1483 After parliament declared Edward V illegitimate, the Duke of Gloucester became King Richard III. Out came the knives. (Years ago I took my heavily annotated copy Shakespeare eponymous play to a book binder for repair, and….never got it back, despite my several efforts. Gulp! I still miss it.)
1498 The first documented use of a toothbrush occurred in China. It was made from boar bristles. Psst, such bristles remained in use on toothbrushes until well into the Twentieth Century suitably bleached, standardised, and disguised so that the boar would never recognise itself in the bristles.
1870 Munich, Music. The premier of Richard Wagner’s ‘Valkyrie,’ the second part of the ring Cycle including the Ride of the Valkyries. It was tempting to use a still from that scene in ‘Apocalypse Now’ but forbore.
1945 San Francisco, Politics. Australia become one of first twenty-six nations to join the United Nations. Foreign Minister in the Labor government, Dr H. V. Evatt, signed the treaty.
1963 Before the Berlin Wall ‘Ich bin ein Berliner,’ said President Kennedy to an audience of four hundred and fifty thousand who cheered his words in dark days. Only later did the attack of the pigmies. Fake news has been around a long time. The picture below is from a memorial service held in Berlin 2016 for murder victims of a terrorist attack. By the way the Wikipedia entry makes short shrift of the pigmies.
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