It doesn't seem like 25 years ago

Do you remember where you were on July 13, 1985? If you were like 1.5 billion other people, you probably tuned into the concert at some point.







I was celebrating my 25th birthday in my Father-in-Law's backyard (I had just patented the long birthday weekend.)


July 13, 1793 (Décade III, Quintidi de Messidor de l'Année 213 de la Révolution) -

French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat is stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, as she gives him a list of names to be guillotined. The assassination inspired the famous painting by Jacques Louis David; Corday was executed four days after slaying Marat.

After the heavy blade fell, an executioner's assistant named Francois le Gros (Fat Frank) picked up the severed head by the hair and brimming with Revolutionary fervor slapped Corday's cheek. Several eyewitnesses saw her face flush red with anger, not just one cheek but both cheeks. Some though they perceived disgust curl her lips.


July 13, 1946 -
Horace Greeley advises his readers to 'Go west young man' .



I'm not sure but I don't think this is what Mr. Greeley had in mind.


July 13, 1946 -
It's Cheech Marin's birthday.



Smoke 'em if you got 'em.


July 13, 1955 -
Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson) was last English woman executed by hanging on this date.



Ten days before she had shot her lover, race car driver David Blakely (Rupert Everett), Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach.

She was having a bad day.


July 13, 1977 -
NYC experiences 25 hr black-out .

The 1977 blackout, unlike the 1965 and 2003 blackouts, resulted in city-wide looting and other disorder, including arson.


July 13, 1985 -
President Ronald Reagan has a polyp removed from his colon.

The polyp, named Larry, is living comfortable at the Reagan ranch keeping Nancy company. George H.W. Bush got a free taste of the Presidency for a day and got hooked.


July 13, 1994 - Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, is sentenced totwo years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

He serves six months. (What a great 70's porn 'stache.)


On July 13, 1994, Germany's Constitutional Court ended the ban on German troops fighting outside the country.

(On July 14, 1994, France's Constitutional Court ended their ban on running like hell.)



And so it goes.