Tagged: Spain

GREEN ACRES

April 22nd in history:

The first “Earth Day” was observed on April 22nd, 1970.

Historians say Christopher Columbus wasn’t trying to prove the Earth was round in his voyage to the Americas in 1492, but was trying to find a shorter route to Asia across the ocean. Columbus was sponsored by Queen Isabella of Spain, born on this date in 1451.

Settlers raced to claim their own piece of earth when the Oklahoma Territory was opened at noon on April 22nd, 1889.

Eddie Albert was in “Oklahoma!” (the movie musical, that is), playing the peddler Ali Hakim.  Albert was born on April 22nd, 17 years after the opening of the Oklahoma territory.

Eddie Albert is most famous for playing lawyer-turned-farmer Oliver Wendell Douglas on “Green Acres,” but he also received two Oscar nominations in his long career.  Jack Nicholson has the most Oscar nominations among male actors, with 12 to his credit.  Nicholson, born on April 22nd, 1937, already had been nominated for “Easy Rider” and “Chinatown” before winning the first of his three Oscars, for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

PUT OUT THE WELCOME MAT

November 15 in history:

Conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived with his army at Cajamarca, the capital of the Incas, on November 15th, 1532.  Pizarro’s men urged the Incan king Atahualpa to convert to Christianity and pledge allegiance to Spain.  The king refused.  He was captured and his army was attacked.

General William Tecumseh Sherman set fire to Atlanta on this date in 1864, beginning a March to the Sea (the Atlantic) by Union troops.  The burning of Atlanta is a major scene in the movie “Gone with the Wind.”

Another military leader known for his ability to move armies, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was born on November 15th, 1891.

Zebulon Pike was an explorer rather than a conqueror.  On this day in 1806, Pike discovered a large mountain in the Rockies which was later named Pike’s Peak.

And for fast-food lovers wanting to know “Where’s the beef?”…their journey often takes them to Wendy’s restaurants.  Dave Thomas opened his first Wendy’s outlet, named after his daughter Melinda (nicknamed “Wendy”), in Columbus, Ohio on November 15th, 1969.

MORE WORLDS TO CONQUER

October 19 in history:

Two European kingdoms joined to become Spain as the result of a royal wedding on October 19th, 1469.  That’s when Ferdinand of Aragon (he was 17) married Isabella of Castile (she was 18).

Napoleon tried to conquer Russia in 1812, but the Russian Army would not surrender.  The French leader and his army spent a month in Moscow, but could not get enough supplies to stay for the winter, so they retreated on October 19th, 1812.

Boxer Evander Holyfield became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in October 1990 by knocking out defending champ Buster Douglas.  Holyfield was born on this date in 1962.

It’s also the birthday of actor John Lithgow (1945), known for films such as “The World According to Garp” and his TV role as a visitor from another world on “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

LEAVING SPAIN

August 3 in history:

In 14-hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It was on August 3rd that year, when Christopher Columbus left a Spanish port on his mission to reach Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Many other people left Spain on that same day in 1492…not by choice. The last of the Jews living in Spain left that country on August 3rd, under orders from the king and queen.

His father was from Spain, his mother was from Ireland. His real name is Ramon Estevez, but you know him better as Martin Sheen, the patriarch of an acting family that includes Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. Martin Sheen was born in Ohio on this date in 1940.