Friday

                Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Who was the guy that looked at a cow and said ‘I think I will drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?”

                                                                  Bill Watterson

Trivia question of the day:

How did Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK and RFK) make the majority of his money?

I am reading the history of Scottish hero William Wallace who the movie “Braveheart” was about. The movie took many liberties about what he was really about. They showed Wallace and company winning the Battle of Sterling with a pure infantry engagement in an open field. What I read was it really as the Battle of Sterling Bridge. Sterling is a town northwest of Edinburgh (the Scots pronounce it “Edin-burah”) and has the Forth river running through. In the battle Wallace's forces were on the east side of the river and the army of Edward II on the west. The English army began crossing the only bridge within many miles. After a certain amount of the English army had crossed and Wallace knew he could defeat, he had his men to set fire to both ends of the bridge trapping the jam packed English army and cavalry. They could not jump into the river, they were in armor and would sink like an anvil. They jumped anyway rather than be burned alive while the horses went wild in their panic. Wallace then turned his attention to the troops that had made it across and annihilated them. Now you have the rest of the story.

                      This Date in History January 31

1865 Earlier United States President Abraham Lincoln had declared that the purpose of the Civil War was to preserve the Union. But after the major ass-kickings the Union army had received during the first year of the War, the northern public said “To hell with it, let the Rebs have their own country, stop the bloodbath.” So Abe had to took another tack to get the country back together so he now changed horses and said the purpose of the War was to free the slaves. It had been noticed that when the Union Army infrequently won a battle, the slaves nearby would join-up with the Yankee soldiers and they would not give them back to their owners. Then Abe issued the Emancipation Proclamation which allegedly freed the slaves in those states in rebellion. Abe’s advisers had in mind that those slaves in the Confederacy would rise up in rebellion upon hearing of the Emancipation but they were wrong, it did not happen and Abe stood there with egg on his face. The Confederacy did not consider themselves “states in rebellion”. They considered themselves as a separate and equally sovereign nation. Not only that there were four states that had slaves but had not seceded. What happened to those slaves? And finally, the Proclamation was not enforceable. I don’t know what Abe was thinking but the Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t worth paper it was written on. It took the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution (ratified on this date) to get the job done and it read in part ...”neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States nor any place subject to their jurisdiction....” Now the law had some teeth. This amendment passed the Senate and a House vote of 119-65, barely enough of a majority. The bill was introduced in 1864 but failed to pass the House vote because of “states rights” issues.

1923 One of my favorite writers is born on this day. Norman Mailer is born in Long Branch, New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Norman was seen as a gifted child at an early age and was given a scholarship to Harvard during WWII but delayed his education and joined the army. After the war he attended the Sorbonne in Paris. While there he was encouraged to pursue his obvious writing skills and gave us one of the greatest war novels ever written in The Naked and the Dead. It is very unusual for an author to deliver such a blockbuster on their first try. He wrote a couple of more novels that were not as successful as his first. Norman joined the peace protest march in Washington in 1967 and wrote about his experiences in the book Armies of the Night and received a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for this one. Later he gave us another winner in The Executioners Song. It is the story of the last few days and months of convicted serial killer Gary Gilmore before Gary met his maker in front of a firing squad in Utah. Again, Norman received a Pulitzer Prize and another National Book Award. Norman is known as a two-fisted drinker/brawler and avid anti-feminists. He has written about nearly everything and everyone. He has written about politics, war, religion, etc and written biographies on people like Marilyn Monroe and Richard Nixon among many others. He wrote about the Chicago police riot during the Democratic National convention. His irascible nature and anti-feminisms has made him one of the most controversial in the entire literary world. It had been reported that he got into an argument with actor Rip Torn and the mother of all brawls ensued. He got into an argument with his wife at a party and chose to stab her in the arm. But no matter, Norman Mailer is one of the most versatile and talented writers this country has ever produced.

