On this day...

[Futtocks]

 

[DavidM]

30 January 1649 Charles I executed 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1953, the Great North Sea Flood occurred.

Approximately 1,800 people were killed in the Netherlands and 300 killed in Britain.

9% of the total farmland of the Netherlands was completely flooded with the loss of nearly 200,000 animals and the total destruction and loss of 10,000 farms, with 10s of thousands more damaged. 

It was in response to this that the great system of dams called the Delta Works were built in the Netherlands, as well as many of the most well known flood defences in the UK such as the Thames Barrier and the Hull Tidal Barrier. 

Edited January 31 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Also something to do with Britain leaving the EU occurred a few years ago but the flood is far more interesting...... 

[Futtocks]

31 January, so… the anniversary of the demise of Guy Fawkes?

Bit obvious, maybe. How about Ham the Astrochimp going into space?

No, because, in 1996, this was the opening night of The Fields of Ambrosia, a West End musical about… a travelling executioner.

Benedict Nightingale in the Times opened with: "This American musical isn’t quite another ‘Springtime for Hitler’, though there were moments in the first scene when I thought it might be."

https://mulberryhall.medium.com/odd-this-day-f78b8361ca37

Edited January 31 by Futtocks

[Ullman]

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1893, Thomas Edison finishes construction of the world's first film studio, the Black Maria, in New Jersey. 

[Futtocks]

Happy 50th anniversary to the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles!

PS: before the old bores start up with "they couldn't/wouldn't show that on TV these days", it's on BBC4 tomorrow night, just after ten.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Happy 50th anniversary to the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles!

PS: before the old bores start up with "they couldn't/wouldn't show that on TV these days", it's on BBC4 tomorrow night, just after ten.

I just looked Mel Brooks up after reading this. I didn't realise he's still alive! 97 years young! 

The Producers has always been my favourite Mel Brooks film, and one of my favourite films overall, absolutely love that film! 

[Futtocks]

7 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I just looked Mel Brooks up after reading this. I didn't realise he's still alive! 97 years young! 

The Producers has always been my favourite Mel Brooks film, and one of my favourite films overall, absolutely love that film! 

Mel's autobiography All about me! is full of joy and a great read.

[CanaBull]

2 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Mel's autobiography All about me! is full of joy and a great read.

The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode with Brooks and Carl Reiner always brings a smile.

[Futtocks]

Just now, CanaBull said:

The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode with Brooks and Carl Reiner always brings a smile.

I've got their 2000 Year Old Man album from 1975, and it always raises a smile.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1950, the Stasi is established in East Germany. 

[Futtocks]

92 years ago today, Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk went on trial for trying to publish a poem called "Here lies John Penis".

https://mulberryhall.medium.com/odd-this-day-a5562f0cc027

[Ullman]

The Hull trawler Gaul, lost with all 36 hands in the Barents Sea on this day 50 ago.

Brother of Gaul trawler victim reflects on 50-year anniversary

[Futtocks]

60 years ago today Frank Gorshin (The Riddler from the 'Batman' TV series) appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

And also some pop group called The Beatles.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

An interesting one I'd never heard of;

On this day in 1964, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with, and sinks, the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the coast of New South Wales with the loss of 82 lives. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1993, James Bulger was abducted from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle.

[DavidM]

Death of St Pancake , remembered on this day ever since 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1959, Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after Bautista was overthrown on 1st January. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross is founded by a group of citizens in Geneva. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 1911, the first ever airmail is delivered when 23 year old pilot Henri Pequet delivered 6,500 letters from Allahabad, British India to Naini, places which are approximately 10km apart. 

[Farmduck]

On 19/02/2024 at 05:12, The Hallucinating Goose said:

On this day in 1911, the first ever airmail is delivered when 23 year old pilot Henri Pequet delivered 6,500 letters from Allahabad, British India to Naini, places which are approximately 10km apart. 

Maybe the first "mail by mechanical airplane" would be a better description. Sending messages by carrier pigeon goes back 3,000 years. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On this day in 2022, Vladimir Putin declares Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics and invades Ukraine. 

[Futtocks]

Another invasion on this day, when the French landed an invasion force in Wales in 1797, then pretty much everything went wrong.

https://mulberryhall.medium.com/odd-this-day-ac4fca3619cf 

Edited February 22 by Futtocks