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Clear on St Jacob's day, plenty of fruit.
English traditional proverb (Jacob is another name for St James)

St James's Day, 25 July, falls during what is now the close season [legal close season – can't obtain them PW]. It may be supposed that oysters obtainable so unseasonably early would be a luxury only eaten by the rich.
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London , 1988

On this day oysters come in; by act of parliament they are prohibited until its arrival.  
William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online

Omnis homo velox est.
[Let every man be swift (to hear).]
In art, the motto of St James the Greater, whose feast day this is

Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

 
The Book of Saints

Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM

The Elements of Ritual

The Spiral Dance
By Starhawk
20th Anniversary Edition

30 Days in Sydney
By Peter Carey

Life in a Medieval Village

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The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites

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The Medieval Cookbook

The Spiritual Traveler

The Murray Bookchin Reader

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Astro pic of the day

American Folklore

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The Last Alchemist: Count Cagliostro

Sun Goddess

African Folklore

Daily Everything

A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore

The Edible Asian Garden

The Secret Language of Birthdays

Live with Passion!
Anthony Robbins


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Celtic Daily Prayer

Hidden Agendas

Poor Richard's Almanack
By Benjamin Franklin

Photo of the day

Wheel of the Year

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

The Survival of the Pagan Gods

Festival of Furrinalia (Lucus Furrinae), Roman Empire

In Roman mythology, Furrina, or Furina, was an ancient Italian goddess or water nymph about whom little is known. 

She was possibly a deity of springs, or of thieves and might have been connected with the Furies who were Magaera Alecto ('unceasing'), Tisiphone ('avenging murder'), and Megaera ('grudging'), but this might rest on the similarity of names. Furrina's priest was called the flamen Furrinalis. It was in the sacred grove of Furrina that Gaius Sempronius Gracchus ordered his slave, Philocratus, to kill him, in 121 BCE. (Furina is also a genus of venomous, elapid snakes found in Australia. It contains five species of which there are no subspecies.)

This festival is also little understood, but is believed to be closely related in the Roman calendar to the Neptunalia of July 23. It marks the beginning of the dry season, and possible drought, in Italy, so springs were highly valued. Romans would return to Rome from their Neptunalia camping trips when they camped under tents called tabernaculi,  and continue the celebrations in the city, where they enjoyed music and games and feasted and drank wine mixed with spring water.

By the second half of the 2^nd Century CE, although the old cult of Furrina was not entirely forgotten, another worship, that of Zeus Keraunios or Jupiter Ammon, had been superimposed upon it.

Today was also one of the dies nefasti, a day in the Roman Empire on which no legal action or public voting could take place.

Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

Dog Days, ancient Rome (Jul 3 - Aug 11)

Festival in honour of Ilyap'a, Incan Empire

In Incan mythology, Ilyap'a ('thunder and lightning') was a very popular weather god whose holiday was on July 25. He was said to keep the Milky Way in a jug and use it to create rain; the Milky Way also happens to be his sister. (Some sources say that he fires a sling at the pot containing the Milky Way, which is carried by his sister.) The cracking of crockery is what produces thunder and deluges.

In times of drought, the Incans would tied up black dogs and let them suffer thirst, hoping Ilyap'a would send them rain out of pity. He appeared as man in shining clothes, carrying a club and stones.

Sunday before Lammas, Festival of Domhnach Chrom (or Crom) Dubh, Black Crom's Sunday, Ireland
Originally to the god Lugh; connected with festival of Lammas. Also connected is John Barleycorn, personification of grain, who is killed by being cut at this time.

