Knowing the true cost of war

At 5:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918 French Army clerk Henri Deledicq finished typing the peace treaty that would end World War I. He had put the carbon paper in backwards.



Ten minutes later, in a railroad car in France, military leaders signed copies of an armistice that were completely unreadable. World War I ended on this date. -



It's Veterans Day in the United States and Armistice Day for many in Europe -



(and it's Singles Day in China, 11/11- it's considered China's Anti-Valentine's Day, but we're not going to discuss that now.)


November 11, 397 -
St. Martin of Tours, another in the series of anorexic visionaries, patron saint of France, soldiers (he is known as the he man's saint), reformed alcoholics and winemakers, died on this date. When the armistice fell on the Saint Martin’s Day, November 11, 1918, the French people saw it was a sign of his intercession in the affairs of France.

Martin, after another one of his life long practice of fasting, has a dream about Jesus wearing the cloak he had recently given to a naked beggar. Pieces of Martin's actual 'cloak' were revered as holy relics and the derivation of the name of the priest who looked after these relics became 'chaplain'.

My father-in-law always reminded us that today is the day when the grapes you pressed and bottled turned into wine. That is not to say that he was discussing transubstantiation - which he and the old ladies in the back row of church saying their decades of the rosary clearly understood. But coincidentially - on November 11, 1215, The Fourth Lateran Council met on this date and adopt the doctrine of Transubstantiation, meaning that bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

This means all Catholics are essentially cannibals on a prescribed feeding schedule, but who am I to judge a theology of which I am a nominal member.

And now you know.


November 11, 1933 -
The Looney Tunes short, Buddy's Beer Garden, directed by Earl Duvall and starring Buddy, was released on this date.



This is the first cartoon to be directed by Earl Duvall, who was brought in along with Tom Palmer to replace Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.


November 11, 1943 -
The under-appreciated wartime-drama Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart premiered on this date.



For much of the production, the cast and crew were based in Brawley, CA, a small town about 40 miles from the filming location. At the time, Brawley offered little in terms of evening diversions, so Humphrey Bogart hosted many of his colleagues in his suite at the Planter's Hotel. Other cast members described Bogart as outgoing, generous and an adept bartender, but the late-night drinking meant that Bogart arrived on set hung over and quarrelsome. The behavior led to clashes with director Zoltan Korda.


November 11, 1947 -
Elia Kazan's searing expose of anti-Semitism, Gentleman's Agreement, starring Gregory Peck premiered in New York on this date.



When other studio chiefs, who were mostly Jewish, heard about the making of this film, they asked the producer not to make it. They feared its theme of anti-Semitism would simply stir up a hornet's nest about a problem which they preferred to handle quietly. Not only did production continue, but a scene was subsequently included that mirrored that confrontation.


November 11, 1950 -
The Looney Tunes short, Bushy Hare, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date. (This short is seldom aired on US television because it is deemed offensive to Australian Aboriginal people.)



This is the first short involving Bugs Bunny visiting Australia, but the only time he visits the Australian mainland.


November 11, 1952 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Super Snooper, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



The anonymous redheaded femme fatale of this film is considered to be a redesigned version of Melissa Duck, Daffy's blonde love interest from The Scarlet Pumpernickel.


November 11, 1958 -
The (relatively unknown yet hysterical) British-comedy The Horse's Mouth, starring Alec Guinness, opened in the US on this date.



Alec Guinness felt that an educated accent for Gulley Jimson would be suited to an artist, but was not right for an eccentric. "So I tried to find a voice in which no one would be able to detect an accent of any sort, a kind of gritty, rough manner of speaking. When I found it, I felt myself free to just relax on that and say the lines as they came."

Do yourself a favor and watch this one.


November 11, 1959 -
The beginning of American independent cinema can be traced to this date when Shadows, directed by John Cassavetes, premiered in NYC.



Shot with a 16mm handheld camera on the streets of New York. Most of the dialog was improvised, while all the crew were fellow class members of John Cassavetes or volunteers.


