Duke William I

Today in History 10/14 (Cuban Missile Crisis)

US President John F. Kennedy makes a national television speech on October 22, 1962, announcing a naval blockade of Cuba until Soviet missiles are removed (© AP)(1962) Missiles in Cuba bring the world to the brink
The Cold War burns hot as a US spy plane documents the first photographic evidence of Soviet nuclear warheads stockpiled in San Cristobal, Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. What follows will be weeks of crisis negotiations between the US and USSR that bring the world perilously close to a nuclear exchange.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
Start date: Oct 16, 1962
End date: Oct 28, 1962

1962 Cuba Missiles
Map created by American intelligence showing Surface-to-Air Missile activity in Cuba, 5 September 1962
wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
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(1962) Missiles in Cuba bring the world to the brink.
Also on this day,

1066 | Anglo-Saxon rule ends as the Normans conquer England in Battle of Hastings
Almost three weeks after landing his invasion force in England, Duke William I of Normandy takes on King Harold II and his infantry at the Battle of Hastings. By sunset, the Anglo-Saxon Age ends and William the Conqueror’s Norman rule begins, with Harold dead and William soon to be crowned king.
1934 | Must-see TV, on the radio as Lux Soap lures listeners with drama on the airwaves
At 2:30 PM, the NBC Blue Network comes on the air from New York with ‘Seventh Heaven,’ an adaptation of the Broadway play and the first program in the new ‘Lux Radio Theatre’ show. The anthology series will become hugely popular and remain on the air for the next 20 years.
1947 | Sound barrier broken as Yeager’s got the right stuff to fly at Mach 1
Former WWII fighter pilot Chuck Yeager flies an experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane at a supersonic speed that some experts believe will rip apart any aircraft. Yeager pushes it to Mach 1.07, faster than the speed of sound, and afterwards lands safely in the California desert.

Today in History 10/14/17

Captain Charles E. Yeager in October 1947 standing next to the Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft, which Yeager named the 'Glamorous Glennis' after his wife (© Underwood Archives/Getty Images)(1947) Yeager's got the right stuff to fly at Mach 1
Former WWII fighter pilot Chuck Yeager flies an experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane at a supersonic speed that some experts believe will rip apart any aircraft. Yeager pushes it to Mach 1.07, faster than the speed of sound, and afterwards lands safely in the California desert.
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a former United States Air Force general officer and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.
Born: Feb 13, 1923 (age 94) · Myra, WV
Net worth: $1.50 million USD (2016)
Spouse: Victoria Scott D'Angelo (m. 2003) · Glennis Yeager (m. 1945 - 1990)
Children: Michael Yeager (Son) · Don Yeager (Son) · Susan Yeager (Daughter) · Sharon Yeager Flick (Daughter)
Education: Air War College
Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) · Purple Heart · Distinguished Flying Cross · Silver Star · Legion of Merit · Bronze Star Medal · Air Force Distinguished Service Medal · Congressional Silver Medal
Highlights
  • 1942: After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II USAAF equivalent to warrant officer) and became a P-51 fighter pilot.

  • 1945: On February 26, 1945, Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse, and the couple had four children.

  • 1947: In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

  • 1947: As the first human to officially break the sound barrier, on October 14, 1947, he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m).

  • 1953: The Ridley/Yeager USAF team achieved Mach 2.44 on December 12, 1953.

  • 1997: On October 14, 1997, on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight past Mach 1, he flew a new Glamorous Glennis III, an F-15D Eagle, past Mach 1.

Chuck Yeager
Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager
wiki/Chuck_Yeager
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Today in History 09/28 (William the Conqueror)

