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St Luke's little summer.
English traditional expression. October 30 is Old St Luke's Day (pre-Gregorian calendar), when fine weather is sometimes experienced.

Then the wild-boar, being so stout and so strong –
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
Thrashed down the trees as he ramped him along,
To Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter ...

Then Sir Ryalas he drawed his broad-sword with might –
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
And he fairly cut the boar's head off quite,
For he was a jovial hunter.

Traditional ballad on the origin of the Chetwode Rhyne Toll

I was vastly excited and ran downstairs to obtain a living object. The first person to appear was the office boy from the floor below, a youth named William Taynton, and he, rather reluctantly, consented to subject himself to the experiment. I placed him in front of the transmitter and went into the next room to see what the screen would show. The screen was completely blank, and no effort of tuning would produce any result. Puzzled, and very disappointed, I went back to the transmitter, and there the cause of the failure became at once evident. The boy, scared by the intense white light, had backed away from the transmitter. In the excitement of the moment I gave him half a crown, and this time he kept his head in the right position. Going again into the next room I saw his head on the screen quite clearly. It is curious to consider that the first person in the world to be seen by television should have required a bribe to accept that distinction!
John Logie Baird, born on August 13, 1888, Scottish inventor of television, who on October 30, 1925, screened 15-year-old office boy William Taynton, the first person on TV

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
Ezra Pound, American poet and critic, born on October 30, 1885

Garry McDonald as Norman Gunston

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
Orson Welles, whose October 30, 1938 rendition of War of the Worlds panicked many listeners 

The word 'genius' was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard while I was still mewling in my crib, so it never occured to me that I wasn't until middle age.
Orson Welles; excerpt from Orson Welles A Biography, by Barbara Leaming

OW What's all that, for God's sake? You look like a one-man filing cabinet.
PB Research.
OW Throw it all away, Peter – it can only cripple the fine spirit of invention.
Orson Welles; from This Is Orson Welles, by Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Rosenbaum, 1992

I don't want any description of me to be accurate; I want it to be flattering. I don't think people who have to sing for their supper ever like to be described truthfully – not in print anyway. We need to sell tickets, so we need good reviews.
Orson Welles; to Kenneth Tynan, 1967 

For thirty years people have been asking me how I reconcile X with Y! The truthful answer is that I don't. Everything about me is a contradiction and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.
Orson Welles; to Kenneth Tynan, 1967

The great have no friends. They merely know a lot of people.
Ruth Gordon, American actress and author, born on October 30, 1896

The kiss. There are all sorts of kisses, lad, from the sticky confection to the kiss of death. Of them all, the kiss of an actress is the most unnerving. How can we tell if she means it or if she's just practicing?
Ruth Gordon

The best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.
Ruth Gordon

To get it right, be born with luck or else make it. Never give up. Get the knack of getting people to help you and also pitch in yourself.
Ruth Gordon; Myself Among Others, 1970

Never give up; and never, under any circumstances, no matter what – never face the facts.
Ruth Gordon

If you believe, then you hang on. If you believe, it means you've got imagination, you don't need stuff thrown out on a blueprint, and don't face facts – what can stop you? If I don't make it today, I'll come in tomorrow. 
Ruth Gordon

 

 

 

October 30 is the 303rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (304th in leap years), with 62 days remaining.
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Chetwode ManorThe Rhyne Toll, Chetwode Manor, UK (Oct 30 - Nov 7)

At Chetwode, near Buckingham, England, the Lord of the Manor has the right to levy a yearly tax, called the 'Rhyne Toll', on all cattle found between October 30 and November 7 on his 'liberty', a grazing domain.

The origins of the ceremony associated with the toll are described in an Elizabethan-era document. The people had to blow a whelk-shell, or a horn, immediately after the sun rose on Chetwode Manor (pictured), then blow it in the field between Newton Purcell and Barton Hartshorne. Then the instrument had to be blown a third time at "a place near the town of Finmere, in the county of Oxford", then a fourth time at "a certain stone in the market of the town Heraldry of John of Chetwode of Buckingham". Further places are given in the document. Then followed the customs associated with the actual collecting of the tax.