"In Ireland, on the Sunday before Lammas, pilgrims climb mountains and high places, particularly Croah-patrick in County Mayo, where Patrick allegedly fasted for 40 days and battled demons. Until then the mountain was sacred to a pagan deity, Crom Cruach (Crom of the Reek). Pilgrims often climb the mountain barefoot."
Source: School of the Seasons    More

Pilgrimage

Last Sunday in July, St Patrick's fast, Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain
"St Patrick's fast, which is recorded in The Book of Armagh in Trinity College, Dublin, is commemorated on the last Sunday of July every year when up to 30,000 pilgrims, some barefoot, climb to the summit for services held in a small chapel that was built in 1905."   Source

Pre-Christian remains found on Ireland's Holy Mountain
Archaeologists rewrite history after dig on summit where saint fasted for 40 days
By Nicholas Watt, IRELAND CORRESPONDENT

"ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered a pre-Christian fort and hut sites on the summit of Croagh Patrick, Ireland's "holy mountain" in Co. MAYO where St Patrick is said to have fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in AD 441. 
"The discovery shows that the mountain, where thousands of people go on annual pilgrimage, was an important site centuries before St Patrick overcame the Pagan god, Cromdubh, with his fast. A team of four archaeologists has spent the summer working at the 2,510 ft. summit in the highest excavation in Ireland ...

"Michael Gibbons, one of the archaeologists, said the discovery showed that the mountain was an important centre in pre-Christian times. He said: 'The rampart enclosing the summit is a key piece of the jigsaw. It's part of an elite group of hillltop settlements in Ireland. Croagh Patrick's history has been rewritten and its significance is growing as a result of these excavations.' Mr Gibbons added that it was extraordinary that the summit of Croagh Patrick, from where St Patrick is said to have chased snakes out of Ireland when he rang his bell, had not been excavated until now. 

"'What makes this discovery so remarkable is that the mountain has been the site of a pilgrimage without break for 1.500 years,' he said. 

"Mr Gibbons said there were scores of prehistoric remains scattered about the mountain which suggested that Croagh Patrick had been an important 'ritual landscape' for the past 5.000 years. Neolithic decorated art was discovered three years ago on St Patrick's Chair, a natural rock outcrop along the pilgrimage route. Mayo people used to gather on the mountain before St Patrick's fast to honour the Celtic god Lug at the Festival of Lughnasa. which was recorded in Maire Mac Neill's book in 1962. Croagh Patrick. a cone-shaped mountain with spectacular views over Westport Bay is Ireland's most important holy mountain. St Palrick's fast, which is recorded in The Book of Armagh in Trinity College, Dublin, is commemorated on the last Sunday of July every year when up to 30,000 pilgrims, some barefoot, climb to the summit for services held in a small chapel that was built in 1905."
The Times, Wednesday, September 27, 1995 (sic)   Source 
(Sent by Nora from Ireland, with thanks)

More

Feast day of St Canute Lavard

Feast day of St Christopher (Dogface; Kester; Kitts; Offero; Reprobus)

(Herb Christopher, Actoea spicata, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Supposedly a giant, Christopher (Gr: 'Christ-bearer') carried a child over a brook, and said, "Chylde, thou hast put me in gret peryll. I might bere no greater burden" The child replied, "Marvel thou nothing, for thou hast borne all the world upon thee, and its sins likewise." This is an allegory: the child was Christ, the river was Death. 

The name 'Christopher' is Greek for 'Christ-bearer'; in medieval times he was given the name 'Dogface' and portrayed with the head of a dog – he was supposedly descended from a legendary race of Canaanite giants or ogres, with human bodies and canine heads, and was twelve cubits (about 5-6 metres or 18 feet) tall. Venerated by Roman Catholics, Christopher was listed as a martyr from the reign of the 3^rd-Century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249 - 251).

Offero (or Reprobus), as he was called before his conversion, was so proud that he vowed that he would only serve a master more terrifying than himself, and decided that the Devil was that being. Thus, he pledged himself to Satan's service, only to abandon the Devil when he learned that the Devil was in turn afraid of the cross of Jesus Christ. 

He went off in search of a way to find and serve this greater One. On his travels, he came upon a hermit who lived beside a dangerous stream and served others by guiding them to places of safe crossing. The hermit gave Offero an understanding of God, and soon Offero took his place. However, unlike the hermit, he didn't guide travellers to a ford, he carried them on his back.

