Author Archives: dcaligari

July 25, 1953 – The Merrie Melodies cartoon, Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century, starring Daffy Duck as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant and Marvin the Martian as his opponent, was released on this date. Considering the period in which the cartoon was produced (the Second Red Scare was inContinue reading “Alludium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom, is alarmingly low”

July 25, 2010 – An undated television series based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of his famous detective Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, premiered on the BBC, on this date. Many of the crew in Sherlock are related. Sherlock’s parents are actually actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton;Continue reading “Sherlock premiered”

July 25, 1980 –AC/DC released their seventh studio album Back In Black, on this date. It was their first since the death of the band’s lead singer Bon Scott. The album has sold an estimated 49 million copies worldwide to date, making it the second highest-selling album of all time, and the best-selling hard rockContinue reading “Back in Black dropped”

July 25, 1920 –English chemist Rosalind Franklin, the unsung hero of DNA research, was born on the date. James Watson and Francis Crick got the Nobel Prize for discovering the double helix after Franklin’s lab partner showed Watson one of her best images — an X-ray labelled ‘photograph 51‘. Some believe she should have sharedContinue reading “Rosalind Franklin”

July 24, 1959 –While visiting a model kitchen in a U.S. exhibition in Moscow, Vice President Richard M. Nixon debated with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a U.S. exhibition in the famous ‘Kitchen‘ debate, on the merits of capitalism and communism Nixon correctly said that the $100-a-month mortgage for the model ranch house was wellContinue reading “Those mortgages are long gone”

July 24, 1567 –Mary of Guise, the French wife of Scotland’s King James V, gave birth to a daughter named Mary in 1542. A week later King James died and the very young Mary became the Queen of Scotland. Prince Edward of England proposed marriage to the Queen immediately and his proposal is therefore knownContinue reading “Refer to your text books – it’s a bumpy ride”

July 24, 1998 –The unflinchingly gritty Steven Spielberg war flick, Saving Private Ryan opened on this date. The Omaha Beach scene cost $11 million to shoot, and involved up to 1,000 extras, some of whom were members of the Irish Army Reserve. Of those extras, 20-30 of them were amputees, issued with prosthetic limbs, toContinue reading “Saving Private Ryan premiered”

July 24, 1948 – … Crumbly Crunchies are the bestLook delicious on your vestServe them to unwanted guestsStuff the mattress with the rest…. A great Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, Haredevil Hare, was released on this date. (It was the first appearance of Marvin the Martian, though he wasn’t named until decades later.)Continue reading “Haredevil Hare premiered”

July 24, 1993 –UB40’s cover of the Elvis Presley song, Can’t Help Falling In Love, hits No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. Elvis Presley originally recorded this in 1961. UB40 were asked to record an Elvis tune of their choice for a new film called Honeymoon In Vegas. The band’s drummer, JamesContinue reading “A cover of Can’t Help Falling In Love topped the charts”

July 23, 1987 –Columbia Pictures released the biopix about Richie Valens, La Bamba, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, and Elizabeth Peña, on this date. This movie is often thought of alongside The Buddy Holly Story, but La Bamba is far more accurate. For example, in the Buddy Holly Story they imply thatContinue reading “La Bamba premiered”