This Tweet in History (Archives): July 2009

[SFX: CHURCHBELL] Greetings, History Lovers! Welcome to This Tweet in History, the Week In Review, podcasting to you on tape delay from our North American Studios.

Here are your top stories for the week ending July 25, 2009:

[SFX: SOUND827]World: DATELINE England, July 19, 1553: 1553 – [SFXGirls just want to have fun]Fun while it lasted: Queen Mary ends Lady Jane’s 9 days of reign:
The Back-Story:
[SFX: Everybody wants to rule the world]Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Lady Jane Grey had no pretentions to the throne; rather, it was her father-in-law, seeking high standing for his son, who maneuvered her into the throne. But when your rival is “Bloody Mary,” you’d better watch your back – or your neck! Sadly, Lady Jane lost first her title and then her life, being deposed after 9 days and executed shortly later.
[SFX Everybody wants to rule the world]

[SFX: SOUND827]Sports: DATELINE New York, July 24, 1983: [SFX: Kansas City]His homer taken away, Brett rages, then pines away; laughs in the end as the Goose loses win.
The Back-Story:
[SFX: I’m So Bored with the USA]In a moment of triumph, George Brett hit the go-ahead home run for the Kansas City Royals against the Yankees in American League play-offs, only to have it taken away because of an excessive amount of pine tar on his bat. [SFX: Rapper’s Delight]Brett went ballistic, charging the umpire in a scene that went viral on video long before there was a YouTube. After the league reviewed the incident, Brett’s homer was restored, the final inning was played, and the Yankees victory disappeared. [SFX: I’m So Bored with the USA]

[SFX: SOUND827]Other: DATELINE Great Britain, July 23,1986– [SFX: The Farmer in the Dell]The Prince takes a wife. . . and she’s Fergalicious!: [SFX: Fergalicious]
The young royals were growing up and coming into their own. Not long after Prince Charles wed the People’s Princess, Diana Spencer, Brother Andrew wed the even-more-down-to-earth Sarah Ferguson. [SFX: Fergalicious] Sadly, their marriage ended as had Charles and Di’s before them, in divorce.

[SFX: SOUND827]This week’s birthdays:[SFX: In the Club]
July 19: Painter Edgar Degas
July 20: Mountain Climber Sir Edmund Hillary
July 21: Warrior King Alexander the Great
July 22: Sculptor Alexander Calder
July 23: Writer Raymond Chandler
July 24: Aviator Amelia Earhart
And July 25: Test-Tube Baby Louise Brown

[SFX:GENERIC1MOTION]Thank you for joining us for This Tweet in History, the Week in review. Be sure to follow us on Twitter.com/histortweet, and check our archives at histortweet.blogspot.com.

Friday, July 24, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 25, 2009++

WRLD: 1943 – Il Duce steps down; makes brief return as Nazi puppet before feeling partisans’ parting shot

TECH: 1978 – Browns reap first fruit as outside-the-womb thinking gives new meaning to term “Bottle Baby”

OTHR: 2000 – Concorde crashes, taking down commercial supersonic flight in its wake

BDAY: Louise Brown; Walter Payton; Walter Brennan; Maxfield Parrish

Thursday, July 23, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 24, 2009++

WRLD: 1911 – Incas’ long lost city turns up in Bing-ham search results

SPRT: 1983 – His homer taken away, Brett rages, then pines away; laughs in the end as the Goose loses win

HUH?: 1567 – Queen Mary? – My one-year-old could do a better job! http

BDAY: Zelda Fitzgerald; Amelia Earhart; Alexandre Dumas; Simon Bolivar

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 23, 2009++

WRLD: 1952 – Moved by pressure, Egypt’s Free Officers Movement moves early; ultimately moves Faisal out, Nasser in

SPRT: 1881 – Gymnasts, Unite! First international sports federation founded in France

OTHR: 1986 – The Prince takes a wife. . . and she’s Fergalicious! http

BDAY: Slash; Don Imus; Arthur Treacher; Raymond Chandler

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 22, 2009++

WRLD: 1934 – Dillinger’s biography ends at the Biograph

SPRT: 1894 – Jules in his crown as de Dion grabs victory in first ever motorized race

HUH?: 1975 – Okay, Robert E. Lee’s an American again. 110 years after the fact, but retroactive

BDAY: Willem Dafoe; Don Henley; Alex Trebek; Alexander Calder; For more birthdays, follow @litbirthdays

Monday, July 20, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 21, 2009++

WRLD: 356 – Herostratus, seeking hero-status, lights fire to steal thunder on Alexander’s birthday

TECH: 1969 – All the Buzz is about Armstrong’s giant leap – to the moon and beyond! - er, back

