While, I can't find the basis for the holiday, I have my suspicions:George, the English Duke of Clarence, was convicted of treason against his brother King Edward IV and murdered in the Tower of London on February 18, 1478.
The legend arose that he had been drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine.What a way to go.
Here's a video of John Cleese responding to some comments left on youtube concerning Monty Python clips;
Since I use many Monty Python clip to illustrate my clip comments of the day, I feel I need to run this clip as a PSA.
February 18, 1938 -
Bringing Up Baby, a screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant was released on this date.
The film was a box office disaster upon it's initial release, causing Hawks to be fired from his next RKO film (Gunga Din, also starring Cary Grant) and forcing Hepburn to buy out her contract. As time went on, however, the movie gained more and more attention and is now revered as a sophisticated classic decades ahead of its time.
If only he had his intercostal clavicle ...
February 18, 1983 -
Martin Scorsese's black comedy, The King of Comedy, starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard premiered in the US on this date.
Jerry Lewis found Martin Scorsese's working method initially frustrating, as he was made to wait around for the first 3 days of shooting. Lewis told Scorsese that he was a professional and was going to get paid for all the time he was made to wait, and that if Scorsese wasn't going to use him, then he could tell him that he wasn't needed.
Today in History:
February 18, 1405 -
Timur Lenk (also known as Timur the Lame, Tamerlane, Tamberlaine and Mr. Tambourine Man)
died mysteriously during an expedition to China on this date.February 18, 1564 -
Michelangelo (Buonarotti), Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer died on this date.
Elm Farm Ollie (known as "Nellie Jay" and post-flight as "Sky Queen") was the first cow to fly in an airplane, doing so on February 18, 1930, as part of the International Air Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
On the same trip, which covered 72 miles from Bismarck, Missouri, to St. Louis, she also became the first cow milked in flight. This was done ostensibly to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes. A St. Louis newspaper trumpeted her mission as being "to blaze a trail for the transportation of livestock by air."Your life is better for knowing this.
February 18, 1933 -
Yoko Ono is born.
What else is there to say?
February 18, 1967 -
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, died on this date.
His children never even send him flowers.
February 18, 2001 -
Race car driver Dale Earnhardt crashes into the wall at the Daytona 500, killing him instantly. His widow files a lawsuit to force the autopsy photos to be sealed, and a Florida law is subsequently passed to prevent them from ever being released.
Earnhardt was the most well known and most successful driver in the history of the sport.
And so it goes.
Also, on a personal note - Happy Birthday Matt.
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