Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in favor of her one-year-old son. Ascending the throne at too young an age seems to be a family thing. She herself inherited the throne from her father, James V, when she was just six days old. And her father was crowned on 21 September 1513 at only seventeen months. His own father, James IV, was practically ancient when he took the throne, fifteen on 11 June 1488. The ancestral list goes on back with Mary, Queen of Scotts, being just one of many children in the royal line inheriting the throne at an incredibly young age.

2. in 1851

The controversial Window Tax in the United Kingdom was finally abolished. It was designed to be a progressive tax, allowing households with homes with ten or less windows to be charged a house tax of two shillings but no window tax. Households with homes with more than ten windows were subject to the window tax, which increased proportionately with the number of windows. The idea was that the poorest were more likely to live in houses with less windows, therefore paying less in taxes. However, this only worked in rural areas. Those who lived in towns or cities rarely had individual homes, more often living in subdivided tenement buildings. These buildings, in terms of the tax law, were a single dwelling, therefore subjecting owners to high window taxes. To combat that, the owners often boarded up the windows of existing buildings and constructed new buildings with insufficient windows. On top of it, the definition of what constituted a window often varied, leading the tax to be calculated on virtually any opening in the wall. And of course, increased taxes resulted in both a lower standard of living for tenants and higher rents, thereby completely undermining the initial point of the tax.

3. in 1897

Famous female pilot Amelia Earheart was born in Atchison, Kansas. Just after her 39th birthday in 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her life, she set scores of records, including being the first female pilot to fly solo nonstop over the Atlantic.

4. in 1901

Short-story writer O. Henry was released from prison in Austin, Texas. He served three years for embezzlement from a bank at which he’d been employed. After his arrest, he beat feet out of Austin, leaving his wife and daughter behind as he went on the run to New Orleans in order to avoid his trial. It was there that he began using the name “O. Henry” in an attempt to write while he stayed on the down-low. Eventually, he fled to Honduras, which didn’t have an extradition treaty with the US. He only came back to the US when he discovered his wife was dying. It was after his prison stint that he became a significant writer in American literature.

5. in 1917

The trial of Mata Hari began in Paris, where she faced charges of spying for Germany, causing the deaths of over 50,000 soldiers. Mata Hari was a Dutch courtesan and exotic dancer whose involvement in spying for Germany during World War I was often debated. Until the 1970s, when documents were unsealed that proved that she was, in fact, a German agent. Mata Hari, whose real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, got her stage name while living in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. In Malay, it means “eye of the day.” It was also there that she learned the dances that made her famous.

6. in 1948

Marvin the Martian debuted in the Bugs Bunny cartoon film Haredevil Hare, as an antagonist. His appearance was designed to resemble the Hoplite style of armor worn by the Roman god Mars. In his early appearances, Marvin had no name. But in 1979, once he attracted merch interest, he was given the name Marvin the Martian.

7. in 1969

Apollo 11 returned from its Moon mission, during which Neil Armstrong became the first human being to step onto the Moon’s surface, soon joined by Buzz Aldrin. The original recovery area had to be scrapped, due to an incoming storm. It was feared that the storm was going to be bad, with low visibility and strong upper-level winds that could wreak havoc on parachutes. So plans shuffled quickly to a new location some 215 nautical miles away.

8. in 1980

Actor Peter Sellers passed away. The English actor and comedian is probably most widely known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. The majority of his work was comedic, although he also did a handful of more serious movies, too. He was only 54 when he passed after a heart attack.

9. in 1982

Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts, reigning there for almost six weeks. The song was written to be the theme song of Rocky III, later released as a single from their third, same-named album. The song has been used without authorization for several campaigns, most notably Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in their 2012 presidential campaigns. They sued Gingrich, settling out of court. Romney didn’t argue, simply dropping the song. In 2015, another lawsuit was filed, this time against Mike Huckabee for using it at a rally without authorization. He paid $25K in compensation.

I love this song…

But personally, I enjoy this lip-synced version!

10. in 1987

Hulda Crooks of Saskatchewan, Canada became the oldest woman (at age 91) to complete a climb to the peak of Mount Fuji in Japan. She took up climbing around the age of 54, after the death of her husband. Besides Fuji, she climbed some 98 peaks, including 23 times up Mount Whitney in California, as well as completing the John Muir Trail in segments over five years. She passed away in November of 1997 at the age of 101, still the oldest woman to climb Mount Fuji. Some 28 years later, she still is.

11. in 2016

Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You returns to the NYT Bestseller’s List for its last time. The book was published in 2012, but it was the announcement and then release of the movie that sparked renewed interest, allowing the book to enter the list for the first time in March of 2016.

12. in 2021

Rodney Alcala, also known as the Dating Game Killer, died of a heart attack at a hospital near California’s death row at San Quentin. Why the Dating Game Killer? Because he appeared as a contestant on the show in 1978, during one of his killing sprees. He won the date, but fortunately, Cheryl Bradshaw had excellent instincts. When they spent some time together after the show, pre date, she felt wary of him and refused to go on the date, probably saving her life. It was, in part, because of this show that Alcala was caught and finally put away for good. After the 1979 disappearance of Robin Samscoe from a local beach, her friend that was with her sat with a sketch artist,. The composite drawing was then released to the public, and a tip line was established. A parole officer who’d seen the sketch recognized Alcala on the rerun of The Dating Game. This identification fell in with the investigation, which had just ID’d Alcala as a possible suspect because of links to another case just months before the disappearance. This led to Alcala being convicted of a slew of murder charges, among others.

He’s the one on the left, and in the thumbnail.

13. in 2024

The #1 movie at the domestic box office was Twisters. It had a daily take of $10,015,415. The #2 movie was Despicable Me 4 with a take of $4,135,690, a difference of almost $6 million. The bottom of the list was held by an Italian movie, 50 km/h, which took in just $64.

::spread the love::