Today in History

[DNO]

On December 14th, 1920, in Bombay, India, Josephine Harriet Raleigh, nee Rosario, was given birth of a baby boy, Patrick Anthony Noel (as in the Christmas noel), my father!

Rest in peace, Dad.

By a very strange coincidence, my father was born on December 14th, 1914, here in Toronto. He passed away in 1991.

 

[DNO]

Besides being the birthday of some excellent fathers, it was on this day in 1911 that Roald Amundsen and his team of 4 others reached the South Pole...the first humans to do so.

 

[DNO]

This day, in 1939, saw the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Altanta...excitement all around, apparently. TCM has a newsreel about the event:

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/72265/Gone-With-The-Wind-Premiere-A-Short-Subject-.html

 

[DNO]

December 17th, 1939: Graf Spee is scuttled outside Montevideo harbour. Excitement around the Battle of the River Platte was high. The city of Ajax in Ontario was named after the Leander class cruiser involved in the battle, HMS Ajax. Although at the time it was basically a community created to house munitions workers, Ajax has grown into a small city. Most of its streets are named after crew members of Ajax and the city's coat of arms is the ship's crest.

December 17th, 1944: 84 American POWs are murdered by the SS near Malmedy, Belgium.

 

[Frunobulax]

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a wind-swept beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day with Orville's brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.

Today, shortly after 10 AM, at the Wright Brothers Memorial on a public section of Wright-Patterson AFB...

The last photo is of Amanda Wright-Lane, and Steven Wright, grandniece and nephew of Orville and Wilbur Wright, along with the Commander of WPAFB 88th Air Base Wing, Col. John M. Devillier.

 

[MisterCairo]

Not really pedantic, it inspired me to look it up. One thing that I learned was that a torpedo, fired from a U Boat, on the command of: 'Los,' didn't mean loose, as I had always thought. Given that "Hölle brach los" = hell broke loose. Los is a word that varies in it's meaning and depends on the content. In the case of the torpedo it's: "Torped los !" = Torpedo go !
The reason that I looked all that up was because loose is so plausible, it sounds so close to Los, and with so much Saxon in our language, I thought that loose might have become a corrupted variation of Los.
(Am I sad, or what?)

My eldest daughter got into basic archery at camp in the summer of 2014, we're both now starting to get into it more. It's an unusually fun way to hang out!

 

[Fading Fast]

Re Orville Wright, Dec 17 1903. I can't think of any leap forward greater than from that 20-foot-high, 12-seconds-long, 120-feet-in-distance flight in 1903 to a man landing on the moon in 1969. That's 66 years, that's it. Take almost any 66 year period in history and practically nothing changed technology-wise: man farmed - 66 later - man was still farming. True, many leaps happened in those same 66 tears - early radio to satellite TV, but woo-hoo, 20 feet in the air for 12 seconds to "One small step for man..."

 

[Fading Fast]

Re Orville Wright, Dec 17 1903. I can't think of any leap forward greater than from that 20-feet-high, 12-seconds-long, 120-feet-in-distance flight in 1903 to a man landing on the moon in 1969. That's 66 years, that's it. Take almost any 66 year period in history and practically nothing changed technology-wise: man farmed - 66 later - man was still farming. True, many leaps happened in those same 66 tears - early radio to satellite TV, but woo-hoo, 20 feet in the air for 12 seconds to "One small step for man..."

 

[DNO]

A little outside the period of interest of most people on this board...

Two quite dramatic battles were fought today, both in the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. The Zulu army defeated a British force at Islandlwana and some of its successful elements contravened orders, crossed the Buffalo River into Natal and attacked the British station at Rorke's Drift. Islandlwana was the subject of the film, Zulu Dawn, while Rorke's Drift was portrayed in the movie Zulu. I've always considered it unfortunate that Assistant Commissary James Dalton was not given more credit in Zulu. Many historians now credit the stalwart defence of Rorke's Drift primarily to Dalton's leadership.

 

[2jakes]

A little outside the period of interest of most people on this board...

Two quite dramatic battles were fought today, both in the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. The Zulu army defeated a British force at Islandlwana and some of its successful elements contravened orders, crossed the Buffalo River into Natal and attacked the British station at Rorke's Drift. Islandlwana was the subject of the film, Zulu Dawn, while Rorke's Drift was portrayed in the movie Zulu. I've always considered it unfortunate that Assistant Commissary James Dalton was not given more credit in Zulu. Many historians now credit the stalwart defence of Rorke's Drift primarily to Dalton's leadership.

Don't mean to be off topic,
but the soundtrack/narration was
excellent to the events of
what took place there.
Not sure which film it was though.

 

[DNO]

Don't mean to be off topic,
but the soundtrack/narration was
excellent to the events of
what took place there.
Not sure which film it was though.

You're probably thinking of Zulu, narrated by Sir Richard Burton. It had a great version of Men of Harlech as well.

 

[DNO]

Not sure i'll be able to post tomorrow, so just in case:

March 5th, 1936: the prototype of the Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time.

 

[2jakes]

Sunday March 6, 1836

(This was the 175th anniversary memorial issue of March 6, 2011)

 

[DNO]

On this day, in 1831, the French Foreign Legion was founded. "Beau Geste" was still many years in the future.

 

[DNO]

It was on this night, March 24-25, 1944 that 76 prisoners of war escaped from Stalag Luft III in Germany, an event later immortalized in the film (and book), The Great Escape.

 

[Frunobulax]

On March 31, 1958, Chess Records released Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

 

[DNO]

April 1st: The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force in 1918.

 

[MisterCairo]

Many historians now credit the stalwart defence of Rorke's Drift primarily to Dalton's leadership.

Could you name a few?

 

[DNO]

Been a long time since I had an active interest in Victorian military campaigns, with the exception of the second Anglo-Boer War, but I believe Saul David and Katie Stossel lean this way regarding Dalton. I found it interesting that Dalton's V.C. was apparently awarded last...almost as an afterthought.

 

[MisterCairo]

Been a long time since I had an active interest in Victorian military campaigns, with the exception of the second Anglo-Boer War, but I believe Saul David and Katie Stossel lean this way regarding Dalton. I found it interesting that Dalton's V.C. was apparently awarded last...almost as an afterthought.

Doesn't sound very convincing to me I'm afraid! I'll look into their theories, but the idea that a commissary would be able to out lead an infantry and military engineering officer seems incredulous.