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September 14, 1984 –Bette Midler & Dan Aykroyd hosted the first VMAs (Video Music Awards) on MTV, on this date. You may not know that at one time, MTV was a 24-hour music video channel. Madonna had her career-defining performance at the first VMAs when she sang Like A Virgin.

September 14, 1814 –Francis Scott Key had composed the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner after witnessing the massive British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812, on this date. Key, an American lawyer and social worker, watches the siege while under detainment on a British ship, and pens the famous wordsContinue reading “How to occupy your time during a siege”

September 14 1849 –Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on this date. Pavlov was a Russian scientist who discovered that dogs drooled whenever bells were rung. Only after his death were his ideas discredited by a group of Swedish scientists who determined that dogs also drooled when a nice juicy steak was dangled in front ofContinue reading “While you are experimenting, do not remain content with the surface of things.”

September 13, 1940 –The German Luftwaffe directly targeted Buckingham Palace during ‘the Blitz‘ and dropped a bomb into the palace courtyard and detonated on impact on this date. The force of the explosion blew out all the inside windows of the palace. No one was seriously hurt and had the unintended effect of bonding theContinue reading “Buckingham Palace bombed”

September 13, 1848 –A 13-pound tamping iron is blown through the head of railroad construction foreman Phineas P. Gage, entering beneath the left cheekbone and exiting the top of his head. The metal bar landed 30 yards away, taking with it much of his left frontal lobe. Gage never loses consciousness, even while the doctorsContinue reading “Talk about an Excedrin headache”

September 13, 1965 –The Beatles released the single Yesterday in the US on this date (Act Naturally was on the B side.) This was the first Beatles song to capture a mass adult market. Most of their fans were young people to this point, but this song gave the band a great deal of credibilityContinue reading “Original working title: Scrambled Eggs”

September 13, 1986 – CBS allowed a strange, pale man, in an ill-fitting suit to come into their viewers homes (to scream really loud) when Pee-Wee’s Playhouse debuted on this date. It is often assumed that the main reason for the cancellation of the series was Paul Reubens indictment for obscenity for an incident inContinue reading “We went to the Playhouse for the first time”

September 13, 1977 –The nighttime parody of daytime soap operas, Soap, starring Jimmy Baio, Rebecca Balding, Roscoe Lee Browne, John Byner, Diana Canova, Billy Crystal, Cathryn Damon, Nancy Dolman, Robert Guillaume, and Katherine Helmond debuted on ABC TV, on this date. Soap was actually the working title for the show, while the producers tried toContinue reading “Soap premiered”

September 13, 1980 – The musical variety show, Solid Gold, featuring Dionne Warwick and the Solid Gold dancers, started airing in syndication on this date. Rumor has it that Wayland Flowers, whose scene-stealing puppet, Madame, was a recurring guest, was so high on cocaine that he frequently had to be carried on and off theContinue reading “Solid Gold premiered”

September 12, 490 B.C. –It looked like it was going to be a pretty bleak day for Western Civilization. The Greeks, who were not yet Ancient or Classical, were facing a massive invasion of Persians. Persia was not yet part of the Axis of Evil, but was pretty nasty just the same. They had moreContinue reading “The history of the world can turn on a dime”