Portrayal of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (© The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1066) A Norman duke bent on conquest lands in England
Duke William I of Normandy and his invasion force land at Pevensey on the Sussex coast to begin what will be nothing less than the conquest of England. By Christmas, ‘William the Conqueror’ is crowned king in London’s Westminster Abbey as England’s age of Anglo-Saxon rule ends.
William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.
Lived: 1028 – Sep 09, 1087
Spouse: Matilda of Flanders
Children: Robert Curthose (Son) · Henry I of England (Son) · William II of England (Son) · Adela of Normandy (Daughter) · Cecilia of Normandy (Daughter) · Constance of Normandy (Daughter) · Richard of Normandy (Son) · Adeliza (Daughter) · Agatha of Normandy (Daughter) · Matilda
Buried: Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen
Parents: Robert I, Duke of Normandy (Father) · Herleva (Mother)
Siblings: Odo of Bayeux (Brother) · Adelaide of Normandy (Sister) · Robert, Count of Mortain (Brother)
Highlights
  • 1053: In England, Earl Godwin died in 1053 and his sons were increasing in power: Harold succeeded to his father’s earldom, and another son, Tostig, became Earl of Northumbria.

  • 1065: In 1065 Northumbria revolted against Tostig, and the rebels chose Morcar, the younger brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, as earl in place of Tostig.

  • 1066: Harold’s brother Tostig made probing attacks along the southern coast of England in May 1066, landing at the Isle of Wight using a fleet supplied by Baldwin of Flanders.

  • 1066: Harold’s brother Tostig and Harald Hardrada invaded Northumbria in September 1066 and defeated the local forces under Morcar and Edwin at the Battle of Fulford near York.

  • 1083: More difficulties struck in 1083, when William’s eldest son Robert rebelled once more with support from the French king.

  • 1087: He was taken to the priory of Saint Gervase at Rouen, where he died on 9 September 1087.

Location of major events during the Norman conquest of England in 1066
Locations of some of the events in 1066
wiki/William_the_Conqueror
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(1066) A Norman duke bent on conquest lands in England.
Also on this day,

1928 | Bacteria finally, and accidentally, meet their match as Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
On his return from vacation, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming finds a staphylococci culture has been sullied by a mold that is destroying the bacteria. With this accidental discovery, Fleming has found penicillin, an antibiotic that will change the world and save countless lives.
1963 | Pop art explodes with the first showing of ‘Whaam!’
Roy Lichtenstein’s new art exhibition includes a big, bold diptych titled, quite appropriately, ‘Whaam!’ Zooming across canvas is the artist’s reworking of a panel from a war comic book. At once shocking, amusing, and utterly modern, it will become one of pop art’s emblematic works.
1981 | Olivia Newton-John gets ‘Physical’ hit single
The Australian singer—and ‘Grease’ star—releases the saucy single and its suggestive fitness-themed video. The song will become her biggest US hit, topping Billboard’s singles chart for 10 weeks.

Today in History 09/28/17

Scottish biologist Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1928) Bacteria finally, and accidentally, meet their match
On his return from vacation, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming finds a staphylococci culture has been sullied by a mold that is destroying the bacteria. With this accidental discovery, Fleming has found penicillin, an antibiotic that will change the world and save countless lives.
Sir Alexander Fleming FRS FRSE FRCS was a Scottish physician, biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. His best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the world's first antibiotic substance benzylpenicillin from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy.
Lived: Aug 06, 1881 - Mar 11, 1955 (age 73)
Spouse: Amalia Fleming (m. 1953 - 1955) · Sarah Fleming (m. 1915 - 1949)
Inventions: Penicillin
Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945) · John Scott Medal (1944)
Education: St Mary's Hospital Medical School (1903 - 1906) · Imperial College London · University of Westminster · Kilmarnock Academy
Highlights
  • 1915: Alexander Fleming married Sarah Fleming on December 22, 1915; their marriage lasted 34 years till October 28, 1949.

  • 1927: By 1927, Fleming had been investigating the properties of staphylococci.

  • 1929: He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after some months of calling it "mould juice", named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929.

  • 1940: Shortly after the team published its first results in 1940, Fleming telephoned Howard Florey, Chain's head of department, to say that he would be visiting within the next few days.

  • 1945: Fleming, Florey and Chain jointly received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945.

  • 1955: On 11 March 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a heart attack.

Synthetic Production of Penicillin TR1468
Synthetic Production of Penicillin Professor Alexander Fleming, holder of the Chair of Bacteriology at London University, who first discovered the mould Penicillin Notatum. Here in his laboratory at St Mary's, Paddington, London.

wiki/Alexander_Fleming
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