Day Tripping: May 9

Speed Records, Cracked Codes, and Gaining Control

Fast Train

A steam-powered locomotive called City of Truro was clocked at 8.8 seconds going between two quarter-mile posts in 1904. Recorded by a British railway journalist named Charles Rous-Marten, and it represents the first time a steam engine exceeded 100 miles per hour in Europe. The actual speed of the train running between Plymouth and Paddington Station in London, which has since been verified by computer simulation, clocks in at 102.3 mph.

At the time, no other vehicle, automobile, or airplane in the world had yet reached the 100 mph milestone, except for an electric train that was running as an experimental railway in Germany, which was timed at 130 mph.

Slow Boat

On this day in 1941, British destroyers captured a German submarine off the coast of Iceland. After secretly boarding U-110 and finding the code cypher machine known as Enigma, the Royal Navy takes the device intact and then sinks the U-boat. The submarine’s captain ordered his crew to abandon ship, believing they were going to be rammed rather than the usual practice of scuttling the ship.

Germany’s command remained under the assumption that their secret weapon had gone down with the submarine, undetected. Enigma was taken to Bletchley Park where Alan Turing and a team of expert cryptographers learned the code to deciphering enemy communications, changing the fortunes of WWII dramatically.

Not A Bitter Pill

The US Food and Drug Administration approved GD Searle & Company’s Enovid birth control pill. The world’s first oral contraceptive is to be made available for production in 1960. After six years of clinical tests on women, ‘The Pill’ quickly became the most widely used form of birth control in America and then around the world.

Notably, Searle is also responsible for the introduction of Metamucil, Dramamine, and NutraSweet. The company is now solely owned by another pharmaceutical company that has recently been in the news quite often; Pfizer.

Musical Milestones

American Woman by The Guess Who goes to No. #1 in the US even though it is widely misinterpreted as being anti-American. The band was back home on stage in Canada when Randy Bachman began playing a riff during a break.

The crowd started getting into it, so with urging from Bachman, singer Burton Cummings adlibbed some lyrics. His inspiration came from the Canadian girls in the audience saying later, “What was on my mind was that girls in the States seemed to get older quicker than our girls and that made them, well, dangerous”.

Throw in a little anti-war sentiment, and you have a major hit.

Narratives

In the United States, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day, “a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country”.

HAPPIEST OF DAYS TO MOTHERS EVERYWHERE!

Remembrance

A very popular comedian for decades, Alan King who died in 2004, provided some of the funniest bits like this one he performed for a crowd in Las Vegas. Have a look and a good laugh. Make sure you stay for the last piece of the puzzle.

I wrote this about the consummate entertainer, Little Richard when he passed away last year in 2020.

Notable Births

1936 — Albert Finney is an English actor who played Winston Churchill, Hercule Poirot, and several notable characters in the film.

1946 — Former model and actress who played Murphy Brown on TV, Candice Bergen

1949 — The “Piano Man,” Billy Joel

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

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

A comprehensive directory for Day Tripping