Fires, Fired, Planes, Prizes and a Wedding

American Touch Tag Day (you’re IT) and World Egg Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

Matt Damon, Sigorney Weaver, RL Stine, Chevy Chase, Jesse Jackson, Paul Hogan, David Carradine and Eddie Rickenbacker.

On This Day In…

…1998, the US House of Representatives voted to proceed toward impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

…1970, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His early works included One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward and The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956.

…1957, (coincidentally?) Great Balls of Fire was recorded in Memphis, TN by Jerry Lee Lewis even though he felt that the song was too sinful for him to record. If it hadn’t been for Sam Phillips and a stubborn streak, this signature song for Lewis may not have been.

…1937, Dorothy Sayers’ fictional detective, Lord Peter Wimsey married Harriet Vane in Busman’s Honeymoon.

…1919, 15 airplanes left San Francisco, CA and 48 airplanes left NYC in the first US transcontinental air race. This round trip race was won by Lt. Belvin Maynard in less than 10 days or 24hrs, 59min 49 secs flying time.

…1871, the great Chicago fire began. Damages: 200-300 people killed, 17,450 building destroyed, 100,000 homeless, $200 million in damages (2007$=$3 billion). Was it a the O’Leary’s prized cow, someone who had it out for the O’Leary’s OR a comet??