(793) Shocking raid from the north ushers in a new ageThe Kingdom of Northumbria sees uninvited guests arrive on Lindisfarne, an island off of England’s northeast coast. What these ‘Northmen’ do there, including destroying the abbey and killing its monks, will jolt Europe and earn the Vikings a fierce reputation for the ages.The Viking Age is the period from the late 8th century to the mid-11th century in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, between the Germanic Iron Age and the Middle Ages, from a general Scandinavian perspective. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation and conquest. In this period, the Norsemen settled in Norse Greenland, Newfoundland, and present-day Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey. Though Viking travellers and colonists were seen at many points in history as brutal raiders, many historical documents suggest that their invasion of other countries was retaliation in response to the encroachment upon tribal lands by Christian missionaries, and perhaps by the Saxon Wars prosecuted by Charlemagne and his kin to the south, or, were motivated by overpopulation, trade inequities, and the lack of viable farmland in their homeland. Information about the Viking Age is drawn largely from what was written about the Vikings by their enemies, and primary sources of archaeology, supplied with secondary sources like the Icelandic Sagas. But the Vikingers were not illiterates. Some history can be found on Runestones, a good example of this is the larger of the two Jelling Stones. Further did travellers like Adam of Bremen and Ansgar visit Scandinavia by the end of the Viking Age, and wrote imperative works of chronicle-style. And later did Saxo do the same. Also some Scandinavian early Middle-Ages works like Hávamál, Codex Regius, the Scanian Law have also been of historical help.
Start date: 800 AD End date: 1066
wiki/Viking_Age(1949) Big Brother is watching you as ‘1984’ is publishedNewspeak, thoughtcrimes, and Big Brother are introduced as George Orwell’s vision of a dystopian future is published. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ will be seen as both a great literary work and an accurate warning of the “double plus ungood” rise of totalitarianism and surveillance.Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell. The novel is set in Airstrip One, a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation. The superstate and its residents are dictated to by a political regime euphemistically named English Socialism, shortened to “Ingsoc” in Newspeak, the government’s invented language. The superstate is under the control of the privileged elite of the Inner Party, a party and government that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as “thoughtcrime”, which is enforced by the “Thought Police”.
Author: George Orwell First published: Jun 08, 1949 Number of pages: 298 Characters: Big Brother · Winston Smith · Emmanuel Goldstein · O’Brien · Julia · Syme Preceded by: Animal Farm Adaptations: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) · 1984 (1956) · Brazil (1985) · Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) · 1984 · 1984: A Personal View of Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ (1983) · 1984 · 1984
wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four(1959) US Post Office delivers mail by rocketThree thousand letters streak through the sky at 600 mph, encased in a guided missile shot from the nuclear submarine USS Barbero. This newfangled airmail travels a distance of more than 100 miles in 22 minutes, but Missile Mail delivery will prove cost-prohibitive and won’t catch on.Rocket mail is the delivery of mail by rocket or missile. The rocket lands by deploying an internal parachute upon arrival. It has been attempted by various organizations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. It has never become widely seen as being a viable option for delivering mail, due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures. wiki/Rocket_mail(1968) Suspected killer of Martin Luther King, Jr. arrestedTwo months after civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee, his suspected assassin is apprehended at London’s Heathrow Airport. James Earl Ray will be extradited back to the US, stand trial, and be convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison.James Earl Ray was a convicted murderer who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray was convicted on his 41st birthday after entering a guilty plea to forgo a jury trial. Had he been found guilty by jury trial, he would have been eligible for the death penalty.
Born: Mar 10, 1928 · Alton, IL Died: Apr 23, 1998 · Nashville, TN Movies: Who Killed Martin Luther King? Parents: Lucille Ray (Mother) · James Gerald Ray (Father)
Highlights
1959: In 1959 he was caught stealing $120 in an armed robbery of a St. Louis Kroger store.
1968: Arriving in Atlanta on March 24, 1968, Ray checked into a rooming house.