HUH?: 1925 – Scopes fined a C-Note for monkeying around in bio class

BDAY: Robin Williams; Isaac Stern; Ernest Hemingway; Alexander the Great

Sunday, July 19, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 20, 2009++

WRLD: 1960 – Big milestone in tiny Sri Lanka as Bandaranaike becomes first female elected head of any nation

SPRT: 1968 – Chicago’s Soldier Field is the scene of a truly Special day in Olympic history

SPRT: 1952 – Czech Locomotive steams into first of 3 golds, first of two Olympic records

BDAY: Chris Cornell; Billy Mays; Carlos Santana; Sir Edmund Hillary

Saturday, July 18, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 19, 2009++

WRLD: 1553 – Fun while it lasted: Queen Mary ends Lady Jane’s 9 days of reign

OTHR: 1993 – Clinton’s okay with ban on gays, but they can stay if they don’t say. What? Don’t ask! http

HUH?: 1966 – Mama Mia! Is that “Papa” or “Hubby?” The Voice robs the cradle, but cuts out before the “Baby” wraps. http

BDAY: Brian May; George McGovern; Lizzie Borden; Edgar Degas

Histortweet Week in Review - W/E July 18, 2009

Greetings, History Lovers! Welcome to This Tweet in History, the Week In Review, podcasting to you on tape delay from our North American Studios.

Here are your top stories for the week ending July 18, 2009:

World: DATELINE Rome, July 18, 64: Rome sizzles, Nero fiddles, Christians belittled
The Back-Story:
Popular legend has Caesar Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burned, although the fiddle was invented 1000 years later. Some claim that Nero, who styled himself as the consummate artist, played his lute and sang the epic, “Sack of Ilium” as though providing the soundtrack to the cosmic opera unfolding before him. There were also rumors that Nero was behind the fire, as it opened the door for him to have Rome rebuilt in marbled grandeur, befitting his eminence. Whatever the truth was, Nero needed a scapegoat, and he found one in the relatively new Christian sect, whose members he persecuted mercilessly, nailing them to crosses, throwing them to the dogs, and even setting them ablaze for use as streetlights.

Sports: DATELINE Rio, July 16, 1950: It takes a village to help underdog Uruguay raise the Cup
The Back-Story:
It was the first World Cup after World War II and, when the heavily favored team from the host country, Brazil, played Uruguay in the final, a record 200,000 spectators, a village-worth of people, turned out to watch. Most left disappointed and stunned as underdog, Uruguay, pulled off a come-from-behind, upset victory, 2-1.

Technology: DATELINE North America, July 16,1957– He’s got the Right Stuff: Glenn goes coast to coast in under 3 ½ hours. Next stops, Outer Space, Congress:
The Back-Story:
On a crisp Tuesday morning, young Major John Glenn strapped himself into a jet in California. When he landed in Brooklyn, three hours, 23 minutes later, he had set a new transcontinental speed record of 725.55 miles per hour – even with three in-flight refuelings. This was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed. Major Glenn made the flight not to chase a record, but, rather, to prove that the plane’s engines could tolerate an extended period of full-afterburner without damage. Following the historic flight, John Glenn was selected for the space program, and, in 1974, elected to the Senate. In 1998, Glenn, who, 36 years earlier was the first American to orbit the Earth, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery.

This week’s birthdays:
July 12: Architect Buckminster Fuller
July 13: Professor and puzzle designer Erno Rubik
July 14: Folk singer Woody Guthrie
July 15: Artist Rembrandt van Rijn
July 16: Polar explorer Roald Amundsen
July 17: Royal squeeze Camilla Parker Bowes
And July 18: Astronaut and Senator John Glenn

Thank you for joining us for This Tweet in History, the Week in review. Be sure to follow us on Twitter.com/histortweet, and check our archives at histortweet.blogspot.com.

Friday, July 17, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 18, 2009++

WRLD: 64 - Rome sizzles, Nero fiddles, Christians belittled

SPRT: 1976 – Romanian teen is a perfect 10. Here’s what perfection looks like

OTHR: 1986 – KARE’s news copter, right place, right time, catches tiger by the tail

BDAY: Richard Branson; Hunter S. Thompson; John Glenn; Nelson Mandela

Thursday, July 16, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 17, 2009++

WRLD: 1918 – Fall of the Romanovs as Nicholas II, family, attendants slain by the Bolsheviks

OTHR: 1955 – Disneyland opens; Disney World, Disney Empire to follow

ENTR: 1717 – Bargemusic precursor: 50 musicians take to the Thames to entertain James with Handel’s strains

BDAY: David Hasselhoff; Camilla Parker Bowes; Dihann Carroll; James Cagney;

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 16, 2009++

WRLD: 1945 – Dawn of the Atomic Age as US drops an A-Bomb on Nevada

SPRT: 1950 – It takes a village to help underdog Uruguay raise the Cup

TECH: 1957 – He’s got the Right Stuff: Glenn goes coast to coast in under 3½ hours. Next stops Outer Space, Congress

BDAY: Corey Feldman; Michael Flatley; Ginger Rogers; Roald Amundsen

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 15, 2009++

WRLD: 1799 – Napoleon’s troops find key to hieroglyphics set in stone

TECH: 1965 – Mariner IV, one year out, sends home photos of the Red Planet

OTHR: 1868 - I can’t believe it’s not butter! Actually, I can’t believe it’s French idea. Mege-Mouries patents margarine

BDAY: Beth Stern; Forest Whitaker; Linda Ronstadt; Rembrandt

Monday, July 13, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 14, 2009++

WRLD: 1789 – Bastille’s walls, 10 feet thick, 90 feet high, no match for storm of Independence

SPRT: 1970 – Rose, not so sweet, makes head-first dive in exhibition game, torpedoing catcher Fosse’s career

OTHR: 1881 - No kidding: Through the heart or in the back, Garrett shot Bonney, and the Kid is dead

BDAY: Ingmar Bergman; Gerald Ford; Woody Guthrie; William Hanna

Sunday, July 12, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 13, 2009++

WRLD: 1793 – Bath-stabbing fiend fells Friend-of-the-People. Marat lived by the Guillotine, died by the blade

SPRT: 1865 –World ends with a bang, not a Whymper, for four of the first six to scale the Matterhorn

HUH?: 1973 – Finale Fiasco: Don’s wrecked, Phil jets. Nothing lasts for-Everly

BDAY: Cheech Marin; Erno Rubik; Harrison Ford; Patrick Stewart

Saturday, July 11, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 12, 2009++

WRLD: 1984 - Mondale effectively drops out of presidential race, springing female running-mate on unprepared US

ENTR: 1962 – Stones kick off decades of moss-free rolling at London’s Marquee

HUH?: 1843 – If one’s not enough, 1000’s not too many! From God’s mouth to Smith’s ear, Man Upstairs OK with polygamy

BDAY: Richard Simmons; Bill Cosby; Van Cliburn; Buckminster Fuller

Tweet Week In Review - Video Podcast

Greetings, Mr. & Ms. Internet! Welcome to This Tweet in History, the Week In Review, podcasting to you on tape delay from our North American Studios.

Here are your top stories for the week ending July 11, 2009:

DATELINE Alaska, July 9, 1958: Cowabunga! Alaska catches wave worlds biggest:
The Back-Story:
It was a megatsunami, as a 7.9 magnitude earthquake along Alaska’s Fairweather Fault resulted in a wave of epic proportions. A megatsunami is defined as a wave reaching more than 328 feet (or 100 meters), and this megatsunami, in Lituya Bay, reached 1,720 feet, almost as high as the Sears Tower or New York’s now-destroyed One World Trade Center. An eyewitness reported tumbling out of his bunk and observing a glacier, six miles distant, that had risen several hundred feet and was jumping and shaking like crazy as big chnks of ice fell from the face down in the water. The glacier dropped, and a uge wall of water raced toward him. “After that,” he reports, “I was too busy to tell what else was happening there.”

DATELINE Wimbledon, July 5, 1975: Call it Ashe Saturday as AA is first AA to win in mens at Wimbledon:
The Back-Story:
.It was the brash defending champion vs. the gentlemanly underdog on Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court. Underdog Arthur Ashe, though, had the feeling that he couldn’t lose, having developed a strategy of finesse, rather than trying to match champ Connors shot for shot. Ashe jumped out to an early two-set advantage, then held off a resurgent Connors to win in 4 sets, becoming the first African American male to win at Wimbledon.

Things that make you go HUH?: DATELINE Paris, July 5, 1946 Two pieces better than one; too much skin better than no Bikini Atoll:
The Back-Story:
It was scandalous! Although there had been two-piece bathing suits before, none was so daring as to expose the wearer’s navel. No respectable model would wear designer Louis Reard’s scandalous creation, and, in the end, he hired an exotic dancer from a local nightspot to show it off. Despite the seeming prefix, “Bi,” as in “two,” (which inspired the name “monokini” for topless bathing suits, many years later), the name was actually taken from the Bikini Atoll, where, days before the introduction of the bikini swimsuit, the fourth atomic bomb was detonated.

This week’s birthdays:
July 5: Surrealist author Jean Cocteau
July 6: Religious icon, Dalai Lama
July 7: Sci Fi author Robert Heinlein
July 8: Chef Wolfgang Puck
July 9: Physicist Nicola Tesla
July 10 Tennis great Arthur Ashe
And July 11: Octomom Nadya Suleman

Thank you for joining us for This Tweet in History, the Week in review. Be sure to follow us on Twitter.com/histortweet, and check our archives at histortweet.blogspot.com

++This Tweet in History: July 11, 2009++

WRLD: 1987 – UN says pop tops 5 Billion

SPRT: 1914 - The Babe nips the Naps in baseball debut

TECH: 1979 – Skylab, shot into the air, falls to earth, Aussies know where

BDAY: Octomom; Suzanne Vega; Giorgio Armani; Yul Brynner

Thursday, July 9, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 10, 2009++

WRLD: 1212 – London burning! Not the first Great Fire of London. Or the last. Or the biggest

OTHR: 1796 - Dear Diary

HUH?: 1925 – Well, shut my mouth! Baba clams up; not One Word for 44 years

BDAY: Jessica Simpson; Arlo Guthrie; Arthur Ashe; Jake LaMotta

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 9, 2009++

WRLD: 1958 - Alaska catches wave – world’s biggest

SPRT: 1922 – Teen Tarzan breaks the minute barrier in the metric pool

HUH?: 1982 – Lax Palace security means an audience with the Queen for barefoot intruder

BDAY: Courtney Love; Tom Hanks; OJ Simpson; Nicola Tesla

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 8, 2009++

WRLD: 1776 – Good News traveled slowly before Twitter: Colonists finally hear declaration of their independence

SPRT: 1988 – Black goes wild on Angels, leaving 3 black and blue before leaving

HUH?: 1990 – Synchronize your watches: 12:34:56, 7/8/90

BDAY: Kevin Bacon; Wolfgang Puck; Billy Eckstine; John D. Rockefeller

Monday, July 6, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 7, 2009++

WRLD: 1456 – Better late than never, the late Joan of Arc found innocent

SPRT: 1948 – Cleveland signs 42-year-old rookie

HUH?: 1947 – Tourist industry in Roswell launched by space frisbee or weather balloon. Conspiracy theorists welcome

BDAY: Ringo Starr; Pierre Cardin; Robert Henilein; Marc Chagall

Sunday, July 5, 2009

++This Tweet in History: July 6, 2009++

WRLD: 1535 – Faith no More: Sir Thomas loses head over refusal to accept Henry VIII as head

SPRT: 1933 – A Babe shall lead them~ Ruth’s shot gives AL win in 1st all-star clash

ENTR: 1957 - Nerk Twins meet in Liverpool; and the Beat goes on

BDAY: 50 Cent; Sylvester Stallone; Dalai Lama; Frida Kahlo

Saturday, July 4, 2009

This Tweet in Review - Video Podcast

Greetings, Mr. & Ms. Internet! Welcome to This Tweet in History, the Week In Review, podcasting to you on tape delay from our North American Studios.

Here are your top stories for the week ending July 4, 2009:

World: DATELINE France, June 28, 1919: War to end all wars ends amid Versailles’ smoke and mirrors. Good luck with that!
The Back-Story:
Nations gather int he Palace of Versaille's Hall of Mirrors to witness Germany signing of documents accepting total responsibility for the Great War, also known as the War to end all wars. Oddly enough, it is widely believed that the humiliation forced upon Germany opened the door to Hitler and the National Socialist Party's platform of German pride, ultimately resulting in the second world war.

Sports: DATELINE Nevada, June 28, 1997: Holy-Bit! Iron Mike gives Evander an earful!
The Back-Story:
Iron Mike Tyson’s rematch with Evander Holyfield was billed as The Sound and the Fury, and it signified nothing, for Tyson’s reputation. After making little headway in the first two rounds, Tyson went for his opponent’s’ head in the third, taking a bite out of Holyfield’s ear. When that wasn’t enough to have the fight stopped, Tyson took a bite from the other side and was disqualified. In the aftermath, Tyson’s boxing license was suspended, and he was fined $3 Million, but he managed to avoid going to jail. Good job.

Things that make you go HUH?: DATELINE Scotland, July 3,1855 – Last of the late Great Auks slain in witch-hunt:
The Back-Story:
The Great Auk, a species of penguin, once estimated to have a population in the millions, was huned for food, eggs, and down for centuries, with bones indicating that even a caveman could hunt them. The last known auk in Great Britain was tied up and held for three days, finally beaten to death with a stick by its captors, who thought it was a witch. Four years later, the last known Great Auks, caring for an egg, were strangled and their egg smashed on an island off Iceland.

This week’s birthdays:
June 28: King and headhunter, Henry VIII
June 29: Author Antoine de Saint-Exupery
June 30: Boxer and chomper Mike Tyson
July 1: Princess Di
July 2: Philosopher and author Author Herman Hesse
July 3 Author Franz Kafka
And July 4: Visionary cartoonist Rube Goldberg

Thank you for joining us for This Tweet in History, the Week in review. Be sure to follow us on Twitter.com/histortweet, and check our archives at histortweet.blogspot.com.