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It was a tense April in Boston in 1775. The colonists were simmering with resentment toward the motherland, on account of King George III having strewn the colonies with excessive tacks, painful to step on and bothersome to the horses. Furthermore, British cabbies had refused to unionize, and the colonists were adamantly opposed to taxisContinue reading “Paul Revere”

April 18, 1979 –For some reason, never clearly explained by TV professionals, the George Schlatter produced weekly series profiling human interest stories, Real People, premiered on NBC TV on this date. Forms of reality television had been done in the past but Real People blended profiles of everyday citizens, comedic studio commentary and viewer interaction.Continue reading “Real People premiered”

April 17, 1937 –Happy Birthday Daffy! Daffy Duck’s first appearance in a Looney Tunes cartoon, Porky’s Duck Hunt, premiered on this date.

April 17, 1964 –The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Ford Mustang, championed by Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, at the New York World’s Fair on this date. The base price was $2,368. Industry experts in 1996 picked the 1964 Mustang as the number one favorite car. And so it goes

April 17, 1970 –A little known solo artist Paul McCartney releases his first solo album, McCartney, on this date. The album was Paul McCartney’s first solo effort, he had little in the way of leftovers to work with. He worked up the album in his kitchen, and played all of the instruments himself. The onlyContinue reading “McCartney premiered”

Happy Easter everybody! We’ve spoken about Ishtar before: there is an ancient story about Tammuz (also known as Attis, Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Orpheus or Jesus – you’ll get the idea) who was born of a virgin, died, was reborn. He was the lover of Ishtar. The festival associated with Tammuz began as a day ofContinue reading “Chocolate, Rabbits, Dyed eggs, and Resurrection”

April 16, 1973 –In order to fulfill a contractual obligation with Lew Grade, Paul McCartney appeared in his first TV special (since the disastrous Magical Mystery Tour,) James Paul McCartney, on this date. Although it was very highly anticipated – McCartney received a cover story on TV Guide – the reviews were dreadful. The NewContinue reading “James Paul McCartney premiered”

It’ s also known as the Great Sabbath, Black Saturday, or Easter Eve. (You kids today are soft; we used to have to fast the entire day today.) Today is the last day of Lent – you have one more day of having to give up something (or one could have done something extra.)

April 16 1912 –The remains of the R.M.S. Titanic came to rest at the bottom of the sea on this date. The unsinkable ship sank after being torn by iceberg. Of a total of 2,208 people, only 712 survived; 1,496 perished. If the lifeboats had been filled to capacity, 1,178 people could have been saved.Continue reading “The Titanic reaches the bottom of the ocean”

April 16, 1943 –LSD was first synthesized on April 7, 1938 by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. Its psychedelic properties were unknown until five years later, when Hofmann, acting on what he has calledContinue reading “The first accidental trip”