1945 During the later years of WWII the United States were running out of soldiers and lowered the draft requirements. Eddie Slovik had originally been rejected because of a Grand Theft Auto conviction. Since the lowering of the standards Slovik was re-classified as 1-A, trained and sent to France to join the 28^th Division as a private. Slovik got lost in the turmoil of battle and ended up with a Canadian outfit. Slovik was a hater of guns and a pacifist and refused to fight. The Canadians finally got fed up with Slovik and turned him over to MP’s of the 28^th Division. Slovik told his commanding officer that he does not want to fight and ran away to the Canadians again. He is again returned to the MP’s of the 28^th Division. This time his commander gives him a choice to go immediately to his combat team or face a firing squad. Slovik refused and a date is set for his execution. He appealed to General Dwight Eisenhower but this is a bad time for this because the Battle of the Bulge was underway and American soldiers were dying by the hundreds. Eisenhower rejected Slovik’s appeal and on this date at dawn, a firing squad of seven riflemen ended the life of Private Eddie Slovik for cowardice and desertion. He was the first man in the United States military that was executed since the Civil War. It was reported that the men in the firing squad never flinched because they believed he was getting what he deserved. Maybe so, maybe not.

Born today:

1892 US entertainer Eddie Cantor. He said “Every time I see a Most Wanted list I have this thought. If they had been wanted in their youth, would they be wanted now?” I wonder if Atilla the Hun was wanted as a youth.

1905 US writer John O’Hara. He said “So who is perfect? Washington had false teeth, Ben Franklin was nearsighted, Mussolini had syphilis, unpleasant things have been said about Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde, Tchaikovsky had his problems too, and Lincoln was constipated a lot.”

1921 US actor John Agar. He said “Hell I don’t drink anymore than John Wayne, Ward Bond, Spencer Tracy, Alan Ladd or Robert Walker but I got in hell of a lot more trouble.” John you got into showbiz ony becaue you were married to Shirley Temple.

Answer to the trivia question:

Joseph Kennedy made a lot of money during prohibition by illegally bringing whiskey into the United States from Canada. But the major coup was buying vast quantities of scotch whiskey in Ireland and Scotland and letting it sit in rail tanker cars until prohibition ended then he almost had a corner of the scotch market.

                              Thanks for listening   I can’t wait until tomorrow

Thursday

   Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“If they offered me a knighthood they will have to do it soon, while I can still rise from the kneeling position without help.”

                                                              Roy Hudd

Trivia question of the day:

How many American presidents were slave owners? Answer at the end of the blog.

In 1625 the king of England James I had died. James was a powerful leader and was responsible for the establishment of the first European settlement on the banks of a small river in North America and the settlement and the river was named for him, James river and Jamestown. After James’ death his son became king as Charles I. Right from the git-go Charles had a problem with Parliament. He wanted unquestioned authority in the affairs of England and so did Parliament. Charles dissolved Parliament on several occasions and ran everything himself but found out that he had bitten off more than he could chew and re-instated Parliament. Another reason that Charles was in the hot seat was that he had married a French Catholic named Henrietta Maria. By far the greatest population of England and indeed Parliament were Protestants. In those days a person in power’s religion was a big deal. The squabble between Charles and Parliament reached the boiling point and in 1642 the first civil war broke out with the army loyal to Charles against the Parliamentary army, known as the Ironsides Army, led by Oliver Cromwell. In 1644 the army led by Cromwell beat the crap out of the Loyalist army at Marston Moor and again the next year at Naseby. Finally Cromwell and Parliament prevailed and Charles I was convicted of treason and on this date King Charles I went to meet his maker in two pieces courtesy of the ever present big guy in a black hood with a big axe. This put Oliver Cromwell in command and the monarchy was dissolved. He could not be crowned king because he was not of royal blood. Cromwell ruled until his death in 1658 when his son Richard took over. Richard was not a good leader and saw the handwriting on the wall and went into exile in France the next year. The English people restored the monarchy with the placement of Charles II, the son of Charles I. Charles II wanted his pound of flesh and Oliver Cromwell was posthumously convicted of treason and his 11 year old remains were dug up and hanged from the gallows at Tyburn. What sight that must have been.

                 This Date in History   January 30

1972 Earlier the English Parliament had decreed that anyone that seemed to be a threat to the peace in Northern Ireland would be arrested. We all know how hot blooded the Irish are anyway and with this obvious trampling of their rights would not stand without action. A group of civil rights workers notified the Londonderry authorities that they would be forming a civil rights march on this date in protest of what Parliament had decreed. The Londonderry and British authorities disallowed the march but the marchers showed up anyway. The British responded with sending in a platoon of Royal paratroopers with instructions to stop the march by whatever mean it took. When the marchers reached the paratroopers that had the road blocked, the paratroopers indiscriminately open fire with automatic weapons into the unarmed crowd. The result was 13 killed and 19 wounded and is known to this day as “Bloody Sunday”. As you can guess, the entire free world raised almighty hell and money flowed into the Irish Republican Army like the Amazon meaning that the British would have their hands full with the IRA for years to come.

1816 Future United States Army General Nathaniel Banks is born in Waltham, Massachusetts. Banks was the son of textile workers and did not have much of a formal education but he studied on his own and eventually became an attorney and friends with those in high places in the government of Massachusetts. At the outbreak of the Civil War the United States Army was desperate for field commanders so they gave Banks the rank of General and gave him an army and unfortunately sent him and his army to invade the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I say unfortunately for Banks because CSA General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson had been tasked with the protection of the Valley. What we have here is a brilliant career military officer in Jackson opposed by a military leader with zero experience in Banks. The outcome is predictable. Banks received a severe ass-kicking on two different occasions and lost so many supplies to Jackson the he was known as “Commissary Banks.” The Union Army saw that he was out of his element and sent his young ass to New Orleans. Banks was able to capture the Confederate encampment of Port Hudson but at a terrible cost. In 1864 he set out on the mission known as the Red River Expedition. He started out in mid-Louisiana heading up the Red River into northern Louisiana and Texas. He had several Union gunboats following his advance to supply artillery support when needed. The problem here was that he found the need to move inland somewhat to avoid swamp lands. A Confederate Army had been watching and when Banks was out of range of the gunboats, they fell like locusts on Bank’s and his army was virtually annihilated. Banks retreated to New Orleans and never again was in command of Union troops.

1943 On this night, the British Royal Air Force launched its first of many nighttime bombing raids of Berlin, Germany. Eventually it was the British at night and the American 8^th Air Force flying out of bases in England in daytime raids. To all of you who have not researched what devastation can be delivered from the air with conventional bombs need to look at aerial photos of Berlin, Frankfort, Hamburg and other German cities after the war. There was nothing left y'all. They were just large piles of rubble. On one raid, the 8^th Air Force sent over 1,000 bombers to Hamburg and dropped enough bombs to turn Hamburg into kindling and that night the British came in and dropped incendiaries and set the whole city on fire. At one point there was a fire in the middle of the city that was so hot that the air was going 200 MPH into the flames taking everything light enough with it. The British pilots said they could smell burning flesh from an altitude of 8,000 feet. You talk about hell on earth, this was it.

Born today:

1882 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He sent a cable to England’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill and he said “It is a pleasure to be in the same decade with you”. Sir Winston was the very image and demeanor of an English bulldog. There was a story about him that came out of WWII. The English had cracked the German secret code called Enigma. Through this find, Churchill found out that the German air force was going to bomb Coventry, one of the greatest of all the English cities and on what day it would occur. Churchill decided not to warn the citizens of Coventry because the German would have realized their code has been broken. What a terrible burden that had to be for Sir Winston.

1948 US Inventor of the first self propelled airplane Orville Wright. He said “Isn’t it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so me and my brother could discover them.” Yes it is, Orville, yes it is.

1930 One of my favorite actors Gene Hackman. He said “Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors.”

Answer to the trivia question:

14 American presidents were slave owners from George Washington to Ulysses S. Grant.

                               Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The ability to witness two men stand toe to toe in the spirit of sportsmanship and pummel each other into insensibility is what separates us from the animals.”

                          “Reverend Jim” Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd), Taxi

Trivia question of the day:

In India workers in the forests will wear a facial image mask on the back of their heads...why?

                          This Date in History   January 29

1936 On this date the first baseball players were selected for the newly opened Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. They were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb, to this day, is the most productive hitter to ever play the game. Babe Ruth was both an ace pitcher and a devastating home run hitter, Honus Wagner was a versatile infielder and a dependable clutch hitter, Christy Mathewson had the most wins in National League history up until that time and Walter “Big Train” Johnson is considered to be one of the most powerful pitchers in history. The Hall of Fame was supposed to have opened in 1935 but money was at a premium because of the Depression so the opening was delayed. The rumor was spread that Civil War General Abner Doubleday was the inventor of baseball in Cooperstown but that was bullshit. The local businesses fostered that idea to pump up business and they made contributions toward the building of the Hall. The Hall of Fame has about 350,000 visitors a year.

1820 After 10 years of a debilitating disease that lead to total insanity, King George III of England died. King George was the chief antagonist of the American colonists that resulted in the American Revolutionary War. King George knew that he was not well and was desperately seeking someone that he could trust to take care of business in his behalf. He found one in Lord North and King George was very relieved. The problem was that England lost its most profitable colony in America and the English people were furious. In 1784 William Pitt the elder gained enough power in Parliament to take control. After this the King retired from active participation in government except for an occasional interference with major issues such as “Catholic Emancipation” which was defeated in 1801. I have not researched this issue but I will soon. King George had a long history of illness beginning in 1765 when he had a nervous breakdown and in the winter of 1788-89 he had a severe bout with mental illness. By 1810 he was permanently insane but he was cared for tenderly by his wife Charlotte Sophia. His son, the Prince of Wales, was named regent and assumed throne as King George IV when his father died in 1820.

1861 On this date Kansas was admitted to the Union as a “free state”. This act was one of the prime causes of the American Civil War. Kansas was bordered on the east by Missouri and on the south by Texas; both were slave-holding states. There were many bloody skirmishes on the Kansas-Missouri border in the struggle for and against slavery. The United States Congress brought Kansas in as a “free state” in order to show support of the anti-slavery factions in the state and it blew up in their faces when the war broke out a few months later. I am not suggesting that slavery is acceptable but just that is what happened. After the Civil War got cranked up the attacks on Kansas and Missouri reached a crescendo with many atrocities committed by both pro and anti slavery factions. An example of each was when the fervent anti-slavery leader John Brown went to a small community in Missouri and slaughtered five people with a broad sword because “he thought” they were pro slavery. Then a pro slavery Confederate guerilla leader named William Quantrill leads his troops into Lawrence, Kansas and that group killed over 150 men and burned the town to the ground. Prejudice has no limits.

Born today:

1737 Super American Patriot Thomas Paine. He said “When we are planning for posterity, we must remember that virtue is not hereditary.” Paine was one of the greatest wordsmiths this country ever produced.

1862 English composer Fredrick Delius. He said “Music is an outburst of the soul”. Indeed Fred, indeed.

1874 US industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He said “A friendship based on business is better that a business based on friendship.” The Rockefeller dynasty began with the establishment of Standard Oil which eventually became Exxon.

1880 US comedian W.C. Fields. He said “My illness is due to my doctor insisting that I drink milk. It is a whitish fluid that they force down helpless babies.” Fields was a famous imbiber.

1923 US writer Paddy Chayefsky. He said “"Now listen to me, goddamnit! The Arabs are simplying buying us! A handful of gas, shahs, and emirs who despise this country and everything it stands for—democracy, freedom, the right for me to get up on television and tell you about it—a couple of dozen medieval fanatics are going to own where you work, where you live, what you read, what you see, your cars, your bowling alleys, your mortgages, your schools, your churches, your libraries, your kids, your whole life...!" Pay attention to Paddy, y'all, It could happen.

1939 Australian feminist Germaine Greer. She said “Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, it has no mother.” I agree, Germaine.

Answer to the trivia question:

Most of the time a tiger will not attack a human from the front...the mask is supposed to fool tigers into thinking their back is also the front.

                Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Notice:  The lesson will be late tomorrow because we will be going to the Golden Nugget in Biloxi, Ms. today and stay overnight.  I will not be taking my computer with me.

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

US General John Sedgwick rode up to a high point to observe the progress of the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse during the Civil War.  Up on arrival his staff told him that he ought to take cover. Sedgwick said “They couldn't hit an elephant at this dis…..”

Trivia question of the day:

Who played Captain Marco Ramius in the movie “Hunt For Red October”? Answer at the end of the blog.

A while back a woman was asleep on a USAir flight from Boston to Charlotte. She was awakened by her seatmate that she did not know massaging her breasts. She woke up and told the masher to knock it off and then called a flight attendant, but before the attendant got there he had copped yet another feel. The attendant found her another seat and told the pilot about these events the he notified the Charlotte USAir ops about the situation. A couple of Charlotte’s finest was waiting at the gate for this jackass. I wonder what row she was on…how deeply she slept, etc, etc? I am just joking.

