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July 26, 1959 –There was a partial nuclear reactor meltdown at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, on this date. Little known outside of the area, the nuclear accident released far more radiation that the Three Mile Island accident. A report in 2006 said it may have caused hundredsContinue reading “The Santa Susana Field Laboratory meltdown”

July 26, 1979 –The Clash releases their first U.S. single, I Fought the Law on this date. This was written by Sonny Curtis, who was a member of The Crickets (Buddy Holly’s group). The Crickets recorded it shortly after Buddy Holly’s death in 1959 and released it on their 1960 album In Style With TheContinue reading “I Fought the Law dropped”

July 26, 1895 –Presidents are made, not born. That’s a good thing to remember. It’s silly to think that Presidents are born, because very few people are 35 years old at birth, and those who are won’t admit it. Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, the brilliant comedian and actor, and better half of the BurnsContinue reading “Gracie Allen”

July 26, 2006 –The directorial debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine, starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, went into limited release on this date. All of the girls acting as participants in the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant, exceptContinue reading “Little Miss Sunshine opened”

July 26, 1951 –Walt Disney’s 13th animated feature, Alice in Wonderland, debuted in the UK and New York City on this date. Continuing the pattern of film versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland not being commercially successful, this movie was a huge box office failure. However, it did become something of a cult film duringContinue reading “Alice in Wonderland premiered”

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”