It was on this date, December 2, 1547, that the Spanish conquistador of Mexico, during the time of Aztec King Montezuma II (1466-1520), Hernando Cortes (Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro), died peacefully on a lavish estate near Seville. About a generation after Columbus discovered the Americas as a good source of Christian converts, Cortes […]

It was on this date, December 1, 1935 that American comedian and film director Woody Allen was born Allen Stuart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, New York. According to his official biography, he was a humorist from age 15, when he started selling one-liners. He graduated high school and spent one semester at New York University before […]

Occasionally, I’m treated to extended anecdotes via e-mail from my brother. He doesn’t write them, of course, but he agrees with them and passes them on, usually without looking any deeper into them (or even correcting the spelling and grammar). The following series of anecdotes is no exception. Under the subject line “No Apologies Accepted,” […]

It was on this date, November 30, 1835, that American writer and humorist Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, but brought up in Hannibal, Missouri. Although first encountering writers by apprenticing to a printer, he became a Mississippi riverboat pilot and adopted his pen-name from the call – “Mark twain!” meaning […]

Religious Toleration It was on this date, November 29, 1787, that King Louis XVI (1754-1793) promulgated an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants under French law. French Protestants, then called Huguenots, had gained toleration a century before for their religious beliefs (and respite from the Wars of Religion) with the Edict of Nantes, […]

It was on this date, November 28, 1832, that the British writer, and first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1891), Leslie Stephen was born in Kensington Gore, London. Brought up in a Clapham Sect household of Christians, Stephen was educated first at Eton, then graduated from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he excelled in […]

It was on this date, November 28, 1943, that American songwriter and singer Randy Newman was born Randall Stuart Newman in Los Angeles. In his youth, he spent time in New Orleans with his mother’s family, and was influenced by the music there. He is the nephew of Al Newman, who wrote classic movie scores […]

By Ronald Bruce Meyer 11/27/2011 I am not a scholar but a fan of history. I also believe strongly in public support of public education, so that even childless citizens are not compelled to live among morons. So, hearing about what a crisis the American education system is in – so much so that it […]

It was on this date, November 27, 1095, that Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. The purpose of the Crusade was to answer an appeal for help that Urban had received from the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Komnenos, to relieve the pressure by the Seljuk Turks on the Eastern […]

Charles M. Schulz (1922) It was on this date, November 26, 1922, that the creator of Snoopy, Lucy, Charlie Brown and the other characters of the "Peanuts" comics world, cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, was born in St. Paul Minnesota. There is little dispute that Schulz, or "Sparky," as his friends called him, started out his […]