



1930 Dracula filming begins



Filming begins on the classic horror film Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. Lugosi was born in Hungary, where he made a name for himself on stage and screen. In 1921, he emigrated to the United States and in 1927 scored a great stage success playing the title role in the play Dracula. The film version of Dracula was so successful that Lugosi was identified with the role for the rest of his life. He spent the next 20 years starring in horror films. When he died in 1956, Lugosi was buried with his Dracula cape.



1932 Katherine Hepburn's film debut

On this day in 1932, 24-year-old Katherine Hepburn appears in her first film, A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore. Raised in New England, Hepburn became a stage actress after studying at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania. Her success on the stage led to a movie contract and almost instant success. Her first movie was a hit, and she went on to win three Oscars, for Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967), and The Lion in Winter (1968). The actress died in 2003 at the age of 96.

[Bez]

October 1

1908 An American legend goes on sale

Beginning in 1903, Henry Ford and his engineers struggled for five difficult years to produce a reliable, inexpensive car for the mass market. It wasn't until their 20th attempt, christened the Model T after the 20th letter in the alphabet, that the fledgling Ford Motor Company hit pay dirt. On this day, the Ford Model T was introduced to the American public, and Ford's affordable revolution had begun. Affectionately known as the "Tin Lizzie," the Model T revolutionized the automotive industry by providing an affordable, reliable car for the average American. Ford was able to keep the price down by retaining control of all raw materials, and by employing revolutionary mass production methods. When it was first introduced, the "Tin Lizzie" cost only $850 and seated two people, and by the time it was discontinued in 1927, nearly 15,000,000 Model Ts had been sold.

[Bez]

1951 Sting is born

Gordon Sumner (better known as the musician Sting) is born on this day in Newcastle, England. Before becoming a full-time musician, he worked as a teacher and a ditch digger. Sting sang and played bass, saxophone, and keyboards in Newcastle jazz clubs in his early 20s, when he picked up his nickname because of the black-and-yellow-striped shirt he frequently wore. In 1977, he formed the Police with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitar player Andy Summers. The group's hit albums included Zenyatta Mondatta (1980), featuring the single "Don't Stand So Close to Me," and Ghost in the Machine (1981), including the single "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." The group's last album, Synchronicity (1983), was its biggest success, boasting hits like "Every Breath You Take" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger." Although the band members played together live a few more times, they never again recorded together. Sting launched a successful solo career, becoming an international star with albums including Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985), Nothing Like the Sun (1987), and The Soul Cages (1991).

[Bez]

O.J. SIMPSON ACQUITTED:

October 3, 1995

At the end of a sensational trial, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the brutal 1994 double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the epic 252-day trial, Simpson's "dream team" of lawyers employed creative and controversial methods to convince jurors that Simpson's guilt had not been proved "beyond a reasonable doubt," thus surmounting what the prosecution called a "mountain of evidence" implicating him as the murderer.

Orenthal James Simpson--a Heisman Trophy winner, star running back with the Buffalo Bills, and popular television personality--married Nicole Brown in 1985. He reportedly regularly abused his wife and in 1989 pleaded no contest to a charge of spousal battery. In 1992, she left him and filed for divorce. On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed and slashed to death in the front yard of Mrs. Simpson's condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. By June 17, police had gathered enough evidence to charge O.J. Simpson with the murders.

Simpson had no alibi for the time frame of the murders. Some 40 minutes after the murders were committed, a limousine driver sent to take Simpson to the airport saw a man in dark clothing hurrying up the drive of his Rockingham estate. A few minutes later, Simpson spoke to the driver though the gate phone and let him in. During the previous 25 minutes, the driver had repeatedly called the house and received no answer.

A single leather glove found outside Simpson's home matched a glove found at the crime scene. In preliminary DNA tests, blood found on the glove was shown to have come from Simpson and the two victims. After his arrest, further DNA tests would confirm this finding. Simpson had a wound on his hand, and his blood was a DNA match to drops found at the Brentwood crime scene. Nicole Brown Simpson's blood was discovered on a pair of socks found at the Rockingham estate. Simpson had recently purchased a "Stiletto" knife of the type the coroner believed was used by the killer. Shoe prints in the blood at Brentwood matched Simpson's shoe size and later were shown to match a type of shoe he had owned. Neither the knife nor shoes were found by police.

