THE ULTIMATE
On this day, April 29th 1899, Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington was born,
Born in Washington D.C. Duke became a pianist, composer and leader of his own jazz orchestra. His band toured Europ and operated out of New York City from the 1920s, though his music may have been termed he preferred 'beyond category' transcending genre to take its place in American Music. In a career spannning six decades Duke Ellington composed over a thousand pieces, particularly for 78 rpm records lasting three minutes. In 1999 he received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for his music. His classics include 'It don't mean a thing, If it ain't got that swing' and 'Take the A Train'. He appeared in a number of films and composed stage musicals.
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On this day, April 28th 1926, Harper Lee tha author of the American Modern Classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was born.
Harper Lee saw her book as a phenomenom, published in 1960 it tackled issues of innocence in the face of prejudice, particularly racial prejudice of the United States in the era of segregation. Doing so from the viewpoint of a young white girl, Scout, her older brother Jem and friend Dill, as their father Atticus defends a wrongly accused black man Tom Robinson. Whilst the children also speculate as to their reclusive neighbour, Boo Radley. The book has never been out of print, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and earning Harper Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. The book has become a mainstay in anti-racist teaching in schools, not just in the USA but across the English speaking world. Today the annual Earth Day, that celebrates the Earth, is held for the 50th time, beginning in 1970.
In 1970 it was mainly celebrated in thousands of schools, colleges and universities across the USA. However, it is now celebrated in nearly all the 193 nation states recognised by the United Nations. In 2016 the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed on this day, signed by over 120 countries. The unofficial flag of Earth Day features the 'Blue Marble' photograph of the Earth from NASA's Apollo 17 spacecraft, showing the mainly water Earth alone in space, white clouds swirling through the atmosphere just south of the continent of Africa, and obscuring Antarctica. What can you do today to celebrate the 50th Earth Day! See the Astronauts and Space Scientists planning the next voyages to the Moon's surface...4/20/2020 Not since the early 1970s has humanity set foot on the Moon, but there are space scientists and astronauts researching into, planning for and training to return - with the hopes of achieving a lunar base in this generation - and the first missions were under tha name of Apollo, NASA's next will be under the name Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, and their are plenty of female astronauts and scientists ready to take the next steps onto the lunar surface...
See Paul Ricon's super BBC article 'To the Moon and Beyond' at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/nkzysaP3pB/to-the-moon-and-beyond On this day, 19th April 1775, the American Revolution, or American War of Independence, began as shots rang out around the village green of Lexington in Massachusetts, and further fighting occurred later on in Concord.
Britain's thirteen American Colonies were increasingly unhappy at the lack of rights they were being allowed by Britain under King George III, despite being British citizens - particularly a lack of representation in the form of Members of Parliament when taxation upon the American Colonies was being discussed. In this disagreement the American Colonists were increasingly seeing the need for military actions to defend themselves and their British rights - to this end arms were being gathered. The British garrison in Boston embarked upon a search mission in Lexington and Concord, based on intelligence to seek and destroy any such weapons. On the 18th April, Paul Revere, and several others aware that the mission was about to be carried out, rode out through the night to warn the people of Massachusetts surrounding Boston that 'the British are coming', going from town to town and house to house to raise the alarm, so that the people would be able to hide the weapons and be ready to defend themselves against the actions of the British army, the 'Redcoats'. This has gone down in history as the 'Ride of Paul Revere'. In Lexington the local militia drew up in two lines ready to face the advancing British Redcoats, upon the village green - their orders were only to fire if fired upon, and if the British want war 'let it begin here'. The American Colonists were staring at the army of a superpower of the time, taking an incredible risk, with a very uncertain outcome. As both sides faced each other, shots rang out - although neither side was sure who had actually fired, was it a British officer, or was it American Colonist not in the lines of the militia but from a window or hedge overlooking the green. This led to volleys of shots from both sides, with the American Colonists suffering eight deaths and dozens of casualties. The British Redcoats then marched on to Concord, where a search for weapons was made, whilst Militia companies from across the region had amassed on a hill above the town. On the North Bridge one of the groups of British soldiers found themselves only metres away from the American Colonist militia, one of them appears to fired a warning shot, which led to further shots from the Redcoats, killing the first of the militia, before the American Colonists returned fire. The British Army now being outnumbered began a retreat back to their garrison in Boston, all along the retreat the Redcoats were harried by American Colonists from behind trees, not fighting in the open field - but using the trerrain they knew, to their advantage. Once back in Boston the British soldiers were then under a siege by the American, colonists - the American War of Independence had begun. The events have been called 'The Shot that was Heard Around the World' - and were the beginnings of the separation of the American Colonies, away from Britain, and the creation of a new country the United States of America, creating a new Republic built on the democratic traditions developed in England from the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. (Dedicated to Mr. Way, History Teacher at John Port School, Etwall, Derbyshire, in the 1980s - who first taught me about these events, that continue to shape the world we know today, amongst many other important events and life lessons.) On this day, 18th April 1955, Albert Einstein the German born physicist died.