One day in the course of his duties, he carried a little child across the stream. This infant was so heavy the weight nearly crushed Offero. Upon reaching the river's far bank, the child revealed himself as Jesus Christ, and said that he was so heavy because he bore the weight of the world on himself. He then baptised Offero in the same stream, and henceforth his name was 'Christ-bearer'. The child then told Christopher to plant his staff in the ground. The staff miraculously bloomed into a fruit-bearing tree. This miracle converted many, but a local pagan king, enraged at the conversions, had Christopher imprisoned, where after cruel tortures he died as a martyr.

Christopher's service at the stream led to his patronage of things related to travel, transportation and travellers and people who carry people and things, for example, taxi drivers and porters. His patronage takes in a great many themes, and also includes against lightning, against pestilence, archers, drivers, bachelors, bookbinders, epileptics, floods, fruit dealers, gardeners, hailstorms, market carriers, sailors, storms, sudden death, toothache; truckers; Baden, Germany; Brunswick, Germany; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia; Saint Christopher's Island (Saint Kitts); and Toses, Girona, Catalonia, Spain. He is one of the Catholic Church's 'Fourteen Holy Helpers'. His feast day is July 25, except in Greece, where it is celebrated on May 9.

In myth and folklore

Another version of the legend says that Christopher, far from being originally hideous and wicked, was exceedingly virtuous and handsome, such that young women were constantly pursuing him.  So that he might be able to retain his purity he asked God to make him ugly. It was once believed that in any building where his image was, the plague would not enter. In the Orthodox Churches he is not considered to be mythical, but in the Catholic Church he is no longer believed to be a person who actually existed, though 'St Christopher medals' are often still placed in taxis and other vehicles as talismans for protection in travel. 

Among Roman Catholics, the most popular St Christopher legend is preserved in Historia de Sancto Christophoro in The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda), compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, 1275, ('Englished by William Caxton, 1483'). In the Orthodox legend, during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius (201 - 251), a man named Reprebus or Reprobus was captured in combat against tribes to the west of Egypt and was assigned to the numerus Marmaritarum or 'Unit of the Marmaritae', suggesting some otherwise-unidentified 'Marmaritae' berber tribe of Cyrenaica. He was not only huge and fearsome, he was a cannibal who, like all the Marmaritae, had the head of a dog instead of a man. Traditional Orthodox iconography depicts him as literally dog-headed.

Traditionally it was believed by the Catholic Church that Christopher was a 3^rd-Century native of Lycia, a mountainous region along the south-western coast of Anatolia, more or less modern Turkey, and home of some other legendary heroes. He suffered martyrdom under Decius. It has been said that he took his name from the fact that he always carried an image of Christ in his breast. From this, the tradition grew that his occupation was to carry people across a stream. Thus he was represented as having great size and strength.

The French custom on St Christopher's Day was for the first fruits to be taken to the church to be blessed by the priest. Usually these were apples, but in the town of Lillers, the offerings included a sheaf of wheat and oats, a pear and an apple.

At Guadalajara, Mexico, porters traditionally pray to St Christopher for his assistance with physical brawn and strength:

The Legend of St Christopher from Caxton's edition of the Golden Legend (Middle English)

More

Feast day of St Cucufas (Cucuphas; Cucufate; Cugat; Guinefort; Qaqophas), Spanish martyr

Feast day of St Euphrasia

Feast day of St Glodesind

Feast day of St Magnericus

Feast day of St Nissen, abbot

Feast day of St Rudolph Acquaviva

Feast day of Ss Thea, Valentina and Paul of Gaza

Feast day of St Theodemir

Every five years, John Knill Day, St Ives, Cornwall, UK

From Wikipedia: John Knill (January 1, 1733 - March 29, 1811) born at Callington in Cornwall was a slightly eccentric mayor of St Ives, Cornwall, in 1767 and Collector of Customs at St. Ives from 1762 - 1782. He built his own memorial, a 50-foot-high granite obelisk known as Knill's steeple. He built this obelisk on a hilltop with the intention of being buried in a vault within it, but his body was interred elsewhere. The steeple bears on one side the coat or arms of Knill, with the motto Nil Desperandum; also the words of Johannes Knill 1782, Resurgam, and I know that my Redeemer liveth. 

