July 14

It’s Bastille Day and Pandemonium Day and National Nude Day

ON THIS DAY…
1099 In the First Crusade, a force of European Christians conquers the walled city of Jerusalem, massacring thousands of its inhabitants
1789 In the pivotal event of the French Revolution, a Paris mob storms and captures the Bastille, a royal prison fortress that is a symbol of the ancien régime
1791 Chemist Joseph Priestley’s laboratory, home and library in Birmingham, England were burned to destruction by a mob of people angry at his support of the French Revolution
1798 The Sedition Act becomes US law making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government
1850 The first public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration in the U.S. took place during a dinner at the Mansion House, Apalachicola
1853 The first US World’s Fair opened in New York; born of a desire to recreate and, if possible, surpass the British Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851, it was promoted by New York businessmen, including Horace Greeley
1867 Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey
1868 Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, CT recieved the first US patent for a spring tape measure
1891 The first US patent was issued for pure corkboard to John T. Smith of Brooklyn, NY
1914 The first patent for a liquid-fueled rocket design was granted to Dr Robert Hutchins Goddard
1916 Tristan Tzara publishes the First Dadaist manifesto in Zürich
1933 The German government, having given Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers, outlaws all political parties except the National Socialist, or Nazi, party
1933 A certain spinach-gobbling hero made his first screen appearance in “Popeye the Sailor,” an episode of the Betty Boop series
1943 George Washington Carver was honored by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicating $30,000 for a National Monument to his accomplishments; it is the first such honor bestowed upon a black American
1944 General Omar Bradley inspected the invention of Sgt. Curtis G. Culin, the heavy steel, tusklike prongs welded on the front of a Sherman tank in the 2nd Armored Division. During the Normandy campaign in France, the advance of the US Sherman tanks had been seriously obstructed by the local terrain. Hedgerows between small fields were tall, very thickly overgrown banks. Only with the prongs, dubbed the Rhinoceros, could the tanks ram through without the front end rising high and exposing their vulnerable underbelly to shells from the enemy hidden by hedgerows. Impressed by the demonstration, Bradley ordered emergency construction of many more using steel beams from the German beach defenses.
1957 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello officially terminated their partnership
1958 A coup in Iraq led by General ‘Abd al-Karim Kassem overthrows the country’s monarchy, kills King Faisal II, and declares Iraq a republic
1965 US space probe Mariner 4 flies by Mars; on its mission the probe relays the first photographs from Mars back to Earth, which reveal the planet’s cratered surface
1967 Eddie Mathews becomes the seventh member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA
1968 Hank Aaron becomes the eighth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, GA
1969 The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation
1975 The Disney company announces plans to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (or EPCOT) in Florida
1992 A major fire consumes an entire city block in tourist destination Gatlinburg, TN destroying the “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!” Museum and several other local businesses and attractions in the process
2002 During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed
2007 Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn marry

BORN:
1894 Dave Fleischer, director, producer and animator; co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer
1910 William Hanna, animator, director, producer, cartoon artist, and co-founder, together with Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera; the studio produced cartoons such as The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo as well as the musical film, Charlotte’s Web
1911 Terry-Thomas, gap-toothed comic actor (I’m All Right Jack, School for Scoundrels, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes, Disney’s Robin Hood)
1912 Woody Guthrie, songwriter and folk musician whose musical legacy consists of hundreds of songs, ballads and improvised works covering topics from political themes to traditional songs to children’s songs
1913 Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (1971-1977), 40th Vice President of the United States (1973-1974), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan’s 5th District (1949-1973)
1918 Ingmar Bergman, influential award-winning writer, director and producer (Fanny and Alexander, A Little Night Music, Hour of the Wolf )
1923 Dale Robertson, actor (Tales of Wells Fargo, The Iron Horse, Dynasty)
1926 Harry Dean Stanton, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Dillinger, Alien, Private Benjamin, Escape from New York, Christine, Repo Man, Pretty in Pink)
1928 Nancy Olson, actress (Sunset Blvd., Big Jim McLain, Pollyanna, The AbsentMinded Professor, Airport 1975)
1930 Polly Bergen, actress (Desperate Housewives, Commander in Chief, Cape Fear (1962), Cry-Baby)
1932 Roosevelt Grier, actor, Christian minister, and former professional football player; he worked as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign and was guarding the senator’s wife during the Robert F. Kennedy assassination and although unable to prevent that killing, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan
1961 Jackie Earle Haley, actor (Little Children, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, The Bad News Bears, Breaking Away, Watchmen)
1966 Matthew Fox, actor (Lost, Vantage Point, We are Marshall, Party of Five, My Boyfriend’s Back)
1974 David Mitchell, actor, writer, comedian (Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, ShakespeaRe-Told: The Taming of the Shrew, PC in the UK Apple Mac ads)

DIED:
1881 Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney), famous 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a participant in the Lincoln County War who, according to legend he killed 21 men, one for each year of his life, but more likely he participated in the killing of less than half that number, was shot and killed at Fort Sumner, NM, by Sheriff Pat Garrett having escaped from his jail three months before
2000 Meredith MacRae, actress (Petticoat Junction, The Werewolf of Woodstock, Relatively Speaking), dies at 56
2006 Carrie Nye, actress (Screaming Skull, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, The Scarlett O’Hara War, Creepshow), dies at 69