April 23, 1936 -
I close my eyes, then I drift away, into the magic night I softly say. A silent prayer, like dreamers do, then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you.
Roy Orbison, the coolest singer in sunglasses,was born on this date.
April 23, 1958 -
Orson Welles' noir thriller Touch of Evil, starring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, was released on this date.
According to Orson Welles, Universal didn't want the film to be screened at the Brussels World's Fair, but the head of distribution had such faith in the film that he submitted it without the studio's knowledge. The judges (and then critics) Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut awarded the film the top-prize. It was said the film was a great influence on starting Godard's and Truffaut's illustrious careers, both of whom within a year went on to make their first films Breathless and The 400 Blows, respectively.
April 23, 1988 -
... I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands....
Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon, after spending the record total of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200, left the charts for its first time ever.
How did they ever make ends meet?
Today in History:
April 23, 303 -
St George, the future patron saint of England, literally lost his head when he annoyed the Emperor Diocletian so much that the emperor had him separated from his head.
According to legend, George, saved a Libyan king's daughter (Cleodolinda) from a fiery dragon. You'd think people would be more patient with a local dragon slayer.
William Shakespeare was born on this date in 1564 and wrote a lot of plays then died in the end—on April 23, 1616.
His accomplishments are all the more remarkable when you consider that he died on the same day he’d been born.
April 23, 1616 -
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died the very same day as Shakespeare. Mr. Cervantes was a brilliant Spanish humorist, best known for his novel Don Quixote, in which an old man suffering from acute mental illness rides around the Spanish countryside hallucinating, then dies.
Sometimes that's all there is.
April 23, 1867 -
The Zoetrope was patented (#64,117) by William E. Lincoln of Providence, Rhode Island on this date. The device was the first animated picture machine.
It provided an animation sequence of pictures lining the inside wall of a shallow cylinder, with vertical slits between the images. By spinning the cylinder and looking through the slits, a repeating loop of a moving image could be viewed .
April 23, 1899 -
Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.
(This is some kind of trifecta for writers.) Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, writer and avid butterfly collector, was born in Saint Petersburg on this date. His work included Lolita, Pnin and Pale Fire.
April 23, 1967 -
The USSR launched Soyuz One on this date.
The next day, forced to return to earth, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first casualty of space flight when his capsule's parachute opened improperly.
Oops.
April 23, 2005 -
The first video uploaded to YouTube, entitled Me at the zoo, made its online debut on this date. The 19-second video was shot by Yakov Lapitsky and shows YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
It has racked up 19 million views in its ten years online.
And so it goes
No comments:
Post a Comment