In his will Krill left money for the upkeep of his obelisk and also £25 for celebrations to take place every five years on St. James's Day. He directed that every five years £10 should be expended on a dinner, and that ten young girls dressed in white should walk in procession with music, from the market house to the monument, around which the whole party was to dance singing the hundredth psalm (All people that on earth do dwell). This quintennial commemoration is made the occasion for a good deal of jollity, in which the entire population joins, indeed the whole proceeding is quite mirth-provoking; nor is the least laughable part of it the look on the faces of the vicar and mayor, as they sedately waltz around on the upper step of the monument, hand in hand with the ten young girls. The first ceremony, in which Krill himself participated, took place in 1801.

"About John Knill Born 1733, died 29th March 1811. Appointed Collector of Customs for St Ives, Cornwall in 1762, a post he held for over 20 years. He was a man with a with a keen legal brain and well respected by anyone that met him. So much so he was elected Mayor of the town in 1767.

"In 1782, he constructed what is now known as the Knill Steeple, high on a hill a mile from the town- intended to be his mausoleum but never used. The steeple is in fact a a three sided obelisk of local granite some 50 foot high. Wrote an indenture in 1797 requesting this delightful ceremony to be held every five years on 25th July, Feast of St James the Apostle.

"The Participants

10 girls- the daughters of fishermen, tinners, or seaman, or belonging to such families.

2 Widows.

Fiddler.

The three trustees- The mayor, Customs Officer, and Vicar.

Accompanied by the Mace bearer, and Master of Ceremonies.

"Opening the chest

Opening the chest outside the Guildhall.

Process to the Steeple Sing the Old 100th Psalm to the Tune of 200 years ago ... 'All people that on earth do dwell ...' Dance around it three times, to the satisfaction of the trustees. Vicar says the blessing and the ceremony over for another 5 years. Leaving refreshments to be partaken by all the participants back in St Ives town.

"Remininescent of Simpler times. John Knill Day St Ives a quaint Cornish Custom."   Source

Gion Matsuri, Kyoto, Japan (all of July)

Yamaguchi Gion Matsuri, Japan (Jul 20 - 27)

Soma Nomaoi, Wild Horse Chasing Festival, Soma, Japan (Jul 23 - 25)

Esala Perahera (Festival of Buddha's Tooth), Sri Lanka (Jul 22 - Aug 1) (2004)

Anniversary of the Annexation of Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica

Anniversary of the Foundation of Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

Eve of Revolution Day, Cuba

Constitution Day, Puerto Rico (1952)

Republic Day, Tunisia (1957)

Hurricane Supplication Day, Virgin Islands

Ebernoe Horn Fair, Sussex, England
From Wikipedia: Ebernoe Horn Fair is held in the small Sussex village of Ebernoe, the location of which is about five miles north of Petworth. The tradition is centuries old though it appears to have been revived in 1864 after a long lapse. The celebration is held on the village common and the main attraction is a cricket match between Ebernoe and a nearby village. Towards the end of the day the highest scoring batsman is presented with a set of horns. These are taken from a sheep which has been roasted during the day. It is thought the presentation of horns is associated with the custom of dressing up with horns as a symbol of cuckoldry (a cuckold is an old English term for a man whose wife has had an adulterous affair. It relates to the cuckoo, a bird which lays its eggs in another bird's nest). Centuries ago horn fairs were boisterous events where cuckoldry and seduction would not be unknown. The old saying All's fair at Horn Fair probably originates from such events. In days gone by it seems that Ebernoe Fair was often beset by thunderstorms. However, the storms were taken as a good luck sign and farmers would look forward to a good harvest. The absence of a storm would suggest the crops would fail. Ebernoe Horn Fair was also the day on which gardeners were reminded to sow their spring cabbages.

"Dating back to the mists of time it has its origins, some say, as a pagan fertility rite; or possibly there are late medieval connections with cuckolds, humiliated husbands being required to parade in public as objects of derision while wearing ram's horns."   Source

Horn Fair, Charlton, near London, England    Ebernoe Horn Fair song

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

1109 Afonso, first king of Portugal

1799 David Douglas (d. 1834), botanist, plant collector, explorer

1844 Thomas Eakins, artist

1848 Arthur Balfour (d. 1930), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1902 - '07

Balfour and 'Bob's your uncle'

"This British phrase means 'all will be well' or 'simple as that': 'You go and ask for the job – and he remembers your name – and Bob's your uncle.'  It dates from circa 1890.

"P. Brendon, in Eminent Edwardians, 1979, suggests an origin:

"'When, in 1887, Balfour was unexpectedly promoted to the vital front line post of Chief Secretary for Ireland by his uncle Robert, Lord Salisbury (a stroke of nepotism that inspired the catch-phrase "Bob's your uncle"), ...'

"Or it may have been prompted by the cant phrase 'All is bob' = 'all is safe.' (Info from Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Catch Phrases, 2^nd edition, revised by Paul Beale, Routledge, 1985, ISBN 0-415-05916-X.)"   Source: alt.english.usage

 

1848 Ottokar Kernstock (d. 1928), poet

1853 David Belasco (d. May 14, 1931), American playwright, director and theatrical producer

1867 Max Dauthendey (d. 1918), writer

1870 Maxfield Parrish (d. 1966), illustrator

1883 Alfredo Casella (d. 1947), composer

1884 Davidson Black (d. 1934), doctor of anatomy and physical anthropologist

1894 Walter Brennan (d. 1974), multi-Academy Award winning actor (Come and Get It; Kentucky; The Westerner) 

1902 Eric Hoffer (d. 1983), philosopher

1905 Elias Canetti (d. 1994), writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1981

1907 Karl Höller (d. 1987), German composer

1920 Rosalind Franklin (d. 1958), scientist

1924 Estelle Getty, American actress (Movies: Mask; Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot!), best known for her role in the TV series Golden Girls

1929 Somnath Chatterjee, Indian politician

1930 Maureen Forrester, contralto, teacher

1935 Barbara Harris, American actress (Peggy Sue Got Married)

1937 Colin Renfrew, archaeology professor

1941 S Clay Wilson, American comix artist; worked in Zap Comix as a colleague of Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso and Gilbert Shelton; Wilson is creator of the Checkered Demon character

S Clay Wilson fan page    Comix, comics and cartoons in the Book of Days

1941 Emmett Till (nicnamed 'Bobo'; d. August 28, 1955), African-American teenager from Chicago, Illinois who died in what has been characterized as a "brutal murder" in Money, Mississippi

1942 Bruce Woodley, Australian singer and musician with The Seekers

1955 Iman, model

1967 Matt LeBlanc, actor

1978 Louise Brown, first test tube baby

1982 Brad Renfro, actor

Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section

Send a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one

Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year.

Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Christmas In July [ Australia ] Birthdays Parents' Day [ Jul 25 ] St James Day [ Jul 25 ]

Varies Full Moon Day
Varies Friday the 13^th
Varies Hindu holidays
Varies Graduation
Varies Raksha Bandhan
Early August Friendship Day

July

25 St James Day
26 Groovy Chicken Day
26 Aunt And Uncles' Day
26 Coffee Milkshake Day
26 Groovy Chicken Day
27 St Pantaleone's Day
28 Hamburger Day
29 Rain Day
30 Cheesecake Day
31 Jump For Jellybeans Day
31 Cotton Candy Day
31 Raspberry Cake Day

August

1 Respect For Parents Day
1 Girlfriends Day
2 Ice Cream Sandwich Day
3 Watermelon Day
3 Grab Some Nuts Day
4 Champagne Day
4 Coast Guard Day
4 Pie Day (Minnesota, USA)
5 Blackmail Day
5 Mustard Day
6 Halfway Point Of Summer
6 Cards For Sister
6 International Forgiveness Day
7 Lighthouse Day
8 Cheesecake Day
9 Send An Email Greeting Day
10 Lazy Day
10 Grab Some Nuts Day
11 Sons And Daughters Day
11 Chinese Valentine's Day
12 Thank You Day
12 Aloha Day
13 Left-Handers Day
14 Independence Day (Pakistan)
15 Sit Back And Relax Day
15 Independence Day (India)
16 True Love Forever Day
16 Joke Day

  ... More Events

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306 Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus died at Eboracum (York, England) during an expedition against the Picts and Scots. Constantine I was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.

