Happy Birthday to former President Jimmy Carter who turns 100 years old today. The 39th president of the United States from 1977–1981, is one of the few American presidents to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (for his Camp David Accords). He is also the first American centenarian president, perhaps a result of him only serving a single term, or because of his extensive charity work through various housing organizations like Habitat for Humanity. He pardoned all Vietnam draft dodgers and consciousness objectors, and pursued a second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviets. READ about his charity work… (1924)nnnn nn
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- John Philip Sousa, who later, invented the sousaphone, became leader of the United States Marine Corps Band (1880)
- Everything-Happens-For-a-Reason: Wiley Post had an accident that cost his left eye–but the settlement money bought him his first aircraft and he became the first pilot to fly solo around the world (1926)
- Jackie Gleason’s sitcom The Honeymooners debuted on CBS television (1955)
- Cyprus and Nigeria gained their independence from the UK in 1960; Ghana, in 1957
- Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60 set in 1927 (1961)
- Following the announcement of “Heeeeere’s Johnny,” Johnny Carson took the stage to host his first Tonight Show, interviewing guests Rudy Vallée, Tony Bennett, Mel Brooks, and Joan Crawford (1962)
- The Japanese Shinkansen ‘bullet’ trains began the first high-speed rail service (1964)
- The Free Speech Movement was launched on the UC Berkeley campus–info (1964)
- Happy 54th Birthday to comedian, writer, and actor Zach Galifianakis, known for his role as the awkward brother-in-law in The Hangover (1969)
- The United States returned sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama (1979)
- The first CD player was released by Sony for consumer use of compact discs (1982)
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n163 years ago today, the illustrious Mrs. Beeton published her Book of Household Management, a tome with everything to know about the running of a Victorian British household. In the first year of print, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management sold 60,000 copies, and has remained in print in various editions up until present day. It was used as a “very important” guide and reference for the making of Downton Abbey, and contains many recipes that are just as mouthwatering today as they ever were.nn
nnDespite the fact that Mrs. Isabella Beeton passed away in 1865, the book expanded steadily in length, until by 1907 it reached 74 chapters and over 2000 pages. Nearly two million copies were sold by 1868. Beeton began the book when she was 21 years old, and continued to publish each chapter as a magazine article for her husband’s The Englishwomen’s Domestic Magazine. nnIn the preface she wrote: I must frankly own, that if I had known, beforehand, that this book would have cost me the labour which it has, I should never have been courageous enough to commence it. What moved me, in the first instance, to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought upon men and women by household mismanagement.nnThere’s an illustrated guide to all the appropriate tools a kitchen must be stocked with, all the worthwhile fish one should buy from a fishmonger, and all the most-liked fruits and how they should be arranged on silver platters.nnIn the introduction to cookery explains “the progress of mankind from barbarism to civilization”, with a mention of man “in his primitive state, [living] upon roots and the fruits of the earth”, rising to become “a hunter and a fisher”; then a “herdsman” and finally “the comfortable condition of a farmer.” It is granted that “the fruits of the earth, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea, are still the only food of mankind… [but that] these are so prepared, improved, and dressed by skill and ingenuity, that they are the means of immeasurably extending the boundaries of human enjoyments.”nnHer letters on tomatoes are particularly strange, as she emphasized thrift and economy, and like many other English of her time, had a serious distaste for foreign foods, describing mangoes tasting like turpentine and cheese as a thing to be eaten only by sedentary people.nn”(The tomato’s) flavor stimulates the appetite, and is almost universally approved. The Tomato is a wholesome fruit, and digests easily. The whole plant has a disagreeable odor, and its juice, subjected to the action of the fire, emits a vapor so powerful as to cause vertigo and vomiting.” (1861)nn53 years ago today, Walt Disney World Resort opened near Orlando, Florida. Covering 39 square miles (101 km2), “The Florida Project”, as it was known inside the company, was developed by Walt Disney himself in the 1960s. After he died during the initial planning, the company, which already operated Disneyland in California, wrestled with whether to bring the project to fruition. However, Walt’s older brother, Roy, came out of retirement to make sure Walt’s biggest dream was realized.nn
President Lincoln had set aside the majestic valley, years earlier, marking the first time in human history a huge tract of land had been dedicated to public use and preservation. The more than one million square-miles of Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are host to giant sequoia trees, towering waterfalls, and the largest granite monolith in the world, El Capitan. (1890)nnAnd, Happy 89th Birthday to actress, singer, and author, Julie Andrews. At age 21, she rose to prominence starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, but it was her film debut in Mary Poppins that won her the Academy Award for Best Actress—and her role as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music that won our hearts.nn
