A Brief History On July 1, 1980, Canada officially adopted “O Canada” as its national anthem. Dating back to 1880, “O Canada” became the informal national anthem of Canada in 1939. The English form of the lyrics have been amended several times, including in 2018, while the French words remained the same. Digging Deeper Other countries have well known stirring anthems, and we list a few for you to pick from as your favorite: France, “La Marseillaise,” 1792. Germany, ”Deutschland Über Alles,” 1922. United Kingdom, “God Save the King (or Queen),” 1745. United States, “Star-Spangled Banner,” written 1814, adopted 1931.…
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A Brief History On July 31, 1970, the British Royal Navy experienced one of the darkest days in their long and glorious history, Black Tot Day. On that day, the RN ended its long tradition of giving each sailor at sea a drink of rum. Digging Deeper While you may not personally miss this bygone practice, we ask, “What do you miss the most?” Some possible answers could be: (for Catholics) The Latin Mass School Dress and Grooming Codes Drive-in Movies Decent Meals and Service on Airliners Polaroid Cameras Phone Booths The Milkman Vinyl Records Sears Catalog Cheap Gasoline Hot…
A Brief History On July 30, 2003, the last of the “old style” Volkswagen Beetles rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, ending the longest and most prolific manufacturing streak of any car platform ever made. Digging Deeper While Toyota fans will claim the Corolla as the most manufactured car model with 40 million units turned out, it must be noted that our beloved Beetle was built on the same basic platform throughout its 65 year run while the Corolla was often changed into a completely different car, merely retaining the name. A whopping 21,529,464 of these cute and…
A Brief History On July 29, 1973, British race car driver Roger Williamson met his death when his Formula 1 race car crashed at the Dutch Grand Prix. Digging Deeper Many other famous and infamous people have died in car wrecks, and we ask you to tell us which wreck you believe is the most famous, giving you a list of some of the notable wrecks to choose from: General George Patton, 1945 24 Hours at LeMans Race, 1955 (84 people died!) James Dean, actor, 1955 Jayne Mansfield, actress, 1967 Ted Kennedy, Senator, Chappaquiddick, 1969 Harry Chapin, singer, 1981 Princess…
A Brief History On July 28, 1866, Helen Beatrix Potter was born in London, England, to a moderately well to do family of Unitarians. Her father was a barrister and her mother came from a wealthy cotton trading and shipbuilding family. (See our other articles about some great women.) Digging Deeper Potter is most famous as the author of the classic children’s book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902. Potter was also renowned as an illustrator, a talented artist that designed greeting cards and contributed illustrations to the books of other authors. She was also a keen businesswoman…