864 Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald ordered defensive measures against the Vikings.

1261 The city of Constantinople was recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines also succeed in capturing Thessalonica and the rest of the Latin Empire.

1469 Battle of Edgecote Moor.

1471 Thomas à Kempis, reputed author of Imitation of Christ, died.

1492 Death of Pope Innocent VIII.

1529 Spanish Emperor Charles V (1500 - 1558) granted Francisco Pizarro (c. 1475 - 1541) the right of conquest and governorship of new lands south of Panama.

1536 Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search for El Dorado founded the city of Santiago de Cali.

1547 Henry II of France was crowned.

1554 Queen Mary of England married Philip II of Spain.

1567 Don Diego de Losada founded the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.

1587 Christianity was banned in Japan, and Jesuits expelled.

1593 Henry IV of France publicly converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.

1693 Ignacio de Maya founded the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, actual Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México.

1722 New World: The Three Years War began along Maine and Massachusetts border.

1758 French and Indian War: The island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia was silenced and all French warships were destroyed or taken.

1759 French and Indian War: In Canada, British forces captured Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandoned Fort Rouillé.

1799 At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeated 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.

1814 War of 1812: Battle of Lundy's Lane – Reinforcements arrived near Niagara for General Phineas Riall's British and Canadian force, and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commenced at 18.00; Americans retreated to Fort Erie.

1851 Australian pioneer John Green recorded this about the Yowie:

"25th July 1851 - in the Connondale region of SE Qld.
"They are short, stout and of very muscular appearance. They are covered in thick black hair ... Their hair and beards are long ... They are completely naked...the stench of their body is unbearable...great hunters of the forests and jungles ... They come and go without being seen. They can hide in the undergrowth in such a manner that one can be touched or struck without their person being visible. I am to wonder if these are the same people ... who take people away when they dare enter the forests and jungles ... the women made grunt-like expression during contact ... the child hung to its mother on the breast in the manner of an ape. These were the Woningityan/Won-ingee-tyan – the shadow men creatures of the jungles and forests ..."

1861 American Civil War: The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution was passed by the United States Congress, stating that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

1865 When the body of septuagenarian British Army surgeon Major-General James Barry was laid out on his death, it was discovered that he was in fact a woman.

1866 The United States Congress passed legislation authorising the rank of General of the Army (now called '5-star general'); Lieutenant General Ulysses S Grant became the first to have this rank.

1868 Wyoming became a United States territory.

1871 The carousel was patented.

1897 Bitten by gold fever, American writer Jack London sailed aboard the steamer Umatilla to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he wrote his first successful stories.

Early progressives in the Book of Days

1898 The United States invasion of Puerto Rico began with US troops landing at Guánica Bay.

1907 Korea became a protectorate of Japan.

 

1909 Louis Bleriot made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine (Calais to Dover in 37 minutes).

As a young man, Bleriot made a fortune manufacturing car headlamps. By the age of thirty he had pioneered the manufacture of monoplanes.

After the London Daily Mail offered a prize for the first person to fly the English Channel, Bleriot set off from France on this day in 1909, in the rain and with a badly abscessed foot. Despite the pain and inclement weather, Bleriot arrived near the white cliffs of Dover after a 37-minute trip. The rain had cooled his engine, and had it not, it might have overheated after twenty minutes.

 

1911 The first man over Niagara Falls in a barrel: Bobby Leach ('The Canadian Daredevil'), a native of Cornwall, UK, survived a plunge over Niagara's Horseshoe Falls in a cylindrical steel barrel, resulting in six months in hospital recuperating from a broken jaw, and two broken kneecaps. He made a successful living showing a film of his feat and answering questions in vaudeville houses. However, he only lived until April 26, 1926, when brave Bobby Leach fell victim to an orange peel that had attacked him on April 29, 1925.