On June 17, a warrant was put out for Simpson's arrest, but he refused to surrender. Just before 7 p.m., police located him in a white Ford Bronco being driven by his friend, former teammate Al Cowlings. Cowlings refused to pull over and told police over his cellular phone that Simpson was suicidal and had a gun to his head. Police agreed not to stop the vehicle by force, and a low-speed chase ensued. Los Angeles news helicopters learned of the event unfolding on their freeways, and live television coverage began. As millions watched, the Bronco was escorted across Los Angeles by a phalanx of police cars. Just before 8 p.m., the dramatic journey ended when Cowlings pulled into the Rockingham estate. After an hour of tense negotiation, Simpson emerged from the vehicle and surrendered. In the vehicle was found a travel bag containing, among other things, Simpson's passport, a disguise kit consisting of a fake moustache and beard, and a revolver. Three days later, Simpson appeared before a judge and pleaded not guilty.

Simpson's subsequent criminal trial was a sensational media event of unprecedented proportions. It was the longest trial ever held in California, and courtroom television cameras captured the carnival-like atmosphere of the proceedings. The prosecution's mountain of evidence was systemically called into doubt by Simpson's team of expensive attorneys, who made the dramatic case that their client was framed by unscrupulous and racist police officers. Citing the questionable character of detective Mark Fuhrman and alleged blunders in the police investigation, defense lawyers painted Simpson as yet another African American victim of the white judicial system. The jurors' reasonable doubt grew when the defense spent weeks attacking the damning DNA evidence, arguing in overly technical terms that delays and other anomalies in the gathering of evidence called the findings into question. Critics of the trial accused Judge Lance Ito of losing control of his courtroom.

In polls, a majority of African Americans believed Simpson to be innocent of the crime, while white America was confident of his guilt. However, the jury--made up of nine African Americans, two whites, and one Hispanic--was not so divided; they took just four hours of deliberation to reach the verdict of not guilty on both murder charges. On October 3, 1995, an estimated 140 million Americans listened in on radio or watched on television as the verdict was delivered.

In February 1997, Simpson was found liable for several charges related to the murders in a civil trial and was forced to award $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the victims' families. However, with few assets remaining after his long and costly legal battle, he has avoided paying the damages.

[Bez]

SPUTNIK LAUNCHED:

October 4, 1957

The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. Sputnik had a diameter of 22 inches and weighed 184 pounds and circled Earth once every hour and 36 minutes. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, its elliptical orbit had an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 584 miles and a perigee (nearest point) of 143 miles. Visible with binoculars before sunrise or after sunset, Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to Earth strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators. Those in the United States with access to such equipment tuned in and listened in awe as the beeping Soviet spacecraft passed over America several times a day. In January 1958, Sputnik's orbit deteriorated, as expected, and the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere.

Officially, Sputnik was launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, a solar period that the International Council of Scientific Unions declared would be ideal for the launching of artificial satellites to study Earth and the solar system. However, many Americans feared more sinister uses of the Soviets' new rocket and satellite technology, which was apparently strides ahead of the U.S. space effort. Sputnik was some 10 times the size of the first planned U.S. satellite, which was not scheduled to be launched until the next year. The U.S. government, military, and scientific community were caught off guard by the Soviet technological achievement, and their united efforts to catch up with the Soviets heralded the beginning of the "space race."

The first U.S. satellite, Explorer, was launched on January 31, 1958. By then, the Soviets had already achieved another ideological victory when they launched a dog into orbit aboard Sputnik 2. The Soviet space program went on to achieve a series of other space firsts in the late 1950s and early 1960s: first man in space, first woman, first three men, first space walk, first spacecraft to impact the moon, first to orbit the moon, first to impact Venus, and first craft to soft-land on the moon. However, the United States took a giant leap ahead in the space race in the late '60s with the Apollo lunar-landing program, which successfully landed two Apollo 11 astronauts on the surface of the moon in July 1969.

[Bez]

October 5

1919 Enzo Ferrari's racing debut

On this day, 21-year-old Enzo Ferrari made his racing debut, finishing 11th in the Parmo-Poggia di Berceto hill climb in a Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali (CMN) vehicle. Ferrari became a professional driver after World War I, and joined the CMN in Milan as a test and racing-car driver in 1919. The following year, Ferrari moved to Alfa Romeo, establishing a relationship that lasted two decades and a career that took him from test driver to the director post of the Alfa Racing Division. In 1929, he founded the Scuderia Ferrari, an organization that began modestly as a racing club, but by 1933 had entirely taken over the engineering-racing division of Alfa Romeo. In 1940, Ferrari transformed the Scuderia into an independent manufacturing company, the Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, but construction of the first Ferrari vehicle was delayed until the end of World War II. In 1947, the Ferrari 125S was introduced to the racing world, and it won the prestigious Coppa Enrico Faini in the same year. Thus began an impressive 40 years of racing success under the leadership of Enzo Ferrari, a tradition that saw Ferrari vehicles earn 25 world titles, and win over 5,000 events at race tracks around the world.

[Bez]

October 10

1901 Henry Ford's first and last race

In the early days of the automobile, it was not the practical uses of the new invention that attracted the most widespread attention, but rather the thrill of motor sports. The always entrepreneurial Henry Ford, who had been constructing automobiles since 1896, recognized the public's enthusiasm for the new sport, and so sought to establish his name as a racing manufacturer and driver. On this day, Henry Ford drove one of his automobiles for the first and last time in an automobile race. Sponsored by the Detroit Racing Club and held at the Grosse Point Race Track in Michigan, Ford puttered up to the starting line of the main 10-lap race in an automobile he had constructed earlier in the summer with engineer Oliver Barthel. Ford's competitors were the famed Alexander Winston and another driver who withdrew just before the start of the race because of a mechanical problem. The experienced Winston was clearly the superior driver, but fortune proved to be in Ford's favor as Winston's machine began leaving a trail of smoke after three laps, and he had to withdraw. Although Ford won the race and the kind of public acclaim he had hoped for, he found the experience so terrifying that he retired as a competitive driver, reportedly explaining that "once is enough." Nevertheless, Ford continued to construct automobiles for motor racing, and a year later Barney Oldfield drove into motor racing history in Ford's 999 racer, kicking off a legendary driving career and winning Ford his first major racing victory. With the prestige of racing under his belt, Ford went on to establish the Ford Motor Company in the following year, making a fortune as he pioneered the modern assembly-line manufacturing that put the automobile within the average American's reach. But motor racing still remained important to the Ford Motor Company, and today Ford is the only automaker that can lay claim to victory in the Indy 500, Daytona 500, 24-Hours of LeMans and Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, the Monte Carlo Rally, and the Baja 1000.

[randall]

:-6

Hi, y'all, randall here,

I would suppose, but I might be wrong, that most people would like to think that their birthday coincided with some great or traumatic event in the world.

Hard as I looked I could only find out that the "British Empire" ceased to exist in the year I was born and the "British Commonwealth of Nations" was created in its place.

The only thing I could find that happened on the actual day was that poor old Sir Walter Raleigh got his head chopped off saying, as he passed his fingers down the edge of the headman's axe, "Ah, 'tis but a sure cure for all diseases."

Nothing very cheerful or illuminating at all.

I really do feel disappointed.

God bless.

randall.

:)

[Bez]

Arnold....I found a few things that happened in your birth year...sorry I peeked...



Al Capone was indicted (1931) by a federal grand jury for evasion of income tax payments and was sentenced to an 11-year prison term. In 1939, physically and mentally shattered by syphilis, Capone was released.



“The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.



Westminster, Statute of, 1931, in British imperial history, an act of the British Parliament that gave formal recognition to the autonomy of the dominions of the British Empire and was in effect the founding charter of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It declared that the Commonwealth was a free association of autonomous dominions and the United Kingdom, bound only by common allegiance to the throne, and specified that the British Parliament might not legislate for the dominions except at their request and subject to their assent and that the dominion legislatures were on an equal footing with that of the United Kingdom. The statute implemented the work of various meetings of the Imperial Conference, which had recognized the virtual independence of the dominions that came into being as a result of World War I and the peace settlements thereafter.

