Salutations™!!
When I think of things to write on this blog, I will admit, it gets hard to find the right topic. Some days I have plenty to say and others, like today, I really don’t have much. Or, it could be that I’m working on a long post and am compiling info and amassing it as I go. That is what is happening right now. You’ll find out what that is when I’m done with it. Just think about the times that I was writing about the RS list. It’s like that. It may take a week to finish that post. Then again, it could be tomorrow.
Anywhat! Today’s blog post is brought to you by February 8 and all its garish and gruesome history as well as its beauty. I always look through the “day in history” things but today there were some things that hit me.
The big thing was that in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was executed – beheaded – on this day. Why is that significant? Because The BCPF is fascinated (almost obsessed) with Mary. When we were on our honeymoon, we actually visited Holyrood Castle, where she was imprisoned. We also got to visit her tomb in London’s Westminster Abbey. According to Wikipedia: “Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared, ‘God save the Queen.’ At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short grey hair.” Wow.
In 1693, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II. My buddy, “Our” Jim Young went to W&M. The Phi Beta Kappa fraternity was founded there.
The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments in 1887. But, we don’t want immigrants, right? Right… (you can almost see me rolling my eyes, here…)
The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce in 1910.
D. W. Griffith’s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles in 1915. It’s long and boring and very controversial. I am okay with three-hour films, but three-hour silent films? Not so much.
United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House in 1922.
Let’s talk capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada in 1924.
In 1946, the first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published. The best piece of fiction ever written is “revised.” (again… eye roll)
Oddly enough on the same date that her predecessor namesake had her own cousin killed, Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom in 1952. And continuing on with Queen Libby, she issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor in 1960.
Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration in 1963. We’ve been on and off for the last two years about whether we’ll get to go back or not.
In 1965, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
How about some births? Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (1828-1905). He, of course, wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days.
King Vidor (1894-1982), a film director, Vidor’s best-known films include The Big Parade (1925), The Crowd (1928), Stella Dallas (1937), and Duel in the Sun (1946).
“Classy” Freddie Blassie 1918-2003, American wrestler and manager.
1955 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler
1958 – Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
1972 – Big Show, American wrestler, actor
Actors:
1921 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress, and banker (d. 1996)
1925 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (d. 2001)
1931 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
1941 – Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
1942 – Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
1943 – Creed Bratton, American actor (he played himself on The Office (US version)
1949 – Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
1968 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
1969 – Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
1974 – Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
1984 – Cecily Strong, American actress
Musicians:
1932 – John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
1941 – Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1948 – Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
1956 – Dave Meros, American bass player
1961 – Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
Other notable folk:
1940 – Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
1955 – John Grisham, American lawyer and author
1989 – Julio Jones, American football player
Let’s talk deaths:
We did Mary of Scotland earlier. Another leader, 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
1936 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States
1990 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934), “Runaway”
1992 – Denny Wright, British guitarist (b. 1924)
2000 – Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)
2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)
That was a lot of stuff, yeah? It was, indeed. I put that to the wire, but did it! And, you’re welcome.
Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!
—
“In my end is my beginning.” – Mary Queen of Scots