Browsing: July

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.  This episode was the last day the Royal Navy would follow the long tradition of supplying a daily drink of rum to their sailors.  We first brought up this terrible turn of events in our article “10 Traditional Parts of Life That No Longer Exist (Or Barely!)”  We have also touched on other articles that marveled at the things we did not have when this author was a lad, some of which may surprise…

A Brief History On July 29, 2020, Americans celebrate another of our greatest holidays, National Chicken Wing Day! In our household, this is a major event, so important that we actually celebrate it about once a week!  Unlike poseurs that only load up on delicious deep fried, sauce infused (or dry rubbed) wonderfulness during major sporting events, real chicken wing aficionados partake in their chosen repast of joy whenever the urge strikes!  Still, we agree that a special day must be set aside each year so that the uninitiated may be reminded of what they are missing. Digging Deeper Although…

A Brief History On July 27, 1689, the Battle of Killiecrankie was fought between Scots and Irish Jacobites against the forces of the Williamite Government of Scotland.  Every so often a battle occurs at a funny sounding place or with a funny sounding name of the battle, and today we take a look at some of those funny sounding battles. (Yes, we are including some wars as well as battles…) Some that come to mind that are not on our list (too predictable) include The War of Jenkins Ear, The Football War, The Whiskey Rebellion, The Great Emu War,and The…

A Brief History On July 24, 2001, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha made history as the first monarch of a country to get elected to the top political government job, in this case, Prime Minister of Bulgaria.  Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, born in 1937, had previously reigned as the last Czar of Bulgaria from 1943 to 1946.  As a minor child while Czar (or Tsar if you prefer), he reigned as Simeon II, though with a regency appointed to actually make the royal decisions Digging Deeper Speaking of leadership trivia, there are only 2 surviving people that served as head of state during World War…

A Brief History On July 22, 1587, a detachment of English settlers landed at Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina, with the intention of establishing a colony.  This group of colonists became famous as the mysterious “Lost Colony” of Roanoke, but prior to this infamous colonial failure, Sir Walter Raleigh and the English had made a previous unsuccessful attempt at establishing a colony at Roanoke, one that also resulted in the disappearance of the last English detachment at the colony. Digging Deeper After the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish had made numerous voyages of exploration and conquest…