Question: What is a lazaretto?
Yesterday’s Question: Why do old flags for Germany and Russia feature a two headed eagle?
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HISTORY FOR 11/7/2021
Birthdays: Francesco Zubaran, Madame Curie, Rev. Billy Graham, Leon Trotsky –real name Lev Bronstein, Albert Camus, Al Hurt, Dean Jagger, Joni Mitchell, Joan Sutherland, Judy Tenuda, Clive Barnes, Lindsay Duncan, Morgan Spurlock, Lucille LaVerne, the voice of the Wicked Queen in Disney’s Snow White.
8AD- Death of Maecenas, Roman millionaire, and friend of Augustus. Maecenas was famous for sponsoring artists and poets like Virgil with lifetime incomes so they could focus on their art. His name became synonymous with a generous patron.
1520- The BATH OF BLOOD. The 1397 Union of Kalmar had united Sweden and Finland under the Danish crown. This day Danes invited Swedish noblemen who opposed the Danish King to come to Stockholm under a pledge of safe passage and discuss their issues. But once there, they were all seized and beheaded. Sweden rose in revolt, and by 1523 had broken away and declared independence. One Swede who had escaped the massacre, Gustavus Vasa, was declared their king.
1659- Peace of the Pyrenees- Spain and France finally make peace after 23 years of war. This peace treaty completed Cardinal Richelieu’s master plan to break France out of surrounding power of the Hapsburgs, predominant in Germany and Spain. Catholic France joined the Thirty Years War late on the Protestant side and continued to battle long after the general peace was signed at Westphalia in 1648. The Peace of the Pyrenees marked Frances becoming the dominant power in Europe and set the stage for Louis XIV the Sun King.
1775- During the Revolution, the royal governor of rebellious Virginia, Lord Dunmore, offered freedom to all male slaves who joined His Majesties army. In only a few days he got 800 black recruits. One hidden fact of the American Revolution was the British policy of freeing slaves in territories they occupied, mostly to piss off their rich Yankee masters. Slavery had not yet been totally eradicated in the British Empire yet the public outcry for emancipation led by eminent men like William Wilberforce were making it a major issue in British politics. When the redcoats raided Tom Jefferson’s estate Monticello, they liberated 200 of his slaves. Dr. Samuel Johnson commented about Americans “Strange, all this complaining about liberty coming from the drivers of slaves!”
1783- The last public hanging at London’s Tyburn Hill, where executions of commoners had been going on since 1196. Today the Tyburn area is called Marble Arch.
1793- The French Revolution declared Christianity abolished in France. This because of the Church’s support of kings and tyrants. It was restored by Napoleon, but to this day it is considered very tacky for French politicians to invoke the Deity in speeches. The French Army is the only army in the western world without military chaplains.
1805- “Oh Joy of Joys!” explorers Lewis & Clark first sight the Pacific.
1811- Battle of Tippecanoe- General William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh and his united Indian tribes in a battle that decided the ownership of the Old Northwest (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan). When Harrison later ran for the Presidency with James Tyler, his slogan was "Old Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!"
1820- This day President James Monroe was re-elected after running unopposed for nomination and unopposed for the election. It was the most boring election in US History. One presidential elector refused to vote for him, only because he wanted George Washington to go down in history as the only US President ever elected unanimously.
1837- Abolitionist Reverend Isaiah Lovejoy was shot and killed defending his printing offices from being vandalized by a mob of slave owners. The news of the first white man dying over the slavery issue galvanized both North and South. Lincoln and Douglas frequently cited the example of Rev Lovejoy in the debate over slavery.
1841- Black slaves being transported from Virginia to New Orleans aboard the S.S. Creole seize control of the ship and sail it to British Nassau where they are granted freedom and asylum.
1951- Frank Sinatra left his wife to marry hot moviestar Ava Gardner.
1956- Eugene O’Neill’s biographical masterpiece play “Long Days Journey into Night” first premiered.
1963- The movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” premiered at Hollywood’s new Cinerama Dome theater.
1965- the first Pillsbury Doughboy commercial debuted. ‘Tee-hee-hee!”
1977- Harvey Milk won election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the U.S A.
1980- Movie star Steve McQueen died of an aggressive cancer at age 50.
1991- “Even Me” Basketball star Ervin “Magic” Johnson revealed he had HIV.
2007- Walt Disney Pictures Enchanted premiered in London.
2014- Walt Disney’s Big Hero 6 opened.
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