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July 21, 1899 –Ernest Hemingway was born on this date. He was young at the time of his birth. It was fine to be young. He drove an ambulance in the first world war. It wasn’t called the first world war then. It was called the war. It was one of those times when peopleContinue reading “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”

July 21, 1977 –Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops where they lip-synched to their third single, Pretty Vacant (which was released three weeks prior); The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7. The Sex Pistols would probably not have beenContinue reading “The Sex Pistols appear on TOTP for the first time”

July 21, 1990 –Broadcasted worldwide, Roger Waters staged an over-sized version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall near the Berlin Wall, on this date, to celebrate the actual wall’s fall several months earlier. Shot on Potsdamer Platz, the no man’s land between East and West Germany, the producers didn’t know if the area would be filledContinue reading “The Wall Live in Berlin”

July 20, 1969 –53 years ago today, in a live transmission from the Moon, viewed by 720 million people around the world, Neil Armstrong stepped foot onto the Moon. It was a brave thing to do (and unfortunately caused Buzz Aldrin to have his post-Apollo 11 period of alcoholism and depression.) It was also theContinue reading “Poor Michael Collins just circled the damn place”

July 20, 1976 –The US spacecraft Viking 1 was the first craft ever to land on Mars on this date. It holds the record for having the second longest mission on Mars‘ surface: 6 years and 116 days. NASA terminated communications with the craft on August 17, 1980. So technically, it’s still there (unless theContinue reading “First probe lands on Mars”

July 20, 2007 –The musical version of John Waters 1988 cult classic film (and the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name,) Hairspray, directed by Adam Shankman and starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, and Nikki Blonsky premiered on this date. Most of the cast jokingly called You Can’t StopContinue reading “Hairspray premiered”

July 19, 1952 –Keep watching the skies. During a series of UFO sightings in Washington, D.C. occurring over July 13-29, unidentified objects are picked up on D.C.’s National Airport radar system. Sightings in the region are so extensive the Air Force was prompted to hold a press conference. Conveniently, these were all “radar mirages” resultingContinue reading “UFOs in Washington DC”

July 19, 1965 – The Beatles released the single, Help! (B-side I’m Down), ahead of the release of the album of the same name, on this date. The song runs just 2:18, but packs in 267 words, making it one of the most lyrically dense hits of the era. It starts and ends on aContinue reading “Help! was released”

July 19, 1984 –I stand before you to proclaim tonight, America is a land where dreams can come true for all of us. 38 years ago today, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party’s convention in San Francisco. Co-incidentally, the first women’s rights convention,Continue reading “Geraldine A. Ferraro became the first VP candidate for a major party”

July 19, 1941 –MGM released the Hanna/ Barbera cartoon, The Midnight Snack, starring Tom and Jerry, on this date. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera originally had the cat named Jasper and the mouse was Jinx, in 1940’s Puss Gets the Boot cartoon. This is the first cartoon with their names, Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse.