Day Tripping: April 2

Projectiles, Pop Singers, and Paratroopers

Soaring Teenager

I’m not sure why, but yes, people actually used to do this. In 1877, a circus performer known as Zazel became the world’s first human cannonball. The fourteen-year-old English girl’s real name was Rossa Matilda Richter, and on this day she was hurled sixty feet in the air over an astonished crowd at the Royal Aquarium in London.

Though there was a thunderous bang and a huge puff of smoke, the mechanism used to launch the young acrobat was a system of tension springs invented by Canadian tightrope walker, William Hunt, (aka The Great Farini).

Of course, in 1877 this explosive performance was seen as a remarkable feat, but one can’t help wondering why it wasn’t debuted the day before, April 1.

Good Bye Daddio

On the same day in 1964, The Beach Boys record their first NO. 1 hit, I Get Around, and they fire their manager Murray Wilson. That fact wouldn’t be unusual by itself, except Murray Wilson was the father of three of the band members, including talented songwriter and visionary, Brian Wilson.

The family patriarch was a harsh critic of the group’s efforts, and finally having had enough verbal abuse, they showed him the door, permanently. Later, when Brian was discussing his appreciation for working with family members, added, “but the extra generation can become a hang-up”.

Seige On Antiquity

In what was expected to be a simple operation to hunt down terrorists and move out Palestinian militants in the town of Bethlehem, Israeli Defence Force personnel are dropped into the city to surround the Church of the Nativity. After fighting broke out behind Manger Square, about two hundred Palestinians break into the church compound and take up refuge there.

Inside the church, there are around sixty priests, monks, and nuns who are forced to wait out the 39-day standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. They insist they are not being held hostage, but the siege only ends with an agreement that the Palestinians inside turn themselves in.

Musical Milestones

Kilauren Gibb meets her natural mother, Joni Mitchell in 1997. The singer/songwriter had given the girl up for adoption thirty-two years earlier when she began her career.

Narratives

Charlie Chaplin had been labelled a communist during the Red Scare during the 1950s. The filmmaker/actor returned to the United States for the first time since residing in Switzerland in 1972.

Remembrance

Considered one of the best and most influential Jazz drummers of all time, Buddy Rich died in 1987. Notoriously short-tempered, he often ended up in fistfights with Frank Sinatra, and Dusty Springfield slapped him across the face on one occasion for his abusive insults. But, what a drummer!

Notable Births

1908 — Known more for his role as Jed Clampett, Buddy Ebsen was a talented singer and dancer

1914 — Sir Alec Guinness starred in epic films like Bridge On The River Kwai before becoming the iconic, Obi-Wan Kenobi

1920 — “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” You have to be old enough to remember Jack Webb on Dragnet

1939 — Marvin Gaye would have been forty-five the day after he was killed by his father

1942 —Blues, rock, bluegrass was all part of Leon Russell’s repertoire

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present