Olympics

a lot of terrible things happened and some good ones too, depending on your viewpoint. For example, in 1485, King Richard III of England lost the War of the Roses, perhaps for the want of a shoe. That was good news for the other side, of course. In 1567, the Duke of Alba, who, I guess, everybody would agree was a pretty terrible person, established the “Council of Blood” in order to facilitate a reign of

terror in the Netherlands.  August 22 was quiet again for a few years until the English claimed Australia when Captain James Cook landed there in 1770. That was a just five years before King George had to proclaim, on August 22, 1777, that the American colonies were in open rebellion. Well, claim some, lose some.

In 1762, Ann Franklin became the editor of the Mercury, a

newspaper in Newport, Rhode Island. Striking a blow for women everywhere, as it were, she was the first female editor of an American newspaper. She didn’t exactly come up through the ranks though. Rather, she inherited the job from her husband — but perhaps she had been doing it all along. Yes,  she was related to Ben Franklin.

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt took note of technological progress and campaigned in a motor car, the first time ever. That must have been something to see and it did get photographed..

In 1906, the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, N. J. began manufacturing the hand-cranked Victrola with horn. The one-room school I went to as a child had one of those, probably not one of the earlier models — but you never know. I wish I had a picture of it. It was always a great honor to be the child selected to turn the crank. Meanwhile, the rest of the U.S. already had electrical phonograph machines. We were not to know that. Or maybe we did.

The U. S. annexed New Mexico  on August 22 in 1846. We have to think of that as good news. On this same day in 1910, the Japanese annexed Korea, but with less future luck.  Somebody stole the Mona Lisa in 1911, but it reappeared two years later.

What a day! In 1932 the BBC began broadcasting. On this day in 1942, Hitler invaded Leningrad. In 1950 Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to be accepted into national competition. 1950? she said. Oh yeah. In 1972 Rhodesia was asked to withdraw from the 20th Olympic Games because of racism not steroids. Henry Kissinger, who won the Nobel peace Prize (though not on August 22 ) was named Secretary of State by Richard Nixon. The last Volkswagen Rabbit was produced in 1984. I had a used Volkswagen Rabbit from 1973  to  about 1976, a wonderful car that rusted all around me till I had to give up on it, but that was not in August. No picture either, alas.

Karen Silkwood  won her case in 1986. Howard Stern began broadcasting on CBS in 1998 and in 2004 somebody stole “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. How busy the world is! Meanwhile, some of us are still on vacation.

But summer is winding down.

Hope it’s still blooming for you.