On This Day......

[Bez]

How lovely to have that old family story....neither my own family or my in-laws could be drawn into converstaion about the war but i bet they could have told a few stories.:-6

[Bez]

January 8

1941 William Randolph Hearst stops Citizen Kane ads

American mogul William Randolph Hearst, owner of the Hearst newspaper chain, forbids any of his newspapers from accepting ads for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, slated for release later in the year. The film was generally interpreted as a psychological study of Hearst, portrayed as the fictional Charles Foster Kane.

In March 1941, Welles threatened to sue Hearst for trying to suppress the film, and RKO if it failed to release the film. The film premiered May 1, 1941, at the RKO Palace in New York and became one of the most highly regarded films of all time.

Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and raised in Chicago, Welles was well versed in Shakespeare before he finished grade school. He excelled in poetry, music, cartooning, and magic. After high school, Welles-the son of an inventor and a concert pianist-chose to travel the world rather than attend college, and he launched his acting career in Ireland in 1931.

He came back to the United States in 1932 but was snubbed by Broadway, so he traveled to Spain, where he performed as a bullfighter. He returned to the United States soon thereafter and this time landed the role of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. In 1937, he founded the Mercury Theater, home of innovative stage and radio drama. A noted radio artist, Welles' version of The War of the Worlds was so realistic that many listeners actually believed Martians had invaded New Jersey.

At age 25, Welles produced, directed, co-wrote, and starred in the Academy Award-winning Citizen Kane, his first foray into motion pictures. The film told the story of Kane, who muscled his way from rags to riches using unscrupulous tactics, while his desire for power destroyed his marriage and alienated his friends. The manager of Kane's newspapers was named after Dr. Maurice Bernstein, a Chicago physician who raised Welles after he was orphaned at age 12. Though Citizen Kane wasn't commercially successful, the film won praise for its unique camera and sound work, which influenced filmmakers around the world. Indeed, it topped the list in the American Film Institute's 1998 poll of America's100 Greatest Films. After Citizen Kane, Welles' diverse works included everything from Shakespearean adaptations to documentaries. Some of his acclaimed films included The Stranger (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), and Chimes at Midnight (1966). In his later years, he narrated documentaries and appeared in commercials, and he left behind numerous unfinished films when he died in 1985. He was a recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.



1966 Last episode of Shindig

Rock and roll TV variety show Shindig on ABC airs its last episode. The show had debuted in September 1964, featuring acts including the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and others. NBC launched a similar show, Hullabaloo, in January 1965, which ran until August 1966.



1993 Elvis stamp issued

Elvis Presley becomes the first rock musician featured on a postage stamp. The stamp, which showed Elvis as a slim young rocker instead of an older, heavier singer, was issued on what would have been his 58th birthday.

[Bez]

January 9

1958 Japanese Cars Arrive In California

The Toyota and Datsun (later Nissan) brand names made their first appearances in the United States at the Imported Motor Car Show in Los Angeles, California. Previously, these auto makers had sold in the U.S. only under American-brand names, as part of joint ventures with Ford and GM.

1911 Selden Patent Thrown Out

In 1895, George Selden was awarded the first American patent for an internal-combustion automobile, although Selden hadn't yet produced a working model. Other inventors, such as Ransom Olds and the Duryea brothers, were already driving their home-built automobiles through the streets. Beginning in 1903, however, the Selden patent began to make itself felt. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (A.L.A.M.) was organized to gather royalties on the Selden patent from all auto makers. Soon, every major automobile manufacturer was paying royalties to the A.L.A.M. and George Selden--except for one major standout, a young inventor named Henry Ford. Ford refused to pay royalties. The A.L.A.M launched a series of lawsuits against Ford. On this day in 1911, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Ford Motor Company was not infringing on the Selden patent. It was the beginning of the end for the A.L.A.M. and Selden's royalties.

1967 Volga Works Begun

Construction of the Volga Automobile Works began in Togliatti in the Soviet Union. By April of 1970, Zhiguli automobiles (later known as "Lada" autos) were rolling off the assembly lines. In association with Fiat, the Volga works became (and remains) the largest producer of small European automobiles.

[Bez]

Valeries thread reminded me that I have been remiss in keeping 'On this day' up to date....soooo...





This Day In History | Automotive

February 20

1993 From Farm To Fame

Ferrucio Lamborghini died on this day in 1993, leaving behind a remarkable life story of a farm boy with big dreams. Born on his family's farm outside of Bologna, Italy, Lamborghini grew up tinkering with tractors. He enrolled in an industrial college near Bologna, where he studied machinery. Graduating just before World War II, Lamborghini then served as an engineer in the Italian Air Force. After the war he returned to his family's farm and began assembling tractors from leftover war vehicles. Lamborghini built such high-quality tractors that by the mid-1950s, the Lamborghini Tractor Company had become one of Italy's largest farm equipment manufacturers. But Ferrucio dreamt of cars. In 1963, he bought land, built an ultra-modern factory, and hired distinguished Alfa Romeo designer Giotti Bizzarini. Together they set out to create the ultimate automobile. In 1964, Lamborghini produced the 300 GT, a large and graceful sports car. By 1974, Ferrucio Lamborghini had sold out of the business bearing his name, but the company would never deviate from his initial mission to create exquisite vehicles at whatever cost.





1937 Birth Of An Indy 500 Legend

Legendary driver and designer Roger Penske was born on this day. While he drove and designed a variety of race-car models, Penske is most famous for his achievements in Indy car design, a field that he dominated for many years. Penske cars won three consecutive Indy 500s from 1987 to 1989 and 11 Indy 500s in 23 years. Overseeing the development of his team cars, Penske created an empire that would redefine Indy car racing. Asked why the Penske car was so successful, champion driver Emerson Fitipaldi explained, "The Penske is consistent and easy to adjust. That's why it wins." In addition to his achievements on the track, Roger Penske also changed the Indy game by founding CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams.) Penske created CART as an attempt to increase Indy car team owners' control over Indy 500 rule changes, then dictated by the USAC.

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[Bez]

March 11

1885 Speed demon is born

Sir Malcolm Campbell, land-speed record holder, is born in Chiselhurst, Kent, England, on this day. Campbell's thirst for speed was evident early in his life. He won three gold medals in the London-Edinburgh motorcycle trials as a young man. However, Campbell gained his greatest fame by way of his quest to attain the landspeed record. Over the course of two decades, he battled with Major H. O. C. Segrave for sole possession of the land-speed title. He received worldwide attention when he flew his Bluebird to South Africa in search of a flat racing surface superior in safety to the beach at Daytona. He ended up at Verneuk Pan, a massive salt flat in South Africa's interior. Verneuk Pan, flat as it was, proved to be too rough a surface for Campbell's tires; but having already made the extraordinary trip, Campbell's people built a road on the flat and raced the car. Over the course of his career, Campbell set six land-speed records in various types of vehicles, all christened "Blue Bird." After eclipsing the 300mph barrier on land at the age of 50, Campbell turned his attention to boat racing and broke a number of water-speed records. For his lifetime of achievement in international speed events, Campbell was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Campbell passed his thirst for speed on to his son, Donald, who was the first person to set both land and water speed records in the same year.

[Raven]

The speed boat thing is so scary! I have seen alot of the film footage of disasters in those things and it STILL amazes me when they come out it without a scratch! Didnt one of them die in an accident of that sort?

[Bez]

Raven wrote: The speed boat thing is so scary! I have seen alot of the film footage of disasters in those things and it STILL amazes me when they come out it without a scratch! Didnt one of them die in an accident of that sort?


Malcom Campbells son Donald died on Consiton Water...1967



Donald Campbell died on January 4 trying to better his own world water-speed record of 276.33 mph. The average speed of two runs over a measured kilometre is needed to establish an official record — and Campbell, in his jet-powered Bluebird had notched up a speed of 297 mph on the first run. He was only about 150 yards away from the end of his second run when Bluebird sailed about 50 feet into the air, looped, and nose-dived into the water.



The wreckage was recovered in 2001

[Bez]

March 13

1940 The Road to Singapore premieres

The Road to Singapore, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, opens on this day in 1940. The comedy was the first of seven Road pictures, which brought fame and fortune to its actors.

Hope, whose family emigrated to the U.S. from England when he was four, joined the vaudeville circuit in the early 1920s, and later moved to radio and film. In most of the years between 1941 and 1953, Hope ranked among Hollywood's Top 10 moneymaking stars, with Crosby not far behind. But while Hope may have raked in slightly more cash, it was Crosby who usually got the girl, at least in the seven Road movies.

Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma in 1903. During college in Spokane, he began singing and playing the drums with a band and abandoned an interest in law to pursue show business. He and a college friend, Al Rinker, moved to Los Angeles in 1925 and started a vaudeville act called "Two Boys and a Piano." Crosby adopted the nickname Bing from a favorite comic strip.

Impressed by the act, bandleader Paul Whiteman hired Crosby and Rinker to tour with his band in 1927. Three years later, Crosby made his film debut as part of the band. Meanwhile, he married a starlet named Dixie Lee, with whom he had four sons.

Crosby became one of the most beloved entertainers in history. In 1931, he landed his own radio show, which ran in various forms until the mid-1940s. Radio boosted his popularity, and before long he was a hit at the box office as well as in the record store.

Crosby signed with Paramount in 1932 and appeared in The Big Broadcast the same year. His comic flair surfaced in the 1940s with the Road movies. During the same period, however, his dramatic work also gained attention: He won an Oscar for his performance as a priest in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for his performances in The Bells of Saint Mary's (1945) and The Country Girl (1954). Widowed in 1952, he later married actress Kathryn Grant, some 30 years his junior, and had three more children. He had a short-lived TV sitcom in 1964-65 called The Bing Crosby Show, in which he played an aging singer trying to settle into domestic life. Years later, his daughter Mary Crosby played the girl who shot J.R. Ewing in the TV soap Dallas. Bing Crosby died on the golf course in 1977.

