Author Archives: dcaligari

Happy National Sandwich Day. It’s celebrated on the birthday of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, creator of the sandwich. As the story goes, he was playing cards and did not want to leave the gaming table to eat. He asked for a serving of roast beef to be placed between two slices of breadContinue reading “The perfect marriage of convenience, portability, and taste”

November 2, 1995 –Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders guest stars on the Friends episode The One with the Baby on the Bus, on this date. She sings Angel of the Morning and learns Smelly Cat from Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).

November 2, 1978 –The Police release their debut album, Outlandos d’Amour, on this date. The working title, Police Brutality, was changed to make is sound more romantic. The title loosely translates as Outlaws of Love but the term Outlandos is actually a mix of the words for Outlaws and Commandos. The Police started mading videosContinue reading “Outlandos d’Amour was released”

November 2, 1989 – BBC One aired the screaming funny conclusion to the Blackadder Goes Forth series, Goodbyeee starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, on this date The decision to set Blackadder in the trenches of World War One did not come from Ben Elton, Richard Curtis orContinue reading “Blackadder Goes Forth finale”

So those of the dearly departed who didn’t make the cut yesterday for All Saint’s Day, take heart; remember today is All Souls Day, aka the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (the second day of Día de los Muertos.) In the late tenth or early eleventh century, Saint Odilo of Cluny decided that AllContinue reading “More prayers, etc.”

Today is All Saints Day, the feast celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, honoring all the saints, known and unknown. It’s also the first day of celebration The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos in Spanish), a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico and by people of Mexican heritage (and others) living inContinue reading “You must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”

November 1, 1969 –Elvis Presley single Suspicious Minds went to No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. It was his last #1 hit in his lifetime. This was a big comeback song for Elvis, who hadn’t had a US #1 hit since Good Luck Charm in 1962. He had been making a seriesContinue reading “Suspicious Minds topped the charts”

November 1, 1968 –George Harrison releases Wonderwall Music, on this date, becoming the first Beatle to release a solo album. It’s a soundtrack to the psychedelic movie Wonderwall. The songs which were mostly Harrison instrumentals, featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees.

November 1, 1938 –The Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lady Vanishes, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave opened in the US on this date. In order to get a realistic effect, Alfred Hitchcock insisted that there should be no background music except at the beginning and the end. Between those two points, the only music heardContinue reading “The Lady Vanishes premiered”

The name November comes from the Latin “novem” which is the Latin for the nine. In the early Roman calendar, it was the ninth month. According to the Gregorian calendar, November is the eleventh month of the year. Go figure. The Roman Senate elected to name the eleventh month for Tiberus Caesar and since AugustusContinue reading “Autumn is springtime in reverse.”