Here is an event that I experienced as an air traffic controller. It was at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga. Moody was a training base for all-weather interceptors. After a class got to a certain point, drone aircraft would be launched from Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida to a point in the Gulf of Mexico and the fighter/interceptors from Moody would be radar guided toward the drone until the aircraft radar picked it up, then the fighter was to shoot down the drone, regardless of the weather. One of the pilots in training had a wife that was afraid for her husband flying fighters. Her husband had received special permission for his wife to watch a “maximum effort” night launch from the control tower where I was. It was supposed to give her confidence. Her husband successfully got his F-86D off the ground and was up to about 500 feet when he declared “Mayday” meaning he was in serious trouble. His plane exploded into a ball of flame and crashed to the earth about 2 miles south of the base. There is no need for me to tell you what turmoil ensued. She was pregnant, too.

                    This Date in History   January 28

1777 On this date British General John Burgoyne submitted a battle plan to British General Sir Henry Clinton. Burgoyne suggested that he head a large force of 8,000 troops out of Canada and go down Lake Champlain, the Mohawk River and eventually the Hudson River and isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne felt that if he could accomplish this it would make Philadelphia ripe for the picking by British General Howe. The plan was approved and Burgoyne achieved a modicum of success when he captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. What Burgoyne did not plan on was the over extension of his supply lines the further south he moved. Eventually the Patriots simply swung around and cut his supply line. Soon after this Burgoyne lost the Battle of Bennington, Vermont and engaged in a bloody draw at Bemis Heights, New York. After these battles he was unable to re-supply his troops so he retreated 16 miles north to Saratoga, New York and surrendered his remaining 6,000 troops to US General Horatio Gates. When the government of France saw this victory they officially recognized the United States as an independent nation which, of course, meant war with England. France had been covertly sending America money and the tools of war now they did it openly and with much more supplies. This decision by France assured an American victory because it meant that England would have to fight a war on both sides of the Atlantic.

1958 On this date a 19 year old high school dropout from Lincoln, Nebraska named Charles Starkweather and his 14 year old girlfriend Carol Fugate murdered a Lincoln business man, his wife and their maid. This was the last in a string of 10 murder committed by the duo. This murder spree began at the home of Carol and an argument broke out between Charles and Carol’s parents. Charles chose to shoot Carol’s parent and strangle Carol’s two year old sister. Carol and Charles stayed holed up in the house for a few days before leaving in Charles’ car. Their next victims was a farmer and two teens and after that it was the previously mention Lincoln businessman, wife and maid. They were not done yet. They shot and killed a traveling shoe salesman to get his car. They were surrounded and captured near Douglas, Wyoming. Both Charles and Carol were convicted of murder and Charles got the death penalty and Carol got life. In 1959 Charles Starkweather went to meet his maker medium rare after a visit with the Nebraska version of “Old Sparky”, the electric chair. Carol was paroled after 18 years in the slammer. How could that girl sit in the house with her dead parents and sister for several days? They paroled her because she was so young at the time of the murders. I will have to call bullshit on that.

1986 On this day the space shuttle Challenger was set to launch for the 10^th time. All previous missions with this vessel had been flawless. The shuttle had been scheduled to launch on January 22 but there were weather issues so the launch date was pushed back to January 28. Aboard with the regular astronauts was a school teacher name Christa McAuliffe from New Hampshire. The outside air temperature was below freezing and the rocket booster manufacturer warned the launch officials that some of the parts of the rocket booster do not operate well in cold weather, especially the O-ring seals. They warned that they became brittle in the cold and would hot hold. The launch officials blew it off and at 11:39a the Challenger blasted off. Seventy-three seconds into the flight the shuttle exploded into a spectacular three armed display and fell into the Atlantic killing all aboard. An investigation later proved that an O-ring seal had indeed failed and the flame from the rocket boosters had not been contained inside the cylinder causing an explosion. The arrogance of the launch officials in allowing the launch in spite of being warned set space exploration back several years.

Born today:

1887 Polish pianist Arthur Rubenstein. He said “When I was young, I had success with women because I was young. Now I have success with women because I am old. Middle age was hell.” Way to go, Arthur, way to go!

1933 US writer Susan Sontag. She said “The best answer is one that destroys the question.” Susan is no longer with us.

1948 Latvian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. He said “When we dancers watch Fred Astaire, we know we are in the wrong business.” Fred was a pleasure to watch.

Died today:

1960 US writer Zora Hurston. She said “Every distant ship has every man’s dream aboard.” It does for me at least.

1996 Russian writer Josef Brodsky. He said “Life, the way it really is, is not a battle between bad and good, it is a battle between bad and worse.” And I thought I was a pessimist.

Answer to the trivia question:

Captain Marco Ramius in the movie “Hunt For Red October” was played by Sean Connery.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Monday

                                Musings and History

Quote of the day:

Hitler was persuaded by Herman Goering that England could be defeated by air power alone. After one particular raid the German Air force lost over 70 aircraft and Hitler knew that a land invasion would be a blood bath so he put a stop to it all and headed for Russia. Winston Churchill was asked about England's ability to withstand such a pounding and stay viable. He said “This was certainly not the beginning of the end...but it surely is the end of the beginning.”

Instead of the usual bad news of the day, I will send y’all one of the greatest love stories in history. It is the biography of Robert Dudley.

                                           Robert Dudley

This is the story of unrequited love between two people that were in love for most of their lives but were kept apart by the politics of Elizabethan England. Elizabeth l stated that she would never marry because she was fearful that her powers would be diluted by a husband. The present day Prince Phillip of England is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and is titled as Prince Consort.

Most contemporary historians believed that Robert Dudley and Elizabeth, the future Queen of England, were born on the same day, it was later determined that Robert was probably one year older. Robert was the son of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland and protector of England during the reign of Edward VI. Robert was the fifth child of thirteen. He first met Elizabeth when he was eight years old, probably in a royal classroom. They became good friends and their friendship lasted throughout both of their lives. He was certainly a match for Elizabeth intellectually. He was also into the classics in addition to mathematics, astronomy and astrology. He was good athlete and a superb horseman. When speaking of Elizabeth later on he said that he knew her better than anyone, even from the time she was eight years old. He said that Elizabeth had always told him that she would never marry.

Robert married Amy Robsart in 1550 with Amy being the daughter of a Norfolk squire. Even though people thought they were in love, the marriage contract indicated otherwise. Normally daughters were not heirs to their father’s estate but Amy was the exception, she was an heiress making the marriage advantageous to both. The marriage ceremony between Robert and Amy was a glittering one with all the appropriate pomp and circumstance. The festivities were attended by Elizabeth and the Boy-King in waiting, Edward VI.

After Robert’s father tried to usurp the throne and place his sister-in-law Lady Jane Grey on the throne the shit hit the fan. This rebellion was quashed and Robert, his father and five of his brothers are imprisoned in the Tower of London in the Beauchamp section awaiting trial. Elizabeth was also imprisoned in the Tower but in the Bell section. The two wings were joined by a walkway and Robert and Elizabeth met frequently on this walkway and their friendship turned to love even though they were closely guarded. After all was said and done, Robert’s father John, his brother Guilford and Lady Jane Grey had a meeting with a big guy with a big axe out on the lawn of the Tower. All the others were released.

Robert and his brother Henry went to France to fight on the behalf of the King of France, Phillip II. Henry was killed in this war. After returning to England Robert found out that Elizabeth was in serious financial trouble and sold some of his lands and bailed Elizabeth out and she never forgot Robert’s generosity. Elizabeth ascended to the throne of England in 1558 at the age of twenty and Robert's star began to rise. He was made the Master of the Queen's Horse, a very prestigious position that required him to be in the presence of the Queen almost constantly. It was his function to plan her public appearances and personal entertainment. Robert was good at this because he and Elizabeth share the same love of drama and music. There was no doubt that he was the Queens favorite which automatically made him the most despised man in England. Within the first years, Elizabeth showered Robert with titles, among these was the Earl of Leicester, properties and money and spending more time with him than anyone else. Tongues wagged as to their intimacy, all assumed they were lovers. It was also said that Elizabeth was carrying Roberts child but this story was easily dismissed, but there was no doubt that they were deeply in love. They were bonded by knowing each other as children, had suffered imprisonment together, and each trusted and respected the other totally. Like any couple they occasionally argued, but Robert always spoke and treated Elizabeth with the respect that her position deserved.

No one had a good word to say about Robert except the Queen and her family. Elizabeth was an astute judge of character and it is impossible to think that she would not have detected any insincerity in Robert over their relationship of thirty years. There is no question that Robert loved her. Had the political circumstances been more favorable there is little question they would have been married. Privately she told Robert that she would marry no one else, but she couldn’t marry him. The biggest problem with the bar to their marriage was the circumstances of Robert's wife’s death. She was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a broken neck and naturally everyone pointed their fingers at Robert and Elizabeth. For a long time people had been saying he and Elizabeth were planning Amy’s death so they could marry. This shadow of doubt plagued the two for the rest of their days making the birth of any of their children suspect if they had married. Amy was probably terminally ill with breast cancer or as it was called “malady of the breast”. In fact medical opinions of today suggest that the cancer had probably reached her spine and it was weakened to the point that any kind of pressure would have broken it. However, such medical knowledge was unknown in those days and all, including Robert, believed she was murdered.