[Uncle Kram]

1972 - The Ballad of Mott The Hoople recorded in Zurich

[Bez]

March 27

1952 Singin' in the Rain opens



Considered by many to be the greatest Hollywood musical ever made, Singin' in the Rain premieres at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The movie, about silent film actors at the dawn of the sound era, starred Gene Kelly, who also served as co-director and co-choreographer.

Kelly was born in 1912 in Pittsburgh. The son of a gramophone salesman, he started dancing at age eight, but his true interest was sports. In high school, he played baseball, football, and hockey, and dreamed of becoming a professional shortstop. He attended Penn State but dropped out to help support his family during the Depression by digging ditches and pumping gas. Later, he studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania, where he starred in college musicals and gave dance lessons for 50 cents each in the basement of his parents' house.

After college, Kelly and his brother started up a dance studio, while Kelly aspired to become a Broadway star. At age 26, he was cast in the chorus of a Broadway show and two years later starred in the Broadway hit Pal Joey. The following year, he choreographed his first musical, Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, married the first of his three wives, and signed with MGM. He made his film debut in 1942, dancing with Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal, but his real cinematic breakthrough came in 1944, when he danced with a double-exposed image of himself in Cover Girl, also starring Rita Hayworth. Kelly's athletic, masculine dance style contrasted with the smooth elegance of the top-hatted Fred Astaire and redefined the Hollywood musical. Whereas Astaire represented the wealthy and refined, Kelly's dancing symbolized the regular guy--the "working-class stiff," as Kelly described himself, full of energy, strength, and athleticism.

Kelly's next hit, Anchors Aweigh (1945), won him a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of an exuberant sailor on 24-hour leave in New York. He spent the next two years in the real navy, as a lieutenant making training films during World War II. He returned to make some of his greatest hits, including On the Town (1949), which he co-directed with Stanley Donen. In 1952, Kelly choreographed and starred in the hit An American in Paris, in which he performed a 17-minute ballet. The movie won eight Oscars, and Kelly was awarded a special Oscar recognizing his "versatility as an actor, singer, director, and dancer, and especially for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film." Kelly continued to dance, act, direct, and choreograph throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. He married twice more and had three children. He died in 1996, at the age of 83.

[Bez]

28th March..



1965: Thousands join Dr King in Alabama rally

Dr Martin Luther King has taken a crowd of nearly 25,000 people to the steps of the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama to highlight black grievances.

The procession marks the end of a five-day march which started in Selma last week and it brings to a close a month of civil rights protests in Alabama.

Troops policed the roads surrounding the capital and army helicopters hovered overhead as the crowd swelled to nearly 25,000.

Dr King, who addressed the protesters from a podium in the square, described the trek as "one of the greatest marches in the history of America".

"Our aim is not to humiliate and defeat the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding," he added.

Dr King tried to present a petition of black grievances to Governor George Wallace but he refused to meet the delegation.

The civil rights leader said he would ask trade unions to refuse to transport or use the state's products and he urged the Federal Government and the Treasury to withdraw all assistance from the area.

Dr King also said that demonstrations would have to continue where essential conditions remained unmet.

When the march began last week, large bombs were planted at a black church, a funeral parlour and a leading black lawyer's home.

They were later discovered and detonated by experts from the army base at Anniston, Alabama.

To prevent further attacks, US President Lyndon Johnson gave the marchers the protection of nearly 3,000 troops, plus FBI and local police assistance.

But three days ago Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights advocate who had been ferrying demonstrators to their homes, was shot dead on a lonely stretch of road near the route of the march.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Ku-Klux-Klan movement have reportedly tried to contact President Johnson to dicuss his aversion to their organisation. There was no immediate response from the US President, who recently launched a scathing attack on the group, describing it as "a band of hooded bigots, whose loyalty was not with the United States

[Bez]

Music history for March 28th........



1943 - Sergei Rachmaninoff died.

1958 - Eddie Cochran recorded "Summertime Blues."

1964 - Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London announced the Beatles would be cast in wax.

1966 - Gary Lewis recorded "Green Grass."

1967 - Van Morrison recorded "Brown Eyed Girl."

1969 - Joe Cocker played his first American concert.

1970 - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Woodstock" was released.

1976 - Genesis began its first North American tour since Peter Gabriel's departure. Phil Collins was the new lead singer.

1979 - Eric Clapton and Patti "Layla" Boyd were married. Patti was George Harrison's ex-wife.

1982 - In Los Angeles, David Crosby was arrested for possession of Quaaludes and drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of cocaine and carrying a concealed .45-caliber pistol.

1986 - More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST.

1995 - Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts announced that they were separating. They had been married for 21 months.

1996 - Phil Collins announced that he was leaving Genesis to concentrate on his solo career.

1999 - Freaky Tah (Lost Boyz) was killed by a ski-masked gunman who came up behind him and fired a single gunshot into his head. Freaky Tah was 27 years old.

2002 - The National Museum of American History put a cornet that had belonged to Louis Armstrong on display.

2002 - Gloria and Emilio Estafan obtained a permanent restraining against Venezuelan actor-singer Juan Carlos Diaz

[Bez]

29th March...





1981: Triumph at first London Marathon

Thousands of people have jogged through the normally quiet Sunday streets of the capital to compete in the first ever London marathon.

Pounding along the 26 mile (41.84 km) route from Greenwich Park, in south east London, to Buckingham Palace, 6,700 participants turned out in drizzle to complete the gruelling run.

The boom of a 25 lb (11.34 kg) cannon sent the marathon runners, ranging from a 15-year-old girl to septuagenarians, on their way at 0900 BST.

The sportsmanship of the event was evident as American Dick Beardsley, 24, and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, 25, won the race crossing through the tape hand in hand after two hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds.

Joyce Smith, a Briton was the first female to cross the finishing line, in 2:29:56.

About seven hours after the start Marie Dominque de Groot, 30, from Paris and David Gaiman, 47, from East Grinstead ran past the finish line holding hands as the final contestants across the line.

Most finished

An estimated 80% of those who took part are understood to have crossed the finish line and participants included celebrities such as Jimmy Saville, who raised £50,000 for charity.

More than 22,000 people wanted to run but the figure was kept to 7,590 by police.

The race, taking in the banks of the Thames and the City of London, contained more turns than its New York sister event and was 30 yards longer than the official marathon distance.

At regular intervals 1,000 volunteer helpers marked the route, joined by 500 special constables, 26 first-aid stations and 300 St John Ambulance personnel while cardiac unit was on hand at Constitution Hill. The marathon is the brainchild of Chris Brasher, former Olympic Steeplechaser and was organised with a budget of £100,000 from which 2,000 foil blankets, 75 portable lavatories, 400 gallons of coffee and 50,000 plastic cups were supplied

[Bez]

30th march.......





1981: President Reagan is shot

President Ronald Reagan has been shot and wounded after a lone gunman opened fire in Washington.

He is currently undergoing emergency surgery at George Washington University Hospital but there are unconfirmed reports he walked in unaided.

Initial reports claim he may have a punctured lung.

Five to six shots were fired as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had been addressing a union convention, about one mile from the White House.

A man, firing at close range, also wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head.

A Secret Service official and a Washington policeman were also injured before the gunman was pushed to the ground by police.

The president had appeared from the hotel smiling and walked towards his limousine turning momentarily to acknowledge calls from the waiting press.

A burst of gunfire was then heard before the president was bundled into a bullet proof limousine and whisked away.

First Lady Nancy Reagan is understood to be on her way to the hospital to visit her 70-year-old husband.

The attacker is described as being in his twenties and blonde.

He was pinned to the wall by secret service agents and he has now been arrested.

The assassination attempt has sent shock waves around the country where memories of the murder of president John F Kennedy remain vivid.

President Reagan has only been in office for 69 days and the attack leaves the running of the country in some confusion as his vice-president George Bush is currently on his way back from Texas.

Until the arrival of Vice-President Bush it is unclear who is in charge. The American Stock Exchange has stopped trading and the Academy Awards have been postponed until tomorrow night in the wake of the attacks.

[Bez]

March 30

1947 Tucker announces car concept

Preston Tucker announced his concept for a new automobile to be named "the Tucker". Having built a reputation as an engineer during WWII when he served as general manager of his company, Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company, Tucker looked to capitalize on the high demand for cars that post-war conditions offered. No new car model had been released since 1942, and so the end of the war would bring four years worth of car-buyers back to the market. Tucker intended to meet the demand with a revolutionary automobile design. His 1945 plans called for an automobile that would be equipped with a rear-mounted engine as powerful as an aircraft engine, an hydraulic torque converter that would eliminate the necessity of a transmission, two revolving headlights at either side of the carýs fender, one stationary "cyclops" headlight in the middle, and a steering wheel placed in the center of the car and flanked by two passenger seats. However, a series of financial difficulties forced Tucker to tone down his own expectations for the cars. Production costs rose above his projections and investors became more cautious as the Big Three continued their astounding post-war success. To raise money for his project, Tucker sold franchises to individual car dealers who put up $50 in cash for every car they expected to sell during their first two years as a Tucker agent. The deposit was to be applied to the purchase price of the car upon delivery. The SEC objected to Tuckerýs strategy on the grounds that he was selling unapproved securities. It was just one intervention in a continuous battle between Tucker and federal regulatory bodies. Tucker loyalists espouse the theory that Tucker was the victim of a conspiracy planned by the Big Three to sabotage independent manufacturers. More likely, though, Tucker was the victim of an unfriendly market and his own recklessness. Unfortunately for his investors, the SEC indicted Tucker before he could begin mass production of his cars. He was acquitted on all counts, but his business was ruined. In the end, only fifty-one Tuckers were produced and none of them were equipped with the technological breakthroughs he promised. Still, the Tucker was a remarkable car for its price tag. Whether as an innovator silenced by the complacent authorities or a charlatan better fit to build visions than cars, Preston Tucker made a personal impact in a post-war industry dominated by faceless goliaths.

