And we'll strive to please you every day

It's the eve of the Epiphany (Twelfth Night)  - you may begin to put your decorations away.



The final gift tally (365 gifts): you would have received 12 drummers drumming,



22 flutist, 30 members from the house of Lords, hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock, 36 Fan dancers, 40 angry dairy workers, on permanent coffee break, 42 Swans, trying to mate in your dining room (avert the childrens eyes) , 42 geese a' laying, 40 golden rings, 36 calling birds, 30 French hens, 22 turtledoves and 12 partridges in their respective pear trees.



Take the rings, set fire to the house and start a new life.


January 5, 1944 -
Another great movie from Preston Sturges, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, premiered on this date.



Once you understand the internal logic of the movie, you can't believe he snuck it past the censors.


January 5, 1961 -
Mister Ed, the talking horse (with a daily diet was twenty pounds of hay, washed down with a gallon of sweet tea.,) debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



Mister Ed was produced, initially, by George Burns' McCadden Productions. Burns later said that he hired Alan Young for the part of Wilbur Post because he "just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to."


January 5, 1969 -
Brian Hugh Warner was born on this date.



He was always kind to his mother.


January 5, 1980 -
The Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight, was the first hip-hop song to made it to the Top 40 on this date.



Before the song took off, it was almost impossible to buy hip hop albums in record stores, and it was almost unheard of to play hip hop on the radio.


Today in History:
Sometimes, it's not so good to King (or his potential assassin either,) as Louis the XV was about to discover.

On January 5, 1757, would-be assassin Robert Damiens entered the Palace of Versailles, as did thousands of people every day to petition the king. As the king was walking in the Marble Courtyard between two lines of guards lighting the way with torches, headed toward his carriage, which was waiting at the edge of the Marble Courtyard, Damiens suddenly emerged from the dark, passed through the guards, and stabbed the king in the side with a penknife. The 3.2 inch blade entered the king's body between the fourth and fifth ribs. The king, who was bleeding, remained calm and called for a confessor as he thought he would die. Thoughts of poison came to his mind. At the sight of the queen, who had come in a hurry, he asked for forgiveness for his misbehavior (Louis, as was the habit of most kings of his time, slept with anything that had an orifice). However, the king survived. He was probably saved by the thick layers of clothes he wore on that cold day, which cushioned the blade, protecting the internal organs. Allegedly, the blade penetrated only 0.4 inch into the king's body, leading Voltaire to mock what he called a "pinprick".

Damiens, who was mentally unstable, had been a servant of members of the Parliament of Paris where he had heard much criticism of the king. This, combined with the violent pamphlets and general discontent with the king, convinced him that he had to commit regicide in order to save France. In any case, it was the first attempt at regicide in France since the murder of King Henry IV by Ravaillac in 1610. The king, bent on forgiving Damiens, could not avoid a trial for regicide.

Tried by the Parliament of Paris, Damiens was executed on the Place de Greve on March 28, 1757, following the horrible procedure applied to regicides: after numerous tortures, Damiens was carried to the Place de Greve in the cold afternoon of that day. There, he was first tortured with red-hot pincers; his hand, holding the knife used in the attempted murder, was burnt using sulphur; molten wax, lead, and boiling oil were poured into his wounds. Horses were then harnessed to his arms and legs for his dismemberment. Damiens's joints would not break; after some hours, representatives of the Parliament ordered the executioner and his aides to cut Damiens's joints. Damiens was then dismembered, to the applause of the crowd. His trunk, apparently still living, was then burnt at the stake. There was an immense crowd to watch this gruesome spectacle, which nobody had witnessed in 147 years. Balconies in buildings above the Place de Greve were rented to women of the aristocracy for the exorbitant price of 100 livres per balcony (approx. $700 in 2007 US dollars - once again, 2014 dollars are nearly worthless).

Please feel free to drop these tidbits  at the next party you go to and impress your friends with your deep understanding of Pre-Revolution  France.  You wont have many friends afterwards, but feel free to do so.


January 5, 1919 -
The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was founded by Anton Drexler and others at the Furstenfelder Hof tavern in Munich on this date.

Why does so much of early Nazi history seems to center around beer halls?  It must have been something in those Bavarian Beer Purity laws.


January 5, 1933 -
Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began on the Marin County side, which spans the deep channel at the entrance to San Francisco Bay on this date.



People had to line up for more than four years before suicides can begin (The Golden Gate Bridge is the most prevalent place in the USA to commit suicide.)


January 5, 1941 -
Amy Johnson CBE, pioneering English aviatrix, drowned after bailing out into the Thames Estuary on this date. Although she was seen alive in the water, a rescue attempt failed and her body was never recovered.



In 1999, it was reported that she was accidentally shot down by British forces when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight.

Oops.


January 5, 1995 -
On Eye to Eye, Connie Chung's interview with House Speaker Newt Gingrich's mother, Kathleen, aired on CBS, on this date, complete with the whispered comment from Kathleen that Newt thought first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was a 'bitch' .



I wonder what Newt thinks of the former Secretary of State's potential presidential campaign.


January 5, 1998 -
Congressman Sonny Bono finally meets something that ends his bizarrely successful career - a pine tree at Heavenly Valley Ski Area on this date.



I guess the beat doesn't go on for him.



And so it goes.


Before I let you go: 

What were the gifts of the Magi?