Author Archives: dcaligari

January 8, 1978 – The TV series, based on the books by James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small, starring Robert hardy and Christopher Timothy, debuted on BBC TV, on this date. Alf Wight (the real James Herriot) initially stipulated that all the incidents in the TV series had to be closely based on thoseContinue reading “The premiere episode of All Creatures Great And Small”

January 7, 1972 –David Bowie released Changes as a single in the UK on this date. The track peaked at No.49 on the UK chart and later at No.41 on the US chart. According to Bowie, this started out as a parody of a nightclub song – “kind of throwaway” – but people kept chantingContinue reading “The first time we had to turn and face the stranger”

January 7, 1961 –The pilot episode of The Avengers – Hot Snow, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee debuted in the UK on this date. The vast majority of the first series of The Avengers is missing from TV archives and likely lost forever – only the first 15 minutes of this first episode andContinue reading “The Avengers premiered”

January 7, 1934 –Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon comic strip debuted in newspapers across the United States. In addition to the comic strip, Flash has also starred in a live-action serial, a radio show, novels, comic books, animated cartoons, and he even appeared on his own U.S. postage stamp.

It’s the Feast of the Three Kings – (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar), Little Christmas, the Epiphany etc. If you’re playing the home version of the game – the Gifts of the Magi were Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh (or the watch fob and a set of combs, or more obscurely, cigar box and soap dish wouldContinue reading “If nothing we do matters…, then all that matters is what we do”

January 6, 1979 –Soul Man, recorded by comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the fictitious singing team, The Blues Brothers, debuted on Billboard’s pop charts. The Blues Brothers had originally been created for TV’s Saturday Night Live, and had been so popular that it prompted several records and a movie with Jake and ElwoodContinue reading “The Blues Brothers made their way up the charts”

January 6, 1963 –See Jim try to swim to his dugout canoe through a lake of piranhas, while I watch safely from the studio, confirming the second pitcher of martinis is properly chilled. Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins began on NBC on this date.

January 6, 1973 –The animated lesson series Schoolhouse Rock premiered on ABC with the Multiplication Rock series. You have to love a children’s cartoon that celebrates threesomes.

Some have suggested that many of the answers to ACME quizzes are both arbitrary and capricious – these are not: What were the gifts of the Magi (what were the names of the Magi?) Bonus question: There was a fourth gift – what was it and who was it from?

The final gift tally (365 gifts): you would have received 12 drummers drumming, 22 flutist, 30 members from the house of Lords, hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock, 36 Fan dancers, 40 angry dairy workers, on permanent coffee break, 42 Swans, trying to mate in your dining room (avert the children’s eyes) , 42Continue reading “We’re assuming you taken out a restraining order against your true love”