1968: There, on March 30, 1968, he bought a Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .30-06-caliber rifle and a box of 20 cartridges from the Aeromarine Supply Company.
1968: On April 4, 1968, Ray killed Martin Luther King with a single shot fired from his Remington rifle, while King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968: On June 8, 1968, two months after King’s death, Ray was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on the false Canadian passport.
1998: Ray died at age 70 on April 23, 1998, at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital from complications related to kidney disease and liver failure caused by hepatitis C.
(1956) The Milton Berle Show features a scandalous ElvisNew singing sensation Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on NBC’s ‘Milton Berle Show,’ this time to perform his single ‘Hound Dog.’ Teenagers swoon, while the older set and most critics are outraged at Presley’s indecent gyrations. Future TV gigs will film Elvis from the waist up.Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer-songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll” or simply “the King”.
Lived: Jan 08, 1935 – Aug 16, 1977 (age 42) Height: 6′ 0″ (1.82 m) Spouse: Priscilla Presley (m. 1967 – 1973) Partner: Linda Thompson (1972 – 1976) Children: Lisa Marie Presley (Daughter) Buried: Graceland
wiki/Elvis_Presley(1963) ‘Profumo Affair’ rocks the British governmentTeenage showgirls, possible prostitution, and the British War Secretary sharing a lover with a Soviet diplomat are the ingredients in a stew of a scandal forcing the resignation of John Profumo, and ultimately leading to the fall of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government.The Profumo affair was a British political scandal that originated with a brief sexual relationship in 1961 between John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan’s government, and Christine Keeler, a 19-year-old would-be model. In March 1963, Profumo denied any impropriety in a personal statement to the House of Commons, but was forced to admit the truth a few weeks later. He resigned from the government and from Parliament. The repercussions of the affair severely damaged Macmillan’s self-confidence, and he resigned as prime minister on health grounds in October 1963. His Conservative Party was marked by the scandal, which may have contributed to its defeat by Labour in the 1964 general election. wiki/Profumo_affair(1967) Israel launches preemptive attack on Egyptian air powerCiting an Arab military build-up near its border with Egypt, Israel launches air strikes on Egyptian airfields, destroying upwards of 400 aircraft. The Six-Day War will grow to include Syria and Jordan, and Israel will capture the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Start date: Jun 05, 1967 End date: Jun 10, 1967
wiki/Six-Day_War(1968) Robert F. Kennedy brought down by assassin’s bulletsPresidential candidate Robert Kennedy is shot three times as he departs the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after giving a victory speech following his California Democratic Primary win. He will die the next day from his wounds, almost five years after his brother John was assassinated.On June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, shortly after winning the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election, and died the next day while hospitalized.
(1864) General Grant makes a tragic decision at Cold HarborConfederate forces are entrenched just 10 miles southeast of Richmond, capital of the Confederacy. Union General U. S. Grant orders a full frontal assault, despite his reinforcements not having arrived, and 7,000 Union troops are dead within an hour’s time in one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles.The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, and is remembered as one of American history’s bloodiest, most lopsided battles. Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army.
Start date: May 31, 1864 End date: Jun 12, 1864
wiki/Battle_of_Cold_Harbor(1943) Military men target Latinos in L.A. riotingFueled by racism, and what’s perceived as the flaunting of wartime rationing rules, the Zoot Suit Riots flare in Los Angeles as white Marines and Navy sailors attack young Latino men. Other cities will see similar clashes between soldiers and minorities wearing the distinctive suit.The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of attacks in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, by white American servicemen stationed in Southern California against Mexican American youths and other minorities who were residents of the city.
