A Brief History On November 3, 1911, one of the most iconic American companies was founded when Louis Chevrolet teamed up with former General Motors William Durant to form the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Chevrolet went on to become the bedrock division of General Motors (GM) and has rivaled or even supplanted the Ford Motor Company as the most identifiably American car company. Digging Deeper Louis Chevrolet, the man who’s name the company has borne for over 100 years, was a Swiss race car driver, mechanic, and engineer that emigrated to Montreal, Canada, in 1900 at the age of 22. …
Browsing: November 3
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A Brief History On November 3, 1957, before any chimpanzee, any man, any woman, any Russian, any American went into space, the Soviet dog Laika became the first astronaut (cosmonaut in Soviet terms) in history, an indication of just how important dogs are to people. Digging Deeper Unfortunately, poor Laika was on a one way mission, as the fledgling space programs of the day did not include the technology for a safe return to Earth. A stray found roaming the streets of Moscow, Laika was an 5 to 6 kilogram mixed breed dog. (Note: We say mixed breed instead of…
A Brief History On November 3, 1954, Godzilla, the giant fire-spewing, dinosaur-like dragon, born of nuclear bomb tests, emerged from the sea and onto the silver screen to ravage Japan. Digging Deeper When the first Godzilla movie hit the theaters, it was a sensation. By today’s standards, though, the special effects are laughable. A man in a monster suit walking around scale model buildings and cars is what passed for high tech in those days, but Japanese audiences loved the film and its anti-nuclear undertones. In 1956, the film made it to the United States in the heavily Americanized version Godzilla, King of the…
A Brief History On November 3, 1783, highwayman John Austin became the last person to be publicly hanged at London’s Tyburn gallows. Digging Deeper For centuries Tyburn, formerly a village, but now within the city of London, had the infamous distinction of being the principal place of execution in England’s capital for criminals, traitors, and even religious martyrs. Executions and sometimes public torture occurred in Tyburn from at least 1196 until 1783. The executed included noblemen and commoners alike of both sexes. Even the dead could be “executed” there, as was the case of notorious rebel Oliver Cromwell whose corpse…
