DBKP Today in Weird History: February 13, 2008
NUKES
1960 France exploded its first atomic bomb.
WAR!
1942 Hitler’s Operation Seelöwe (invasion of England) cancelled.
1945 Allied planes bomb Dresden Germany; 135,000 die.
1945 USSR captures Budapest, after 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die.
1968 US sends 10,500 additional soldiers to Vietnam.
2007 With Democrats in control, House members debated Iraq in an emotional and historic faceoff over a war that Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned as a commitment with “no end in sight.”
TERRORISM
2003 A U.S. government plane carrying four Americans and a Colombian went down in rebel territory in southern Colombia; the executed bodies of an American and the Colombian were found in the wreckage.
DISASTER
1994 Ship disaster near Ranong Thailand, kills 200.
MAN-EATERS
1970 Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48, 80 km from New Delhi.
TOMBS
1924 King Tut’s tomb opened.
OUTLAWS
1866 Jesse James holds up his 1st bank, Liberty MO ($15,000).
RIOT
1837 Riot in New York over high price of flour.
GOLF
1971 Golfing Vice President Spiro Agnew hits 2 tee shots into the crowd, injuring 2.
TOYS
1959 Barbie doll goes on sale.
IMPRISONED
1777 Marquis de Sade arrested without charge, imprisoned in Vincennes fortress.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
1981 Longest sentence published by New York Times-1286 words.
RIGGED
2002 The French judge was accused of throwing the pairs skating decision to the Russians at the Olympics.
MUSIC
1982 Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” is on the charts for 402nd week.
EDUCATION
1795 The University of North Carolina became the first U.S. state university to admit students with the arrival of Hinton James, who was the only student on campus for two weeks.
PATENTS
1895 Moving picture projector patented.
POLITICS
2007 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney officially entered the 2008 presidential race in Michigan, the place of his birth.
FINANCE
1973 US dollar devalues 10%.
1985 Dow Jones closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier.
INTRO
1932 “Free Eats” introduces George “Spanky” McFarland to “Our Gang”.
TRIALS
1633 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun.
1935 Bruno Hauptmann found guilty of kidnap & murder of Lindbergh’s infant.
2003 Clara Harris, who’d run down her cheating husband with her Mercedes after catching him with his mistress, was convicted by a Houston jury of murder despite her claim that she’d hit him accidentally while in a heartsick daze. (Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison.)
JEWS
1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsordf Switzerland.
1941 Nazi leaders attack Dutch Jewish Council.
1955 Israel acquires 4 of 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
SPORTS
1974 James “Cool Papa” Bell is named to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
BEHEADED
1542 Catherine Howard queen of England/5th wife of Henry VIII, is beheaded.
BORN
1766 Thomas Malthus Rookery Surrey UK, economist/demographer/population expert (Law of Malthus).
1849 Lord Randolph Churchill England, politician, Winston’s father.
1875 Kanouse quintuplets Watertown WI, 1st quintuplets in US, born to Edna Kanouse.
1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford Bristol TN, country singer/actor (pea picker).
BIRTHDAYS
Former test pilot Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager is 85. Actress Kim Novak is 75. Actor George Segal is 74. Actress Carol Lynley is 66. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 66. Actress Stockard Channing is 64. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 64. Actor Bo Svenson is 64. Singer Peter Gabriel is 58. Actor David Naughton is 57. Rock musician Peter Hook is 52. Actor Matt Salinger is 48. Singer Henry Rollins is 47. Actor Neal McDonough is 42. Singer Freedom Williams is 42. Actress Kelly Hu is 40. Rock musician Todd Harrell (3 Doors Down) is 36. Singer Robbie Williams is 34. Rhythm-and-blues performer Natalie Stewart (Floetry) is 29. Actress Mena Suvari is 29.
DEATH
1980 David Janssen [Meyer], actor (Fugitive, Harry O), dies at 49.
1982 Zeng Jinlian Hunan China, grew to 8’1″ (tallest woman), dies at 17.
2003 Walt W. Rostow, an adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, died in Austin, Texas, at age 86.
February 13, the 44th day of the year. There are 322 days left in 2008.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: thevintageplayhouse
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Originally posted at:
DBKP@Blogger.
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