On that fateful day in New Zealand, while on a Down Under tour that included the Land of the Wrong White Crowd – err, Long White Cloud (Aotearoa) and its neighbour, Australia, Leach slipped on said peel, injured himself, and soon contracted gangrene, to which he regrettably succumbed.

The first person to go over the falls in a barrel was 63-year-old Bay City, Michigan, USA school teacher Annie Edson Taylor, who survived the ordeal on October 24, 1901. Her words following the stunt … "No one ought ever do that again." Some people just never listen.

Daredevil Chronological Lists   More    And more

1917 Sir Thomas Whyte introduced the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket was 4% and highest was 25%).

1917 German spy Mata Hari was found guilty by a French court and sentenced to death by firing squad.

1920 Telecommunications: first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast.

1924 The Australian Government introduced compulsory voting in Federal elections.

1934 Nazis assassinated Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

1943 World War II: Following the Allied invasion of Sicily, Benito Mussolini was forced out of office by his own Italian Fascist Grand Council and was replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

1944 World War II: Operation Spring – One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

1946 Nuclear testing: In the first underwater test of the atomic bomb, the surplus USS Saratoga was sunk near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean when the United States detonated the 'Baker Day' device.

1946 At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis staged their first show as a comedy team.

1952 Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

1956 About 70 km (about 45 miles) south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.

1959 In Tunisia, the monarchy was abolished. The country became a republic with Habib Bourguiba its first president.

 

1965 Crowds booed Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival when they played 'Maggie's Farm' backed by electric guitars (Paul Butterfield's band).

Dylan was dressed like a rocker with a black leather jacket, and it was all too much for the traditionally-minded folkies. Some in the audience yelled "Sellout!" and Pete Seeger later said he was "ready to chomp the microphone cord". The day is now recognised as a major turning point in the world of both Folk and Rock, and the birth of Folk-Rock. 

Dylan left the stage as a result of the booing, but was persuaded to return by Joan Baez. He sang two songs, 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue', clearly a farewell to the 'traditional folkies' who had booed him offstage, and 'Mister Tambourine Man', which was to become a hit for The Byrds, and left Newport, not to return until 2002, when he was welcomed back with open arms.

Or is it just an urban legend?

"The outbursts at Newport that Sunday night, July 25, 1965, brought to mind another startling event in music history. At the premiere of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," on May 29, 1913, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysses, the Paris audience was torn in two by Stravinsky's pioneering score and Nijinsky's choreography. When the curtains parted on the ballet troupe, a storm broke loose."   Source

"I was one of the directors of the Newport Folk Festival and I was in the wings during Dylan's Saturday night performance ...

"That's what is on the tape made on stage at Newport, Rhode Island, on the night of July 25, 1965.

"Three things stand out:

"First, you can hear a lot of individual things yelled by the audience and the general responses of the audience.

"Second, all the booing you can hear from the stage is in response to things Peter Yarrow said, not to things Bob Dylan did.

"Third, it was Peter Yarrow who first started drawing attention to what guitar Dylan was using. He twice said that he was coming back with an acoustic guitar, and he stressed it each time. I remember wondering at the time why Peter was making such a big deal of what instrument Dylan was going to use.

"I've heard people say that Dylan himself gave proof of how upset he was at the boos when he came back to do those encores with that acoustic guitar rather than two more electric songs with the Butterfield group. Nonsense: Dylan and the blues band did three songs together because that was all the songs they'd prepared to perform together. They hadn't prepared more because they'd been told beforehand by us Newport board members that three songs was all they'd be allowed to do."
The myth of Newport '65: It wasn't Bob Dylan they were booing

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list    bobdylan.com on Dylan at Newport    Click to download the mp3

 

1969 Vietnam War: USA President Richard Nixon declared the Nixon Doctrine stating that the United States now expected its Asian allies to take care of their own military defence. This was the start of the 'Vietnamization' of the war.