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[Bez]

1990: Violence flares in poll tax demonstration

An anti-poll tax rally in central London has erupted into the worst riots seen in the city for a century.

Forty-five police officers are among the 113 people injured as well as 20 police horses.

A total of 340 people have been arrested in the heart of London's West End, popular with musical and theatre goers, as cars have been overturned and set alight.

Four tube stations have been shut for safety reasons as police try to clear the streets, with much of central London now cordoned off.

Demonstrators have attacked police with bricks and cans.

Fire fighters attempting to extinguish the blazes have been hit with wood and stones.

Restaurants have been forced to close early by the violence which left shop windows smashed and many businesses with their contents looted.

Eyewitness reports describe a cloud of black smoke over Trafalgar Square.

Peaceful protests

The violence erupted just after 1600 BST following a peaceful march against the poll tax which saw up to 70,000 people take to the streets in protest at the new government levy.

A group of protesters involved in a sit-in at Whitehall, close to the Downing Street entrance, refused to move after requests from police and stewards.

As police arrested offenders, placards and cans were thrown from the crowd and the trouble spread to Charing Cross Road, Pall Mall, Regent Street and Covent Garden.

David Meynell, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in charge of the operation, said a peaceful march had been "completely overshadowed by the actions of about 3,000 to 3,500 people in minority groups".

He said they "without any doubt at all" had launched "a ferocious and sustained attack on the police". The Home Secretary David Waddington is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on the rioting tomorrow.

[Bez]

RAF FOUNDED:

April 1, 1918

On April 1, 1918, the Royal Air Force (RAF) is formed with the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The RAF took its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military service with its own ministry.

In April 1911, eight years after Americans Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first flight of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft, an air battalion of the British army's Royal Engineers was formed at Larkhill in Wiltshire. The battalion consisted of aircraft, airship, balloon, and man-carrying kite companies. In December 1911, the British navy formed the Royal Naval Flying School at Eastchurch, Kent. In May 1912, both were absorbed into the newly created Royal Flying Corps, which established a new flying school at Upavon, Wiltshire, and formed new airplane squadrons. In July 1914, the specialized requirements of the navy led to the creation of RNAS.

One month later, on August 4, Britain declared war on Germany and entered World War I. At the time, the RFC had 84 aircraft, and the RNAS had 71 aircraft and seven airships. Later that month, four RFC squadrons were deployed to France to support the British Expeditionary Force. During the next two years, Germany took the lead in air strategy with technologies like the manual machine gun, and England suffered bombing raids and frustration in the skies against German flying aces such as Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron." Repeated German air raids led British military planners to push for the creation of a separate air ministry, which would carry out strategic bombing against Germany. On April 1, 1918, the RAF was formed along with a female branch of the service, the Women's Royal Air Force. That day, Bristol F.2B fighters of the 22nd Squadron carried out the first official missions of the RAF.

By the war's end, in November 1918, the RAF had gained air superiority along the western front. The strength of the RAF in November 1918 was nearly 300,000 officers and airmen, and more than 22,000 aircraft. At the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, the operational strength of the RAF in Europe had diminished to about 2,000 aircraft.

In June 1940, the Western democracies of continental Europe fell to Germany one by one, leaving Britain alone in its resistance to Nazi Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler planned an invasion of Britain and in July 1940 ordered his powerful air force--the Luftwaffe--to destroy British ports along the coast in preparation. The outnumbered RAF fliers put up a fierce resistance in the opening weeks of the Battle of Britain, leading the Luftwaffe commanders to place destruction of the British air fleet at the forefront of the German offensive. If the Germans succeeded in wiping out the RAF, they could begin their invasion as scheduled in the fall.

During the next three months, however, the RAF successfully resisted the massive German air invasion, relying on radar technology, more maneuverable aircraft, and exceptional bravery. For every British plane shot down, two Luftwaffe warplanes were destroyed. In October, Hitler delayed the German invasion indefinitely, and in May 1941 the Battle of Britain came to an end. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said of the RAF pilots, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

By the war's end in 1945, the strength of the RAF was nearly one million personnel. Later, this number was reduced and stabilized at about 150,000 men and women.

[Bez]

2nd April





1982: Argentina invades Falklands

Argentina has invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.

The islands, off the coast of Argentina, have been a cause of friction between the two countries since Britain claimed them in 1833.

The Argentine flag is now flying over Government House in the Falkland Islands' capital, Port Stanley.

The head of the country's military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has welcomed the "recovery" of "Las Malvinas" - the Argentine name for the Falklands.

General Galtieri said Argentina had been left with no option other than military action.

The invasion followed months of sabre-rattling and a build-up over the past few days of Argentine war ships off the Falkland Islands, home to about 1,800 people.

'Unprepared'

At 0600 on Friday Argentina began "Operation Rosario" when a unit of Argentine troops landed near Port Stanley.

The leader of the Argentine forces, Rear Admiral Jorge Allara, had contacted the Falklands' governor, Rex Hunt, to appeal for a peaceful surrender.

But the request was rejected and the 80 members of the Royal Marine regiment stationed on the island and 20 locals were mobilised.

But by early afternoon they were vastly outnumbered by about 3,000 Argentine troops.

After an attack on Government House during which one Argentine soldier is said to have been killed, Rex Hunt ordered the British troops to surrender.

No Falkland Islanders or Royal Marines died in the fighting though one serviceman is reported to be badly wounded.

The British Government has cut diplomatic ties with Argentina and started to assemble a large naval taskforce to reclaim the islands.

Questions are being asked as to why the government was so unprepared given two recent "invasions" by Argentine civilians of another British territory in the region. In the latest incident in March they planted a flag on South Georgia, an uninhabited island 800 miles (1287 kilometres) north east of the Falklands.

[Bez]

April 3

1996 MOMA displays Jaguar

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City placed a Jaguar E-Type in its permanent exhibit. The E-Type was just the third car to be honored by the curators of the museum's permanent exhibit. Released in 1961, the E-Type was the first model released by Jaguar Motors after a disastrous fire destroyed the company's production facilities in 1957. The car's sleek lines made it an immediate success. Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons first made an impact in the automobile industry when he bolted a care body he designed onto the frame of an Austin Seven Car. His car, the Austin Swallow, was so successful that Lyons determined to manufacture his own automobiles. The E-Type is the epitome of Jaguar's exquisite feel for body design. The car is literally a work of art.

[Bez]

POCAHONTAS MARRIES JOHN ROLFE:

April 5, 1614

Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, marries English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.

In May 1607, about 100 English colonists settled along the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. The settlers fared badly because of famine, disease, and Indian attacks, but were aided by 27-year-old English adventurer John Smith, who directed survival efforts and mapped the area. While exploring the Chickahominy River in December 1607, Smith and two colonists were captured by Powhatan warriors. At the time, the Powhatan confederacy consisted of around 30 Tidewater-area tribes led by Chief Wahunsonacock, known as Chief Powhatan to the English. Smith's companions were killed, but he was spared and released, (according to a 1624 account by Smith) because of the dramatic intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's 13-year-old daughter. Her real name was Matoaka, and Pocahontas was a pet name that has been translated variously as "playful one" and "my favorite daughter."

In 1608, Smith became president of the Jamestown colony, but the settlement continued to suffer. An accidental fire destroyed much of the town, and hunger, disease, and Indian attacks continued. During this time, Pocahontas often came to Jamestown as an emissary of her father, sometimes bearing gifts of food to help the hard-pressed settlers. She befriended the settlers and became acquainted with English ways. In 1609, Smith was injured from a fire in his gunpowder bag and was forced to return to England.

After Smith's departure, relations with the Powhatan deteriorated and many settlers died from famine and disease in the winter of 1609-10. Jamestown was about to be abandoned by its inhabitants when Baron De La Warr (also known as Delaware) arrived in June 1610 with new supplies and rebuilt the settlement--the Delaware River and the colony of Delaware were later named after him. John Rolfe also arrived in Jamestown in 1610 and two years later cultivated the first tobacco there, introducing a successful source of livelihood that would have far-reaching importance for Virginia.

In the spring of 1613, English Captain Samuel Argall took Pocahontas hostage, hoping to use her to negotiate a permanent peace with her father. Brought to Jamestown, she was put under the custody of Sir Thomas Gates, the marshal of Virginia. Gates treated her as a guest rather than a prisoner and encouraged her to learn English customs. She converted to Christianity and was baptized Lady Rebecca. Powhatan eventually agreed to the terms for her release, but by then she had fallen in love with John Rolfe, who was about 10 years her senior. On April 5, 1614, Pocahontas and John Rolfe married with the blessing of Chief Powhatan and the governor of Virginia.

Their marriage brought a peace between the English colonists and the Powhatans, and in 1615 Pocahontas gave birth to their first child, Thomas. In 1616, the couple sailed to England. The so-called Indian Princess proved popular with the English gentry, and she was presented at the court of King James I. In March 1617, Pocahontas and Rolfe prepared to sail back to Virginia. However, the day before they were to leave, Pocahontas died, probably of smallpox, and was buried at the parish church of St. George in Gravesend, England.

John Rolfe returned to Virginia and was killed in an Indian massacre in 1622. After an education in England, their son Thomas Rolfe returned to Virginia and became a prominent citizen. John Smith returned to the New World in 1614 to explore the New England coast. On another voyage of exploration in 1614, he was captured by pirates but escaped after three months of captivity. He then returned to England, where he died in 1631.

[Bez]

B.C. GAUTAMA BUDDHA IS BORN:

April 8, 563

On this day, Buddhists celebrate the commemoration of the birth of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, thought to have lived in India from 563 B.C. to 483 B.C. Actually, the Buddhist tradition that celebrates his birthday on April 8 originally placed his birth in the 11th century B.C., and it was not until the modern era that scholars determined that he was more likely born in the sixth century B.C., and possibly in May rather than April.

According to the Tripitaka, which is recognized by scholars as the earliest existing record of the Buddha's life and discourses, Gautama Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha, the son of the king of the Sakya people. The kingdom of the Sakyas was situated on the borders of present-day Nepal and India. Siddhartha's family was of the Gautama clan. His mother, Queen Mahamaya, gave birth to him in the park of Lumbini, in what is now southern Nepal. A pillar placed there in commemoration of the event by an Indian emperor in the third century B.C. still stands.

At his birth, it was predicted that the prince would either become a great world monarch or a Buddha--a supremely enlightened teacher. The Brahmans told his father, King Suddhodana, that Siddhartha would become a ruler if he were kept isolated from the outside world. The king took pains to shelter his son from misery and anything else that might influence him toward the religious life. Siddhartha was brought up in great luxury, and he married and fathered a son. At age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot. In successive trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse, and since he had been protected from the miseries of aging, sickness, and death, his charioteer had to explain what they were. Finally, Siddhartha saw a monk, and, impressed with the man's peaceful demeanor, he decided to go into the world to discover how the man could be so serene in the midst of such suffering.

Siddhartha secretly left the palace and became a wandering ascetic. He traveled south, where the centers of learning were, and studied meditation under the teachers Alara Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra. He soon mastered their systems, reaching high states of mystical realization, but was unsatisfied and went out again in search of nirvana, the highest level of enlightenment. For nearly six years, he undertook fasting and other austerities, but these techniques proved ineffectual and he abandoned them. After regaining his strength, he seated himself under a pipal tree at what is now Bodh Gaya in west-central India and promised not to rise until he had attained the supreme enlightenment. After fighting off Mara, an evil spirit who tempted him with worldly comforts and desires, Siddhartha reached enlightenment, becoming a Buddha at the age of 35.

The Gautama Buddha then traveled to the deer park near Benares, India, where he gave his first sermon and outlined the basic doctrines of Buddhism. According to Buddhism, there are "four noble truths": (1) existence is suffering; (2) this suffering is caused by human craving; (3) there is a cessation of the suffering, which is nirvana; and (4) nirvana can be achieved, in this or future lives, though the "eightfold path" of right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

For the rest of his life, the Buddha taught and gathered disciples to his sangha, or community of monks. He died at age 80, telling his monks to continue working for their spiritual liberation by following his teachings. Buddhism eventually spread from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and, in the 20th century, to the West. Today, there are an estimated 350 million people in 100 nations who adhere to Buddhist beliefs and practices.

[Bez]

FIRST ASTRONAUTS INTRODUCED:

April 9, 1959

On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.

On October 4, 1957, the USSR scored the first victory of the "space race" when it successfully launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into Earth's orbit. In response, the United States consolidated its various military and civilian space efforts into NASA, which dedicated itself to beating the Soviets to manned space flight. In January 1959, NASA began the astronaut selection procedure, screening the records of 508 military test pilots and choosing 110 candidates. This number was arbitrarily divided into three groups, and the first two groups reported to Washington. Because of the high rate of volunteering, the third group was eliminated. Of the 62 pilots who volunteered, six were found to have grown too tall since their last medical examination. An initial battery of written tests, interviews, and medical history reviews further reduced the number of candidates to 36. After learning of the extreme physical and mental tests planned for them, four of these men dropped out.

The final 32 candidates traveled to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they underwent exhaustive medical and psychological examinations. The men proved so healthy, however, that only one candidate was eliminated. The remaining 31 candidates then traveled to the Wright Aeromedical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, where they underwent the most grueling part of the selection process. For six days and three nights, the men were subjected to various tortures that tested their tolerance of physical and psychological stress. Among other tests, the candidates were forced to spend an hour in a pressure chamber that simulated an altitude of 65,000 feet, and two hours in a chamber that was heated to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of one week, 18 candidates remained. From among these men, the selection committee was to choose six based on interviews, but seven candidates were so strong they ended up settling on that number.

After they were announced, the "Mercury Seven" became overnight celebrities. The Mercury Project suffered some early setbacks, however, and on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in the world's first manned space flight. Less than one month later, on May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard was successfully launched into space on a suborbital flight. On February 20, 1962, in a major step for the U.S. space program, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. NASA continued to trail the Soviets in space achievements until the late 1960s, when NASA's Apollo program put the first men on the moon and safely returned them to Earth.

In 1998, 36 years after his first space flight, John Glenn traveled into space again. Glenn, then 77 years old, was part of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew, whose 9-day research mission launched on October 29, 1998. Among the crew's investigations was a study of space flight and the aging process.

[Bez]

10th April



1968: Dozens die in NZ ferry disaster

Fifty-one people have died after a ferry capsized in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand during one of the worst storms ever to hit the country.

The TEV Wahine, carrying 610 passengers and 125 staff, ran aground as it entered the harbour in the early hours of this morning.

Many passengers drowned or were dashed against the rocks as they abandoned ship and several life-rafts capsized in the raging seas.

Rescue efforts were severely hampered as coastguards battled against 18ft (5.49m) waves to reach the stricken vessel.

Violent seas

The tragedy began in the early hours of this morning as a warm tropical front met a cold southerly storm in Cook Strait between the South Island and the North Island.

This created violent seas and winds of more than 99mph (160km/h) on the approach to Wellington Harbour.

As the Wahine entered the harbour it was dashed into rocks on Barrett reef and the vessel's radar system was incapacitated.

Captain Hector Robinson immediately dropped both the ship's anchors in an attempt to steady the ship, but she was dragged through the harbour towards Seatoun.

The ferry, listing from side to side, was battered by heavy seas for several hours before rescuers were able to reach her.

The order to abandon ship was not given until about 1330hrs, by which time much of the lower deck of the boat was flooded.

Hundreds of people managed to make their way to the shore where they were rescued by local volunteers.

A base was set up at Muritai School where survivors were given drinks, food and blankets. Most of those who perished were elderly or infirm.

In total 44 passengers, six crew and one stowaway died.

The abandoned ship finally sank to the seabed at about 1430hrs after rolling completely onto her starboard side.

When the ferry had left Lyttelton harbour on New Zealand's South Island at 2040hrs last night weather conditions were good. Although there had been weather warnings there had been no indication that the storms would be so severe

[Bez]

APOLLO 13 LAUNCHED TO MOON:

April 11, 1970

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft's destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive.

At 9:00 p.m. EST on April 13, Apollo 13 was just over 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew had just completed a television broadcast and was inspecting Aquarius, the Landing Module (LM). The next day, Apollo 13 was to enter the moon's orbit, and soon after, Lovell and Haise would become the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon. At 9:08 p.m., these plans were shattered when an explosion rocked the spacecraft. Oxygen tank No. 2 had blown up, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Lovell reported to mission control: "Houston, we've had a problem here," and the crew scrambled to find out what had happened. Several minutes later, Lovell looked out of the left-hand window and saw that the spacecraft was venting a gas, which turned out to be the Command Module's (CM) oxygen. The landing mission was aborted.

As the CM lost pressure, its fuel cells also died, and one hour after the explosion mission control instructed the crew to move to the LM, which had sufficient oxygen, and use it as a lifeboat. The CM was shut down but would have to be brought back on-line for Earth reentry. The LM was designed to ferry astronauts from the orbiting CM to the moon's surface and back again; its power supply was meant to support two people for 45 hours. If the crew of Apollo 13 were to make it back to Earth alive, the LM would have to support three men for at least 90 hours and successfully navigate more than 200,000 miles of space. The crew and mission control faced a formidable task.

To complete its long journey, the LM needed energy and cooling water. Both were to be conserved at the cost of the crew, who went on one-fifth water rations and would later endure cabin temperatures that hovered a few degrees above freezing. Removal of carbon dioxide was also a problem, because the square lithium hydroxide canisters from the CM were not compatible with the round openings in the LM environmental system. Mission control built an impromptu adapter out of materials known to be onboard, and the crew successfully copied their model.

Navigation was also a major problem. The LM lacked a sophisticated navigational system, and the astronauts and mission control had to work out by hand the changes in propulsion and direction needed to take the spacecraft home. On April 14, Apollo 13 swung around the moon. Swigert and Haise took pictures, and Lovell talked with mission control about the most difficult maneuver, a five-minute engine burn that would give the LM enough speed to return home before its energy ran out. Two hours after rounding the far side of the moon, the crew, using the sun as an alignment point, fired the LM's small descent engine. The procedure was a success; Apollo 13 was on its way home.

For the next three days, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert huddled in the freezing lunar module. Haise developed a case of the flu. Mission control spent this time frantically trying to develop a procedure that would allow the astronauts to restart the CM for reentry. On April 17, a last-minute navigational correction was made, this time using Earth as an alignment guide. Then the repressurized CM was successfully powered up after its long, cold sleep. The heavily damaged service module was shed, and one hour before re-entry the LM was disengaged from the CM. Just before 1 p.m., the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere. Mission control feared that the CM's heat shields were damaged in the accident, but after four minutes of radio silence Apollo 13's parachutes were spotted, and the astronauts splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean.

[Uncle Kram]

Bez wrote: APOLLO 13 LAUNCHED TO MOON:

April 11, 1970

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft's destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive.

At 9:00 p.m. EST on April 13, Apollo 13 was just over 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew had just completed a television broadcast and was inspecting Aquarius, the Landing Module (LM). The next day, Apollo 13 was to enter the moon's orbit, and soon after, Lovell and Haise would become the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon. At 9:08 p.m., these plans were shattered when an explosion rocked the spacecraft. Oxygen tank No. 2 had blown up, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Lovell reported to mission control: "Houston, we've had a problem here," and the crew scrambled to find out what had happened. Several minutes later, Lovell looked out of the left-hand window and saw that the spacecraft was venting a gas, which turned out to be the Command Module's (CM) oxygen. The landing mission was aborted.