Robert waited for many years hoping Elizabeth would change her mind but she didn’t. At a gala celebration in 1575 in Warwick Castle, Robert formally asked for Elizabeth’s hand and as always she refused. So in 1578 Robert married the Queen's cousin, Lettice Devereux, the Countess of Essex.

He may have well been in love with her because she was a reported stone fox but the real reason he married her was that she was pregnant and a family of the stature of the house of Essex demanded that he make an honest woman of her. Robert tried to keep the news of his marriage from the Queen but she found out anyway. In 1580 Lettice gave birth to a son also named Robert. The child was a sickly one and died at the age of four which devastated Robert. The death of this child almost assured the end to Robert’s lineage. He had a child by an affair with Lady Dudley Sheffield but illegitimate children could not be an heir. Lady Sheffield claimed that she and Robert were married in a secret ceremony but there was no evidence of it and Robert always denied it.

In 1588 Robert was put in charge of the land forces during the expected assault by the Spanish Armada but Robert was not a well man, probably suffering from stomach cancer and his days were numbered. He was on his way to Buxton to bathe in the supposed “healing” waters there but he never made it. He died at his house in Oxfordshire on September 4th, 1588. Upon hearing the news, Elizabeth locked her self in her bedroom and stayed for days. She kept the last letter from Robert in her safe until the end of her days. The letter follows:

“I most humbly beseech your Majesty to pardon your poor old servant to be thus bold in sending to know how my gracious lady doth, and what ease of her late pain she finds, being the chiefest thing in the world I do pray for, for her to have good health and long life. For my own poor case, I continue still your medicine and find that [it] amends much better than any other thing that hath been given me. Thus hoping to find perfect cure at the bath, with the continuance of my wonted prayer for your Majesty's most happy preservation, I humbly kiss your foot. From your old lodging at Rycote, this Thursday morning, ready to take on my Journey, by Your Majesty's most faithful and obedient servant,

R. Leicester

Even as I had writ thus much, I received Your Majesty's token by Young Tracy.”

Evidently Elizabeth had sent Robert a gift.

It is a rumor that in Elizabeth’s last few days she could not speak and had the archbishop at her side holding her hand. Since she had no heir, everyone was waiting for her to name one. The archbishop went through a series of names and she would respond by squeezing his hand. It was determined that Elizabeth wanted James VI of Scotland (the son of Mary, Queen of Scots) to succeed her. It was a rumor that when the archbishop mentioned the deceased Robert Dudley, Elizabeth squeezed his hand for a long time and a tear fell from her eye. It has been reported that Elizabeth had another lover in the Earl of Essex. This may be true by I prefer to remember her childhood friend and her adult lover as her most favorite, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester.

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Saturday...an extra

 Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The trouble with jogging is that the olive keeps bouncing out of your martini glass.”

                                                       Martin Mull

Trivia question of the day:

What are the largest naturally occurring big cats in the world? Answer at the end of the blog.

I saw an obviously ignorant but well known news analyst on a program a few days ago. The moderator pointed out that some of the changes that he suggests are clearly a violation of several Bill of Rights Amendments and promotes the change from a democratic republic form of government that we now have as described in the US Constitution. The US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the two most important documents in the history of western man. This jackass said that the Constitution was out of date and hard to understand and should be abolished and another form of government examined. I cannot tell you how outraged I was. I had to go take another high blood pressure pill and another Lexapro. I thought I had control of my temper a lot better lately, I was wrong. A group of very intelligent men and women got together and hammered out a way to live in freedom and guaranteed it with the Bill of Rights and this jackass want to change it because it is adverse to what he wants. I will tell y’all something in metaphor. This great ship of State known as The United States was carved out of the bones of our ancestors and is afloat on a sea of their blood from the deep past and present day military heroes that die every day in YOUR behalf to preserve YOUR freedom. All of this is glued together with a love and faith of our founding fathers and the faith and love we have for each other. We all sail along on this ship designed by Thomas Jefferson and friends. Then some arrogant jackass says that the Constitution should be trashed. He should go read any Medal of Honor citation and find out what being an American is all about because he certainly is not. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the most treasured documents ever written and will stay that way as long as this old, grey-haired Patriot is alive. It makes me teary eyed to think on it. Don't test me...don't do that.

