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(21-01-2012 14:13 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1937 - Marcel Boulestin became the first television cook when he presented the first of the Cook’s Night Out programmes on BBC.

Boulestin, born in Périgord in France in 1878, was one of the cookery legends of his era. He tried a number of occupations before finding his role as a restaurateur. He worked as secretary and ghostwriter to the author "Willy" (Henry Gauthier-Villars) in Paris, and then moved to London, where he made his home and career from 1906 onward. There, he opened an interior design shop, which failed to make enough money. He wrote extensively, and was commissioned to write a simple French cookery book for English readers. It was a huge success, and thereafter his career was in cooking.

The Restaurant Boulestin, known as the most expensive in London, opened in 1927. Its fame, and the long series of books and articles that Boulestin wrote, made him a celebrity. His cuisine was wide-ranging, embracing not only the French classics but also dishes familiar to British cooks, and his work influenced many of his contemporaries, especially Elizabeth David, and it was no surprise that he was asked to contribute to the fledgling television service.

However, the stentorian Director General of the BBC, John Reith, would be spinning in his grave at the probability that his first TV chef was almost certainly gay. Homosexuality was rarely admitted in those days as it was a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment (it stayed that way until 1961) and discretion was essential. Boulestin's partner for the last 20 years of his life was food writer Robin Adair, and the couple were on holiday in France in September 1939 when war broke out. With the most unfortunate timing, Adair was taken ill and was too sick to travel back to England. Boulestin could have escaped but instead stayed with him. When the Germans invaded Adair was interred as an enemy alien and Boulestin moved around the country trying to stay as close to his friend as possible as he was moved from camp to camp. He was living just outside Paris when he himself was taken ill and died in 1943, aged 65.

Adair was released at the end of the war and returned to England, becoming the cookery correspondent of the British magazine Harper's Bazaar. He died in 1956. Boulestin's restaurant continued under various managements until 1994.

1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.

1771 - The Falkland Islands were ceded to Great Britain by Spain.

1840 - The first British colonists to New Zealand arrived at Port Nicholson on Auckland Island.

1879 - The Zulus massacred British troops at Isandlwana, known as the Battle of Rorke's Drift. Two British officers and 150 British and colonial troops fought off attacks of more than 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours. The battle was immortalized in the 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine.

1901 - Queen Victoria died, aged 81, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Her reign, the longest in British history, spanned 63 years and saw the growth of 'an empire on which the sun never set'.

1902 - Marconi carried out his first radio transmission experiments, transmitting from the Lizard, Cornwall, across the water to St. Catherine’s on the Isle of Wight.

1927 – First live radio commentary of a football match anywhere in the world, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.

1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

1970 – The Boeing 747, the world's first jumbo jet, enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from John F Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

1973 - American boxer George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion.

1996 - A mass grave containing nearly 3,000 Muslim and Croat victims of Serb ethnic cleansing was discovered near the Bosnian town of Brcko.

2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.

(22-01-2012 14:15 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1927 – First live radio commentary of a football match anywhere in the world, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.

On 1st January 1927 the BBC received its Royal Charter and became a public Corporation, and with it, granted the right to broadcast coverage of major sporting events.

The honour of being the first commentator of a game fell to Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam, a former rugby player with Harlequins. The broadcast was arranged at very short notice, too late for proper billing in the Radio Times.

The producer at the time, Lance Sieveking, devised a plan of the pitch divided into eight numbered squares, which was published in the Radio Times.

The idea was that the listener at home could follow the play from his armchair using the grid on his lap. Many believe this is the origin of the phrase "Back to Square One". In his autobiography, Wakelam describes how he was approached by the BBC: "One January afternoon, I was working out some details of a tender, when my telephone rang.

An unknown voice at the other end asked me if I was the same Wakelam who had played rugger for the Harlequins, and, upon my saying "yes", went on to inform me that the owner of it was an official of the BBC, who would much like to see me at once on an urgent matter."

Producer Lance Sieveking, organised a test commentary for Wakelam on a schools match, just days before making his commentary debut.

Fortunately, Sieveking's faith proved to be well-founded: no less a judge than John Arlott described Wakelam as "a natural talker with a reasonable vocabulary, a good rugby mind and a conscious determination to avoid journalese". The correspondent of The Times commended Wakelam's description of play as "notably vivid and impressive", while the Spectator concluded, "That type of broadcasting has come to stay".

Unfortunately, Wakelam's earliest commentaries have long since been lost, but by the end of 1927, a whole range of sports commentaries had been broadcast - including the Grand National in March, the Boat Race and the FA Cup Final in April and the Derby and Wimbledon (again featuring Wakelam) in June.

The Battle of Rorke's Drift, part of the Anglo-Zulu War, took place in Natal Colony, South Africa on this day in 1879.

Against overwhelming odds, 150 British soldiers successfully defended their mission station / garrison against 4000 Zulu warriors. 11 Victoria Crosses, the highest number of VCs ever awarded for a single action, were given.

I've put the Wikipedia link below. Enjoy reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorke%27s_Drift

1973: Nixon announces Vietnam peace deal
The US president, Richard Nixon, has appeared on national television to announce "peace with honour" in Vietnam.
Statements issued simultaneously in Washington and Hanoi confirmed the peace deal was signed in Paris at 1230 local time, bringing to an end America's longest war.

The ceasefire will begin at midnight Hanoi time on Saturday, 27 January, monitored by an international force made up of troops from Canada, Poland, Hungary and Indonesia.

President Nixon's speech from the Oval office at the White House was broadcast on national radio and television.


Let us now build a peace of reconciliation

President Richard Nixon

He said: "Throughout the years of negotiations, we have insisted on peace with honour, I set forth the goals that we considered essential for peace with honour.

