1916 The nineteen year-old Tristan Tzara created the first Dadaist performance when, wearing a monocle, he mounted the Cabaret Voltaire stage singing sentimental melodies and handing paper wads to spectators, followed by masked actors on stilts, and returning in clown attire. It made no sense and that was the point. The Dada Manifesto, which likewise makes no sense, followed in July. The absurdity of life seemed appropriate to the industrial slaughter of trench warfare occurring at the time. The idea that art needs not have a meaning has infused much of modern art that followed. In keeping with Dadaism sometimes the date is given as 5 February as in the plaque below.
1931 After a brief visit H. L. Mencken called the state of Arkansas the “apex of moronia” in a region he said was “almost as sterile, artistically, intellectually, culturally, as the Sahara Desert.” HL always pulled his punches. Today HL would find many targets for his acid typewriter. Against the Mencken gild standard, Hunter Thompson is a pale imitation. A biography of Mencken is discussed elsewhere on this blog. Search and click to find it.
1954 Queen Elizabeth visited Australia, the first reigning monarch to do so. Baby Kates was taken to watch a procession.
1960 Daniel in the den, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made the “Wind of change” speech before the all white parliament in apartheid South Africa. In it he accepted, even welcomed, black rule in African nations. His aim was to align Britain with the future, not the past. No doubt the hope was also to buy time with such a show of good will. The response in the room was an icy and stony silence.
1966 The Soviet Union made the the first controlled landing on the moon, when the unmanned spacecraft Lunik 9 touched down on the Moon’s Ocean of Storms. After its soft landing, the spherical capsule opened like a chrysalis, deploying its antennas, and began transmitting photographs and television images back to Earth.
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