Crabs and Beer!

Today marks the beginning of the Great Siege of Gibraltar in 1779. It was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from Britain during the American Revolutionary War. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants.

On 16 June 1779, Spain entered the war on the side of France with the primary war aim of capturing Gibraltar from the British. The vulnerable garrison of Gibraltar, commanded by George Eliott, was besieged from June 1779 to February 1783. Initially, the siege was carried out solely by Spanish forces under Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor. The siege proved to be a failure because two British relief convoys entered unmolested, the first under Admiral George Rodney in 1780 and the second under Admiral George Darby in 1781, despite the presence of the Spanish Navy.

Following the Spanish failure to defeat the garrison or prevent the arrival of relief convoys, the besiegers were reinforced by French forces under Louis de Crillon, who took over command in early 1782. After a lull in the siege, during which the Franco-Spanish besiegers gathered more guns, ships and troops, a “Grand Assault” was launched on 13 September 1782. This involved huge numbers—60,000 attackers, 49 ships of the line and 10 specially designed and newly invented floating batteries—against 5,000 British defenders. The assault proved to be a disastrous and humiliating failure, resulting in heavy losses for the French and Spanish. This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers.

It was a factor in ending the American Revolutionary War the Peace of Paris negotiations were reliant on news from the siege, particularly at its climax.

Gibraltar Relieved By Sir George Rodney by Dominic Serres, 1782. Admiral George Rodney’s relief fleet at Gibraltar with captured Spanish battleships from the Battle of Cape St Vincent in January 1780

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This means you, Manuel!

Nothing to add here…

Today is the birthday, in 1949, of John Illsley, English musician, best known as bass guitarist of the rock band Dire Straits who had the 1985 US No.1 single ‘Money For Nothing’ the 1986 UK No.2 single ‘Walk Of Life’ and the 1985 world wide No.1 album Brothers In Arms. Illsley owns a local pub, the ‘East End Arms’, between Lymington and Beaulieu, which has been listed by critics as one of the “Fifty Best Pubs Around Britain”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9TlGDZGkI

Today is the birthday, in 1889, of Verena Winifred Holmes. She was an English mechanical engineer and multi-field inventor, the first woman member elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924) and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (1931), and was a strong supporter of women in engineering. She was one of the early members of the Women’s Engineering Society, and its president in 1931. She was the first practicing engineer to serve as president of the society.

She worked work for the industrial engine manufacturer Ruston and Hornsby while taking technical courses. In 1922, Holmes graduated from Loughborough Engineering College with a BSc(Eng) degree. Her technical specialities included marine and locomotive engines, diesel and internal combustion engines. In 1925, Holmes set up her own consulting company. Holmes patented a number of inventions, including the Holmes and Wingfield pneumo-thorax apparatus for treating patients with tuberculosis, a surgeon’s headlamp, a poppet valve for steam locomotives, and rotary valves for internal combustion engines. She held patents for twelve inventions for medical devices as well as engine components.

During World War II Holmes worked on naval weaponry and in 1940 became adviser to Ernest Bevin, the minister of labour, on the training of munition workers. She was appointed headquarters technical officer with the Ministry of Labour. She was influential in setting up the Women’s Technical Services Register during the Second World War, which included a training course for women munitions workers to enable them to apply for roles such as junior draughtsmen and laboratory assistants.

Verena Holmes’ birthday of 23 June coincides with International Women in Engineering Day and she is commemorated as part of that celebration.

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Uh oh…

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Will somebody please call Carly Rae Jepson? Great plot twist here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic

Today is the birthday, in 1867, of Gisela Januszewska. was an Austrian physician. Having earned her degree in Switzerland, she briefly worked in Germany before becoming the first female physician in the ethnically Serbian town of Banja Luka in Bosnia Herzegovina within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

She was one of five children of Leopold Rosenfeld, an estate manager in the Slavonian town of Grubišno Polje. She received a degree in medicine from the University of Zurich in 1898. In March 1899, she was appointed Amtsärztin, a public health official, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, becoming its first female physician. During her career in Banja Luka, Januszewska was one of few physicians who strove to ensure that Bosnian Muslim women had proper access to healthcare.

She performed minor surgeries and gained fame treating patients with smallpox, typhoid, typhus and syphilis. Widowed in 1916, she volunteered to enter the Austrian military medical corps. Januszewska received several medals for her services, including German Red Cross Decoration and the Austrian Order of the Civil Merit. After the war, in 1919, she opened her own practice in Graz. She was widely respected for her social responsibility: not only did she treat the underprivileged for free, she also financially supported some of them. She was the second Austrian physician to be awarded the title Medizinalrat, an award for outstanding contributions to medicine.

When Germany took over Austria she became subject to their racial policies, Her Graz apartment was confiscated by the Nazis in 1940, and she was forced to move to Vienna, from where she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. She died there on 2 March 1943, aged 76.

Januszewska as a physician in Graz

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A very tired roof….

Tutering and wrighting…

Today is the birthday, in 1953, of American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, who had the 1984 US No.1 single ‘Time After Time’, and the UK & US No.2 single Girls Just Want to Have Fun, (first recorded in 1979 by American musician Robert Hazard). The song received Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdQY7BusJNU

On this day in 1953, almost 72% of all televisions in the US were tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

The series ran from 1951 to 1957 with 180 half-hour episodes. I Love Lucy became the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons and it was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings. As of 2011, episodes of the show have been syndicated in dozens of languages across the world and remains popular with an American audience of 40 million each year. A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than eight million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013, 62 years after the show premiered.

The show – which was the first scripted television program to be filmed on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience was also the first show to feature an ensemble cast. As such, it is often regarded as one of the most influential television programs in history. In 2012, it was voted the ‘Best TV Show of All Time’ in a survey conducted by ABC News and People magazine.

during the second season, Lucy was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz Jr., and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series’ storyline. CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word pregnant, so expecting was used instead. In addition, sponsor Philip Morris made the request that Ball not be seen smoking during the pregnancy episodes. The episode in which Lucy Ricardo gives birth, “Lucy Goes to the Hospital”, first aired on January 19, 1953, which was the day before the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. To increase the publicity of this episode, the original air date was chosen to coincide with Ball’s real-life delivery of Desi Jr. by Caesarean section.

Cast members from left, standing: William Frawley, Desi Arnaz, seated: Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball

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Uh Oh…

Daily delivery to the White House…

for those who get discombobulated…

Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865,when enslaved Texans learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The celebration began in Texas and spread nationwide, becoming a federal holiday in 2021.

A group of formerly enslaved people at a wharf during the American Civil War.

Today is the birthday, in 1963, of Paula Abdul, American singer, songwriter, voice actress, dancer, choreographer who had the 1990 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Opposites Attract’ plus five other US No.1 singles. Her 1989 album Forever Your Girl spent ten weeks as US No.1. Became a judge on American Idol TV show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El1kgCqD7Xk

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, fought in 1815 between the French Imperial Army under Napoleon I and two armies of the Seventh Coalition. One was a British-led force under the command of field marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. The other comprised three corps of the Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher.

Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo campaign and Napoleon’s last. It was the second-bloodiest single day battle of the Napoleonic Wars, after Borodino. According to Wellington, the battle was “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life”. Napoleon abdicated four days later, and coalition forces entered Paris on 7 July. The defeat at Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon’s Hundred Days return from exile. In popular culture, the phrase “meeting one’s Waterloo” has become an expression for experiencing a catastrophic reversal or undoing.

The Duke of Wellington

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This is the beautiful Michelle Obama…

Here is the beautiful Françoise Hardy with a wonderful song about teenage love…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYuM_r8cKQ