"In the settlement that has now been agreed to, all the conditions that I laid down then have been met."

The conditions include the release of prisoners of war within 60 days and all American forces to be withdrawn within the same time period.

An international conference will be held within 30 days, probably in Vienna, to guarantee the peace.

American forces have been involved in the conflict in Vietnam for more than a decade. In 1967, there were 500,000 American troops deployed in Vietnam.

For the people of South Vietnam, the president had this message: "By your courage, by your sacrifice, you have won the precious right to determine your own future and you have developed the strength to defend that right.

"We look forward to working with you in future, friends in peace as we have been allies in war."

To the leaders of North Vietnam, the president said: "As we have ended the war through negotiations, let us now build a peace of reconciliation.

"For our part, we are prepared to make a major effort to help achieve that goal, but just as reciprocity was needed to end the war, so, too, will it be needed to build and strengthen the peace."


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Watch/Listen

The ceasefire will begin at midnight on Saturday 27 January


War in Vietnam draws to a close


President Nixon announces an end to the war






In Context
The last American troops left Vietnam on 29 March 1973.
The following year there were frequent violations of the peace treaty.

In 1975, fullscale warfare resumed between North and South Vietnam - without American intervention. In 1976 the first elections were held to a National Assembly, finally reuniting North and South.

As for Nixon, he had been re-elected with a landslide majority and sworn in for a second time three days before announcing the 1973 peace deal.

But his honeymoon period did not last. Before Nixon's re-election, it was known there had been a break-in at the Democratic offices in the Watergate building. By the end of January, it was being linked to his re-election campaign and an inquiry was ordered.

The scandal grew and on 9 August 1974, facing impeachment, he resigned.


Stories From 23 Jan
1973: Nixon announces Vietnam peace deal
1989: Many killed in Tajik earthquake
1955: Express train crashes killing 14
1971: Britain allowed to sell arms to S Africa
2002: Elderly patient sparks Commons row


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pa...716609.stm

1510 - Henry VIII, then just 18 years old, appeared incognito in a jousting tournament at Richmond, and was applauded for his jousting before he revealed his true identity.

1556 - An earthquake in Shanxi Province, China, was thought to have killed some 830,000 people.

1713 - The signing of the Treaty of Utrecht redrew the map of Europe. The treaty signalled the end of the long and bloody War of Spanish Succession. As part of the agreement Gibraltar and Minorca become British.

1849 - English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree, from the Geneva College in New York.

1900 – The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces during the Second Boer War resulted in a British defeat.

1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.

1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, who later rename it the "Frisbee".

1978 - Sweden banned aerosol sprays because of damage to environment; it was the first country to do so.

1985 - A House of Lords debate was televised for the first time

1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

1989 -Legislation came into force which permitted garages to display fuel prices by litre only, not by the gallon.

(23-01-2012 15:40 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, who later rename it the "Frisbee".

Walter Frederick Morrison discovered a market for the modern day flying disc in 1938 when he and his future wife Lucile were offered 25¢ for a cake pan that they were tossing back and forth to each other on the beach in Santa Monica, California. "That got the wheels turning, because you could buy a cake pan for 5 cents, and if people on the beach were willing to pay a quarter for it, well, there was a business".

He sold the rights to his invention, then called the "Pluto Platter" on his 37th birthday and said in an interview some years later that he had received around $2 million in royalty payments, although he hated the new name "Frisbee", saying that it was "a horror....terrible!"

The man who was behind the Frisbee's phenomenal success however was "Steady" Ed Headrick, hired in 1964 as Wham-O's new General Manager and Vice President in charge of marketing. Headrick soon redesigned the Pluto Platter by reworking the rim thickness and top design, creating a more controllable disc that could be thrown accurately.

Headrick, commonly known as the "Father of Disc Sports", later founded "The International Frisbee Association (IFA)" and began establishing standards for various sports using the Frisbee such as Distance, Freestyle and Guts. Upon his death in 2002 Headrick was cremated and, in accordance with his final requests, his ashes were molded into memorial Frisbees and given to family and close friends.

Morrison died less than two years ago at the age of 90.

41 – Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula's uncle Claudius as Emperor.

1848 - James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of '49.

1862 – Bucharest is proclaimed capital of Romania.

1942 – World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.

1964 - The first "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue was published.

1965 - Death of Sir Winston Churchill, aged 90, soldier, politician, historian and Prime Minister of Britain. He had correctly predicted that he would die on the same date as his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who had died exactly 70 years before.

1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi was found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. He was among the last three Japanese hold-outs to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945, almost 28 years after the island had been liberated by allied forces in 1944.

1976 - Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, was dubbed 'The Iron Lady' in the Soviet newspaper 'Red Star' after her speech on the threat of Communism.

1978 - A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

1984 – The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.

1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi) of Uranus.

1990 – Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.

2001 - Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson resigned from the Cabinet over a passports for cash scandal. It was the second time he had left the Cabinet in disgrace since Labour came to power in 1997.

2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

2006 - Disney agrees to purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion.

1961 - Marilyn Monroe divorces her husband of 5 years, playright Arthur Miller.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...588212.stm

1966 - Over 100 passengers killed when an Air India Boeing 707 crashes into Mont Blanc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...056551.stm

1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.

1759 - Birth of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. His birthday is celebrated as ‘Burns Night’ by Scotsmen all over the world.

1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.

1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

1919 - Founding of The League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.

1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.

1971 - Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.

1990 - The so called Burns' Day Storm occurred on this day over north-western Europe, and was one of the strongest storms on record. It started on the birthday of poet Robert Burns, lasted for two days, caused widespread damage and was responsible for 97 deaths.

1995 – The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.

1999 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.

2006 – Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in conjunction with the serial killing of at least 10 elderly women.

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.