By the 19th century, festivities commenced at 9am, and gingerbread and beer were distributed amongst the assembled boys, the girls being excluded.

The origin

The parish was formerly part of an ancient forest called Rookwoode. The 'liberty' of Chetwode had the boundaries of this forest. In olden times, it was inhabited by an enormous wild boar. It attacked locals and visitors, ruining the tourist trade – yes, there was always a tourist trade of sorts, however primitive by modern standards.

Naturally, the Lord of Chetwode determined to have the beast slain ('slay' being a word meaning 'kill' as used in olden times – and currently by journalists), and eventually it was a certain Sir Ryalas who did the deed. As the old ballad says:

Then he Mowed a blast full north, south, east, and west
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
And the wild boar then heard him full in his den, 
As he was a jovial hunter.

Then he made the best of his speed unto him 
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
Swift flew the boar, with his tusks smeared with gore, 
To Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

Then the wild boar, being so stout and so strong 
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
Thrashed down the trees as he ramped him along, 
To Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

Then they fought four hours in a long summer day 
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
Till the wild boar fain would have got him away 
From Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

Then Sir Ryalas he drawed his broadsword with might
Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
And he fairly cut the boar's head off quite,
For he was a jovial hunter
.

The gallantry of the knight reached the ears of the king, who awarded him this tax, and to his heirs forever.

In 1810, a mound (called from time immemorial 'Boar's Head Field') in the forest near the manor, near a ditch called the 'Boar's Pond', was excavated and the skeleton of an enormous boar was discovered.

Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days)

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Fisher's Ghost (artist's impression)Fisher's Ghost Festival, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia

Commemorates the apparition of Frederick Fisher, murdered on June 17, 1826.

An Aussie yarn for Hallow-bloody-een: Uncle Clarrie tells the true tale of Fisher's Ghost

Origins and folklore of Halloween, in the Scriptorium

 

 

The Isia, ancient Egypt, third day (Oct 28 - Nov 3)

Goddess month of Hathor ends

 

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Angelitos, Mexico

Rites to bless the souls of deceased children. According to Phoenix and Arabeth's calendar, today's commemorations, associated with All Soul's Eve, are "For souls of lost children, dedicated to Death God Xipe Tortec and Goddess of Mercy Tonantzin/Guadalupe." 

"Chan Kom, Mexico: At midnight the ANGELITOS, spirits of dead children (& you know who you are), come. Doors are decorated with flowers to welcome them. Offerings of food are left for them & they stay the night."  

Source: The Daily Bleed

 

Devil's Night (Mischief Night; Cabbage Night; Goosey Night), USA etc

April Fools' Day free e-cardsFrom Wikipedia: Devil's Night is one name associated with October 30, the night before Halloween, particularly in the metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, area, though it is also celebrated in other areas in the United States like Camden, New Jersey. It is also known as Mischief night. On Devil's Night, an unusually high number of mischievous acts, ranging from minor vandalism to more serious crimes like arson, are reported.

Traditionally, kids and teens in the Metro Detroit area played pranks on their neighbours. Some of these pranks included ringing doorbells and running away, soaping or waxing windows, throwing eggs at houses and cars, overturning garbage cans, and "decorating" trees with toilet paper.

Beginning in the 1970s, the mischief became more destructive, particularly in Detroit's inner-city neighborhoods, and extended into hundreds of acts of arson and vandalism. The destruction reached a peak in the mid- to late-1980s, with more than 800 fires set in 1984, and 500-800 fires in the three days and nights before Halloween in typical years.

In 1995, Detroit city officials organized and created Angel's Night on and around October 30. Each year, as many as 40,000 volunteers are gathered to patrol neighbourhoods and prevent crime. Additionally youth curfews of as early as 6pm are instituted on the days preceding Halloween. This has resulted in a decline to 50-60 fires per day in the days around Halloween.

