BACK to Blog Posts

Sept 11, 2014 thurs.
September 11th, 2014

Question: What was the very first reality TV show?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question below: Why is an over-the-hill ladies-man referred to as a roué?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
History for 9/11/2014
Birthdays: O.Henry, D.H. Lawrence, Brian DePalma, Hedy Lamarr, Lola Falana, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Tom Landry, Kristy McNichol, Lola Falana, Pinto Colvig the voice of Goofy & Pluto, Peter Tosh, Virginia Madsen, Amy Madigan, Moby, Brad Bird is 57.

1297-First Battle of Sterling- William Wallace's Scottish rebel army inflicts a spectacular defeat on the English Army. They chop up the hated governor the Earl of Cressingham and send dried strips of him throughout the shires. Despite Wallace's victory, most Scottish noble families refused to support him because of his low birth.

1649- THE MASSACRE OF DROGHEDA- During the English Civil War the Irish had risen in rebellion. Various forces on the island demanded freedom, Catholic worship and even Loyalty to King Charles I Stuart. Finally Oliver Cromwell came over to Ireland with his battle hardened New Model Army and laid siege to the fortress city of Drogheda, defended by one legged Loyalist Sir Arthur Ashton. After a savage cannon bombardment Cromwell’s men stormed in, Oliver himself led the final charge into the breached city wall, sword in hand.
The enraged Cromwell ordered every man in arms in the city cut to pieces whether he surrendered or not. Sir Arthur was beaten to death with his own wooden leg. People who took refuge in St. Peter’s church when the furious troops piled wooden pews against the steeple and set it ablaze. “God-Damn Me! I Burn, I Burn ! One shouted as he leapt to his death. 3,500 perished in the massacre and the few left living were sent to slave plantations in Barbados. Cromwell said of the massacre “I wish that all honest hearts give the Glory to God, to whom praise of this Mercy belongs”.

1709- BATTLE OF MALPLAQUET. The Duke of Malborough defeats the French army of Louis XIV. This was one of the bloodiest contests of the 18th century, death on this scale would not be seen in Europe for a hundred years, until the Wars of Napoleon. The victory was another of the spectacular victories achieved by Marlborough, yet it left a sour aftertaste. The War of Spanish Succession had been going on for almost ten years, and all sides were sick of it and desired peace. The peace talks had hit a stalemate, so bringing on a major battle now was seen as totally unnecessary. And everyone knew Britain's Queen Anne had grown tired of pushy Marlborough, his pushy wife Sarah and his pushy Whig partisans in government, nicknamed “the Junto". In two years the most famous English general until Wellington would be recalled home in disgrace. English Tories would abandon their European allies and make a separate peace deal.

1776- At Sandy Hook, New Jersey, American Congressional Peace representatives John Adams, Ben Franklin and William Rutledge sat down with British Commander General Lord William Howe and his brother Admiral Richard 'Black Dick" Howe. The Howe brothers were given special powers plenipotentiary by Parliament to grant amnesties and negotiate a settlement with the American rebels. But the talks went nowhere. Howe asked for their submission:" I feel for America as a brother and would lament should she fall." Ben Franklin responded:" We shall try our best to spare your lordship that mortification."

1777-THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE CREEK- General Sir William Howe kicks George Washington's rebel butt. What's even more embarrassing he fools Washington with the exact same tactics he defeated him with one year ago on Long Island. Washington is forced to abandon America's capitol Philadelphia to the enemy. Luckily the loose decentralized nature of the colonial union meant the conquest of the capitol was no great loss to the rest of the country except Pennsylvanians, while the capture of a Madrid or a Paris would effectively end a war with those countries.

The Americans took the defeat in stride: "It's all well boys, we'll do better next time." Baron von Steuben’s drills were beginning to pay off. Lord Cornwallis commented:" Hmph! Damned rebels form up well..." At one point in the battle British officer Patrick Ferguson had a clear shot at a big rebel officer that rode by cooly shepherding his retreating men. Ferguson decided not to shoot the brave man in the back. Only later he discovered the officer was George Washington. The existence of the United States may have been decided in a moment by one Englishman’s sense of honor.

1795-The Birth of Aerial Reconnaissance. At Andernach on the Austrian-Italian border Napoleon became the first general to ascend in a hot air balloon to study enemy positions.

1841- British artist John Reno invented oil paint in a tube.

1847- Stephen Fosters song “Oh Susanna” first published.

1857- Singer Jenny Lynde, the Swedish Nightingale, first performed in America

1864- A ten day truce was declared between General Sherman’s Yankees and General John Bell Hood’s Confederates so innocent civilians of Atlanta could evacuate, before Sherman burned the city.

1876- Queen Victoria of England assumes the title Empress of India. Biographers said part of her desire for the title was because her eldest daughter Vicky the Princess Royal was married to the future Kaiser of Germany and would be an Empress, which technically outranks a Queen. Mom didn't want to be upstaged.

1914- W.C. Handy's Saint Louis Blues published, the first true Jazz recording to gain national popularity. Also called the Birth of the Blues. Myron “Grim” Natwick, the cartoonist who would one day create Betty Boop, did the artwork for the first music coversheet. For this he was paid one gold dollar.

1916- The Star Spangled Banner first sung at a baseball game at Cooperstown New York.

1916- Republican candidates win an overwhelming majority in local Maine elections, prompting GOP leaders to boast "As goes Maine, so goes the Nation."

