Table of contents for Today In History

  1. Today In History / February 22
  2. Date With History / March 4
  3. This Date In History / March 10/ Charles I , AG Bell And Dr. Tarnower
  4. On This Date In History / Lyndon Johnson Announces His Retirement

On this date in 1876 the first successful telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his assistant Mr Watson (who was in another room). He said “Elementary my dear Watson”.

Oh wait. That was Doctor Watson.

This was Mr. Watson who heard the first message over a telephone wire. He was quite surprised too. Especially when he got the bill. Monthly service wasn’t cheap even then.

Portrait by Anthony van Dyck, 1636

On this date in 1629 England’s monarch King Charles I dissolved parliament. There was quite a bit of screaming and gnashing of teeth as each member was dumped in a vat of equal parts ammonia, bleach and acid. And dissolved they all were.

But there was quite a bit of resentment over this and eleven years later Parliament was back in session. For some reason the new members all showed up on that day dressed in rubber suits. But Charles laughed and tried to put them at ease. He said it had all been a big mistake. “I was having a bad day. Make no bones about it. Whoops. I mean I was hoping to establish the Divine Rights of Kings so I could raise more taxes.”

” I lost my head” Charles noted.

“No you didn’t” Parliament responded. “But now that you mention it that sounds like a pretty good idea!”

“Gulp” said Charles. And after awhile he wasn’t able to even do that any more!

On this day in 1980 Scarsdale Diet author Dr. Herman Tarnower was put on a very draconian diet by his former lover Jean Harris. I saw the movie they made about this and it was pretty good. She actually made certain that he would never enjoy another meal again with her or especially with someone else. She shot him.

She was upset. She was depressed. He was trading her in on a newer model and she was unwilling to let it all go without a few words on her behalf. And at that time she enjoyed letting Smith and Wesson do most of the talking.

So she went to jail for 11 years and then was pardoned by a judge whose wife made him do it (I guess). When she was released she wanted to go live in a cabin in New Hampshire. And maybe she did. If she hasn’t been eaten by a bear like that poor young man in Alaska she is 84 years old these days.

Jerry Falwell who is for sure no longer with us said on this date in 1989 to all the employess of his various ministries that they must join his church and tithe or “we will fondly, warmly bid you good-bye”.

Many of his employees thought Jerry loved them mightily and was sending them on a vacation when he said this. “Jerry wants us to go to the Bahamas and think about tithing. And then he wants us to show our gratitude for his love and this vacation when we come back.”

But it was not to be. “You mean we are going to be fired if we don’t join this church and tithe on a regular basis? How is this possible in America?”

“It’s not possible in America” Jerry said. “But it is possible in Lynchburg, Virginia which I own.”

Not any more Jerry. You don’t own it now Big Guy.

And that’s all we have from the history vault on this day dear friends. Don’t forget to grab a RSS feed so you can keep up with important events on their anniversaries. Admit it. You haven’t thought about King Charles for a long time have you?

Keep him in mind before you start mixing all those chemicals stored under the kitchen sink! We aim to keep you out of trouble here at NewsLink Briefs dot com.

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