Devil's Night was chronicled in sociologist Ze'ev Chafets' 1991 book Devil's Night and Other True Tales of Detroit, and fictionalized in the 1994 movie The Crow. While the term is still well-known by Michigan residents, the news media in Detroit currently refer to the event as Angel's Night in an effort to boost the efforts of the volunteers.

The name Devil's Night or Mischief Night is used by various pranksters in the eastern US and Canada, although the acts are far less destructive, criminal or violent. A survey done in the United States graphically shows the comparative popularity of various names for this night around the country.

Detroit, Michigan | Traditions

"The Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the tradition of Mischief Night to America, when they came here during the 1800's. They would play pranks and create mischief and then blame it on witches, ghosts and goblins the next day."
You Say, "Goosey Night" and I Say, "Mischief Night"

 

 

Mischief Night (Devil's Night) was April 30 in York, UK, c. 1888

According to this York, UK, website, 'Mischief Neet', or 'Devil's Day/Night', used to take place on April 30 (Walpurgis Night, qv, which is still a witching night in Germany, the Eve of Beltaine and thus precisely half a year before today):

"So says an article in the Yorkshire Folk-Lore journal ('with notes comical and dialectic'), dating from 1888.

"The Fools' Day started April and the Devil's Day ended it, according to this report. The latter turned into mischief night: 'a night supposed by the imps of mischief (rough youths) to be, under some old law or tradition, theirs to do as they wish with'.

"In those days, eggs weren't chucked. Instead 'rain water tubs are let off, 'swillin' tubs are upset, doors are taken from their 'jimmers', and carried into someone's outhouse or into the waters of some mill dam.

"'Donkeys are led into some field at a distance, and the pinder informed slily [sic] of the asinine trespass, or they are taken and tied to the outside of some queer man's "door sneck'.

"'Then again, some old maid's door will be slily [sic] fastened by tying tightly across the door jambs, in front of and to the 'sneck', a piece of wood to prevent her coming out of doors till released by a kind neighbour next morning.'"

Mischief Night is now commemorated on November 4 in Northern England, according to one source. Perhaps this is because that date is the Eve of Guy Fawkes Day, which, as a bonfire night, seems itself to be largely derived from ancient Samhain/Halloween customs. One notes that many sources cite October 31, Halloween, as being Mischief Night, particularly in Britain and Ireland, with the mischief being the progenitor of trick-or-treating which is now much more firmly established in the USA (and increasingly, in Australia, as we explore in the Halloween page in the Scriptorium.)

Mischief Night in Yorkshire, UK    

 

Ludi Victoriae Sullanae, ancient Rome (Oct 26 - Nov 1)

Feast day of St Alonso Rodriguez

Feast day of St Benvenuta Bojani

Feast day of St Besas

Feast day of St Dorothy of Montau
"AKA 'Dorothea', meaning 'gift of God'. B. 1347 at one of the states of the Teutonic Knights, she was a peasant in a family of nine children. At age 17, she was married to a wealthy swordsmith and bore 9 children. Her marriage was difficult; only one of her children survived, and she was abused by her husband, but she continued to encourage him in his trade and his faith. She became a Benedictine nun while still married. She showed such great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, that the absorption of the Eucharist 'agitated her like boiling water; had she been allowed, she would willingly have torn the host from the priest's hands to bring it to her mouth ...' She lived in a 6x9 foot cell and became a visionary, prophetess, and miracle worker. She was never officially canonized ..."
Source: Earth, Moon and Sky

Dorothy's patronage includes brides, death of children, difficult marriages, parents of large families, Prussia, and widows.

Feast day of St Gerard of Potenza

Feast day of St Germanus, Bishop of Capua

Feast day of St Herbert
St Herbert (dates of birth and death unknown) is a Catholic Saint who was once the Bishop of Marmoutier, France (Marmoutier, or Majus Monasterium, is the monastery founded by St Martin of Tours) and archbishop of Tours. No other records of his life exist.

Feast day of St Jeremiah of Valachia

Feast day of St John Slade

Feast day of St Julian

Feast day of St Lucanus of Lagny
Saint Lucanus (5th Century) is reputed to have been martyred at Lagny, near Paris, where his relics are enshrined and where he is venerated as patron. In art, he carries his own head.