I don't get it, y'all. I and all of my friends and family on both sides had firearms readily accessible. I got a .22 rifle (Remington, single shot, bolt action) for Christmas when I was 13 but I frequently went hunting with my father's shotgun (Stevens 12 ga. single shot, breech load). Even when I was in the Air Force in Alaska I could go check out a shotgun (Ithaca 3” 12 ga. pump for ducks and geese), pistol (S&W .357 mag. 6 shot revolver, at the time required by law in Alaska when hunting) and a high powered rifle (Winchester Model 70 30.06 w/4x Weaver scope) anytime I wanted. Neither I nor anyone I know ever considered shooting anyone.

The guns haven't changed...people have. I could offer a multitude of opinions about what has happened to the American personae when it comes to weapons but you can't legislate morality, that is learned at home. That, my friends, is where the problem lies. 

Recently a grandfather down in McCormick, South Carolina gave his granddaughter a dog. Later on the dog attacked the 9 year old girl and killed her with a bite to the throat. The dog was an Akita, a dog that originated in Japan and was bred for fighting and as a guard dog. This dog is renowned for its viciousness and willingness to attack without provocation. Not a good animal for a nine year old.

                 This Date in History   January 25

1945 On this date, after a stiff fight the Russian army broke through the German defenses near Auschwitz, Poland. What they found here was evidence of the most cruel and inhumane treatment of human beings yet recorded. It was a death camp of unimaginable proportions. There were three main camps, I, II and III with 8 other “satellite” camps. This camp had but one purpose and that was killing of human beings. The Russians discovered ovens with human remains still inside smoking, metal buildings with an opening for the insertion of poison gas. The German’s used Cyklon B gas. It was an insecticide and easy and cheap to make, the down side was that it did not kill quickly meaning that the people that were put inside those buildings knew after a short while that they were being poisoned and fought and struggled for life. The Russians found 645 corpses and 7,000 walking skeletons who told them that the guards found out that the Russians were close and they began killing all that they could until they ran out of ammo and then they began blowing up the crematoria and death buildings. The Russians also found three warehouses that were stacked to the top with women’s dresses, men’s suits and shoes that the German’s did not have a chance to destroy. And finally they discover the laboratories and journals of Dr. Josef Mengele. This monster performed inconceivably cruel and inhuman medical experiments on the prisoners, especially children. There are many records of what this animal did to others but I will not describe them now. But I can tell you that when the Russian army left Auschwitz, they had lost all mercy and remorse for any and all Germans and killed all they found, man, woman, children, dogs, cats, geese, ducks, etc...They intended to wipe the slate clean of Germans. When one particular Russian tank crew entered Berlin they were confronted by an antitank gun manned by seven Germans no older than 14. The Russians destroyed the German crew and repeatedly ran back and forth across the corpses with their tank until there was nothing there that could be identified as human. Hate with no remorse, all wars depend on it.

1905 About noon of this day, the supervisor of the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa in making an inspection and stopped briefly and noticed something sticking out of the wall above his head. He pulls out the largest diamond ever found. It is a 3,160 carat monster that was named the Star of Africa. The diamond is sent to the greatest diamond cutter in the world in Amsterdam for cutting and polishing. The cutter examines the stone for six months before making the first cut. When he decides where the cut will be made, he has a doctor standing by in case he makes a wrong cut and shatters the stone. He is successful and he produces two gigantic polished stone that are now in the Tower of London as part of the British National Treasury. There were hundreds of smaller stones also that made the Star of Africa the most valuable gem ever found.

Born today:

1759 Scottish poet Robert Burns. He said “There is nothing more uncertain as a sure thing.” Obviously Robert has been to a horse track.

1882 English writer Virginia Woolf. She said “On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.”

1950 US writer Gloria Naylor. She said “I don’t believe life is supposed to make you feel good, or make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.”

Answer to the trivia question:

The largest naturally occurring big cats in the world is the Siberian tiger. A full grown adult male weighs about 700 lbs and stands about 40 inches tall at the shoulder.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow