16 February 2016
gaga or ga-ga
[gah-gah]
adjective, Informal.
1. excessively and foolishly enthusiastic:
The public went gaga over the new fashions.
2. ardently fond; infatuated:
He’s gaga over the new girl in class.
3. demented; crazy; dotty.
Origin of gaga
French
1915-1920; < French; imitative
Dictionary.com
Anagram
a gag
Today’s quote
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
– Douglas Adams (From Life, the Universe and Everything)
On this day
16 February 1923 – the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen in Egypt is opened, after it was recently discovered by British archaeologist, Howard Carter. The tomb was 3,000 years old.
16 February 1936 – The left-wing Popular Front is elected to power in Spain. The Popular Front was a coalition of numerous Communist and Socialist parties, including the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Communist Party of Spain (PCE), Worker’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), Republican Left (IR) and Republican Union Party (UR). The pact which enabled the formation of the Popular Front was supported by Galician (PG) and Catalan nationalists (ERC), the Workers’ General Union (UGT) and the anarchist trade union, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). The Popular Front had defeated the National Front (a coalition of right-wing parties) in the elections, and was formed to combat the rising tide of right-wing Fascism throughout Europe. In July 1936, conservative monarchists led by General Francisco Franco instigated a military coup that started the Spanish Civil War. Franco received backing from Mussolini and Hitler, while some of the left-wing forces, including the International Brigade (formed of volunteers from all over Europe) received backing from Stalin. British author, George Orwell, a democratic socialist, travelled to Spain and fought with the POUM because he wanted to help defeat Fascism. It was only be chance that Orwell didn’t join the International Brigade. The POUM (an anti-Stalinist Communist Party) was declared an illegal organisation in 1937 by the government in an effort by Communist forces to purge Troskyists, forcing Orwell to flee or face imprisonment. Orwell wrote of his Spanish Civil War experience in Homage to Catalonia. His experience made him a life-long anti-Stalinist and committed Democratic Socialist. In April 1939, Franco’s forces defeated the Popular Front, installing him as President. Franco ruled Spain with a military dictatorship until his death in 1975.
16 February 1959 – Fidel Castro sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba after leading a successful revolution against the President Batista.
16 February 1983 – Ash Wednesday bush-fires burn over 2,000m2 of land in South Australia and Victoria, killing 75 people, destroying more than 3,700 buildings, and more than 2,500 people lost their homes.