Feast day of St Marcellus, the Centurion
(Mixen agaric, Agaricus fimetarius, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

"St. Marcellus, a Roman centurion at Tangier. During a celebration of the emperor's birthday, Marcellus refused to participate in the pagan offering ceremony. He threw away his arms and armor, openly declared himself a Christian, and was condemned to death. The unit's notary refused to record this incident and declared himself a Christian as well; he became St. Cassian. Martyred c. 298, St. Marcellus is the patron of conscientious objectors."

Source: Earth, Moon and Sky

Feast day of St Saturninus of Cagliari
Martyr who was put to death in Cagliari, Sardinia, during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (245?-312?). It is thought that he was beheaded during the festival of Jupiter.

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Okunchi Matsuri, Japan (Oct 28 - 30)

Disarmament Week (UN) (Oct 24 - 30)

National Magic Week, USA  (Oct 25 - 31)

Singing masses in the Roman Catholic Churches

Martinique Dance (Oct 30 - 31)
Armchair ritually covered with 30 or 40 scarves of different colours, exposed in the peristyle and "served", Voudon (Voodoo)   Source

Chanté - messes, Voudon (Voodoo)   Source

 

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

1735 John Adams (d. 1826), American revolutionary leader and President of the United States

1751 Richard Brinsley Sheridan (d. 1816), Irish-born dramatist (The School for Scandal; The Critic).

He was the son of an elocution teacher who also acted. Educated at Harrow school, Richard showed brilliance. At about twenty he started writing for money while he studied.

He once fought a duel over the honour of a woman, a Miss Linley, whom he loved (and later married) and who had been slandered in a newspaper by a Mr Mathews. Sheridan was noted as a fine orator in parliament. However, his talents were not fully exploited because of a fairly dissolute lifestyle. 

1821 Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (b. November 11, (October 30, Old Style), 1821; d. February 9, (January 28, OS), 1881), Russian novelist (The Brothers Karamazov; The Idiot)

1839 Alfred Sisley (d. 1899), artist

1844 Harvey W Wiley (d. 1930), American chemist

1861 Antoine Bourdelle (d. 1929), sculptor

1871 Paul Valéry (d. 1945), French poet, essayist and philosopher.

1882 Günther von Kluge (d. 1944), German Field Marshal

1882 William Halsey, Jr (d. 1959), American admiral

1885 Ezra Pound (d. 1972), American poet and critic (Personae; Homage to Sextus Propertius)

Charles Atlas1893 Charles Atlas (d. 1972), American promoter of body building; 'the world's most perfectly developed man'

1893 Roland Freisler (d. 1945), German Nazi politician

1896 Ruth Gordon, American actress (d. August 28, 1985) (Rosemary's Baby (Oscar); Harold and Maude)

1915 Fred Friendly (d. 1998), journalist

1930 Néstor Almendros (d. March 4, 1992), Spanish-Cuban cinematographer (Sophie's Choice; Imagine: John Lennon)

1932 Louis Malle (d. 1995), French film director (The Lovers; Soufflau Coeur)

1939 Grace Slick, singer with Jefferson Airplane/Starship  

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

1937 Claude Lelouch, director

1941 Otis Williams, singer

1945 Henry Winkler, American actor (TV series: Happy Days)

 

Norman Gunston1948 Garry McDonald, Australian comedian and actor (Picnic at Hanging Rock; Moulin Rouge!), best known for his outrageous haemophiliac character Norman Gunston, 'The Little Aussie Bleeder', in the eponymous series, and as Arthur Beare in the Mother and Son TV comedy.

McDonald, a graduate of NIDA, first came to wide public attention playing the supporting character 'Kid Eager' in the second series of the groundbreaking Australian TV comedy series The Aunty Jack Show in 1973. It was while working on Aunty Jack that McDonald first performed the character for which he would become best-known, the gauche and inept regional TV personality, Norman Gunston.

