Happy Saturday, or Caturday, or Fatterday (I eat a huge breakfast on the weekends, so that applies…)
Today's Interrogation: Did you ever engage in any kind of behavior that you regret today? How many languages do you speak? What is your favorite movie adaptation of a novel you have read and enjoyed? What is your least favorite movie version of a novel you have read and enjoyed? What is the worst thing you have encountered being added to what should be a favorite dish of yours in a restaurant?
The Twitter Emitter
On This Day
In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
In 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America elected Jefferson Davis president and Alexander H. Stephens vice president.
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.
In 1889, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill elevating the Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the Department of State of being filled with Communists. The present day Republicans are constantly leveling similar charges against every part of the Obama administration, but fortunately are only taken serious by Fox News and its viewers.
In 1964, the Beatles made their first live American TV appearance, on "The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1971, Satchel Paige became the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Born on This Day
1737 – Thomas Paine, English radical liberal philosopher/American revolutionary (d. 1809)
1773 – William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
1865 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, British actress (d. 1940)
1883 – Jules Berry, French actor (d. 1951)
1891 – Ronald Colman, English actor (d. 1958)
1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
1901 – Brian Donlevy, Irish actor (d. 1972)
1901 – James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)
1909 – Heather Angel, British actress (d. 1986)
1909 – Carmen Miranda, Brazilian actress (d. 1955)
1909 – Dean Rusk, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
1915 – Lennard Pearce, English actor (d. 1984)
1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress (d. 2010)
1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist
1932 – Gerhard Richter, German painter
1940 – Brian Bennett, British musician (The Shadows)
1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African author, Nobel laureate
1942 – Carole King, American singer
1943 – Barbara Lewis, American singer and songwriter
1944 – Alice Walker, American writer
1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress
1946 – Jim Webb, American politician, senior senator of Virginia
1947 – Joe Ely, American musician (The Flatlanders)
1953 – Ciarán Hinds, Northern Irish actor
1981 – The Rev, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold) (d. 2009)
Died on This Day
1675 – Gerhard Douw, also known as Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (b. 1821)
1891 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)
1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet (b. 1872)
1951 – Eddy Duchin, American musician (b. 1910)
1960 – Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (b. 1870)
1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born actress (b. 1884)
1969 – George "Gabby" Hayes, American actor (b. 1885)
1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian musician (b. 1908)
1981 – Bill Haley, American musician (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1925)
1997 – Brian Connolly, Scottish singer (Sweet) (b. 1945) (The only song of theirs that I like, a total guilty pleasure)
1997 – Barry Evans, British actor (Michael Upton on "Dr. in the House," which I loved in Jr. High… (b. 1943)
2002 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
Today is
National Bagels and Lox Day
Pizza Pie Day
Read in the Bathtub Day
Toothache Day