November 11, 1961 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Beep Prepared, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Wile E. Coyote and the road Runnerwas released on this date.



This was the only Oscar-nominated Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon. The short lost to the Yugoslavian cartoon Surogat.


November 11, 1978 -
Donna Summer started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with her version of Jimmy Webb's MacArthur Park, which was also a hit for actor Richard Harris in 1968, (made No.5 in the UK). (Sorry for the earworm.)



Donna Summer recorded her disco version in 1978 with her producers, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Moroder had been searching for a song to rework with Summer, and when Richard Harris' version of MacArthur Park came on the radio, he knew it was the one, perfect for Summer's vocal range. Packed with synthesizers, horns and washes of background vocals, Summer's version ran 8:27 and was the first part of the MacArthur Park Suite, which took up the entire D-side of her 1978 2-disc Live And More album.


November 11, 1985 -
One of the first major films dealing with AIDS, An Early Frost, starring Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Aidan Quinn (Michael) remembers that NBC's Standards and Practices department were a constant (in Quinn's words, "hovering") presence on the set. They regulated matters such as Quinn appearing in bed with D.W. Moffett (Peter) - they would not allow the two to be seen together in the characters' bed, only for Quinn to be in bed while Moffett sat, fully clothed, on its edge. Quinn says in the commentary that the censors were not only adamant that the two men were never allowed to kiss, but also that any physical contact between them had to be "balanced" by Michael's contact with his parents.


November 11, 2001 -
The Warner Bros. produced megahit based on the J.K. Rowling novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and just about every other English actor, premiered in NYC on this date.



Alan Rickman was hand picked to play Snape by J.K. Rowling, and received special instructions from her about character. Rowling even provided him with vital details of Snape's backstory, not revealed until the final novel.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts.


Today in History:
November 11, 1634 -
Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes "An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery". Seven years later, the good Bishop Atherton is himself is found well hanged under the Act.

I guess the religious right has always been a little loose on this issue.


November 11, 1821 -
The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.



Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Russian novelist who wrote Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, was born on this date.


November 11, 1862 -
Joe Green's (stage name - Giuseppe Verdi) Opera, La Forza Del Destino premiered in St Petersburg, Russia on this date.



La Forza Del Destino is an opera that many old school Italian singers felt was "cursed" and brought bad luck. The very superstitious Luciano Pavarotti avoided accepting a role in the opera for this reason.


November 11, 1920 -
One of the most famous tombs in Westminster Abbey is that of The Unknown Warrior. A tomb of an unknown British soldier who was killed on the battlefield during World War I. He was buried in Westminster Abbey on this date. (Another unknown soldier was buried on this date at the Arc de Triomphe in France.) The tomb is in the far western end of the nave and is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble. It is the only tomb in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.



One year after unknown soldiers were simultaneously buried at Westminster Abbey, London, and the Arc de Triomphe in France, President Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (a white marble sarcophagus in Arlington National Cemetery.)



The tombstone itself, designed by sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones, was not completed until 1932, when it was unveiled bearing the description “Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God.” The World War I unknown was later joined by the unidentified remains of soldiers from America’s other major 20th century wars and the tomb was put under permanent guard by special military sentinels.


November 11, 1920 -
According to James Bond's authorized biography, the fictional Secret Service agent was born on this date. James Bond’s father was Andrew Bond, a Scottish businessman. His mother was Monique Delacroix, from Switzerland.



Both of his parents were killed in a mountain climbing accident during a holiday in the French Alps when he was only 11. He was educated at Eton, like his creator Ian Fleming.


November 11, 1922 -
Of course it is exhausting, having to reason all the time in a universe which wasn't meant to be reasonable..



WWII veteran, noted author, and (possible alien) Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on this date.


November 11, 1925 -
Well, the most terrible fear that anybody should have is not war, is not a disease, not cancer or heart problems or food poisoning - it's a man or a woman without a sense of humor.



Jonathan Winters, the great improvisational comedian and actor, was born on this date.