Norman Gunston with Frank Zappa on YouTube

The one and only Norman

Norman Gunston had many strings to his comedic bow, but in particular he made his mark with his zany 'ambush' interviews that usually left the interviewee bewildered and the audience doubled over in laughter. Sometimes he showed up at celebrity press conferences and took over, leaving both celebrity and press corps in stitches. Half of the bewilderment no doubt came from his awful comb-over and the little bits of tissue paper on his face from where he had cut himself shaving. Dubbed 'the Little Aussie bleeder, (a play on the term 'Aussie battler'), he satirized parochial Australian culture, media 'personalities', and egocentric talk show hosts.

Norman's victims included Muhammad Ali (who good-humouredly threatened to pulverize him), Paul McCartney ("Mr McCartney, where's Yoko?"), Michael Caine, Diana Dors, the Bee Gees, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elliott Gould, Charlton Heston, Mick Jagger, James Garner, Lee Marvin, Burt Reynolds, Phil Silvers, Elke Sommer, Glenda Jackson, John Stonehouse, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Zappa and Malcolm Muggeridge.

Perhaps Norman's best-known interview was with Keith Moon at England's Charlton Stadium in 1976. Moon famously ended his brief encounter with Norman by tipping vodka over his head. On another occasion, Norman asked Warren Beatty whether Carly Simon did indeed write the song 'The Impossible Dream' about him. Norman told Gene Simmons, of KISS, that at 7 inches, his wasn't the longest tongue. Gunston told Boy George that the only other place he'd ever heard of anyone being called 'Boy' was in Tarzan films. Sally Struthers from All in the Family famously looked like she would die of laughter:

Sally Struthers: I'm sorry, I don't want to embarrass you, but you ought to use an electric razor.
Norman Gunston: Yeah … I do! [Sally Struthers proceeds to wet herself.]

Norman's records include 'I Might Be A Punk (But I Love You Baby)' and 'Salute to Abba'. Sometimes he was backed by The Gunstonettes and The Norman Tabernacle Choir. In 1976, Norman Gunston won the Gold Logie Award – a television award usually won by the actors themselves. In 1990, Norman re-emerged and performed a version of the INXS song 'Suicide Blonde' – with none other than the Salvation Army Band.

Norma Gunston and Norman Gunston: origin of the name

" … when I did a tour with David Frost – I was doing some sketches with him – we had a run-in with an air hostess and she actually had this lower protruding mandible. She gave David Frost a really hard time on this flight. So when the Aunty Jack Show was offered to me there was a character in it that didn't have a name, and he used to do reports from Wollongong. I thought it would be very funny if I did him like this character that I'd always done and I would name him with the same name as this woman, just as an in-joke. I bumped into her many years later on a plane and she came up to me and she said, 'you know a lot of people say that that character's based on me…'. I mean, the name was so close."   Source

Norman Gunston interview with Keith Moon and John Entwistle of The Who

(Standing outside Charlton Stadium)
NG: Hi there you funky dudes and foxy chicks, this is Norman Gunston TV Star at Charlton Stadium, you know in London, I'm just about to speak to that fabulous pop group The Who.
(still outside the stadium ... by Keith's limo) 
NG: Mr Moon, Norman Gunston, ah from the Norman Gunston Show
KM: Are you Australian? 
NG: Yeah that's right
KM: I don't want anything to do with you Australian faggots! 
NG: Thanks ...
KM: Now will you please leave me alone you great poofta!
NG: I knew you'd ...
KM: Leave me alone you fag ...
NG: I, oh.. well where ...
KM: Where's my dressing room?
(switches inside to some sort of a marquee area)
NG: Mr Entwistle I'm Norman Gunston from the Norman Gunston Show Australia 
JE: You must be yeah.
NG: Yes, ha ha, I've just had quick interview with Mr Keith Moon who's the drummer with your group
JE: You won't have a long one with him yeah.
NG: Yeah, yeah ... I felt like putting him in my pocket and never letting him fade away you know
(switches back outside by Keith's limo ...)
KM: Hey! 
NG: Huh?
KM: Maybe You need this.
(Keith proceeds to pour champagne over Norman)
NG: No I don't drink, I don't drink ...
KM: You Australian slag, piss off!
NG: Ah ahhh.. how do you stop fame and fortune going to your head Mr Moon?
NG: That was Mr Keith Moon, the fabulous drummer from the top pop group The Who ... I think he's been sitting in front of amplifiers too long.
Click here to hear the whole thing (AU file, 620 kb)