As the CM lost pressure, its fuel cells also died, and one hour after the explosion mission control instructed the crew to move to the LM, which had sufficient oxygen, and use it as a lifeboat. The CM was shut down but would have to be brought back on-line for Earth reentry. The LM was designed to ferry astronauts from the orbiting CM to the moon's surface and back again; its power supply was meant to support two people for 45 hours. If the crew of Apollo 13 were to make it back to Earth alive, the LM would have to support three men for at least 90 hours and successfully navigate more than 200,000 miles of space. The crew and mission control faced a formidable task.

To complete its long journey, the LM needed energy and cooling water. Both were to be conserved at the cost of the crew, who went on one-fifth water rations and would later endure cabin temperatures that hovered a few degrees above freezing. Removal of carbon dioxide was also a problem, because the square lithium hydroxide canisters from the CM were not compatible with the round openings in the LM environmental system. Mission control built an impromptu adapter out of materials known to be onboard, and the crew successfully copied their model.

Navigation was also a major problem. The LM lacked a sophisticated navigational system, and the astronauts and mission control had to work out by hand the changes in propulsion and direction needed to take the spacecraft home. On April 14, Apollo 13 swung around the moon. Swigert and Haise took pictures, and Lovell talked with mission control about the most difficult maneuver, a five-minute engine burn that would give the LM enough speed to return home before its energy ran out. Two hours after rounding the far side of the moon, the crew, using the sun as an alignment point, fired the LM's small descent engine. The procedure was a success; Apollo 13 was on its way home.

For the next three days, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert huddled in the freezing lunar module. Haise developed a case of the flu. Mission control spent this time frantically trying to develop a procedure that would allow the astronauts to restart the CM for reentry. On April 17, a last-minute navigational correction was made, this time using Earth as an alignment guide. Then the repressurized CM was successfully powered up after its long, cold sleep. The heavily damaged service module was shed, and one hour before re-entry the LM was disengaged from the CM. Just before 1 p.m., the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere. Mission control feared that the CM's heat shields were damaged in the accident, but after four minutes of radio silence Apollo 13's parachutes were spotted, and the astronauts splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean.


I was almost 11 years old when this mission happened. I had been an Apollo nut since Apollo 8 and followed it intensely and worried along with the rest of the world. A couple of weeks back I heard the song "The Age of Aquarius" and it reminded me of the splashdown as they played it on the telly as we all sighed with relief

[Bez]

Uncle Kram wrote: I was almost 11 years old when this mission happened. I had been an Apollo nut since Apollo 8 and followed it intensely and worried along with the rest of the world. A couple of weeks back I heard the song "The Age of Aquarius" and it reminded me of the splashdown as they played it on the telly as we all sighed with relief


did you see the film...I think it was with Tom Hanks....very tense,

[Bez]

April 13

1909 Eudora Welty is born

Southern writer Eudora Welty is born in Jackson, Mississippi.

Welty, whose father owned an insurance company, led a sheltered life. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1929 and studied advertising at Columbia University School of Business. When she returned to Mississippi in 1931, she worked as a radio writer and newspaper society writer while working on fiction on the side. She also worked for the Works Progress Administration, taking photographs and recording interviews with Jackson residents. She remained an avid photographer throughout her life.

Welty's first short story, The Death of a Traveling Salesman, was published in 1936. For the next two years, her work appeared regularly in the well-respected Southern Review. Her first book of stories, A Curtain of Green, was published in 1941, followed by the Wide Net in 1943 and The Robber Bridegroom in 1942. She won the prestigious O. Henry Award for best short fiction of the year in 1942 and 1943 and won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1972 novel, The Optimist's Daughter.

Welty died on July 23, 2001.

[Bez]

President Lincoln is shot

April 14, 1865

At Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally wounds President Abraham Lincoln. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Booth, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate sympathies, initially plotted to capture President Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, the president failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth hatched a desperate plan to save the Confederacy.

Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene's acclaimed performance in Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater on April 14, Booth plotted the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into a paralyzing disarray.

On the evening of April 14, conspirator Lewis T. Powell burst into Secretary of State Seward's home, seriously wounding him and three others, while George A. Atzerodt, assigned to Vice President Johnson, lost his nerve and fled. Meanwhile, just after 10 p.m., Booth entered Lincoln's private theater box unnoticed, and shot the president with a single bullet in the back of his head. Slashing an army officer who rushed at him, Booth jumped to the stage and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis! --the South is avenged!" Although Booth had broken his left leg jumping from Lincoln's box, he succeeded in escaping Washington. The president, mortally wounded, was carried to a cheap lodging house opposite Ford's Theater. About 7:22 a.m. the next morning, he died--the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Booth, pursued by the army and secret service forces, was finally cornered in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died from a possibly self-inflicted bullet wound as the barn was burned to the ground. Of the eight other persons eventually charged with the conspiracy, four were hanged and four were jailed.

[Bez]

April 15th



1965 Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opens

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened. Connecting Kiptopeke and Chesapeake Beach, Virginia, the bridge-tunnel hybrid spans the entire mouth of the great Chesapeake Bay. It is the longest such structure in the world at 17.65 miles in length. The bridge-tunnel is essentially an artificial causeway raised on platforms. At the north end of the bay, a high extension bridge crosses a shipping lane. At the south end of the structure, two mile-long tunnels cross commercial shipping lanes.



1924 Rand McNally releases first road atlas

Rand McNally released its first comprehensive road atlas. Today Rand McNally is the world's largest maker of atlases in print and electronic media. The company celebrates its 75th anniversary this year—75 years of North American navigation. One can imagine how spare the road map of our country must have looked in 1924.

[Bez]

16thApril





1972 Apollo 16 departs for moon



From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo 16, the fifth of six U.S. lunar landing missions, is successfully launched on its 238,000-mile journey to the moon. On April 20, astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke descended to the lunar surface from Apollo 16, which remained in orbit around the moon with a third astronaut, Thomas K. Mattingly, in command. Young and Duke remained on the moon for nearly three days, and spent more than 20 hours exploring the surface of Earth's only satellite. The two astronauts used the Lunar Rover vehicle to collect more than 200 pounds of rock before returning to Apollo 16 on April 23. Four days later, the three astronauts returned to Earth, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

[Bez]

1937 Daffy Duck debuts

Daffy Duck makes his debut in the Warner Bros. short Porky's Duck Hunt. In the 1920s, movie houses had started showing a short cartoon before feature presentations, but the form became more innovative and popular after sound was introduced in 1928.





April 17

1936 A single horsehair uncovers a murderer

After a week of tracking down every conceivable lead, police finally find the evidence they need in order to break the case of Nancy Titterton's rape-murder in New York City. Titterton, a novelist and the wife of NBC executive Lewis Titterton, was raped and strangled in her upscale home on Beekman Place on the morning of April 10, 1936. The only clues left behind were a foot-long piece of cord that had been used to tie Titterton's hands and a single horsehair found on her bedspread.

These small traces of evidence proved to be enough to find the killer. The detective in charge of the investigation had ordered his team to trace the source of the cord. After a full week of combing every rope and twine manufacturer in the Northeast, the cord was finally found to have come from Hanover Cordage Company in York, Pennsylvania. Company records showed that some of the distinctive cord had been sold to Theodore Kruger's upholstery shop in New York City.

Since the investigation of the horsehair had already led police to suspect John Fiorenza, an assistant at Kruger's shop, this new evidence only solidified their suspicion. Fiorenza and Kruger were the first to discover Titterton's body, when they arrived to return a repaired couch (which had been stuffed with horsehair that matched the one found at the crime scene) on the afternoon of April 10. However, they both denied entering the bedroom that day.

When investigators learned that Fiorenza had been at the Titterton house on April 9 and had been late for work the morning of the murder, they looked deeper into his background. Fiorenza had four prior arrests for theft and had been diagnosed as delusional by a prison psychiatrist. Detectives first gained Fiorenza's trust by pretending to need his help in solving the crime and then sprang the cord evidence on him.

Caught by surprise, Fiorenza confessed to the brutal crime but claimed that he was temporarily insane. This defense didn't hold up too well at trial, and Fiorenza was executed on January 22, 1937.

[Bez]

NUCLEAR DISASTER AT CHERNOBYL:

April 26, 1986

On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear power plant accident occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union. Thirty-two people died and dozens more suffered radiation burns in the opening days of the crisis, but only after Swedish authorities reported the fallout did Soviet authorities reluctantly admit that an accident had occurred.

The Chernobyl station was situated at the settlement of Pripyat, about 65 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine. Built in the late 1970s on the banks of the Pripyat River, Chernobyl had four reactors, each capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electric power. On the evening of April 25, 1986, a group of engineers began an electrical-engineering experiment on the Number 4 reactor. The engineers, who had little knowledge of reactor physics, wanted to see if the reactor's turbine could run emergency water pumps on inertial power.

As part of their poorly designed experiment, the engineers disconnected the reactor's emergency safety systems and its power-regulating system. Next, they compounded this recklessness with a series of mistakes: They ran the reactor at a power level so low that the reaction became unstable, and then removed too many of the reactor's control rods in an attempt to power it up again. The reactor's output rose to more than 200 megawatts but was proving increasingly difficult to control. Nevertheless, at 1:23 a.m. on April 26, the engineers continued with their experiment and shut down the turbine engine to see if its inertial spinning would power the reactor's water pumps. In fact, it did not adequately power the water pumps, and without cooling water the power level in the reactor surged.

