Today’s WOTD – 26 October 2012
Scaramouch
[skar-uh-mouch, -moosh]
noun
1. a stock character in commedia dell’arte and farce who is a cowardly braggart, easily beaten and frightened.
2. (lowercase) a rascal or scamp.
Today’s quote
‘ … I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning – very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro – magnifico … ‘
– Queen, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘
On this day
26 October 1863 – Football Association forms in England, standardising the rules of soccer.
26 October 1881 – Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, the most famous gunfight in the Wild West. It is believed the gunfight lasted around 30 seconds and was between outlaws Billy Clanton, Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury and lawmen Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday. Three of the outlaws were killed, Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. The gunfight has been immortalised in a number of movies and songs.
26 October 1917 – birth of Felix the Cat, legendary cartoon character.
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27 October 1728 – birth of Captain James Cook, British explorer. Made three major voyages in which he discovered many of the islands of the south pacific, including the east coast of Australia. Cooktown, Queensland, is named after him. The house he grew up in was relocated from Yorkshire, England, to Melbourne, Australia and is open to visits (now known as Captain Cook’s Cottage and is situated in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne). Died 14 February 1779 after being stabbed by Hawaiians who credited their Chief Kalanimanokahoowaha (Kanaina) with the kill. Captain Cook’s body was then subjected a funeral ritual that was normally reserved for a Chief.
27 October 1923 – birthday of Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist.
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28 October 1922 – Benito Mussolini, of the National Fascist Party, takes over the leadership of Italy’s government, after forcing Prime Minister Luigi Facta to resign following the ‘March on Rome’. Mussolini took the title ‘IL DUCE’ (The Leader).
28 October 1962 – end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, known in Cuba as the October Crisis and in Russia as Kарибский кризис (Caribbean Crisis), one of the major events of the Cold War as it brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. It started when a USAF U-2 plane photographed evidence of Soviet air bases being constructed in Cuba on 14 October 1962. The U.S. considered bombing the bases, but ended up blockading Cuba, preventing Soviet weapons being delivered. Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev wrote to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, stating the blockade constituted an act of war. For 13 days, the Americans and Soviets conducted talks to resolve the crisis. On 28 October 1962, Kennedy and UN Secretary General U. Thant reached a public and secret agreement with Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets agreed to dismantle their weapons in Cuba, while the U.S. gave an agreement to never invade Cuba. Secretly, the U.S. agreed to dismantle its ballistic missiles in Turkey.
28 October 1965 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. Author of ‘The Old Man and the Sea‘.