Einstein is considered the most famous scientist winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921, and his Theory of Relativity is a key aspect of modern Physics. His formula 'E=MC squared' is probably the most famous equation in the world. He became a Swiss citizen, and also a US citizen after the Nazi takeover of Germany, knowing that his Jewish background meant he couldn't return to Germany in that era. His fame is in part due to his academic brilliance, with him being seeing as the archetypal genius, as well as his instantly recognisable looks with his seemingly electrically charged white hair of his later years. His theories including the warping of space and time, and the impact of gravitational waves and black holes. He was influential in getting the US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to develop nuclear weapons, for fear Nazi Germany was already on that path. An act that deeply troubled him later, due to his pacifist views, but he was glad the Nazis didn't manage to gain them. He loved the freedom of the USA, but was critical of the racism in US society that he saw being passed on from one generation to the next and said he would refuse to keep quiet about it. Today is the 50th Anniversary of the return to Earth of the sticken NASA spacecraft mission Apollo 13.
The crew of Apollo 13 - Lovell, Swigert and Haise - experienced an explosion in their Supply Module's oxygen tanks as they headed to orbit the moon, and reported to Mission Control - 'Houston we've had a problem'. The three astronauts were left in space, reducing their energy consumption and preventing their carbon dioxide levels climbing too high, whilst NASA officials in Houston tried to figure out ways to get offset the problem and return the astronauts to Earth - by only using what the astronauts had on board. Whilst the astronauts hung in space, their fate uncertain the world united below praying for their safe return. NASA worked out how the astronauts could create a do-it-yourself carbon dioxide filtration unit, by ripping up manuals and other equipment and using tape. This was one of only a series of problems the crew faced as their moon landing was cancelled and they readied for re-entry into the Eart's atmosphere - and the splashdown in the ocean. The mission events were turned into a major film in the 1990s directed by Ron Howard, with film stars Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon - the film altered the report of the explosion to Mission Control to the now poularly quoted 'Houston We Have a Problem', and created the phrase 'Failure is not an Option', which Gene Kranz the Nasa Flight Director for both Apollo X1 and XIII used as the title for his biography in 2000 - though he didn't use the phrase at the time, it did sum up what the atmosphere of the NASA teams. On the 15th April 1452 Leonardo Da Vinci was born. Da Vinci is seen as the foremost Renaissance painter with his works including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, being amongst, if not, the most well known paintings of all time. He is also known for his anatomical drawings and designs for inventions such as flying machines. On 15th April 1865 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, died having been shot the previous day at at Ford's Theatre, Washington DC, by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln became the first US President to be shot whilst in office. He had led the United States in the American Civil War against the Southern Confederacy, a split caused by divisions over whether states could allow slavery. Following victory in the Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the United States. This action, along with moves towards allowing African Americans full voting rights led to Booth's assassination of the President, often seen as the Great Emancipator.
On 14th April 1865 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, was shot at Ford's Theatre, Washington DC, by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln became the first US President to be shot whilst in office. He had led the United States in the American Civil War against the Southern Confederacy, a split caused by divisions over whether states could allow slavery. Following victory in the Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the United States. This action, along with moves towards allowing African Americans full voting rights led to Booth's assassination of the President, often seen as the Great Emancipator.
On This Day - 13th April - A Lead up to the English Civil War and the birth of a US President4/13/2020 On 13th April 1640 King Charles 1 recalled the English Parliament for the first time in 11 years. This Parliament was to become known as the 'Short Parliament'.
On 13th April 1743 Thomas Jefferson was born, Jefferson was the third President of the USA (1801-1809); as well as previously being the 2nd Vice President and the First Secretary of State. He was a key architect of the American Colonies' split from Great Britain, and the establishment of the US political system - being the main author of the 'American Declaration of Indepedence' 1776, as well as being a US Founding Father, being present at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 that drew up the US Constitution. In 1943 a memorial in Washington DC was opened to commemorate his achievements and role in the creation of the USA - however, today we recognise that though he warote 'All Men are Created Equal', one of the most well known phrases in the English language, his life didn't live up to that belief, he himself being a slave owner. |
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