Browsing: October 22

A Brief History On October 22, 1797, Frenchman and balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin performed the first successful descent in a frameless parachute from a height of 3,000 feet. Garnerin had built a silk frameless parachute, the canopy of which we would recognize as a typical parachute today, with the lines running from the 23 foot diameter canopy to the basket Garnerin rode in. The parachute and basket Garnerin rode in were suspended underneath the hot air balloon gondola by a rope running through a hollow tube. (Previous parachute attempts were made with devices umbrella like in construction with umbrella like frames.)…

A Brief History On October 22, 1707, four ships of the Royal Navy ran aground and sank near the Isles of Scilly near Cornwall in Great Britain.  All four ships were lost with almost all hands, 1,550 (estimate) British sailors went to Davey Jones’s Locker that fateful day, including the fleet commander, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.  Only 13 of the sailors survived. Digging Deeper Before we go any further, we have to seriously ask, “What kind of jerk names their kid ‘Cloudesley?’”  You would have to home school the poor lad because other kids would brutalize him over that goofy…

A Brief History On October 22, 2014 and again on October 29, 2014, the FX channel television production American Horror Story: Freak Show features a two-faced character based on an alleged real-life human freak named Edward Mordrake. Digging Deeper With actor Wes Bentley portraying the unfortunate, two-faced man, the show takes us back to 1952 in Jupiter, Florida where a troupe of human freaks is assembled as a carnival sideshow.  If you have ever seen the iconic 1932 film Freaks, you might know that by that time in history, the public was beginning to not take too kindly to deformed humans…

A Brief History On October 22, 1964, French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre became the first person to voluntarily refuse a Nobel Prize, in his case the prize for literature.  Incredibly for a Frenchman, in 1945 Sarte had also refused the Legion of Honor (Legion d’honneur), France’s highest award. Digging Deeper Sartre said that though he was honored to be selected for the Nobel Prize, he refused to accept it because he did not want to become part of the “establishment.”  He also feared his acceptance of an award that had been issued by a Western institution might make him look as if he had taken sides…

A Brief History On October 22, 1926, J. Gordon Whitehead dealt a potentially deadly sucker punch to magician Harry Houdini’s stomach. Digging Deeper Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz in Budapest on March 24, 1874) is almost without any doubt the most famous magician and escape artist of all time, arguably surpassing the David Copperfields and Chris Angels of more recent years. From 1891 to 1926, Houdini dazzled audiences around the world with his many mind-boggling tricks.  He gradually acquired such memorable nicknames as “The King of Cards” and “The Handcuff King”.  For his many amazing abilities, he is accordingly ranked…