Browsing: Lil’ History Chips

A Brief History On December 5, 1952, the people of London, England found out the hard way that smog is no joke.  Air pollution, cold weather, fog, lack of wind and a phenomenon known as an anticyclone combined in such a manner that huge quantities of smoke from factories and furnaces, largely from the burning of coal, was left lingering over the city. Digging Deeper The noxious smoke, at first believed to not be dangerous, even penetrated buildings, causing people respiratory distress.  Londoners called the episode, which lasted until December 9 when the weather finally cleared, “The Great Smog of 1952,” or…

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A Brief History On December 1, 1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best of The Beatles were arrested in Hamburg, Germany for the arson of the grubby room they had been staying in at a theater.  For this crime, they were deported back to England. Digging Deeper Apparently Best, the drummer who was later replaced by Ringo Starr, and McCartney were dissatisfied with the room and had left a burning condom nailed on a concrete wall as a token of their contempt for the lack of amenities.  Though they did not intend to burn anything down and though nothing actually burned…

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A Brief History On November 26, 1977, the people of southern Britain were astonished to find their afternoon televisions hijacked by an entity claiming to be “Vrillon.” (Some television viewers reported the entity’s name to be Gillon or Asteron.) Digging Deeper Hijacking a television signal, even for only 6 minutes (5:10 pm to 5:16 pm) is highly unusual to say the least.  That the hijacker claimed to represent the “Ashtar Galactic Command” is even more bizarre.   The hijacked signal came from the Hannington transmitter, a type of transmitter that does not receive its signal via cable but rather one that rebroadcasts…

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A Brief History On November 21, 1959, music DJ and rock and roll legend Alan Freed was fired by WABC in New York for refusing to sign a statement that he had never taken “payola,” bribes from record companies to play and promote certain records. Digging Deeper Freed is credited with being the man who popularized the term “rock and roll” while he worked as a DJ and song promoter in Cleveland.  In the 1950s, he appeared in movies that brought rock to the big screen, and he even had his own television show similar to what American Bandstand later became.  Sadly, his television show was cancelled after only…

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A Brief History On November 12, 1944, the Royal Air Force (RAF) used its heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster, to drop Tall Boy bombs on the last German battleship, the Tirpitz.   This attack was the 26th Allied attempt in a series of attacks over a 4-year period to sink her like her sister ship, the Bismarck.  And with 3 direct hits, over she capsized.  Digging Deeper The Tall Boys were giant 12,000-pound bombs designed by the British weapons designer Barnes Wallis.  They were so big that only Lancasters could lug them to the target.  No U.S. bomber of World War II times was…

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