To prevent meltdown, the operators reinserted all the 200-some control rods into the reactor at once. The control rods were meant to reduce the reaction but had a design flaw: graphite tips. So, before the control rod's five meters of absorbent material could penetrate the core, 200 graphite tips simultaneously entered, thus facilitating the reaction and causing an explosion that blew off the heavy steel and concrete lid of the reactor. It was not a nuclear explosion, as nuclear power plants are incapable of producing such a reaction, but was chemical, driven by the ignition of gases and steam that were generated by the runaway reaction. In the explosion and ensuing fire, more than 50 tons of radioactive material were released into the atmosphere, where it was carried by air currents.

On April 27, Soviet authorities began an evacuation of the 30,000 inhabitants of Pripyat. A cover-up was attempted, but on April 28 Swedish radiation monitoring stations, more than 800 miles to the northwest of Chernobyl, reported radiation levels 40 percent higher than normal. Later that day, the Soviet news agency acknowledged that a major nuclear accident had occurred at Chernobyl.

In the opening days of the crisis, 32 people died at Chernobyl and dozens more suffered radiation burns. The radiation that escaped into the atmosphere, which was several times that produced by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was spread by the wind over Northern and Eastern Europe, contaminating millions of acres of forest and farmland. An estimated 5,000 Soviet citizens eventually died from cancer and other radiation-induced illnesses caused by their exposure to the Chernobyl radiation, and millions more had their health adversely affected. In 2000, the last working reactors at Chernobyl were shut down and the plant was officially closed

[Bez]

MAGELLAN KILLED IN THE PHILIPPINES:

April 27, 1521

After traveling three-quarters of the way around the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed during a tribal skirmish on Mactan Island in the Philippines. Earlier in the month, his ships had dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebý, and Magellan met with the local chief, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In the subsequent fighting, Magellan was hit by a poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.

Magellan, a Portuguese noble, fought for his country against the Muslim domination of the Indian Ocean and Morocco. He participated in a number of key battles and in 1514 asked Portugal's King Manuel for an increase in his pension. The king refused, having heard unfounded rumors of improper conduct on Magellan's part after a siege in Morocco. In 1516, Magellan again made the request and the king again refused, so Magellan went to Spain in 1517 to offer his services to King Charles I, later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

In 1494, Portugal and Spain, at the prompting of Pope Alexander VI, settled disputes over newly discovered lands in America and elsewhere by dividing the world into two spheres of influence. A line of demarcation was agreed to in the Atlantic Ocean--all new discoveries west of the line were to be Spanish, and all to the east Portuguese. Thus, South and Central America became dominated by the Spanish, with the exception of Brazil, which was discovered by the Portuguese explorer Pedro ýlvares Cabral in 1500 and was somewhat east of the demarcation line. Other Portuguese discoveries in the early 16th century, such as the Moluccas Islands--the Spice Islands of Indonesia--made the Spanish jealous.

To King Charles, Magellan proposed sailing west, finding a strait through the Americas, and then continuing west to the Moluccas, which would prove that the Spice Islands lay west of the demarcation line and thus in the Spanish sphere. Magellan knew that the world was round but underestimated its size, thinking that the Moluccas must be situated just west of the American continent, not on the other side of a great uncharted ocean. The king accepted the plan, and on September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in command of five ships and 270 men.

Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rýo de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarter at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. He was the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named "Pacific," from the Latin word pacificus, meaning "tranquil." By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam. Ten days later, they reached the Philippines--they were only about 400 miles from the Spice Islands.

After Magellan's death, the survivors, in two ships, sailed on to the Moluccas and loaded the hulls with spice. One ship attempted, unsuccessfully, to return across the Pacific. The other ship, the Victoria, continued west under the command of the Basque navigator Juan Sebastiýn de Elcano. The vessel sailed across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Seville on September 9, 1522, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe

[Maxi_Uno]

Bez wrote: MAGELLAN KILLED IN THE PHILIPPINES:

April 27, 1521



After traveling three-quarters of the way around the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed during a tribal skirmish on Mactan Island in the Philippines. Earlier in the month, his ships had dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebý, and Magellan met with the local chief, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In the subsequent fighting, Magellan was hit by a poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.

Magellan, a Portuguese noble, fought for his country against the Muslim domination of the Indian Ocean and Morocco. He participated in a number of key battles and in 1514 asked Portugal's King Manuel for an increase in his pension. The king refused, having heard unfounded rumors of improper conduct on Magellan's part after a siege in Morocco. In 1516, Magellan again made the request and the king again refused, so Magellan went to Spain in 1517 to offer his services to King Charles I, later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

In 1494, Portugal and Spain, at the prompting of Pope Alexander VI, settled disputes over newly discovered lands in America and elsewhere by dividing the world into two spheres of influence. A line of demarcation was agreed to in the Atlantic Ocean--all new discoveries west of the line were to be Spanish, and all to the east Portuguese. Thus, South and Central America became dominated by the Spanish, with the exception of Brazil, which was discovered by the Portuguese explorer Pedro ýlvares Cabral in 1500 and was somewhat east of the demarcation line. Other Portuguese discoveries in the early 16th century, such as the Moluccas Islands--the Spice Islands of Indonesia--made the Spanish jealous.

To King Charles, Magellan proposed sailing west, finding a strait through the Americas, and then continuing west to the Moluccas, which would prove that the Spice Islands lay west of the demarcation line and thus in the Spanish sphere. Magellan knew that the world was round but underestimated its size, thinking that the Moluccas must be situated just west of the American continent, not on the other side of a great uncharted ocean. The king accepted the plan, and on September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in command of five ships and 270 men.

Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rýo de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarter at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. He was the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named "Pacific," from the Latin word pacificus, meaning "tranquil." By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam. Ten days later, they reached the Philippines--they were only about 400 miles from the Spice Islands.

After Magellan's death, the survivors, in two ships, sailed on to the Moluccas and loaded the hulls with spice. One ship attempted, unsuccessfully, to return across the Pacific. The other ship, the Victoria, continued west under the command of the Basque navigator Juan Sebastiýn de Elcano. The vessel sailed across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Seville on September 9, 1522, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe


:-3 As a child (and now) I always liked to say that name, I can't explain it gave me funny feeling (so does Amarillo)in the back of my throat.:-2

[Bez]

May 1

1852 Calamity Jane is born

On this day, the adventurer and performer Calamity Jane is born near Princeton, Missouri.

The myths and fabrications concerning the life of Calamity Jane are so numerous it is difficult to discover her true story. Legend has it that at various times Jane worked as a dishwasher at Fort Bridger, a laborer on the Union Pacific, a scout for General Custer, and a teamster. Some claim that Jane's parents died when she was only eight years old and the event led to her nickname "Calamity," but serious historians have never found any solid evidence for any of these legends.

What reliable records do exist indicate that she was born Martha Jane Canary and spent the first 13 years of her life in rural Missouri. In 1865, she and her family moved west to the booming gold rush town of Virginia City, Montana. There she grew into a tall and powerfully built young woman who liked to wear men's clothing and spend her time in the company of men. Like many young frontier women, Jane learned to ride and shoot at an early age, and she apparently bridled at the narrow limits placed on women in her era.

By the early 1870s, Jane appears to have been out on her own. She was able to find occasional work in Virginia City as a laundress, one of the few occupations that were open to women at the time. In 1875, she joined a scientific expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota, probably working as a laundress and camp follower rather than the teamster of legend. Still, Jane's participation in the expedition put her in the Black Hills during the height of the subsequent gold rush to the region from 1876 to 1880. She eventually settled in the rugged boomtown of Deadwood, South Dakota.

Given to hard drinking and carousing, she attracted public attention with stunts like riding a bull down the main street of Rapid City. By the 1890s, many Americans were already fascinated with the rapidly fading days of the Wild West, and a wild woman like Jane was extremely interesting. Jane catered to this fascination with boasts of her supposed exploits, claiming to have been a uniformed army scout for General Custer, for example, though there was no evidence this was true. Ultimately, Jane was a performer, providing the public with the appropriately grand and mythic image of the West.

By 1896, Jane's hard living had begun to take a toll, and she was suffering from the debilitating effects of severe alcoholism. Nonetheless, she accepted an offer to appear on the stage in Minneapolis in her self-created persona of Calamity Jane. In 1901, she was even invited to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Wherever she went, Jane brought along copies of her hopelessly inaccurate autobiography, which she sold to credulous fans for a few pennies.

One of the most persistent legends has been that Jane was married to the famous gunslinger and lawman Wild Bill Hickok, and that she may have given birth to his child. Yet again, biographers have been unable to establish any connection between Jane and Hickok. There is some evidence Jane may have given birth to a daughter, but if the child existed at all, its paternity was uncertain. Mostly likely, Jane simply fabricated the affair with Hickok, although she eventually may have come to believe that this-and other stories about her life--were actually true.

Two years before she died, she seems to have finally have tired of living the self-created persona of Calamity Jane. Found sick and drunk in an African-American bordello in Horr, Montana, she grumbled an uncharacteristic wish that the world would "leave me alone and let me go to hell my own route." She died at the age of 51 on August 1, 1903, in Terry, South Dakota.

[Bez]

May 2

1932 Jack Benny debuts as radio host

On this day, comedian Jack Benny's long-running radio show debuts. The show aired for more than 20 years and evolved into a popular TV show.

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894. His father, a Lithuanian immigrant, ran a saloon in Waukegan, Ill., near Chicago. Benny began playing violin at age six and continued through high school. He began touring on the vaudeville circuit in 1917. In 1918, he joined the navy and was assigned to entertain the troops with his music but soon discovered a flair for comedy. After World War I, Benny returned to vaudeville as a comedian and became a top act in the 1920s. In 1927, he married an actress named Sadye Marks; the couple stayed together until Benny's death in 1974.

Benny's success in vaudeville soon won him attention from Hollywood, where he made his film debut in Hollywood Revue of 1929. Over the years, he won larger roles, notably in Charley's Aunt (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). But movies were only a sideline for Benny, who in 1932 had found his natural medium: radio.

In March 1932, then-newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan, dabbling in radio, asked Benny to do an on-air interview. Benny reluctantly agreed. His comedy was so successful that Benny was offered his own show, which debuted just a few months later. At first a mostly musical show with a few minutes of Benny's comedy during interludes, the show evolved to become mostly comedy, incorporating well-developed skits and regular characters. Benny played a vain egomaniac and a notorious pinchpenny who refused to replace his (very noisy) antique car and who kept his money in a closely guarded vault. His regulars included his wife, whose character, Mary Livingstone, deflated Benny's ego at every opportunity; Mel Blanc, who used his famous voice to play Benny's noisy car, his exasperated French violin teacher, and other characters; and Eddie Andersen, one of radio's first African American stars, who played Benny's long-suffering valet, Rochester Van Jones. The program ran until 1955.

In the 1950s, Benny began experimenting with television, making specials in 1950, 1951, and 1952. Starting in 1952, The Jack Benny Show aired regularly, at first once every four weeks, then every other week, then finally every week from 1960 to 1965. Benny was as big a hit on TV as on the radio. Despite the stingy skinflint image he cultivated on the air, Benny was known for his generosity and modesty in real life. Benny died of cancer in Beverly Hills in 1974.

[Bez]

1933 First police radios installed

The first police radio system, connecting headquarters to patrol cars and patrol cars to one another, was installed in Eastchester Township, New York, by Radio Engineering Laboratories of Long Island City, New York. The township contracted with the company for one transmitter of 20 watts for the headquarters and two transmitters of 4.5 volts each for the two patrol cars. Among its other uses, the police radio system became a popular prop for radio, television, and film drama. From the basic "Calling all cars!" exclamations of early radio drama to the poignant use of police radio in the 1965 film The Chase (with Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, and Robert Duvall), the police radio system became a dramatic device as essential to twentieth-century narratives, as was the royal emissary in the days of Shakespeare.

[Bez]

May 9

1860 James Barrie is born

James Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, is born in Scotland on this day.

Barrie attended the University of Edinburgh and worked as a reporter for the Nottingham Journal for two years after college. He moved to London in 1885 and became a freelance writer. His first collection of sketches, Auld Licht Idylls, was published in 1888 and became a success, followed by an account of his newspaper days, When a Man's Single. He published a collection of stories in 1889 and a bestselling novel, The Little Minister, in 1891.

The Little Minister was dramatized in 1897, and Barrie shifted his focus from prose to drama, enjoying a series of successes. In 1904, he wrote Peter Pan. Although he wrote many other plays, few are still performed today, and none had the staying power of Peter Pan. In 1913, he was made a baronet and in 1922 received the Order of Merit. He became president of the Society of Authors in 1928 and Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in 1930. Barrie died in London in 1937.

[Bez]

Hey Pinky...you should have 'Tinkerbell' as your name ...

[Lon]

Are we having fun or what?

Lon & daughter at Fiji wedding.

[chocoholic]

Pinky,

Belated Happy Birthday wishes,

hope that your day included chocolate!



REMEMBER, CHOCOLATE IS CHEAPER THAN THERAPY AND YOU DON'T NEED AN APPOINTMENT!

[Bez]

May 21

1950 Fangio wins first Grand Prix

Juan Manuel Fangio won the Monaco Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo 158; the victory was the first of the 24-Grand Prix victories in his illustrious Formula One career. Born in 1911, near Balacarce, Argentina, Fangio started his professional career as a mechanic. At age 23, he drove his first race in a converted Ford taxi that fell apart during the event. Fangio struggled early on in his career as a racer, but his passion for the sport led him to continue racing while he supported himself as a mechanic. Just before World War II, Fangio began racing a Chevrolet stock car. He won the Gran Premio Internacional del Norte, a race from Buenos Aires to Peru and back. Winning the 6,000-mile race brought Fangio instant notoriety in his home country. At 36, Juan Manuel Fangio was considered too old to race. Undeterred, he began a career as a Formula 1 driver. In 1949, his first full season, he won six times in 10 races. The next year he was invited to drive for the prestigious Alpha Romeo team. He finished second in the World Driver's Championship. The next year he won it. Fangio then bounced between the Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, and Ferrari teams en route to establishing himself as the world's best driver. He became a national hero in his adopted Italy as well as at home in Argentina. He won four World Driver's Championships in the 1950s, but his fine results do not do justice to his extraordinary talent. In 1957, the 46-year-old Fangio returned to the Maserati team. Maserati's equipment was nearly obsolete at the time, and Fangio raced with a considerable handicap. Fellow racer Phil Hill evaluated Fangio's racing ability: "With most drivers, you figure 25 percent driver, 75 percent car. With the old man, you know it's 40 percent driver, 60 percent car, so he's already got us beat with that something extra that's inside of him." The German Grand Prix that year was apt testament to Fangio's genius. Racing against the tighter Ferraris in his weak-kneed Maserati, Fangio decided not to take a full load of fuel in his car. His plan was to build a huge lead on his competitors with a lighter car, and then to pit to take on more fuel. The other cars would run the race without stopping. Fangio was 28 seconds ahead when he pitted, and 28 behind when he came out of the pits. He passed leader Mike Hawthorn on the final lap, and won the race by four seconds. Juan Manuel Fangio is often considered the most talented driver to ever race. One wonders what his career would have been like had he had the opportunity to race early in his life.

1901 First speed limit law is enacted

Connecticut became the first state to enact a speeding-driver law. The State General Assembly passed a bill submitted by Representative Robert Woodruff that stipulated the speed of all motor vehicles should not exceed 12mph on country highways and eight mph within city limits

[Bez]

THE WAR OF THE ROSES:

May 22, 1455

In the opening battle of England's War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeat King Henry VI's Lancastrian forces at St. Albans, 20 miles northwest of London. Many Lancastrian nobles perished, including Edmund Beaufort, the duke of Somerset, and the king was forced to submit to the rule of his cousin, Richard of York. The dynastic struggle between the House of York, whose badge was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster, later associated with a red rose, would stretch on for 30 years.

Both families, closely related, claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III, the king of England from 1327 to 1377. The first Lancastrian king was Henry IV in 1399, and rebellion and lawlessness were rife during his reign. His son, Henry V, was more successful and won major victories in the Hundred Years War against France. His son and successor, Henry VI, had few kingly qualities and lost most of the French land his father had conquered. At home, chaos prevailed and lords with private armies challenged Henry VI's authority. At times, his ambitious queen, Margaret of Anjou, effectively controlled the crown.

In 1453, Henry lapsed into insanity, and in 1454 Parliament appointed Richard, duke of York, as protector of the realm. Henry and York's grandfathers were the fourth and third sons of Edward III, respectively. When Henry recovered in late 1454, he dismissed York and restored the authority of Margaret, who saw York as a threat to the succession of their son, Prince Edward. York raised an army of 3,000 men, and in May the Yorkists marched to London. On May 22, 1455, York met Henry's forces at St. Albans while on the northern road to the capital. The bloody encounter lasted less than an hour, and the Yorkists carried the day. The duke of Somerset, Margaret's great ally, was killed, and Henry was captured by the Yorkists.

After the battle, Richard again was made English protector, but in 1456 Margaret regained the upper hand. An uneasy peace was broken in 1459, and in 1460 the Lancastrians were defeated, and York was granted the right to ascend to the throne upon Henry's death. The Lancastrians then gathered forces in northern England and in December 1460 surprised and killed York outside his castle near Wakefield.

York's son Edward reached London before Margaret and was proclaimed King Edward IV. In March 1461, Edward won a decisive victory against the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest of the war. Henry, Margaret, and their son fled to Scotland, and the first phase of the war was over.

Yorkist rivalry would later lead to the overthrow of Edward in 1470 and the restoration of Henry VI. The next year, Edward returned from exile in the Netherlands, defeated Margaret's forces, killed her son, and imprisoned Henry in the Tower of London, where he was murdered. Edward IV then ruled uninterrupted until his death in 1483. His eldest son was proclaimed Edward V, but Edward IV's brother, Richard III, seized the crown and imprisoned Edward and his younger brother in the Tower of London, where they disappeared, probably murdered. In 1485, Richard III was defeated and killed by Lancastrians led by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Henry Tudor was proclaimed King Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Henry was the grandson of Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V, and Owen Tudor. In 1486, he married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims. This event is seen as marking the end of the War of Roses; although some Yorkists supported in 1487 an unsuccessful rebellion against Henry, led by Lambert Simnel. The War of Roses left little mark on the common English people but severely thinned the ranks of the English nobility.

[Bez]

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION BEGINS:

May 25, 1787



Four years after the United States won its independence from England, 55 state delegates, including George Washington, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, convene in Philadelphia to compose a new U.S. constitution.

The Articles of Confederation, ratified several months before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provided for a loose confederation of U.S. states, which were sovereign in most of their affairs. On paper, Congress--the central authority--had the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war, and regulate currency, but in practice these powers were sharply limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was apparent that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not amended or replaced. Five states met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the issue, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia.

On May 25, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The building, which is now known as Independence Hall, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The assembly immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new scheme of government. Revolutionary War hero George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president.

During three months of debate, the delegates devised a brilliant federal system characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances. The convention was divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, as more populated states sought proportional legislation, and smaller states wanted equal representation. The problem was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate).

On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.

Beginning on December 7, five states--Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut--ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789.

On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution--the Bill of Rights--and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.

[Bez]

May 26

1885 Al Jolson's birthday

Asa Yoelson, later known as Al Jolson, is born on this day in St. Petersburg, Russia. Jolson became the most famous singer of his day and starred in the first feature-length talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927).

Jolson's family immigrated to the United States when he was a child. The son of a cantor, Jolson sang in synagogue and considered becoming a cantor himself. Instead, he turned to show business, performing as a child singer on the vaudeville circuit. He also created a whistling act with his brother and began performing in blackface, a common theatrical convention at the time in which white men blackened their faces and impersonated African American minstrels. The style, condemned for its demeaning racial stereotypes, went out of favor after the early 20th century. However, at the time, Jolson's blackface music and comedy made him immensely popular, especially when he dropped to one knee to belt out signature songs like "Mammy" and "Swannee" with a swell of emotion.

In 1926, Jolson sang three songs in an experimental sound short by Warner Bros. called April Showers. The following year, he starred in the first talkie feature, The Jazz Singer-which wasn't really a talkie at all but a mostly silent film with musical numbers and a few snippets of dialogue, including Jolson's famous line, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!" The movie traced the story of the son of a Jewish cantor who defies his family to become a jazz singer. Jolson starred in several other hit pictures, including Mammy (1930) and Swanee River (1940). He also had his own radio show from 1932 to 1949.

Jolson's career began fading in the mid-1940s, until the release of The Jolson Story, a hit movie tracing Jolson's rise to stardom. Although Larry Parks portrayed the singer, Jolson dubbed his own songs. A sequel, Jolson Sings Again, followed in 1949. Jolson was married four times, once to actress Ruby Keeler. He had a heart attack and died in 1950.



1907 John Wayne's birthday

Western hero John Wayne is born on this day in Winterset, Iowa, and christened Marion Michael Morrison. As a child, friends nicknamed the boy Duke, and he went on to play his earliest film roles under the name Duke Morrison. Wayne worked at Fox Film Corp. as a laborer in the late 1920s and began appearing in bit parts in 1928. Throughout the 1930s, he starred in mediocre westerns, sometimes filming as many as two a week. Wayne's breakthrough came in 1939, when his friend John Ford cast him in Stagecoach. Wayne went on to play larger-than-life heroes in countless movies, appearing in 250 films during four decades of acting. In 1969, he won an Oscar for his role in True Grit. He died from cancer in 1979.

[Bez]

1903 Bob Hope born

Film, TV, and radio star Bob Hope is born on this day in Eltham, England. Christened Leslie Townes Hope, he moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, at age four. Hope, whose illustrious career as a film actor made him one of the most highly paid entertainers in Hollywood, started out in vaudeville; he then moved to radio in 1935, where he hosted various shows for 20 years. He made the move to film in 1938 and became one of America's most beloved screen stars.





MEN REACH EVEREST SUMMIT:

May 29, 1953



At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet. News of their achievement broke around the world on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and Britons hailed it as a good omen for their country's future.

Mount Everest sits on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia, lying on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Called Chomo-Lungma, or "Mother Goddess of the Land," by the Tibetans, the English named the mountain after Sir George Everest, a 19th-century British surveyor of South Asia. The summit of Everest reaches two-thirds of the way through the air of the earth's atmosphere--at about the cruising altitude of jet airliners--and oxygen levels there are very low, temperatures are extremely cold, and weather is unpredictable and dangerous.

The first recorded attempt to climb Everest was made in 1921 by a British expedition that trekked 400 difficult miles across the Tibetan plateau to the foot of the great mountain. A raging storm forced them to abort their ascent, but the mountaineers, among them George Leigh Mallory, had seen what appeared to be a feasible route up the peak. It was Mallory who quipped when later asked by a journalist why he wanted to climb Everest, "Because it's there."

A second British expedition, featuring Mallory, returned in 1922, and climbers George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce reached an impressive height of more than 27,000 feet. In another attempt made by Mallory that year, seven Sherpa porters were killed in an avalanche. (The Sherpas, native to the Khumbu region, have long played an essential support role in Himalayan climbs and treks because of their strength and ability to endure the high altitudes.) In 1924, a third Everest expedition was launched by the British, and climber Edward Norton reached an elevation of 28,128 feet, 900 vertical feet short of the summit, without using artificial oxygen. Four days later, Mallory and Andrew Irvine launched a summit assault and were never seen alive again. In 1999, Mallory's largely preserved body was found high on Everest--he had suffered numerous broken bones in a fall. Whether or not he or Irvine reached the summit remains a mystery.

Several more unsuccessful summit attempts were made via Tibet's Northeast Ridge route, and after World War II Tibet was closed to foreigners. In 1949, Nepal opened its door to the outside world, and in 1950 and 1951 British expeditions made exploratory climbs up the Southeast Ridge route. In 1952, a Swiss expedition navigated the treacherous Khumbu Icefall in the first real summit attempt. Two climbers, Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay, reached 28,210 feet, just below the South Summit, but had to turn back for want of supplies.

Shocked by the near-success of the Swiss expedition, a large British expedition was organized for 1953 under the command of Colonel John Hunt. In addition to the best British climbers and such highly experienced Sherpas as Tenzing Norgay, the expedition enlisted talent from the British Commonwealth, such as New Zealanders George Lowe and Edmund Hillary, the latter of whom worked as a beekeeper when not climbing mountains. Members of the expedition were equipped with specially insulated boots and clothing, portable radio equipment, and open- and closed-circuit oxygen systems.

Setting up a series of camps, the expedition pushed its way up the mountain in April and May 1953. A new passage was forged through the Khumbu Icefall, and the climbers made their way up the Western Cwm, across the Lhotse Face, and to the South Col, at about 26,000 feet. On May 26, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon launched the first assault on the summit and came within 300 feet of the top of Everest before having to turn back because one of their oxygen sets was malfunctioning.

On May 28, Tensing and Hillary set out, setting up high camp at 27,900 feet. After a freezing, sleepless night, the pair plodded on, reaching the South Summit by 9 a.m. and a steep rocky step, some 40 feet high, about an hour later. Wedging himself in a crack in the face, Hillary inched himself up what was thereafter known as the Hillary Step. Hillary threw down a rope, and Norgay followed. At about 11:30 a.m., the climbers arrived at the top of the world.

News of the success was rushed by runner from the expedition's base camp to the radio post at Namche Bazar, and then sent by coded message to London, where Queen Elizabeth II learned of the achievement on June 1, the eve of her coronation. The next day, the news broke around the world. Later that year, Hillary and Hunt were knighted by the queen. Norgay, because he was not a citizen of a Commonwealth nation, received the lesser British Empire Medal.

Since Hillary and Norgay's historic climb, numerous expeditions have made their way up to Everest's summit. In 1960, a Chinese expedition was the first to conquer the mountain from the Tibetan side, and in 1963 James Whittaker became the first American to top Everest. In 1975, Tabei Junko of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit. Three years later, Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria achieved what had been previously thought impossible: climbing to the Everest summit without oxygen. About two dozen climbers died climbing Everest in the 20th century. A major tragedy occurred in 1996 when eight climbers from various nations died after being caught in a blizzard high on the slopes

[Bez]

May 30

1911 Indy 500 sees first winner

Ray Harroun won the inaugural Indianapolis 500, averaging 74.6mph in the Marmon Wasp. The Indy 500 was the creation of Carl Fisher. In the fall of 1909, Fisher replaced the ruined, crushed-stone surface of his 2.5-mile oval with a brand-new brick one. It was the largest paved, banked oval in the United States. Fisher then made two decisions vital to the success of the Indy 500. First, he determined to hold only one race per year on his Indianapolis Motor Speedway; second, he elected to offer the richest purse in racing as a reward for competing in his annual 500-mile event. By the second year of the Indy 500, 1912, it was the highest-paying, single-day sporting event in the entire world. The purse alone guaranteed that Indy would attract the media's undivided attention. Add to Fisher's marketing tactics the fact that European racing suffered from an absence of major events due to the ban on public road racing, and you have the ingredients that made Indy instantly successful. The media attention, in turn, meant that the best drivers in the world would come to Indy to make their reputation. Manufacturers acknowledged that a car bearing their name would mean millions in free advertising. It's a simple formula by today's standards, but in Fisher's time the risk of putting so much money down was rarely taken. In the very first race at Indy, Harroun's Marmon became nationally recognized. The car was owned, built, and entered by the factory, and Harroun drove as a hired employee. Among the Marmon Wasp's novel features, it is cited as the first car fitted with a rear-view mirror. But if the Indy 500 was responsible for attracting the industry to racing, it was even more responsible for creating racing as an industry. In 1911, the typical race car was built off the chassis of a big luxury car. They had huge four-cylinder engines. Instead of the heavy body of the luxury cars, the race cars were fitted with "doghouse" bodies that just covered the car's engine and cockpit. The floorboards were wood boards, the wheels were made of ash wood, and the seats were metal buckets bolted firmly to the floorboards. The cars were equipped with rear-wheel drum brakes only. Bolster tanks, like tubular sofa bolsters, held the oil and gasoline. Due to the ill-fitting pistons, gaskets, and valves that comprised the cars' innards, the best cars dropped nearly a dozen gallons of oil on the brick racetrack over the course of the 500-mile event. So these cars, equipped with no suspension, raced at speeds near 80mph on a brick track covered in oil. Only a decade later in 1922, nearly all the cars that started the Indy 500 were purpose-built race cars. All of them carried aerodynamic bodies, with narrow grills and teardrop-shaped tails. Knock-off wire wheels made for quick, efficient tire changes, and the new straight-sided tires lasted much longer than their early pneumatic counterparts. The best cars were equipped with four-wheel hydraulic brakes and inline 3.0-liter V-8 engines made of aluminum. The cars were smaller, lighter, more efficient, and far more expensive. They resembled nothing that could be purchased in a storeroom. Ray Harroun's speed of 74.6mph would have finished him 10th at the 1922 Indy 500. It wasn't the speeds that had changed so much as the driver's control over the car. Racing, at least partly because of Indy, had become a sport rather than an exhibition. In the mid-1920s, the Miller and Duesenberg cars took racing to another level. Indy became what it is today, a high-paying event for the world's most expensive cars.