On This Day........

Too often we are looking onto the next best thing, the latest X and the recently unearthed Y.
I take great pleasure in looking back at events, people, days of note, great historical periods, as that is as much about who we are and where we have come from, as to where we are going - lets just hope huge shoulder padded jackets aren't coming back into vogue for the chaps.
Here's a slection of birthdays and interesting things that have happened On This Day in History....

1630 - Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.
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1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

1879 - In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.

1885 - The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.

1920 - The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.

1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.

1956 - Elvis Presley entered the music charts for the first time with "Heartbreak Hotel."

1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race.

1978 - Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen were arrested in New York and charged with drug possession.

1984 - The U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed that the state of Alaska was the fastest growing state of the decade with an increase in population of 19.2 percent.

1989 - Milli Vanilli won a Grammy for Best New Artist. It was admitted later that they were not the vocalists on the album.

1993 - Radiohead's first album, "Pablo Honey", was released.

1997 - Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned.

Born on the 22^nd February….

George Washington (U.S.) 1732 – legend of cherry trees and axes

Robert Baden-Powell 1857 – dib-dib-dib

John Mills 1908 – The 39 Steps amongst his 120 films!

Robert Wadlow 1918 – very tall chap

Edward M. Kennedy 1932 – the successful Kennedy

Jonathan Demme 1944 – ‘..you won’t find what you are looking for in those cheap shoes Clarice..’

Julie Walters 1950 – surely a Dame before long?

Kyle MacLachlan 1959 – Twin Peaks fame

Drew Barrymore 1975 – back on the straight and narrow