Tagged: malaria

HONEY, I’M HOME

November 26 in history:

Captain James Cook became the first European tourist to visit the Hawaiian island of Maui (sort of) on November 26th, 1778.  Cook apparently did not find a good place to land on the island, so he only sailed around Maui.  It took another eight years for a different European visitor to set foot on land.

A bird called the po’o-uli, or the black-faced honeycreeper, was discovered on Maui in 1973.  But some animal experts believe the po’o-uli doesn’t live anywhere anymore.  No more than 200 of the birds were thought to exist in the ’70s.  Only three were found in the late 1990s, and they didn’t live close enough to each other to mate naturally.  The only black-faced honeycreeper kept in captivity died of malaria on Maui, on this date in 2004.

The Honeydrippers was a 1980′s band with a short life.  Headed by Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, the group only released one EP, featuring the single “Sea of Love,” which was climbing the Billboard Top 40 chart on November 26th, 1984.  It peaked at number 3 in early 1985.

And the Jackie Gleason series “The Honeymooners” featured a new episode called “Brother Ralph” on November 26th, 1955.  The “Honeymooners” began as short comedy sketches starring Gleason as bus driver Ralph Kramden and Art Carney as sewer worker Ed Norton.  It lasted just one season as a half-hour sitcom, in 1955-56.

SHORT REIGNS

September 27 in history:

Pope Urban the 7th (real name, Giovanni Castagna) died on this date in 1590.  He had only been the pope for 13 days, the shortest papacy ever.  There was no controversy about the cause of death…Pope Urban died of malaria.

The assassination of the first Catholic president of the U.S. led to a government investigation that concluded on September 27th, 1964, with the release of the Warren Commission report.  The Commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing President John F. Kennedy.  TV networks did live programs about the Commission findings at the hour the report was released to the public.

A live late-night program called “Tonight!” debuted on September 27th, 1954, on NBC.  Steve Allen was host for the first three years, succeeded by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Conan O’Brien. Allen’s first night as host was also the 34th birthday of his wife, actress Jayne Meadows.