Tuesday, January 27, 2009

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

January 27, 1832 –
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Anglican deacon, children's author, mathematician, and photographer (child pornographer) was born.



"I always call him Lewis Carroll Carroll, because he was the first Humbert Humbert. Have you seen those photographs of him with little girls? He would make arrangements with aunts and mothers to take the children out. He was never caught, except by one girl who wrote about him when she was much older."

-- V.V. Nabokov, interview, Dec. 1966 Vogue


January 27, 1901 -
on January 21, 1901, the great maestro Joe Green (Giuseppe Verdi was merely his stage name) suffered a stroke while staying at the Grand Hotel et de Milan, in Milan. So revered was the composer that horses hooves were wrapped in blankets to muffle their noise as they passed the hotel where he rested.



Verdi gradually more feeble and died six days later, on this date.


Today in History:

January 27, 1756 -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian musical genius, composer and fart joke lover, whose works included The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, was born on this date.






January 27, 1859 -
Kaiser Wilhelm II, (Queen Victoria's first grandchild and first cousin to both King George V and Tsar Nicholas II) emperor who ruled Germany during World War I but was forced to abdicate in 1918, was born on this date.



January 27, 1900 -
Hyman Rickover, American admiral who is considered the "Father of the Atomic Submarine", was born on this date. Creating a detail-focused pursuit of excellence to a degree previously unknown, Rickover redirected the United States Navy’s ship propulsion, quality control, personnel selection, and training and education, and has had far reaching effects on the defense establishment and the civilian nuclear energy field.




Jan 27 1967 -
A launchpad flash fire in the Apollo I capsule kills the astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward H White, and Roger B Chaffee, at Cape Canaveral.




Jan 27 1992 -
Candidate Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers mutually accuse each other of lying about whether or not they had a 12 year affair.




Jan 27 1992 -
Prostitute Aileen Wuornos found guilty after she killed seven "johns", often leaving cum-filled condoms near their bodies.



She claimed self defense but is still sentenced to death. Oddly, prosecutors had arranged movie deals before an arrest had even been made.


Jan 27 1997 -
Pat Boone goes heavy metal.




And so it goes.

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