Today in history, Stonehenge is sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who buys it as a present for his wife in 1915. He presents it to the British nation three years later.
Today in history, The women’s airspeed record is set at 292 mph by American pilot Jacqueline Cochran (see picture below) in 1937.
Today in history, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit (see picture below) is published in 1937.
Today in history, General Colin Powell (see picture below) is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989.
Today in history, The Galileo space mission ends as the probe is sent into Jupiter’s atmosphere where it is crushed in 2003.
Here’s this week’s today in strangeness. Hope you enjoy!
July 26th/27th:
Today in strangeness, A grasshopper invasion descended over Iowa, Nebraska and So. Dakota devouring thousands of crop acres (1931). And on this day in 1940, Bugs Bunny made his big screen debut in the Warner Brothers cartoon, “A Wild Hare.”
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1976, a massive earthquake struck the city of Tangshan, China. The official death toll from the quake was an astounding 242,000 people, making it the deadliest earthquake in modern history. Some in China suspect that the true number of fatalities could be double or triple the number reported by Chinese officials.
Today in strangeness, Happy Birthday, NASA! In response to the Soviet’s 1957 launch of Sputnik, the US Congress passed legislation on this date in 1958 to establish a civilian agency coordinating America’s space exploration. On July 29, 1947, a gas leak explosion in a beauty parlor caused the death of 10 women in Harrisonburg, VA.
Today in strangeness, On this day in 1838, a rain of frogs fell in London. This date also saw the disappearance of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa (1975), and the very first car ad, which beckoned magazine readers to “dispense with a horse” (1898).
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1930, the radio mystery program The Shadow aired for the first time. On July 31, 1954, an official announcement was made by researchers that Los Angeles smog was caused by the chemical reaction of sunlight on auto and industrial emissions. And on this day in 1964, the first close-up photographs of the moon were sent back to Earth by Ranger 7.
Today in history, Stonehenge is sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who buys it as a present for his wife in 1915. He presents it to the British nation three years later.
Today in history, The women’s airspeed record is set at 292 mph by American pilot Jacqueline Cochran (see picture below) in 1937.
Today in history, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit (see picture below) is published in 1937.
Today in history, General Colin Powell (see picture below) is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989.
Today in history, The Galileo space mission ends as the probe is sent into Jupiter’s atmosphere where it is crushed in 2003.
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