November 11, 1978 -

A perennial favorite suicide location, the renovated Hollywood Sign was unveiled, due in large part to the public campaign to restore the landmark by pornographer Hugh Hefner and shock rocker Alice Cooper.

The original sign was built in 1923, and said "Hollywoodland".


Before you go - Another UK department store is heard from - Argos, which is virtually unknown in the US, has a cute Christmas advert but I do have a thought -



Is it a sign of some sort of psychosis that one takes suggestions from toys.

And so it goes

So, there may be help for Mr. Miller

There might be a cure for 'evil'. Well, a cure for psychopathy, anyway. Psychologists argue that aspects of psychopathy can be 'cured' by cognitive behavioural therapy, which is said to reduce violent offences by those with the condition.



Preliminary research suggests that computer-based cognitive training could help a psychopath experience empathy and regret, too.


November 10, 1934 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Those Beautiful Dames, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



Cartoon Network's version replaced the shot of the Jazz Bow Band dancing wind-up toy with the scene of the toy shop toys gathered around the girl and the girl looking amazed that the toys she had seen in the store window are here with her. Cartoon Network also cut the shot of the pickaninny dolls standing next to the chocolate cake ("And we/Have made a chocolate cake/For you").


November 10, 1942 -
The third 'Road' movie, the Road to Morocco, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and Anthony Quinn, premiered in NYC on this date.



Bob Hope and Bing Crosby kidded heavy-set director David Butler relentlessly about his weight. For a scene in which enemy horses chased them through the streets, Butler advised them not to jump out of the street until he gave them the signal, allowing them plenty of time to get out of the way. However, as they ran the horses kept getting closer and closer with no signal to the pair from Butler. Finally, the stars panicked and jumped. When they complained about their bruises, Butler laughed at them and told them they'd ruined the shot by jumping too soon. Some crew members thought he was getting back at them, and Hope nicknamed him "The Murderer."


November 10, 1945 -
The Looney Tunes short, Hare Tonic, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, was released on this date.



Both Bugs and Elmer are in transitional stages of appearance development here, with Elmer wearing the outfit seen on his earlier version, Egghead. Bugs is shorter and had more salmon pink inner ears. Both would evolve further through the next decades.


November 10, 1953 -
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom was an educational Adventures in Music animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on this date.



This was a "sequel" of sorts to 1953's Adventures in Music: Melody. This was originally meant to be an ongoing series (note the "Adventures In Music" in the opening titles of this short), but no others were produced.


November 10, 1956 -
The Looney Tunes short, There They Go-Go-Go!, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, was released on this date.



Coyote used a Y-shaped wooden stick to dowse for water. This method proved successful in finding sources of water beneath the surface.


November 10, 1956 -
Billie Holiday returned to the stage at Carnegie Hall after a three-year absence on this date.



The concert was called, by some, a high point in jazz history.


November 10, 1962 -
The Looney Tunes short, Good Noose, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



Daffy is shown with a full set of teeth in one shot. Ducks do not have teeth.


November 10, 1967 -
The Star Trek episode Metamorphosis (Episode 38, Production 31) premiered on this date. In it, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years and his mysterious alien companion.



A few scenes featuring Elinor Donahue had to be re-shot, because the original film negatives were damaged and couldn't be used. Portions of the planet set had to be rebuilt, since other episodes were shot there by that time, using different sets. Meanwhile, Donahue got pneumonia and lost ten pounds. To hide this, they put Hedford's scarf around her neck and upper body. However, her weight loss is still visible on her face.


November 10, 1967 -
The Moody Blues released their hit, Nights in White Satin, on this date. This was written by Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets - yes, sometimes, it's just that inane.



This song introduced a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a Blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks' Go Now. With the songs on Days of Future Passed, they distinguished themselves with original songs in a more psychedelic/orchestral sound.


November 10, 1969 -
Come and play. Even at 57, everything's still A-OK (even on HBO.)



Sesame Street premiered on PBS-TV on this date.


November 10, 1969 -
Just four months after the Apollo 11 moon landing, Columbia Pictures released the thriller Marooned, directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck and Gene Hackman, in U.S. theaters on this date.



