Day Tripping: May 11

Assassination, Arrest, and Another Art Record

Cold Killing

Briton, John Bellingham had been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for years. When he was finally allowed to return home to England, he sought to receive justice for being left without recourse by the British government, but to no avail.

In 1812, John Bellingham sat calmly in the lobby of the British House of Commons. When Prime Minister Spencer Perceval appeared in the lobby, Bellingham stood, walked up to the leader, pulled out a pistol, and shot the Prime Minister dead. Without attempting to escape Bellingham stated, “I have been denied the redress of my grievances by government,” and then shouted, “I have been ill-treated.”

John Bellingham was convicted and sentenced to hang for the only assassination of a British Prime Minister in history. Spencer Perceval was 49-years-old and left behind a wife and twelve children.

Cool Capture

While Argentina was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its revolution against Spain in 1960, Israeli Mossad agents use the diversion of the festivities to capture Adolf Eichmann. The former SS officer and architect of “the final solution” of exterminating Jews in Europe, had fled to Buenos Aires after WWII after escaping an American prison camp.

Eichmann was kept under guard for nine days before he was spirited back to Israel to stand trial for war crimes and heinous crimes against humanity. Eichmann was drugged and carried onto a plane dressed as a ‘sick’ Israeli airline attendant.

Hot Market

The art world went crazy again in 2015 with Picasso’s The Women of Algiers(Version O). This time, at auction at Christie's in New York, the painting detached a record $179.3 million, outpacing the previous record for his Nude, Green Leaves and Bust which sold for $106.5 million.

Version ‘O’ of the great painters series was the last he created of ten which at one time in the 1990s all had a single owner, proving there is one thing far more lucrative than real estate. It’s just a lot harder to get into this game.

Musical Milestones

During an interview with Dick Cavett on his talk show, John Lennon tells the host his phone is being tapped by the FBI. Long after his death, many dismissed the remark as the rantings of a paranoid man, but evidence surfaced years later which confirmed the FBI’s investigation of the former Beatle.

Narratives

The HMS Beagle set sail from Woolwich, England in 1820, carrying Charles Darwin on his famous scientific adventure.

Remembrance

In 1981, the man who brought reggae music to the world, Bob Marley succumbed to his long and gruelling battle with cancer at the age of 36.

Notable Births

1888 — Irving Berlin composed many of the most enduring songs from the early twentieth century including a personal favourite, Putting On The Ritz.

1904 —There may not be a more recognizable style in art as that of surrealist painter, Salvador Dalí

1941 —All you boomers better sit down for this one. Eric Burdon of The Animals and War is 80-years-old today.

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 David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca

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