"Through sheer good luck, Gunston was immortalised in Australian political history when, on the morning of 11 November 1975, McDonald and his film crew - who happened to be in Canberra at the time - found out that the Labor government led by Gough Whitlam had just been dismissed by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr. On hearing the news, McDonald and his crew raced to Parliament House, where they were able to film McDonald (as Gunston) briefly addressing the assembled crowd, only moments before Whitlam and the Governor-General's press secretary appeared for the reading of the now-famous proclamation announcing Whitlam's dismissal.

"One memorable encounter with Frank Zappa ended with Zappa and Norman duetting respectively on guitar and harmonica in a spontaneous blues jam (McDonald is in fact a proficient harmonica player). As the jam concluded, McDonald threw in a witty musical quote from the well-known ABC news theme, an action which also gave a clever nod to Zappa's well-known proclivity for inserting musical quotes such as TV themes into his work."
Norman Gunston at Wikipedia

Garry McDonald at IMDB    

 

 

1951 Harry Hamlin, actor

1956 Juliet Stevenson, actress

1966 Scott Innes, comic voice actor, Scooby-Doo

1967 Gavin Rossdale, musician

1989 Seth Adkins, child actor

 

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4th Mon. in Oct. International School Library Day

Halloween free e-cards
Halloween free e-cards

 

October

29 The Internet's Birthday
30 Candy Corn Day
30 Bodybuilders' Day
31
Halloween
31 Samhain
31 Magic Day

November

1 All Saints' Day
1 Nutty Pecan Day
1 Play A Game Of Chess Day
1 World Vegan Day
1 Authors Day
1 Cake Appreciation Day
2 All Souls' Day
2 "Practice Being Psychic" Day
2 Deviled Egg Day
2 Piggy Bank Day
2 Admission Day (North Dakota, USA)
3 Sandwich Day
3 Tunnel Day
3 Independence Day (Panama)
4 Candy Day
4 King Tut Day

4 Mule Day (Georgia)
4 Deer Festival (Georgia)
4 Flag Day (Panama)
5 Guy Fawkes Day
5 Doughnut Day
5 Guru Nanak's Birthday
6 Halfway Point Of Autumn
6 Peanut Butter Lover's Day
6 I Love Nachos Day
6 Saxophone Day
7 Hug A Bear Day

... More Events

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701 John VI began his reign as Catholic Pope.

1270 The last Crusade ended.

1470 Henry VI of England returned to the throne after the Earl of Warwick defeated the Yorkists in battle.

1485 The Yeomen of the Guard was established by King Henry VII of England.

 

1501 The Banquet of Chestnuts: Orgy fit for a pope

Less than two years before he died by poisoning, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia; 1431 - 1503) threw the orgy known as the 'Banquet of Chestnuts', known more properly as the 'Ballet of Chestnuts', a name that also refers to a Roman fête.

The banquet was thrown in the apartment of the apostolic palazzo with, it is said, upwards of fifty prostitutes or courtesans in attendance. After the food was eaten, candles were lit and placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about, which the prostitutes, naked and crawling were encouraged to pick up. According to the diarist Johann Burchard, an orgy then ensued.

