Day Tripping: March 27

Innovations, Incubators, and Implosions

Welcome to my daily feature where each day on the calendar marks a part of our shared history.

An Inventive Day

On the very same day of the calendar year, Abraham Gesner patented Kerosene in 1855, ML Byrn earned a patent for his “covered gimlet screw with a T-handle or The Corkscrew in 1860, and Andrew Rankin also received one for the Urinal in 1866.

Coincidence? I think not.

Whatever the case, it makes for explosive copy. Let’s drink to that and then…you know.

An Averted Catastrophe

Mary Mallon was an Irish cook who worked in the private kitchens of affluent families in New York City. Of the eight households she was employed by, members of seven of her employers contracted typhoid while she was there. Further investigation discovered that Typhoid Mary was the first documented asymptomatic carrier of a disease.

She was arrested in 1915 and placed under quarantine for the second and last time in her home on North Brother Island, New York, following five years of evading medical authorities. Medical researchers believed she had been carrying typhoid since her birth in Ireland, and if she had agreed to an operation the issue would have been resolved.

It is believed that Typhoid Mary was directly responsible for more than 400 deaths, and was stigmatised publicly for most of her life because she was an unwitting carrier. Something to think about if you still refuse to wear a mask.

An Unexpected Eruption

After one hundred and twenty-three years of lying dormant, Mount St. Helens began to emit steam and ash from its mouth in 1980. Following a week of seismic activity along the West coast of the United States, the volcano erupted and spewed lava and ash which intermittently lasted another three weeks, destroying more than 150 square miles of surrounding vegetation and wildlife.

Volcanic dust was reported as far away as 930 miles, including the foothills of the Alberta Rockies in Canada. The mountain’s height was reduced by 1300 feet in the wake of the eruptions.

Musical Milestones

George Harrison attends the wedding of his ex-wife Pattie Boyd, to his best friend, Eric Clapton in 1979. Clapton’s desperate love for Boyd is expressed in his song, Layla. The two musicians remain friends until Harrison died of cancer in 2001.

Narratives

In an obvious attempt to recreate the Beatles’ famous album concert of the Let It Be album, Irish band U2 performs a Los Angeles rooftop concert in 1987 to promote Where The Streets Have No Name. Unlike the Fab Four session in 1969, police in LA force the band to cease and desist, but not before U2 plays the song several times so they get enough film footage.

Remembrance

Three iconic figures of entertainment passed away on the same day in 2002. Milton Berle was universally known as Mr. Television in the 1950s and remained a star comedian throughout his career; the original and only star of Arthur of movie fame, Dudley Moore; and multi-Oscar-winning director of The Apartment and Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder.

Notable Births

1924 — Jazz singing great Sarah Vaughan

1950 — Keyboard player and composer for Genesis, Tony Banks

1963 — The Reservoir Dog himself, Quentin Tarantino

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