Crabs and Beer!

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

This day in 1631, saw the death of Mumtaz Mahal (lit. ’The Exalted One of the Palace’), empress of the Mughal Empire and the chief consort of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. She was the daughter of Abu’l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire.

Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607, she ultimately became his second wife in 1612. Mumtaz and her husband had 14 children. After their wedding celebrations, Shah Jahan, “finding her in appearance and character elect among all the women of the time”, gave her the title Mumtaz Mahal. During the intervening years between their betrothal and marriage, Shah Jahan had married his first wife, Princess Kandahari Begum in 1610 and in 1617, after marrying Mumtaz, took a third wife, Izz-un-Nissa Begum. By all accounts, Shah Jahan was so taken with Mumtaz that he showed little interest in exercising his polygamous rights with his two other wives, other than dutifully siring a child with each.

Mumtaz had a loving marriage with Shah Jahan. Even during her lifetime, poets would extol her beauty, grace, and compassion. Shah Jahan consulted Mumtaz in both private matters and the affairs of the state, and she served as his close confidant and trusted adviser and because of this, she had enormous political power.

Mumtaz Mahal died from postpartum hemorrhage while giving birth to her 14th child. In the immediate aftermath of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable. Apparently, after her death, he went into secluded mourning for a year. When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent, and his face worn.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It is seen as an embodiment of undying love and marital devotion. English poet Sir Edwin Arnold describes it as “Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones.”

the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

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Today is the birthday, in 1947, of American singer and keyboardist Gregg Rolie who has been a member of Santana and Journey. He joined Carlos Santana and others to form the Santana Blues Band in 1965. As a co-founding member of Santana, Rolie was part of the band’s first wave of success, including an appearance at Woodstock in 1969 and central roles in several hit albums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPauXWjY4T8

Today is, of course, Bloomsday, the annual commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses, the events of which take place on Thursday, 16 June 1904. Joyce chose to set his novel on this date as it was the date of his first sexual encounter with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle.

There are a variety of celebrations around the world, many involving readings of parts of Ulysses and often involving drinking. The Georgetown Neighborhood Library, located at 3260 R Street, NW, in Washington, D.C. held a marathon dramatic reading of Ulysses beginning 9 June and concluding on 16 June 2014 (Bloomsday). Twenty-five writers, actors, and scholars read Ulysses aloud in its entirety, a project which took more than 33 hours. The reading concluded with opera singer Laura Baxter performing Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in its entirety, a feat taking 2+1⁄2 hours by itself. The Irish Times, on Capitol Hill used to have readings of the book on Bloomsday.

New York has several events on Bloomsday including formal readings at Symphony Space and informal readings and music at the downtown Ulysses’ Folk House pub. The Irish American Bar Association of New York celebrates Joyce’s contribution to the First Amendment, with an annual keynote speech named after John Quinn, the Irish-American lawyer who defended Joyce’s New York publishers in their obscenity trial in 1922. In 2014, New York celebrated Bloomsday with “Bloomsday on Broadway,” which includes famous actors reading excerpts of the books, and commentators explaining the work between segments. The 2016 celebration includes a juried competition for the Best Dressed Molly and Leopold Bloom, selected from among attendees by a blue-ribbon panel including image strategist Margaret Molloy several design figures.

Since 1994, the Bloomsday Festival has been celebrated in Dublin. The Bloomsday Festival is one-week long and is scheduled on the week of June 16th. The festival involves a range of cultural activities, including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and other events. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom’s route around Dublin via landmarks such as Davy Byrne’s pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lasting up to 36 hours. The Bloomsday Festival is organised by the James Joyce Centre on behalf of the city of Dublin.

Bloomsday performers outside Davy Byrne’s pub, Dublin, Bloomsday 2003

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Luxury travel…

Today is the birthday, in 1958, of Patrick Waite, Musical Youth, best remembered for their successful 1982 single ‘Pass the Dutchie’, which became a No.1 hit around the world. It was a cover version of two songs: ‘Gimme the Music’ by U Brown, and ‘Pass the Kouchie’ by Mighty Diamonds, which deals with the recreational use of cannabis (kouchie being slang for a cannabis pipe). Waite died on 13th February 1993. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyUa63NM1E

On this day in the year 1215, King John put his seal on the Magna Carta at Runnymede (near Windsor). First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons who demanded that the King confirm the Charter of Liberties, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift and impartial justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.

After John’s death, the regency government of his young son, Henry III, reissued the document in 1216, stripped of some of its more radical content, in an unsuccessful bid to build political support for their cause. At the end of the war in 1217, it formed part of the peace treaty agreed at Lambeth, where the document acquired the name “Magna Carta”, to distinguish it from the smaller Charter of the Forest, which was issued at the same time. Short of funds, Henry reissued the charter again in 1225 in exchange for a grant of new taxes. His son, Edward I, repeated the exercise in 1297, this time confirming it as part of England’s statute law.

It influenced the early American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies and the formation of the United States Constitution, which became the supreme law of the land in the new republic of the United States.

King John on a stag hunt

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Toddler in chief plays with his toys…

Poppin Fresh! Straight out of the oven!!

…not included…

Today is the birthday, in 1843, of Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions brought the music of Norway to fame, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius did in Finland and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lKo6TYDXCQ