Ant Farmer's Almanac

On This Day in History...

1930: The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines limiting sex, violence and original ideas in movies.

1972: Official Beatles Fan Club closes down.

Today's Birthdays!

1596: René Descartes; 1732: Franz Joseph Haydn; 1878: Jack Johnson; 1903: Arthur Godfrey; 1924: Leo Buscaglia; 1926: John Fowles; 1927: Cesar Chavez, William Daniels; 1928: Gordie Howe; 1929: Liz Claiborne; 1932: John Jakes; 1935: Herb Alpert, Richard Chamberlain, Judith Rossner; 

1940: Barney Frank; 1946: Gabe Kaplan; 1948: David Eisenhower, Albert Gore Jr., Rhea Perlman.

First Butt Photocopied at Office Party the Following Week

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On this date in 1960, the first Xerox copying machine is shipped.

On This Day in History...

1533: Henry VIII divorces his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

1909: The Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge opens, linking Manhattan to Queens; New York mayor declares it Groovy."

1964: “What is Jeopardy debuted on this day in 1964?”

Today's Birthdays!

1899: Irving Thalberg; 1930: John Astin; 1937: Warren Beatty; 1945: Eric Clapton; 1957: Paul Reiser; 1962: M C Hammer; 1964: Tracy Chapman; 1968: Celine Dion.

7 Things You Didn't Know About:

CHARLES DARWIN

1: Returned from his five-year-long voyage on the HMS Beagle with some awesome tattoos and the ability to swear fluently in several languages. 

2: Unsuccessfully tried to copyright the phrase, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!"

3: Original assignment was to write reviews of "hottest" spring break destinations.

4: Grew the beard because, "Chicks dig beards."

5: Would never tell anyone what happened during shore leave in Rio de Janero.

6: If it hadn't been washed overboard on the return trip, the barbecued shrimp recipe he'd picked up in Australia would have changed history and made him a very rich man.

7: Under a pseudonym, wrote the lyrics to The Sloop John B.

Today's Birthdays!

1790: John Tyler; 1867: Cy Young; 1906: E. Power Biggs; 1916: Eugene J. McCarthy; 1917: Man O' War; 1918: Pearl Bailey, Sam Walton; 1941: Terence Hill; 1943: Eric Idle, Vangelis; 1945: Walt "Clyde" Frazier; 1948: Bud Cort; 1955: Marina Sirtis; 1956: LaToya Jackson; 1964: Elle Macpherson.

On This Day in History...

1795: Beethoven debuts as pianist in Vienna.

1848: Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam; honeymooners at a loss for what to do in the meantime.

1932: Jack Benny debuts on radio.

1951: The King & I opens on Broadway.

1959: Some Like it Hot premieres.

1962: Jack Paar's final appearance on The Tonight Show.


On This Day in History...

1804: Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana; "Until we want that, too," they slip into the fine print when the Indians aren't looking.


1937: Ty Cobb suggests that Joe DiMaggio replace his 40 oz bat with a 36 oz bat; DiMaggio thinks he means for use in ballgames, but Cobb actually means for beating the crap out of people.


Today's Birthdays!

1874: Robert Frost; 1880: Duncan Hines; 1904: Joseph Campbell; 1911: Tennessee Williams; 1914: William Westmoreland; 1916: Sterling Hayden; 1919: Strother Martin; 1923: Bob Elliot; 1930: Gregory Corso, Sandra Day O'Connor;  1931: Leonard Nimoy*; 1934: Alan Arkin; 1939: James Caan; 1940: Nancy Pelosi; 1942: Erica Jong; 1943: Bob Woodward; 1944: Diana Ross; 1948: Steven Tyler; 1949: Vicki Lawrence; 1950: Teddy Pendergrass, Martin Short; 1954: Curtis Sliwa; 1957: Leeza Gibbons.

*Pictured is not actually Leonard Nimoy, but instead Leonard Nimoy's evil twin (note the goatee), although, naturally, they share a birthday. Best wishes, guys!

On This Day in History...

1911: In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.

1957: United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl as obscene.

1969: During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.

Today's Birthdays!

1908: David Lean; 1911: Jack Ruby; 1921: Simone Signoret; 1922: Eileen Ford; 1925 Flannery O'Connor; 1928: James Lovell Jr.; 1932: Gene Shalit; 1938: Hoyt Axton; 1940 Anita Bryant; 1942: Aretha Franklin; 1947: Elton John; 1965: Sarah Jessica Parker. 

On This Day in History...

1989: For the first time since 1973 that child-traumatizing 1960 production of Peter Pan with Mary Martin is shown on TV. The horror, the horror...

1989: The Exxon Valdez runs aground, spilling 240,000 barrels of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. 

Today's Birthdays!

1834: John Wesley Powell; 1874: Harry Houdini; 1887: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle; 1895: Arthur Murray; 1897: Wilhelm Reich; 1901: Ub Iwerks; 1909: Clyde Barrow; 1911: Joseph Barbera; 1930: Steve McQueen; 1949: Nick Lowe; 1951: Tommy Hilfiger; 

1954: Robert Carradine, Donna Pescow; 1962: Star Jones; 1970: Lara Flynn Boyle; 

1973: Jim Parsons.

Today's Birthdays!

1874: J. C. Leyendecker; 1908: Joan Crawford; 1910: Akira Kurosawa; 1912: Werner von Braun; 1922: Marty Allen; 1937: Craig Breedlove; 

1949: Ric Ocasek; 1952: Patricia Richardson.

On This Day in History...

1708: English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth in Scotland; unfortunately, his followers are waiting for him at the Firth of Fifth, and he never takes power.


1775: Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death!" British reply, "Alrighty then," and begin loading their muskets.


1806: Lewis & Clark reach Pacific coast in what is now Oregon, find 'Capt. Cook wuz Here 1778' carved into a tree. 

Today's Birthdays!

1887: Chico Marx; 1908: Louis L'Amour; 1913: Karl Malden; 1923: Marcel Marceau; 1930: Pat Robertson, Stephen Sondheim; 1931: William Shatner; 1934: Orrin Hatch; 1941: Bruno Ganz; 1948: Wolf Blitzer, Andrew Lloyd Webber; 1952: Bob Costas; 1956: Lena Olin; 1959: Matthew Modine; 1976: Reese Witherspoon.

On This Day in History...

1630: The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice and gaming tables. Colonists now have to rely on local indian tribes for all their gambling needs.

1733: Joseph Priestly invents seltzer; devotes the rest of his life trying to invent the egg cream.

1933: Newly inaugurated president Franklin Roosevelt signs a law making the sale of beer and wine legal again; overnight bootleggers go from dodging the Untouchables to dodging the IRS.

Dice photo: JM

Today's Birthdays!

1821: Sir Richard Burton; 1848: Wyatt Earp; 1860: William Jennings Bryan; 1872: Sergei Diaghilev; 1882: Gaston Lachaise; 1891: Earl Warren; 1905: Albert Speer; 1906: Adolf Eichmann; 1916: Irving Wallace; 1925: Brent Scowcroft; 1928: Patrick McGoohan; 1933: Philip Roth; 1944: Lynda Bird Johnson Robb; 1947: Glenn Close.

On This Day in History...

1895: Los Angeles Railway establishes an extensive streetcar system that runs efficiently until it is undermined by wacky cartoon villains in late 1940s.


1953: First telecast of the Academy Awards ceremonies. Owing to the lack of incomprehensible dance numbers, video montages and lame comedy bits, the show wraps up in under 4 days.