On Sunday evening, October 30th, Don Cesare Borgia gave a supper in his apartment in the apostolic palace, with fifty decent prostitutes or courtesans in attendance, who after the meal danced with the servants and others there, first fully dressed and then naked. Following the supper too, lampstands holding lighted candles were placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about, which the prostitutes, naked and on their hands and knees, had to pick up as they crawled in and out amongst the lampstands. The pope, Don Cesare and Donna Lucrezia were all present to watch. Finally, prizes were offered – silken doublets, pairs of shoes, hats and other garments – for those men who were most successful with the prostitutes. This performance was carried out in the Sala Reale and those who attended said that in fact the prizes were presented to those who won the contest.
Geoffrey Parker, (translator) At the Court of the Borgia being an Account of the Reign of Pope Alexander VI written by his Master of Ceremonies Father Johann Burchard, The Folio Society, London, 1963

List of sexually active popes    Pornocracy    The Rule of the Harlots

 

1611 Death of King Charles IX of Sweden (b. 1550).

1816 Death of Frederick I of Württemberg.

1831 In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner was captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave revolt in United States history.

1838 Oberlin Collegiate Institute became the first college in the United States to admit women students.

1841 Part of the Tower of London was destroyed by fire.

1842 Death of Allan Cunningham (b. 1784), poet and author.

1864 Second war of Schleswig ended: Duke Frederick and the Danish Crown recognized Prussia's and Austria's annexation of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.

1864 Helena, Montana, USA, was founded after four prospectors discovered gold at 'Last Chance Gulch'.

1883 Death of Robert Volkmann, composer.

1893 Death of John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, third prime minister of Canada.

1905 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia granted Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly and granting civil liberties and elections.

1910 Death of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross.

1918 The Ottoman Empire signed an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East

1918 Lt. Col. TE Lawrence ('Lawrence of Arabia') refused to receive the Order of the Bath and the Distinguished Service Order from King George V, in protest at British policies in his beloved Arab states.

1922 Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.

1925 John Logie Baird created Britain's first television transmitter. Baird screened 15-year-old office boy William Taynton, the first person on TV.

I've been unable to find a picture of Taynton, but I do have one of Baird with one of his dummies, which he televised before he inveigled (and bribed) the wary office boy.

Mechanical TV: Baird Television    Baird bio on BBC site

 

1938 Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre broadcast a radio dramatisation of English writer HG Wells's War of the Worlds - listeners took it as a real newscast of a Martian invasion and panic broke out. The original novel's English author was not pleased by the performance. Wells is reported as having said on the following day, "the dramatisation was made with a liberty that amounts to a complete rewriting and made the novel an entirely different story. It's a total unwarranted liberty".

"By 1940 his attitude had somewhat mellowed because he was happy to meet and be interviewed by Orson on live American radio. Why had his early antipathy evaporated? It might have something to do with the fact that the broadcast and publicity had boosted sales of one of his more obscure novels."   Source

HG Wells's involvement in Coefficients, socialism, etc

Classic Sci-Fi Review    Martian Sun-Times    Psychological Power of Radio

War Of the Worlds Radio Broadcast    More

 

1941 World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.

 

 

1945 Australian-American secret

Cover-up: more than 800 died when USA sank POW ship

The only thing more remarkable than the saga of the 'Montevideo Maru' is that so few Australians know anything about it.
Mark Simkin, 7.30 Report, 'Silence broken on Australia's worst maritime disaster'

Only on October 30, 1945 did Australian relatives of victims of the Montevideo Maru disaster of July 1, 1942, began receiving news of the tragedy from the Australian government – more than three years after their loved ones had been sent to the bottom of the ocean by an American submarine's torpedoes.

July 1, 1942 The sinking of the Montevideo Maru with the loss of approximately 1,053 mainly Australian lives. About 610 Australian soldiers and 130 civilians perished when American submarine, USS Sturgeon, commanded by Lieutenant Commander WL Wright, mistakenly opened its torpedoes on the 7,267-ton transport Montevideo Maru. The Japanese ship, carrying hundreds of Australian POWs, was sailing from Philippine waters off Cape Bojidoru, Luzon, westwards towards the South China Sea. Although the sinking had been reported in Japanese newspapers, the American and Australian governments did not inform Australian loved ones anxiously wondering about the fate of the hundreds of victims until October 30, 1945 – more than three years later.

