13 July 2017
Interesting tidbits:
1863 – New York City draft riots: in New York, New York, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
1878 – Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redrew the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.
1905 – The verdict in the six-month-long Smarthavicharam trial of Kuriyedath Thathri is pronounced, leading to the excommunication of 65 men of various castes.
1919 – The British airship R34 landed in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight. The R33 class of British rigid airships were built for the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I, but were not completed until after the end of the war. The lead ship, R33, went on to serve successfully for ten years and survived one of the most alarming and heroic incidents in airship history when she was ripped from her mooring mast in a gale. The only other airship in the class, R34, became the first aircraft to make an East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on 6 July 1919, and was decommissioned two years later after sustaining damage in adverse weather. R34 left Britain on 2 July 1919 and arrived at Mineola, Long Island, United States on 6 July after a flight of 108 hours with virtually no fuel left. As the landing party had no experience of handling large rigid airships, Major E.M. Pritchard jumped by parachute and so became the first person to reach American soil by air from Europe. This was the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic and was done two weeks after the first transatlantic airplane flight. The return journey to Pulham in Norfolk was from 10 to 13 July and took 75 hours.
1923 – The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It originally reads "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.
1973 – Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the "Nixon tapes" to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.
Today's birthday crew:
1527 – John Dee, English alchemist.
1903 – Kenneth Clark, British author and historian.
1913 – Kay Linaker, American actress used her married name (Kay Phillips) as a screenwriter, notably for the cult movie hit The Blob (1958). She is credited with coining the name "The Blob" for the movie, which was originally titled "The Molten Meteor."
1928 – Bob Crane, American actor.
1940 – Patrick Stewart, English actor widely known for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its successor films, and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series.
1942 – Harrison Ford, American actor famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner.
1944 - Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor (Rubik's cube).
1946 – Cheech Marin, American actor (Cheech & Chong).
1962 – Tom Kenny, American comedian and actor (SpongeBob SquarePants).
1981 – Fran Kranz, American actor best known for his portrayal of Topher Brink in Joss Whedon's science fiction drama television series Dollhouse, and for prominent roles in the films The Cabin in the Woods, co-written by Whedon, and Much Ado About Nothing, written and directed by Whedon.
Happy birthday guys!