Day Tripping: May 18
Starting Over, Stampede, and Setting the Stage
Hasty Exit
Between 80,000 and 100,000 United Empire Loyalists of New York were being Black Listed in the days following the Revolutionary War. Many were attacked and had property vandalized by angry mobs of patriots. Their land was also taken for refusing to side with the revolution against Britain. Though original settlers of the ‘new world’, the Loyalists were forced to leave the United States for other territories.
In 1783, the first United Empire Loyalists arrived at St John in New Brunswick just North of Maine, where they first settled in a section called Parrtown. These emigrants represented some of the first Anglo-settlers in an area that was predominantly held by the French at the time.
Badly Planned Event
A planned celebration for the newly crowned Tsar Nicholas II of Russia turned ugly on the sacred grounds of Khodynka Field in 1896. A festival including free food, beer, and souvenirs was intended to feed a few thousand people at the centre of the Russian Empire’s hallowed field in Moscow, ballooned to nearly half a million.
When rumours began circulating that food and drink would run out, a stampede ensued, and around 1,400 people were trampled to death while thousands more lay injured. The dark day in the Tsar’s reign served as a harbinger for future tragedies to come when on the advice of his consorts, Nicholas attended a French hosted gala after visiting survivors in the hospital. Trust in his leadership never recovered from the decision.
Dress Rehearsal
As a final test run before the United States Space program would send two men to the moon’s surface, Apollo 10 lifted off for the moon in 1969. While orbiting the lunar surface, the fifth in a series of Saturn V rocket launches performed uncoupling and docking manoeuvres with a lunar module like the one that eventually landed on the moon.
Commander Thomas Stafford worked with his two pilots, John Young and Eugene Cernan as they tested every aspect of the coming mission, except for the actual landing and take-off of the lunar spacecraft. During the 31 revolutions around the moon, the first colour television transmissions were sent back to Earth. The crew of Apollo 10 hold the record for travelling the furthest from the Earth’s surface than any other humans, because of the wide arc trajectory of the two planetary bodies at the time of the mission.
Musical Milestones
During ‘Fun Day’ in 1975 at Mallory Park Racetrack in Leicestershire in England, BBC Radio booked The Bay City Rollers to perform on an island in the middle of the lake. The concept went off the rails when a mob of fans started swimming toward the island to get near their idols. As a result, the band never did perform that day.
Narratives
Archibald Constable and Company of London published Irish author Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897.
Remembrance
Playing the role of Eddie Haskell on the famous sitcom Leave It To Beaver left Ken Osmond typecasted for years onward, so he became a Los Angeles police officer as an adult. Ken passed away in 2020 at age 76.
Notable Births
1897 —Known for writing and directing some of cinema’s best romantic films like It’s A Wonderful Life, Frank Capra’s films came to be called ‘Capracorn’.
1949 — Rick Wakeman was a progressive rock keyboard genius who played with Yes.
1970 — From her start on SNL to 30 Rock, and then on to Broadway, Tina Fey is a much-loved force in entertainment.
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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