1973 The Soviet Mars 5 space probe was launched.

1973 The Vietnam War was ruled illegal by a US Federal judge.

1977 Lawndale, Illinois, USA: Towards 9:00 pm, a supposed thunderbird was reported to have attacked a ten-year-old boy named Marlon Lowe.

Cryptozoology    Cryptozoology.com    Cryptozoology    Legend of the Giant Bird

Strange Ark: Cryptozoology and More    Cryptozoology Links    Thunderbird links

1978 The first so-called test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born in England.

1983 Following a massacre of Sri Lankan soldiers by Tamil separatists, 37 Tamils were murdered in a Colombo prison by their fellow inmates.

1984 Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a space walk.

1985 American film star Rock Hudson was admitted to hospital suffering from AIDS.

 

1990 April Glaspie, the American ambassador to Iraq during the administration of President George HW Bush, gave Saddam Hussein America's go-ahead to invade Kuwait, and Hussein smiled.  

The exchange was reported in the New York Times of September 23, 1990.

US Ambassador Glaspie: I have direct instructions from President [George HW] Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of your confrontation with Kuwait. (Pause) As you know, I lived here for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. (Pause) We can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south. Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in the context of your threats against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction to ask you, in the spirit of friendship – not confrontation – regarding your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's borders?

Saddam Hussein: As you know, for years now I have made every effort to reach a settlement on our dispute with Kuwait. There is to be a meeting in two days; I am prepared to give negotiations only this one more brief chance. (Pause) When we (the Iraqis) meet (with the Kuwaitis) and we see there is hope, then nothing will happen. But if we are unable to find a solution, then it will be natural that Iraq will not accept death.

Glaspie: What solutions would be acceptable?

Hussein: If we could keep the whole of the Shatt al Arab – our strategic goal in our war with Iran –  we will make concessions (to the Kuwaitis). But, if we are forced to choose between keeping half of the Shatt and the whole of Iraq (i.e., in Saddam's view, including Kuwait ) then we will give up all of the Shatt to defend our claims on Kuwait to keep the whole of Iraq in the shape we wish it to be. (Pause) What is the United States' opinion on this?

Glaspie: We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960s, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America. (Saddam smiles.)

Source

It must be noted, however, that in an interview published in Dar Al-Hayat (March 15, 2008), Glaspie disputes this version:

"Al Hayat: Bagdad then gave a version of your meeting with him saying you told him that the US government does not interfere in border disputes between two Arab countries which he took as a green light form the Americans to attack Kuwait.

"Glaspie: This version was invented by Tarek Aziz. After all Tarek was a master of words as a previous Minister of Information and editor of a newspaper. Obviously I did not give Saddam any such idea that we would not interfere in a border dispute what I did tell him was he must not interfere in Kuwait or anywhere else."

The full text of the purported transcript of the meeting between April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein

Is the US State Department still keeping April Glaspie under wraps?

 

1994 Israel and Jordan signed the Washington Declaration which formally ended the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.

1997 KR Narayanan was sworn-in as India's tenth president and the first member of the Dalits caste to hold this office.

1998 The United States Navy commissioned the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and put her into service.

 

2001 India: Folk heroine Phoolan Devi was gunned down by four men in front of her house in New Delhi.

Devi (b. 1963) was known as the 'Bandit Queen' and was often popularly regarded as champion of the downtrodden and poor, after the fashion of Robin Hood.

BBC report of assassination

 

2003 United States of America occupation forces in Iraq paraded the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein for the media, and released macabre photographs of the sons of Saddam Hussein, shot to pieces by American soldiers.

Previously, the US government had strenuously objected when dead US troops were shown on the Arabic Al-Jazeera TV channel during the invasion of Iraq, claiming that it was tasteless.

Parading the dead

2004 More than 100,000 opponents to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Disengagement Plan participated in a human chain from Gush Katif (The Jewish communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, Israel), to the Western Wall, Jerusalem (90 kilometres).

Tomorrow: Moll Cutpurse

 

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Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.

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