[Bez]

COLUMBUS REACHES THE NEW WORLD:

October 12, 1492

After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Little is known of his early life, but he worked as a seaman and then a maritime entrepreneur. He became obsessed with the possibility of pioneering a western sea route to Cathay (China), India, and the gold and spice islands of Asia. At the time, Europeans knew no direct sea route to southern Asia, and the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire, as were many land routes. Contrary to popular legend, educated Europeans of Columbus' day did believe that the world was round, as argued by St. Isidore in the seventh century. However, Columbus, and most others, underestimated the world's size, calculating that East Asia must lie approximately where North America sits on the globe (they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed).

With only the Atlantic Ocean, he thought, lying between Europe and the riches of the East Indies, Columbus met with King John II of Portugal and tried to persuade him to back his "Enterprise of the Indies," as he called his plan. He was rebuffed and went to Spain, where he was also rejected at least twice by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. However, after the Spanish conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada in January 1492, the Spanish monarchs, flush with victory, agreed to support his voyage.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Niña. On October 12, the expedition reached land, probably Watling Island in the Bahamas. Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December the expedition landed on Hispaniola, which Columbus thought might be Japan. He established a small colony there with 39 of his men. The explorer returned to Spain with gold, spices, and "Indian" captives in March 1493 and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court. He was the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the 10th century.

During his lifetime, Columbus led a total of four expeditions to the New World, discovering various Caribbean islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the South and Central American mainlands, but he never accomplished his original goal--a western ocean route to the great cities of Asia. Columbus died in Spain in 1506 without realizing the great scope of what he did achieve: He had discovered for Europe the New World, whose riches over the next century would help make Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth

[Bez]

October 15

1951 I Love Lucy debuts

TV's first long-running sitcom hit, I Love Lucy, debuts on this day. The show starred comedian Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.

Ball was born in 1911 near Jamestown, New York, to an electrician and a concert pianist. Her father died when Ball was two. By age 15, Ball had decided to become an actress and she attended drama school. However, the shy, skinny teenager received little encouragement and was rejected at least four times from Broadway chorus lines, although she eventually joined one in 1926. In 1933, she was hired as the Chesterfield cigarette girl and was featured in all the company's advertisements. Attracting attention with her Chesterfield ads, she finally began playing bit parts in Hollywood movies in 1933. By the late 1930s, the starlet had graduated to comic supporting roles. In 1940, she met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz while shooting Too Many Girls. The couple married the following year.

Ball continued to land movie roles that didn't fully showcase her talents. Frustrated, she turned to radio and starred as a ditzy wife in My Favorite Husband from 1948 to 1951. CBS decided to launch the popular series on the relatively new medium of TV. Lucy insisted Desi be cast as her husband in the TV version, though the network executives said no one would believe the couple were married. Desi and Lucy performed before live audiences and filmed a pilot, convincing network executives that audiences responded well to their act, and CBS cast Desi for the show.

I Love Lucy became one of the most popular TV situation comedies in history, ranking in the top three shows for six years and turning the couple's production company, Desilu, into a multimillion-dollar business. Ball became president of the company in 1960, after she and Desi divorced. She also starred in several other "Lucy" shows, including The Lucy Show, which debuted in 1962 and ran for six seasons, and Here's Lucy, in which she starred with her two children until the show was cancelled in 1974. A later show, Life with Lucy, featuring Lucy as a grandmother, was cancelled after only eight episodes. Ball worked little in the last years of her life. She died of congestive heart failure following open-heart surgery in 1989.



1918 Flu stops movie releases

The leading film studios announce they will stop releasing films temporarily because of the influenza epidemic. Many theaters had been closed by cities throughout the country to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Two years earlier, New York City had banned children from theaters in an attempt to halt the spread of polio.

[Bez]

16th October



1888 Eugene O'Neill born



Playwright Eugene O'Neill is born on this day in New York City. O'Neill began writing plays in his 20s, while recovering from tuberculosis at a Connecticut sanitarium. His first full-length play, Beyond the Horizon, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1920. He wrote more than 30 plays during his career. His major works included Mourning Becomes Electra (produced in 1931), The Iceman Cometh (produced in 1946), and Long Day's Journey into Night (published posthumously, in 1956). O'Neill died in 1953.



