Good News in History, July 19

On this day 152 years ago, records reveal that the first Men’s Singles championship was played at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon. It would eventually become the world’s most celebrated tennis championship, known as one of the four “Grand Slams” in the international season. A 27-year-old named Spencer Gore was the first lawn tennis champion in England, beating William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. READ a little more… (1877)nnnn

nnUntil 1922, the reigning champion had to play only in the final, against whoever had won through to challenge them. Wimbledon is widely considered the world’s premier tennis tournament, and to that end a long-term plan was unveiled in 1993, intended to improve the quality of the event for spectators, players, officials, and neighbors.nnNo one has won more championships than Roger Federer (8, Gentlemen’s) and Martina Navratilova (5, Ladies).nnMORE Good News on this Day:n

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• Brian May, Queen co-founder, guitarist, and songwriter, was born (1947)

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• Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on the series Sherlock, and his Oscar-nomination role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, was born (1976)

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• The Irish Republican Army declared a ceasefire, ending their 25-year campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, following a pledge by the UK and Republic of Ireland to include Sinn Féin, the IRA’s political wing, in face-to-face peace talks (1997)

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• The TV drama “Mad Men” debuted, starring Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss on the AMC cable network (2007)

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n48 years ago today, Sagarmatha National Park was established in Nepal as the country’s first National Park. Enshrining the summit and breadth of the mountain known in the west as Everest, its total area encompasses 443 square miles, or 1,148 square km. In the north, it shares the international border with Qomolangma National Nature Preserve of Tibet. In the east, it is adjacent to Makalu Barun National Park, and is part of a mosaic of protected areas called the Sacred Himalayan Landscape. Sagarmatha was inscribed as a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site in 2002.nn

nnIt is largely composed of rugged terrain and gorges of the high Himalayas, ranging from  9,334 ft (2,845 meters) to the top of the world’s highest peak Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) at 29,029 feet, (8,848 meters) above sea level.nnThe Asiatic leopard, snow leopard, Himalayan Thar, serow, and musk deer inhabit the park, along with 208 bird species including the bearded vulture, Impeyan pheasant, and the snowcock. BirdLife International has designated the park an Important Bird Area. The property hosts over 20 villages with over 6,000 Sherpas who have inhabited the region for the last four centuries. Continuing their traditional practice of culture and religion including the restriction of animal hunting and slaughtering, and reverence of all living beings. (1976)nn83 years ago today, Tom and Jerry first appeared as an animated cartoon by Hanna Barbera. Featuring the ongoing rivalry between Tom the house cat and a mouse named Jerry, the first episode of their shenanigans was called The Midnight Snack.nnnnA contest to find the perfect names for both characters was won by animator John Carr. The show’s animators (William) Hanna and (Joseph) Barbera would continue to work on the series for the next fifteen years, creating 161 Tom and Jerry short films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that played in movie theaters.nnTheir plots mostly involve Tom and Jerry trying to one-up each other—and the mayhem and destruction that follows. Despite Tom’s clever strategies, determined mindset, large size, and exceptional overall intelligence, he rarely succeeds in winning a round while in the ring with Jerry’s cunning abilities, audacity, and luck. WATCH the first few brilliant minutes of The Midnight Snack… (1941)nn[raw][/raw]nn nn176 years ago, the women’s movement was born during the pioneering Women’s Rights Convention of Seneca Falls, New York.nnnnElizabeth Cady Stanton organized the two-day meeting during which they used the language of the Declaration of Independence to stake their claim to the rights they felt women were entitled to as American citizens. Stanton also introduced to the 300 men and women in attendance a radical idea for inclusion in the group’s declaration—the demand for a woman’s right to vote, “suffrage”. At that time, no women were allowed to vote anywhere on the planet, and many women, in fact, objected to the idea, thinking it was impossible.nnAdditionally, bloomers were introduced to the feminists gathered by Amelia Jenks Bloomer, according to fashion legend, who donned a pair at the conference where all the ladies were in dresses. (1848)nnOn this day in 1954, the first Elvis Presley single, That’s All Right, was released by Sun Records. Only 7,000 copies of the record (with Blue Moon of Kentucky on the B-side) were published, enough to make it a local hit in Memphis, Tennessee. The performance later was hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as the first rock-and-roll record.nnTwo weeks before this date, the 19-year-old Presley was invited to play with two session musicians to make his first commercial recording. He was fooling around on his guitar and began strumming the old blues number—playing the song faster than the original version—and it came out great. LISTEN to the 1:57 tune.nn[raw][/raw]nnSHARE The Milestones, Memories, and Music…