For some reason today, I caught (no sound) part of Pardon The Interruption, where they were doing a "this day in history" thing. I forget 100% what it was, and the Wikipedia entry on today in history just doesn't cut it. (By "today" I mean "yesterday", since its now the 27th).
The thing that angered me (maybe another thing to take umbrage in?) is that PTI treats the NHL like a completely uninteresting nonsport, and yet takes up 60 seconds discussing some silly historical footnote that was completely non-sports-related.
Here are some of the interesting things that happened on September 26th though:
- The Serpukhov-15 bunker incident in 1983 that almost vapourized us all. (thanks again to Ronald Reagan for actually ending this kind of nonsense)
- Seoul was recaptured by UN forces in 1950
- Sir Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe 426 years ago "today"
- The Queen Mary launch in 1934
- Abbey Road released (in Britain) in 1969 on the same day The Brady Bunch premiered. There's a clever observation or joke or something to be made there.
- If you want sports stuff, Nolan Ryan throws his 5th no-hitter in 1981, Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal (in Seoul, oddly enough) in 1988, and in '83 Australia II wins the Americas Cup
- A 1997 earthquake collapsed the Basilica of St. Francis in Italy
- Finally, the Concorde makes its first nonstop Atlantic crossing. Yeah, that worked well.
Jim: Five standard excuses?
Sir Humphrey: Yes. First there's the excuse we used for instance in the Anthony Blunt case.
Jim: Which was?
Sir Humphrey: That there is a perfectly satisfactory explanation for everything, but security forbids its disclosure. Second there is the excuse we used for comprehensive schools, that it only gone wrong because of heavy cuts in staff and budget which have stretched supervisory resources beyond the limits.
Jim: But that's not true is it?
Sir Humphrey: No, but it's a good excuse. Then there's the excuse we used for Concorde, it was a worthwhile experiment, now abandoned, but not before it had provided much valuable data and considerable employment.
Jim: But that is true isn't it? Oh no, of course it isn't.
Sir Humphrey: The fourth, there's the excuse we used for the Munich agreement. It occurred before certain important facts were known, and couldn't happen again
Jim: What important facts?
Sir Humphrey: Well, that Hitler wanted to conquer Europe.
Jim: I thought everybody knew that.
Sir Humphrey: Not the Foreign Office.
Jim: Five?
Sir Humphrey: Five, there's the Charge of the Light Brigade excuse. It was an unfortunate lapse by an individual which has now been dealt with under internal disciplinary procedures.
- A Question of Loyalty