1976 "Disco Duck" tops the charts

"Disco Duck," a satiric send-up of the 1970s disco craze, becomes a No. 1 hit on this day in 1976. The song, by Memphis disk jockey Rick Dees, became a national hit, but Dees was fired for talking about the song on his morning program. He landed a job with a rival station and was later transferred to Los Angeles, where he became one of the most popular disk jockeys in the country. He released several more parodies, but only "Get Nekked," released in 1984, hit the charts.

[Bez]

October 17

1835 The first resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers is approved

On this day in 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to "range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers."

In the midst of their revolt against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a semi-official force of armed men who would defend the isolated frontier settlers of the Lone Star Republic against both Santa Ana's soldiers and hostile Indians; the Texas Rangers filled this role. But after winning their revolutionary war with Mexico the following year, Texans decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Indian and Mexican raiders and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely populated Texan frontier.

Although created and sanctioned by the Texas government, the Rangers was an irregular body made up of civilians who furnished their own horses and weapons. Given the vast expanse of territory they patrolled and the difficulty of communicating with the central government, the government gave the men of the Rangers considerable independence to act as they saw fit. Sometimes the Rangers served as a military force, taking on the role of fighting the Indians that in the U.S. was largely the responsibility of the Army. At other times the Rangers mainly served as the principal law enforcement power in many frontier regions of Texas, earning lasting fame for their ability to track down and eliminate outlaws, cattle thieves, train robbers, and murderers, including such notorious bandits as John Wesley Hardin and King Fisher.

Even as late as the first two decades of the 20th century, the state of Texas continued to rely on the Rangers to enforce order in the wilder regions of the state, like the oil boomtowns along the Rio Grande. Increasingly, though, some Texans began to criticize the Rangers, arguing that they used excessive violence and often failed to observe the finer points of the law when apprehending suspects. As a result, in the 1930s, the state won control over the Rangers, transforming it into a modern and professional law enforcement organization.

[Bez]

EDISON DIES:

October 18, 1931

Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey, at the age of 84.

Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age, and this disability provided the motivation for many of his inventions. At age 16, he found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Edison's experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions--the phonograph--while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park."

Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, it was just the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879, and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world's first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931.

[Bez]

October 18



1926 Chuck Berry born



Singer Chuck Berry is born on this day in San Jose, California. Berry learned guitar as a teenager and later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he played in nightclubs with a band. In 1955, he recorded his first hit song, "Maybellene," which became one of the first rock-and-roll songs by an African American musician to hit the Top 10. Berry scored a string of hits throughout the 1950s, including "Johnny B. Goode" in 1958.

[Bez]

October 21

1891 Birth of the Nashville Speedway

On this day, a one-mile dirt track opened for harness races at the site of the present-day Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville. Harness racing proved a popular event at the annual Tennessee State Fair, but it was nothing compared to the excitement generated by the fair's first automobile race, held at the fairgrounds in 1904. For the next 50 years, motor racing events were the highlight of the annual state fair, drawing top American drivers to compete, and launching the careers of others. In 1956, the track was paved and lighted, and the tradition of weekly Saturday night racing at the fairgrounds was born. And in 1958, NASCAR came to Nashville with the introduction of the NASCAR Winston Cup to be run on a brand-new half-mile oval. The legendary driver Joe Weatherly won the first Winston Cup, beating the likes of Fireball Turner, Lee Petty, and Curtis Turner in the 200-lap event. Between 1958 and 1984, the fairgrounds hosted 42 NASCAR Winston Cups, and Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip were the overall leaders in victories, with nine and eight Winston Cups respectively. The last Winston Cup race to descend onto the Tennessee State Fairgrounds was a 420-lap event won by driver Geoff Bodine. But despite the departure of the Winston Cup, the Nashville Speedway continued to improve on its racetrack, and illustrious racing events such as the Busch Series are held on the historic track every year.

[lady cop]

and Nelson kicked french butt in Victory at Trafalgar!!

[Bez]

lady cop wrote: and Nelson kicked french butt in Victory at Trafalgar!!


He sure did LC....