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February 11, 1963 –Julia Child whetted America’s appetite for better cooking when The French Chef first aired on WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, on this date. The show was done live to videotape from start to finish, leaving little room for mistakes. The resulting occasional accidents became a popular trademark of Child’s on air presence, usedContinue reading “The French Chef premiered”

February 11, 1960 –Jack Paar, temperament host of the Tonight Show, walks off in a huff, his TV show when he is not allowed to tell a very lame joke about W.C.’s on this date. Yes Jack, there is a better way to make a living than this, nowadays, you would be allowed to haveContinue reading “The very definition of a ‘fit of pique’”

February 10, 1964 –Bob Dylan released his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin, on this date. The album is seen as a protest album featuring songs about issues such as racism, poverty, and social change. The title track was one of Dylan’s most famous capturing the spirit of social and political upheaval thatContinue reading “We found out that we needed to start swimming”

February 10, 1840 –Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, (whose first language was German, was taught English and French, and became virtually trilingual, though her mastery of the conjugation of the past-participles irregular verbs in English remained incomplete which was luckily not on the English Monarchy exam), married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-GothaContinue reading “The fate of Europe made in one day”

Happy Chinese New Years Day – The Lunar New Year starts today, and it’s the Year of the Dragon, but which one? In Chinese astrology, each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal sign and one the Five Elements: Gold (Metal), Water, Wood, Fire, or Earth. Both the sign and element of your birthContinue reading “Gong Xi Fa Cai, Hong Bao Na Lai”

February 10, 1940 – Puss Gets the Boot, the cartoon short is released by MGM on this date. Yeah, yeah, I know that the cat is called Jasper in this cartoon. But dammit, it’s Tom, none the less.

February 10, 1976 –Sesame Street episode #847 featured Margaret Hamilton reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, aired on this date. It scared children so badly that the episode has never been re-aired.

Hey it’s Lunar New Year’s Eve in many parts of the world tonight: It’s a busy night, in between hanging red lanterns, the New Year reunion dinners, setting off firecrackers (Use only ACME – the best!), giving red envelopes to kids (I will never be too old to accept a red envelope,) staying up lateContinue reading “Pace yourself, there’s a lot going on today”

February 9, 1964 – The Beatles made their US live debut on CBS-TV’s The Ed Sullivan Show; they performed five songs including their current No.1 I Want To Hold Your Hand on this date. Never before had so many viewers tuned-in to a live television program, which with 73 million viewers, was three-fourths of theContinue reading “At 8pm, 60 years ago …”

February 9, 1895 –William G. Morgan met James Naismith, inventor of basketball, while Morgan was studying at Springfield College in 1892. Like Naismith, Morgan pursued a career in Physical Education at the YMCA. Morgan was greatly influenced by Naismith and his new game, basketball. On this date, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Morgan invented a less vigorousContinue reading “The invention of Mintonette”