Date: 1943
wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots(1967) Aretha Franklin gets some R-E-S-P-E-C-T Aretha Franklin hits No. 1 on the ‘Billboard’ Hot 100 singles chart with her version of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect,’ turning the song into a women’s anthem. Decades later, Rolling Stone will rank her recording as one of the five greatest songs of all time.“Respect” is a song written and originally released by American recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding’s version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants. He won’t care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect, when he brings money home . However, Franklin’s version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his “respect”. Franklin’s version adds the “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” chorus and the backup singers’ refrain of “Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me…”
Franklin’s cover was a landmark for the feminist movement, and is often considered as one of the best songs of the R&B era, earning her two Grammy Awards in 1968 for “Best Rhythm & Blues Recording” and “Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female”, and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored Franklin’s version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It was placed number five on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. Franklin included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris (1968).
Album: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You Artists: Aretha Franklin · Otis Redding Duration: 2:21 Genre: R&B / Soul, Soul
wiki/Respect_(song)(1968) Pop art provocateur is nearly assassinatedAlready well into his 15 minutes of fame, Andy Warhol, the king of Manhattan’s underground art-world elite, is shot at his famed workspace, The Factory. He will survive after a 5-hour operation, and his would-be assassin, Valerie Solanas, will be diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.Andy Warhol was an American artist, director and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Diptych, the experimental film Chelsea Girls, and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
Lived: Aug 06, 1928 – Feb 22, 1987 (age 58) Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m) Periods: Pop art · Modern art Education: Carnegie Mellon University (1945 – 1949) · Schenley High School (1942 – 1945) Buried: St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery Parents: Julia Warhola (Mother) · Andrej Warhola (Father)
(1616) William Shakespeare dies on his birthday According to tradition, the revered English-language playwright is born on this date in 1564, and he dies on the same date 52 years later. In between, the Stratford-upon-Avon native is credited with writing 38 plays and 154 sonnets that will outlive him by centuries.William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet, and the “Bard of Avon”. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Lived: Apr 23, 1564 – Apr 23, 1616 (age 52) Height: 6′ 4″ (1.93 m) Spouse: Anne Hathaway (m. 1582 – 1616) Children: Susanna Hall (Daughter) · Hamnet Shakespeare (Son) · Judith Quiney (Daughter) Lyricist for: Romeo and Juliet · Macbeth · A Midsummer Night’s Dream · The Taming of the Shrew · The Comedy of Errors · Titus Andronicus · Antony and Cleopatra · The Two Gentlemen of Verona · Standup Shakespeare Education: King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon
Highlights
1582: At 18, he married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant.
1593: In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague, Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.
1596: In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames.
1599: In 1599, two early drafts of sonnets 138 and 144 appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim, published under Shakespeare’s name but without his permission.
1609: Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare’s non-dramatic works to be printed.
1616: Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52.
wiki/William_Shakespeare(1954) Hank Aaron hits his first home runAaron hits his first MLB home run, playing for the Milwaukee Braves against the St. Louis Cardinals. ‘Hammerin’ Hank’ would go on to surpass Babe Ruth and retire in 1976 with 755 home runs, setting a record that would stand until 2007.Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron, nicknamed “Hammer”, or “Hammerin’ Hank”, is a retired American Major League Baseball right fielder who is currently the senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League, from 1954 through 1976. Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its “100 Greatest Baseball Players” list.
Born: Feb 05, 1934 (age 83) · Mobile, AL Height: 6′ 0″ (1.83 m) Spouse: Billye Aaron (m. 1973) · Barbara Lucas (m. 1953 – 1971) Education: Central High School Children: Lary Aaron (Son) · Gary Aaron (Son) · Hank Aaron, Jr. (Son) · Dorinda Aaron (Daughter) · Gaile Aaron (Daughter) · Ceci Aaron (Daughter) Siblings: Tommie Aaron (Brother) · Alfredia Scott (Sister)
Highlights
1953: Hank Aaron married Barbara Lucas on October 06, 1953; their marriage lasted 18 years till February 01, 1971.
1954: He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL), from 1954 through 1976.
1969: On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle’s total; this moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth.
1971: At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time.
1973: He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record.