1918- By now most Germans realized their chances of winning the World War I were kaput. Kaiser Wilhelm was doing an inspection of the Krupp cannon factory in Essen. Against the advice of the managers the "All-Highest" proceeded to give a patriotic speech to a thousand exhausted, grimy laborers. They hissed and booed, shouted "PEACE!" and "WE’RE HUNGRY!". When Wilhelm asked for a resounding "yes" of encouragement the workers responded with stony silence.
In a complete air of unreality the Kaiser finished his address thanking the men for their support and said he would now go directly to the front and relay their good wishes to Field Marshal Von Hindenburg. Instead his private train took him straight to Spa so he could have a mineral bath and a whiskey.

1939- U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt began a secret transatlantic correspondence this day with future Prime Minister Winston Churchill. FDR recognized a kindred spirit and made plans for when America and Britain would be drawn into a war to defeat Hitler. A secretary in the American embassy entrusted with decoding the messages was a secret Republican. He kept copies of the letters and planned to turn them over to FDR’s political enemies to foil his re-election. But Churchill’s MI-5 agents detected him and arrested him.

1941- Although still officially neutral, President Roosevelt ordered that any German or Italian warships operating within US territorial waters without permission, would be attacked on sight.

1941- In a speech in Des Moines Iowa, aviation hero Charles Lindbergh revealed his dark side by accusing an "International Jewish conspiracy" of driving America into a European war. Lindbergh was one of the leading conservative voices for isolationism in the US. Lindbergh had been wined and dined in Berlin, and Hitler decorated him with Germany's highest civilian medal. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau told President Roosevelt "I am convinced this guy is a Nazi". After Pearl Harbor, Lucky Lindy offered his services to the U.S. Air force as a combat pilot, but his public image was ruined.

1943- Ground broken to build for the Pentagon, at the time the world’s largest office building. Chief engineer for the project was General Leslie Grove, who later ran the Manhattan Project.

1947-Radio Bejing goes on the air.

1951-METROPOLIS TO MOSCOW? Robert Shayne, the actor who played the Inspector Henderson character for television’s Superman show appeared before the House American Activities Committee accused of being a communist. He was led off the set by the FBI in handcuffs as George Reeves and Jimmy Olsen protested vigorously. He was eventually cleared of all charges and continued to do small parts in TV until 1990.

1960- Terrytoon's Deputy Dawg TV show.

1960- Nancy Sinatra married Tommy Sands.

1966- "Kimba the White Lion" debuts in the U.S.

1967-The Beatles began filming Magical Mystery Tour.

1971- The “Jackson Five” Saturday morning cartoon show.

1972- The BBC quiz show Mastermind first broadcast. The shows creator Malcolm Muggeridge claimed he got the idea while a prisoner of the Japanese in Malaysia. In truth the show resembles an interrogation. Some postman from Neasden sits in a dark room with a single spotlight in his face while people shoot questions at him about the lesser known works of Thomas Hardy, etc.

1973- President Salvador Allende of Chile is overthrown and killed by a military coup with the cooperation of the C.I.A. Henry Kissinger was worried about the example of a legally elected Marxist leader, and the Kennecott and Ananconda Copper Company were annoyed at Allende who's mines he had nationalized. General Augusto Pinochet, who was an admirer of Hitler, ran Chile for the next twenty five years as a brutal dictatorship.

1987-Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" wins MTV's Best Video Award.

1987-Reggae great Peter Tosh and two others are shot and killed by
thieves who were robbing his Kingston, Jamaica home.

2001- THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACK –New York’s Twin Towers were the tallest office buildings in the world and a symbol of American financial power. Islamic terrorists had already tried to bring down the towers with a truck bomb in 1993. This day, terrorists hijacked three US domestic airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington DC. It was a beautiful, Autumn day and the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center was timed for maximum press coverage. The images looked improbably like a movie stunt rather than a real disaster.

The planned multiple attack was organized by Osama Ben-Laden, a rogue millionaire whose family has close ties to the rulers of Saudi Arabia. He organized a multinational force of terrorists based in Afghanistan called Al Qaeda. President George Bush Sr. was having lunch with the brother of Osama while the planes were crashing. President George W. Bush was reading a kiddie book, My Pet Goat, to some preschoolers. He then remained hidden most of the day. VP Dick Cheney hid in a bombproof bunker. Fearful Americans had to look to England’s Tony Blair and NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani to find out what the heck was going on.

The passengers of the fourth hijacked airliner United Flt. 93 were talking to their loved ones on digital phones, and were told of the planes crashing into World Trade Center and Pentagon. So the passengers armed with trays and boiling water attacked their hijackers -. The last words heard from passenger Mark Bingham,“ We’re taking back the plane…let’s roll!” Flight 93 crashed in an uninhabited field outside of Pittsburgh before it could be used as another suicide bomb. Authorities now think it would have been used to crash into the White House.

Back in New York City, after burning with aviation gas at 1,500 degrees for over an hour, the two giant WTC towers and a third building pancaked in on themselves and plunged to the ground on top of rescue workers and firemen. 3,000 died from 150 countries, and first responders continue to die today from 50 type of cancers acquired from inhaling the toxic air particulates at Ground Zero.
That night average people in Moscow, Teheran and Havana sang “ God Bless America “ in open town squares in sympathy.
============================================================
Yesterday’s Question: Why is an over-the-hill ladies-man referred to as a roué?

Answer: While King Louis XV was a child, his uncle Philippe Duc d’Orleans ruled France 1715-1723. Infamous as a horny old playboy, the used to say his drinking and debauching pals were born to be broken on the wheel: or in French, roué. (ThanksCS)


RSS