Almost twice as many Australians lost their lives in that one night as did in the ten years of the Vietnam War, and some 71 Japanese crewmen and naval guards also perished in the tragedy. However, even today, the exact number of lives lost, and the names of the victims, are not known, and the event is still shaded in mystery. Peter Stone, in his book Hostages to Freedom, writes that "a confirmed list of all Australians who died on the Montevideo Maru is not available although several reports indicate that the ship's complement consisted of 845 prisoner of war servicemen, 208 civilian prisoners of war, 71 Japanese crew and 62 naval guards".

However, the Japanese Navy Department had reported the sinking to the ship's owners only 20 days after the tragedy, and on January 6, 1943 to the Prisoner of War Information Bureau in Japan with a "complete nominal roll of 848 POWs and 208 civilians who were on board and presumed lost".

Sadly, most Australians and Americans are still unaware of the tragedy that occurred on the night of July 1, 1945.

See: The sinking of the Montevideo Maru, 1 July 1942

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1953 Cold War: US President Dwight D Eisenhower formally approved the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which stated that the United States's arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

1961 Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonated the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at more than 50 megatons of yield, it is still the largest nuclear device ever detonated.

1961 Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution removing Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's Tomb in Red Square.

1965 Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repelled an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions was found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who had sold drinks to the Marines the day before.

1967 Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones was jailed for drug offences.

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

1968 The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuted.

1968 Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman was among 600 people who attended a town hall meeting at the Fillmore Auditorium in NYC led by Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. The meeting was held to hear young people from the community argue for community use of the Fillmore Theater each week.

 1970 In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years caused large floods, killing 293, leaving 200,000 homeless and virtually halting the Vietnam War.

1972 US President Richard Nixon approved legislation to increase Social Security spending by US$5.3 billion.

1975 Prince Juan Carlos became King of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco conceded that he was too ill to govern.

1980 El Salvador and Honduras signed a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.

1983 The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule were held.

1984 Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, a critic of Communism, was found murdered in a reservoir in northern Poland.

1987 In Japan, NEC released the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the PC-Engine.

1988 Tobacco megacorp Philip Morris bought Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.

1988 Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church, married 6,516 couples at one time in a ceremony at Yongin, South Korea.

1995 Quebec separatists narrowly lost a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote was 50.6% to 49.4%).

1997 British au pair Louise Woodward was found guilty of the baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

2006 Release of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, a report on the effect of climate change and global warming on the world economy compiled by economist Sir Nicholas Stern for the government of the United Kingdom. Its main conclusions are that one percent of global GDP is required to be invested in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, and that failure to do so could risk a recession worth up to 20 per cent of global GDP.

Climate change fight 'can't wait'    Climate Change News (popup)

 

Tomorrow: Who has a Halloween birthday?

 

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fnord norton

 

Happy Halloween! 

 

Just in case you'd forgotten the rules for a safe All Hallows' Eve

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER check to see if it's really dead. Assume it is and run like hell.
2. Never summon Azrael, Beelzebub, Lucifer or Astarte, not even as a joke. 
3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out. (This rule also applies to boat houses, empty barns and any edifice erected on summer camp facilities.) 
4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice. 
5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go it alone. 
6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell. 
7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well. (Denny's excluded.) 
8. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT – it's not. 
9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out. Do not attempt to play electrician. 
10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead. (Yes, this includes jewelry.) 
11. If you find a town which looks empty and lifeless, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.
12. Hey, kids, don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know exactly what you're doing. And even if you're sure you know what you're doing, just don't fool with it! JUST SAY NO! 
13. If you're running from any monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you. 
14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness and so on, kill them immediately. 
15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine. 
16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, please do not go to the nearest deserted looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange because you thought you had half of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and
most likely be eaten. 
17. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed Satanic practices in your house. 
18. Avoid any and all contact with evil twins (yes, that includes the Olson Sisters). 
19. If it looks like a chainsaw, starts like a chainsaw and sounds like a chainsaw, it probably is a chainsaw. 
20. Finally, try to steer clear of relatives who levitate, glow and start to suddenly spin like a dervish. It's probably NOT just Aunt Marge's potato salad.

Author unknown; source: Mike and Terry's House

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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