Frank Capra began work on the film. Inspired by his work on the Martin-Marietta Corp.-commissioned faux documentary, Rendezvous in Space for the 1964 World's Fair in New York, Capra (a chemical engineer by education) worked to make the picture for Columbia, but finally abandoned the project in preproduction in May 1966 when he couldn't bring the budget down to the $3-million required by Columbia worldwide production chief M.J. Frankovich. The eventual budget for the finished film (directed by John Sturges) was $8 million. Capra never made another film.


November 10, 1973 -
Elton John hit No.1 on the Billboard album chart for the third time with his seventh LP, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, on this date. The double disk set became his best selling studio album with worldwide sales of over 15 million copies, certified 8× platinum.



Elton and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin went to Jamaica to record the album, but the studio wasn't up to standard, so the project was abandoned there with only a rough version of Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) actually being recorded. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the rest of the album were recorded in France at Strawberry Studios (The Chateau d'Hierouville).


November 10, 1974 -
Bob Fosse's devastating bio-pix about Lenny Bruce, Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine premiered in NYC on this date.



The character of Sherman Hart (played by Lucille Ball's last husband, Gary Morton) is based on Milton Berle. His real name wasn't used because Berle was still alive and there were fears he would sue for libel. The character uses all of Berle's mannerisms and trademark shtick, including sticking a cigar under his top lip.


November 10, 1975 -
Arista Records released Patti Smith's debut album, Horses, on this date.



The origin of the Horses album lies in the inception of a poem Patti Smith wrote called Oath when she was around 20. It began, "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine." She explained to Mojo magazine: "It was my statement of independence from being fettered by any particular religious institution, not any statement against Jesus Christ. That's the start of my evolution as a young person that got me to Horses."


November 10, 1990 -
John Hughes' classic holiday film, directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern, premiered in Chicago on this date.



The origin of the Horses album lies in the inception of a poem Patti Smith wrote called Oath when she was around 20. It began, "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine." She explained to Mojo magazine: "It was my statement of independence from being fettered by any particular religious institution, not any statement against Jesus Christ. That's the start of my evolution as a young person that got me to Horses."


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
November 10, 4004 BC -
Are you having that , "Gee, I'm feeling rather shamed about my engorged genitals today", here's the reason why:

Adam and Eve, all our forebearers, were driven from Paradise on this date, according to our good old friend Rev. Ussher.



For some reason, the first Gideon Bibles were put in hotel rooms at the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana on this date in 1908.


November 10, 1871 -
New York Newspaperman Henry M. Stanley finally found Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika (helpfully identified by some sources as being "near Unyanyembe"), and remarked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?", on this date.



This was extremely witty and therefore historical.


November 10, 1903 -
U.S. patent no. 743,801 was issued to Mary Anderson, a resident of Birmingham, Alabama. She tried to sell her invention to a manufacturing firm in



Others belittled her creation as well, insisting it would distract drivers and result in accidents. In the end, her patent expired before she was able to profit from her invention.


November 10, 1911 -
The following entry was made by George Levick, a surgeon and the medical officer on Scott's famous 1910-1913 expedition to the South Pole: This afternoon I saw a most extraordinary site - A Penguin was actually engaged in sodomy upon the body of a dead white throated bird of its own species.

How I know this and why I though it important to note it in this blog speaks volumes to my education and general mental state.


(Bunkies, there is a theme for the rest of today's posting. Your task is to figure it out - submit your guess:)

November 10, 1925 -
Richard Burton was born on this date.



No, not the Victorian international man of mystery, self-circumcisor and male brothel frequenter but Welsh actor with the greatest voice of the 20th Century.


November 10, 1928 -
Playing against Army at Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne gave what is considered the greatest locker room speeches of all time by saying "Win one for the Gipper."



There is a clear through line to the theme in all of this.


November 10, 1928 -
Michinomiya Hirohito was crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Showa on this date.

Somehow the theme shows up here, as well.



November 10, 1938 -
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the most extraordinary men of the 20th Century, statesman and first President of Modern Turkey, died of cirrhosis of the liver on this date.



Will Durant had said, "men devoted to war, politics, and public life wear out fast, and all three had been the passion of Atatürk."


November 10, 1940 -
Walt Disney begins serving as a secret informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, to report back information on Hollywood subversives. He was made a "Full Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954.

We should note that Disney was also atheist, Neo-Nazi, racist and possible child pornography collector, thus subversive in his own little way. Also remember that he reported in directly to a cross-dressing, homosexual who would never make left turns in his car.

The theme shows up clearly here as well.


November 10, 1954 -
The Iwo Jima Memorial, also known as the US Marine Corps (USMC) War Memorial, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington National Cemetery on this date.



The Marine Corps War Memorial is dedicated to all Marines who have served and given their lives in the defense of the United States since a resolution of the Second Continental Congress, on this date in 1775, ordered their formation.


November 10, 1958 -
Jeweler Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond, the "most famous diamond in the world", to the Smithsonian Institution on this date. The jewel is believed to have originated in India, where the original (larger) stone was purchased in 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as the Tavernier Blue.



The diamond was sent to the Smithsonian through U.S. Mail in a box wrapped in brown paper as simple registered mail with $2.44 postage.


November 10, 1975 -
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board



and unfortunately is the subject of Gordon Lightfoot's annoying hit song, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.



On July 4, 1995, the ship's bell was recovered from the wreck, and a replica, engraved with the names of the crew members who perished in this tragedy, will be left in its place. The original bell is on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in Michigan.


Before you go - I don't understand the relationship between the UK and their supermarkets. Apparently the most highly anticipated events are the dropping of their holiday commercials. I'll share two of them with you from Tesco, a very large supermarket chain -



A lovely little advert but what about all the other deliveries she should have made. Were those folks SOL? The next one is from the Tesco Irish delivision -



This one was very sweet and every so slightly creepy.

Maybe you may want to polish the silverware.



And so it goes

No, it's you that are getting smaller

When you woke up this morning, you were as tall as you were going to be this day.



That’s because at night when you’re lying down, the spine stretches and decompresses. But throughout the day, the soft cartilage between your bones gets squashed and compressed. Don't concern yourself too much, it will start all over again tomorrow.


November 9, 1935 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Billboard Frolics, directed by Friz Freleng was released on this date.



Eddie Cantor is parodied early on. Some actual products spoofed are Old Maid (Old Dutch) cleanser, Ivory Soap (which purportedly floated as it was so pure), Wiggles gum (Wrigley), Old Cold cigarettes (Old Gold), and Police Chief gasoline (Texaco Fire Chief). The Russian rye bit had a sly jab at the USSR with the allusion to a five-year plan.


November 9, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Wacky Wild Life, directed by Tex Avery was released on this date.



The lobby cards list the title of the short as "Wacky Wildlife". The same title was used when the cartoon was reissued.


November 9, 1946 -

Another classic, yet surprisingly controversial Bugs Bunny outing, Rhapsody Rabbit, directed by Friz Freleng, premiered on this date (We'll talk about the controversy later.)



Franz Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody music was first used in 1941's Rhapsody in Rivets. A long-standing controversy exists between the previous cartoon and the Tom and Jerry short, The Cat Concerto.



Both MGM and Warner Bros. accused each other of plagiarism, after both films were shown in the 1947 Academy Awards Ceremony. Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to a competing studio, who then plagiarized their rival's work. This remains uncertain to this day, though Rhapsody Rabbit has an earlier MPAA copyright number and release date. The massive similarities could be coincidental, and are considered as such by those who don't believe that there was any plagiarism to start. Since the animators at Warner Bros. and MGM were experienced in making cartoons, it could be likely that they all thought of similar concepts and expanded them, not knowing that similar situations resulted in each cartoon (as is the case with a lot of creative works regardless of genre and medium).


November 9, 1951 -
The zenith of Hollywood Musical film making (I'll let you argue about whether this or Singing in the Rain is better), An American in Paris, opened in California on this date.



Despite the objections of Gene Kelly, who wanted to shoot on location in Paris, the movie was shot at MGM Studios in California on 44 sets built for the film. It was reportedly difficult for the studio to secure travel arrangements or locations for shooting. Two shots in the picture are from Paris, but they don't involve Kelly.


November 9, 1963 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Claws in the Lease , directed by Bob McKimson, starring Sylvester the Cat and Sylvester Jr., was released on this date.



That scene where the lady of the house takes a shower using Sylvester for a back brush somehow got past the censors.


November 9, 1964 -
Another under-appreciated film that you should see, The Pumpkin Eater, opened in the US on this date.



Patricia Neal was offered the lead, but when it was not 100% confirmed that she would get the role, she opted--to her later regret--to make Psyche 59 instead, since it was an official offer.


November 9, 1967 -
The under-rated sci-fi film, Quatermass and the Pit (AKA Five Million Years to Earth,) directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara Shelley and Julian Glover, was released in the US, on this date.



Of the three Hammer Quatermass films produced, this is the only one their creator Nigel Kneale liked, largely due to his being happier with Andrew Keir's performance as the title character than Brian Donlevy's in The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2. Kneale described Donlevy as "a former Hollywood heavy gone to seed" and claimed that he was drunk during much of the shooting of the latter film, a statement its director Val Guest repudiated.


November 9, 1972 -
The adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, 1776, starring William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, John Cullum, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner, premiered in NYC on this date



While it is generally accepted that John Hancock was the only one who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone chose to have the congressional delegates sign the document on that date in the musical for dramatic effect.


November 9, 1973 -
Billy Joel releases his second album, Piano Man, on this date.



The album and title track (based on his nights performing at a piano bar in Los Angeles called The Executive Room,) became Joel's breakthrough album, which he released after signing with Columbia Records. His first album was released by Family Records in 1971, and the contract Joel signed to get that deal came back to haunt him. As is often the case with young musicians, Joel did not understand the contract, and it bound him "for life" to the label. Joel was forced to pay royalties to Family for years after breaking the deal and signing with Columbia.


November 9, 1974 -
Bachman Turner Overdrive become just the second Canadian band to go to No.1 on the Billboard chart with You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, on this date. (The first to do it was another Randy Bachman band: The Guess Who, who topped the chart with American Woman in 1970.)



Randy Bachman stuttered through the lyrics of the demo recording as a private joke about his brother Gary, who had a speech impediment. The record company liked that take better than the non-stammering version and released it.


November 9, 1984 -
Wes Craven's iconic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, starring Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund and Johnny Depp, opened in limited release in the US, on this date.



The inspiration for the character of Freddy came from several sources in Wes Craven's childhood. Fred Krueger was a schoolmate of his, with whom he had shared a paper route and who had bullied him for several years. In The Last House on the Left, Craven also used this experience as inspiration, calling the villain Krug. Freddy's burns came from a man with severe burn scars by whom Craven had once been terrified as a child, and Freddy's attire (especially the dirty clothes and hat) was inspired by an alcoholic hobo that Craven saw staring at him through his window one day when he was 10 years old.


November 9, 2006 -
The world record for the most swear words in a television program is 201 in the first episode of the comedy Strutter, which aired on MTV on this date. (I no longer worked there at the time - so don't blame me.)



Bunkies, really this program is chockablock with filthy language and has more swearing per minute than record holder - South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut - don't watch it. You've been warned.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
November 9, 1731 -
Benjamin Banneker was born in Maryland to free black slaves on this date. From his farm near Baltimore, Banneker spent much of his time studying the stars. Although he lacked much of a formal education, he taught himself with borrowed books and became a noted mathematician, astronomer and inventor. Carving its gears with a pocket knife, he built a wooden clock in 1770 that was believed to have been the first built in America.



Banneker was appointed to the District of Columbia Commission in 1789 to help survey the new capital city of Washington, D.C. Banneker began publishing scientific almanacs in 1791 after accurately predicting a solar eclipse. Banneker sent a copy of his almanac to the then Virginia Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson and began a correspondence with him about his views against slavery. Banneker died in 1806.


In Germany so many significant events in history have happened on November 9,

that historians have called the date Schicksalstag (Fateful Day).



It was the day that Robert Blum was executed in 1848,



After Germany's defeat in the First World War, the emperor Wilhelm II lost the support of the German army. He abdicated on November 9, 1918,



Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923,



the Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath died from gunshot wounds by Herschel Grynszpan, an act which the Nazis used as an excuse to instigate Kristallnacht — the Night of Broken Glass, on November 9, 1938,



Communist-controlled East Germany opened checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany on this date in 1989. The Berlin Wall was subsequently destroyed by a euphoric public over a period of several weeks, and its fall was the first step toward German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

The French are still casting a leery eye at their reunified neighbor.


November 9, 1906 -
Teddy Roosevelt went against more than a century of tradition and became the first American president ever to leave the country while in office, on this date. He went to view the construction site of the Panama Canal.



Before Roosevelt, it was assumed that a President of the United States couldn't oversee the country effectively if he traveled abroad. It would take too long for him to communicate with government officials back home. But with the invention of the telegraph and then the telephone, high speed communication had grown much more feasible.



So on this day in 1906, Roosevelt and his wife climbed aboard the U.S.S. Louisiana and sailed south. The journey to Panama made Roosevelt happier than he'd been in a long while. He strolled the decks with his wife, read a stack of books he'd brought with him, including Tacitus and Milton, and the captain even let him steer the ship at one point. When he got to Panama itself, he was so impressed by the jungle and the tropical wildlife that he didn't even mind the torrential rains.



The chief engineer had the incredibly difficult task of accompanying Roosevelt everywhere he went. He said, "I have blisters on both feet and am worn out - Scaling a hill with Roosevelt is like taking a fort by storm." They took a train to the construction site, but when Roosevelt saw the first 95-ton steam shovel, he ordered that the train be stopped so that he could hike through the mud to see the steam shovel up close. It was a new invention at the time, and Roosevelt spent a half an hour asking about its operation. He then took a turn at the controls.

Although, King Louis (Mel Brooks) said, "It's good to be the king", it must have been a blast to be Teddy.

Bully, bully.


November 9, 1934-
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.





Carl Edward Sagan scientist, author, and observer of billions and billions stars was born in Brooklyn, New York, on this date.


November 9, 1953 -

Dylan Thomas finally accomplished his goal of drinking himself to death (having had 18 straight whiskies at the White Horse Tavern, in Greenwich Village, several days previously) on this date.



Sometimes it is not good to be a drunken Welsh poet.


November 9, 1965 -
The Northeast Blackout of 1965 was a major power outage affecting parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, New Jersey in the United States and portions of Canada on this date.



Around 25 million people and 80,000 square miles were left without electricity for up to twelve hours. Although the blackout was ultimately blamed on a sophisticated power system that was ironically built to ensure electricity would be available in an emergency, there is another theory that UFO's visiting the Northeast were to blame.

That explains so much.


November 9, 1967 -
The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published in San Francisco in newspaper format. It sells for 35¢, which is about $2.48 today.

The cover features a photo of John Lennon and the lead article is on the Monterey Pop Festival. The first issue also conveniently includes a free roach clip.


November 9, 2346 -
Romulans commit an atrocity now known as the Khitomer Massacre, slaughtering over 4,000 Klingons on an agricultural colony on this date.



Worf and Kahlest are the only two to survive.


Before you go - It's that time of year that we like to check out the Christmas adverts that our cousins across the pond are seeing this year, (it seems to be early this year, but I always say that.) First out of the gate is Debenhams (a department store that is big in the UK.) has released a Christmas four-minute romcom set in a village hall.



It was very sweet but I guess it would be more meaningful if I knew who any of these people are

And so it goes