Today's Puzzle
What is King Harald Bluetooth famous for?
Bluetooth communication protocol is named after him. Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson (c. 935-c. 985) was King of Norway (c. 970). His nickname is probably derived from the fact that his teeth had a bluish color. The creators of Bluetooth technology choose to identify with him because he unified Norway and Denmark, much like Bluetooth unifies computers, cell phones, and other hardware. The Bluetooth logo consists of the Nordic runes for his initials "HB".
What Happened On
Bobby Buntrock Dies in Car Accident
April 7, 1974
21-year-old Bobby Buntrock, the child actor who played Harold "Sport" Baxter in TV's Hazel (1961-66), dies in a car crash. The bridge he was driving over was under construction and he drove into a hole between the lanes. The doors of his vehicle were trapped by the sides of the hole and he was unable to escape and drowned.
A widespread rumor started that his mother had died in a car accident on the same bridge, but this was not true. She had died several years earlier of a heart attack in their home.
Photo Credit: Nyenyec
Photo Credit: Nyenyec
Domino Theory of Vietnam
April 7, 1954
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a historic speech describes the domino effect in Southeast Asia. This so-called "Domino Theory" would dominate U.S. policy towards Vietnam in following administrations. After describing the economic importance of Vietnam, Eisenhower described the falling domino effect: "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is a certainty that it will go over very quickly." He raised concerns that the fall of Vietnam would lead to the fall of Indochina, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, and even Australia and New Zealand to communism. Shortly after his speech, North Vietnam fell to the communist. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson both used the domino theory to justify increased U.S. economic and military assistance to non-communist South Vietnam and, eventually, to the U.S. entering the war in 1965.
Family Watching TV, 1950s
Family Watching TV, 1950s
First U.S. Long-Distance Demonstration of Television
April 7, 1927
Herbert Eugene Ives of Bell Laboratories broadcasts a picture from Washington D.C. to New York, a distance of about 200 miles (322 kilometers) over telephone lines. It was a speech by then U.S. Secretary of Commerce and future U.S. President Herbert Hoover in which he stated, "Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in the world's history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown."
Photo Credit: Sebastian Ritter
Photo Credit: Sebastian Ritter
Matches
April 7, 1827
The first matches go on sale, invented by English chemist John Walker the previous year.
His matches consisted of wooden splints or sticks of cardboard tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum so that they would ignite when scratched on a rough surface. They were coated in sulfur to cause the flame to ignite the wood.
The price of a box of 50 matches was one shilling. Each box included a folded piece of sandpaper, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it.
Early matches, including Walker's, were dangerous as flaming balls of fire would sometimes fall to the floor burning carpets and dresses, leading to their ban in France and Germany.
Walker refused to patent his idea, feeling it was too trivial of an invention.
Nuclear Submarine Sinks
April 7, 1989
A Soviet nuclear powered submarine carrying two nuclear torpedoes catches fire and sinks about 150 miles (241 km) north of Norway. Forty-two crew members were killed. While at a depth of 1,099 feet (335 meters) an electrical fire started in the engine room. Even though the watertight doors were shut, the fire burned through bulkhead cable penetrations. The nuclear reactor scrammed and propulsion was lost. The emergency ballast tank was blown and the submarine surfaced with most of the crew abandoning ship. Several hours later, the submarine sank to a depth of about 1 mile (1.6 km) where it still rests with its nuclear reactor and warheads. Forty-two of the 69 crewmen, including the commanding officer, died in the accident. Others died later from having inhaled toxic gases.
Iranian Hostage Crisis
April 7, 1980
The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes an embargo on exports to Iran in retaliation for the 63 Americans hostages taken from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran the previous November. The embassy had been taken over by Iranian students who believed the U.S. was attempting to undermine the Iranian Revolution. They also opposed U.S. support of the Shah of Iran who, after being overthrown, went to the U.S. for cancer treatment. They wanted him returned to stand trial for crimes against the Iranian people.
Birthdays
Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan)
Born April 7, 1915 d. 1959
American Grammy-winning blues singer. She performed with Benny Goodman and Count Basie.
Music: What a Little Moonlight Can Do (1935).
America, Love It Or Leave It
Walter Winchell
Born April 7, 1897 d. 1972
American journalist. He popularized the phrase "America, love it or leave it" (1950s), which he used in defense of Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts. TV: The Untouchables (1959-63, narrator).
William Rufus King
Born April 7, 1786 d. 1853
American politician. 13th U.S. Vice-President (1853), U.S. Senator (1848-52, Alabama), U.S. Minister to France (1844-46), and U.S. Representative (1811-16, North Carolina). He is the only U.S. executive official to take the oath of office on foreign soil; taking the oath of office in Cuba. He died of tuberculosis 45 days after taking office.
Janis Ian (Janis Fink)
Born April 7, 1951
American Grammy-winning singer. Music: Society's Child (1967) and At Seventeen (1975, Grammy).
John Oates
Born April 7, 1948
American rock musician with Hall & Oates. Music: Sara Smile (1976, about Hall's then-girlfriend, Sara Allen), and Maneater (1982, #1).
Mick Abrahams
Born April 7, 1943
British guitarist, with Jethro Tull. Music: Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972).
Sir David Frost OBE
Born April 7, 1939 d. 2013
English author, TV personality. Quote: "Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home." Frost was the only person to have interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2016 and all seven U.S. presidents in office between 1969 and 2008.
Francis Ford Coppola
Born April 7, 1939
American director. Film: The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).
Andrew Sachs (Andreas Siegfried Sachs)
Born April 7, 1930 d. 2016
British actor. TV: Fawlty Towers (1975 & 1979, Spanish waiter Manuel). Film: Are You Being Served? (1977). Music: Manuel's Good Food Guide.
James Garner (James Bumgarner)
Born April 7, 1928 d. 2014
American Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Great Escape (1963) and The Notebook (2004). TV: Maverick (1957-62, Bret Maverick) and The Rockford Files (1974-80, "Jimbo" Rockford).
Ronald Howard
Born April 7, 1918 d. 1996
English actor. TV: Sherlock Holmes (1954-55, title role).
Mickey Goldmill
Born April 7, 1905 d. 1981
fictional character in the Rocky movies. He was Rocky Balboa's manager and gym manager, as played by Burgess Meredith. It is thought that Mickey Goldmill may be based on Charley Goldman, who was the boxing trainer of Rocky Marciano, on whom the Rocky Balboa character is based. Goldman trained Marciano in many ways similar to how Goldmill trained Balboa, such as tying their ankles together with string to teach them to spread their feet to the appropriate width.
In Rocky III, the Mickey Goldmill character suffers a heart attack during a scuffle between the Balboa and Clubber Lang characters and dies on the way to the hospital.
Will Keith Kellogg
Born April 7, 1860 d. 1951
American breakfast-cereal manufacturer, philanthropist, founded the W.K. Kellogg Company (1906) to sell toasted corn flakes.
Bret Maverick
Born April 7, 1847
fictional character on the TV series Maverick, played by James Garner.
Clement XII
Born April 7, 1652 d. 1740
Italian religious leader, 246th Pope (1730-40). Condemned the Freemasons (1738).
Deaths
Co-Inventor of Dungeons & Dragons
Dave Arneson
Died April 7, 2009 b. 1947
American gamer. Co-inventor, with Gary Gygax, of the game Dungeons & Dragons (1974).
First James Bond
Barry Nelson (Robert Nielsen)
Died April 7, 2007 b. 1917
American actor. He played 007 in the 1954 live TV-version of Casino Royale making him the first James Bond (8 years before Sean Connery). It was an episode of the TV anthology series Climax! and was intended as a pilot for a possible James Bond series.
TV: My Favorite Husband (1953-55, George Cooper - the favorite husband). Film: Airport (1970, Captain Anson Harris) and The Shining (1980, hotel manger who interviews Jack Nicholson's character for the job).
Bobby Buntrock
Died April 7, 1974 b. 1952
American actor. TV: Hazel (1961-66, Harold "Sport" Baxter the son). He died at 21 years old in a car accident. The bridge he was driving over was under construction and he drove into a hole between the lanes. The doors of his vehicle were trapped by the sides of the hole and he was unable to escape and drowned.
A widespread rumor started that his mother had died in a car accident on the same bridge, but this was not true. She had died several years earlier of a heart attack in their home.
Henry Ford
Died April 7, 1947 b. 1863
American auto maker. He introduced the automobile assembly line and the $5-a-day wage to automobile production.
Quote: Show me who makes a profit from war, and I'll show you how to stop the war.
P. T. Barnum (Phineas Taylor Barnum)
Died April 7, 1891 b. 1810
American showman. "The Great American Showman" and founder of Barnum & Bailey's Circus (1881). He is credited with the saying, "There's a sucker born every minute." Some of his acts included Jo-Jo the Dog Faced Boy, Tom Thumb, and Jenny Lind. His first hoax was the Fiji Mermaid (1842), which was a creature with the head of a monkey and the tail of a fish. He opened America's first aquarium. Known as the "Prince of Humbugs", Barnum saw nothing wrong with entertainers using hoaxes, as long as the public was getting value for their money. However, he became a debunker of spiritualists and mediums, exposing the methods they used to deceive people. He even offered $500 to any medium who could prove they had the power to communicate with the dead.
Barnum also served as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut (1875-76) and as a Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (1866-69).
James Hampton
Died April 7, 2021 b. 1936
American actor. TV: F Troop (1965-67, Private Dobbs) and The Doris Day Show (1968-69, Leroy B. Simpson).
Stan Freberg (Stanley Friberg)
Died April 7, 2015 b. 1926
American satirist. Recorded the #1 hit St. George and the Dragonet (1953) a parody of the TV show Dragnet. It opened with "The legend you are about to hear is true; only the needle should be changed to protect the record." 
Listen
Mike Wallace (Myron Wallace)
Died April 7, 2012 b. 1918
American Emmy-winning reporter. TV: 60 Minutes (1968-2008). Wallace got his start as a radio announcer for such shows as Curtain Time, Ned Jordan, Secret Agent, Sky King, The Green Hornet, and The Spike Jones Show. He moved to TV in 1949 and hosted a series of game shows and then began hosting an early version of CBS Morning News (1963-66).
Wallace admitted to sexually harassing female coworkers in 1970s and '80s by putting his hand on their backs and unsnapping their bras.
Creator of B.C. Comic Strip
Johnny Hart (John Lewis Hart)
Died April 7, 2007 b. 1931
American cartoonist. Creator of B.C. (1958) and The Wizard of Id (1964).
John Agar
Died April 7, 2002 b. 1921
American actor. First husband of Shirley Temple. Film: Sands of Iwo Jima, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. B Movies: The Mole People and The Brain from Planet Arous.
Charles VIII
Died April 7, 1498 b. 1470
King of France (1483-98).