1999: In 1999, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron’s surpassing of Babe Ruth’s career home run mark of 714 home runs and to honor Aaron’s contributions to baseball.
wiki/Hank_Aaron(1968) Students take over Columbia University in Vietnam protest Angered at the school’s affiliation with institutions connected to the Vietnam War, students at New York’s prestigious Columbia University stage a mass protest and take control of buildings on campus. Police will later move in to clear the protesters.The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as their concern over an allegedly segregatory gymnasium to be constructed in the nearby Morningside Park. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and the eventual violent removal of protesters by the New York City Police Department.
Start date: Mar 27, 1967 End date: Apr 30, 1968
wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968(2005) Online video mania begins with elephantsAn 18-second clip titled, ‘Me at the Zoo,’ is the first video uploaded to YouTube. The clip features YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim admiring elephants at the San Diego Zoo. Though Karim’s video is a far cry from ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘What Does the Fox Say?’ it will open the floodgates to the now ubiquitous video-sharing site.YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005. Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion; YouTube now operates as one of Google’s subsidiaries. The site allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to favorites, report and comment on videos, subscribe to other users, and it makes use of WebM, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, and Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media videos. Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.
Website: www.youtube.com Customer service: +1 650-253-0000 Founded: Feb 14, 2005 · San Mateo, CA Headquarters: San Bruno, CA CEO: Susan Wojcicki (2014) Founders: Jawed Karim · Steve Chen · Chad Hurley
(1850) Los Angeles becomes an American citySettled for millennia by Native Americans, then claimed by the colonial Spanish, and later by Mexico, a dusty ranch town is officially incorporated as the city of Los Angeles. It will go on to be the second-most populous city in the United States.
The written history of Los Angeles city and county began with a small Mexican town that changed little in the three decades after 1848, when California became part of the United States. Much greater changes came from the completion of the Santa Fe railroad line from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1885. Immigrants flooded in, especially white Protestants from the Midwest. Los Angeles had a strong economic base in farming, oil, tourism, real estate and movies. It grew rapidly with many suburban areas inside and outside the city limits. Hollywood made the city world famous, and World War II brought new industry, especially high-tech aircraft construction. Politically the city was moderately conservative, with a weak labor union sector.
Since the 1960s growth has slowed—and traffic delays have become famous. LA was a pioneer in freeway development as the public transit system deteriorated. New arrivals, especially from Mexico and Asia, have transformed the demographic base since the 1960s. Old industries have declined, including farming, oil, military and aircraft, but tourism, entertainment and high tech remain strong.
wiki/History_of_Los_Angeles(1873) Kennel Club purebred dog registry is foundedSeeing the need for formal rules and regulations in the breeding, registry, and showing of pedigreed dogs in the United Kingdom, Sewallis Shirley establishes The Kennel Club with 12 other canine connoisseurs, the first such organization in the world.The Kennel Club is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world. Its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also operates the national register of pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom and acts as a lobby group on issues involving dogs in the UK. Its headquarters are located on Clarges Street in Mayfair, London, with business offices in Aylesbury.
Website: www.thekennelclub.org.uk Founded: 1873 Subsidiary: The Kennel Club Charitable Trust
wiki/The_Kennel_Club(1968) Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated Visiting Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking workers, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed as he stands on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Months later, James Earl Ray will be charged with the murder.Martin Luther King Jr. was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. King was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. that evening. He was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience.
Date: Apr 04, 1968
wiki/Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King_Jr.(1975) College dropouts start companyChildhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch the future tech giant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Gates as CEO. They initially spell the company’s name as Micro-Soft, a combination of the words ‘microcomputer’ and ‘software,’ but later drop the capital ‘S’ and hyphen. Other names they considered include ‘Outcorporated Inc.’ and ‘Allen & Gates.’Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup. As of 2016, it was the world’s largest software maker by revenue, and one of the world’s most valuable companies.
(793) Shocking raid from the north ushers in a new age
(1949) Big Brother is watching you as ‘1984’ is published
(1959) US Post Office delivers mail by rocket
(1968) Suspected killer of Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested
