Today's Trivia and What Happened on July 29

What word in the English language is spelled wrong more often than any other word?

What word in the English language is spelled wrong more often than any other word? Close Large View

The word "wrong".

Thumbs Up
10
Thumbs Down
6

Quote: Never let your computer know you are in a hurry. Computers can smell fear and will crash if they know you are running out of time. - Every computer user - ever

Quote: Never let your computer know you are in a hurry. Computers can smell fear and will crash if they know you are running out of time. - Every computer user - ever Close Large View

Thumbs Up
9
Thumbs Down
3

What Happened On

Led Zeppelin Robbed of $180,000 go to Video for Led Zeppelin Robbed of $180,000

Led Zeppelin Robbed of $180,000 Close Large View

Led Zeppelin Robbed of $180,000

July 29, 1973

The rock band Led Zeppelin had $180,000 in cash (1800 one-hundred dollar bills) stolen from a safety-deposit box at their New York City hotel. The band's tour manager said the money had been accounted for earlier that day, but was missing at 7:30 PM. There was no evidence that the box had been tampered with and passports for the band members were still in the box. Opening the safety-deposit box required both the hotel employee's key and the patron's key, which had been in possession of the tour manager. This was the last day of their highly-successful 1973 North American Tour. The crime has never been solved.
Note: The amount stolen was initially erroneously reported as $203,000.

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
2

An A-4 Skyhawk burns after its fuel tank was struck by a Zuni missile An A-4 Skyhawk burns after its fuel tank was struck by a Zuni missile

An A-4 Skyhawk burns after its fuel tank was struck by a Zuni missile An A-4 Skyhawk burns after its fuel tank was struck by a Zuni missile
Close Large View

Forrestal Disaster

July 29, 1967

Fire on USS Forrestal kills 134 people. While the ship was preparing to launch attacks on Vietnam, a rocket from one of its own F-4 Phantom jet fighters accidentally launched and struck several parked A-4 Skyhawk jets which were waiting to take off. One of the parked Skyhawks was piloted by John McCain, the future U.S. senator from Arizona. The fuel from the Skyhawks spilled onto the ship's deck and caught fire. Compounding the disaster were the presence of outdated and volatile bombs that began exploding in the fire. Some of the bombs dated back to 1953 and had been stored on the deck, as it was felt they were too unstable to store with the rest of the ordnance.
It was determined by investigators that a surge in the jet's electrical system caused its rocket to fire. This would have been prevented had proper safety procedures been followed. A pigtail that allowed the rocket to fire was not supposed to be installed until the jet was ready for launch. However, it had been installed earlier in order to speed up the launch procedure. It is also believed that a second safety device, that also would have prevented the rocket launch, had blown off due to high winds.

Thumbs Up
5
Thumbs Down
4

Add Trivia to Your Web Page

The Beatles - More Popular than Jesus

The Beatles - More Popular than Jesus Close Large View

The Beatles - More Popular than Jesus

July 29, 1966

The U.S. teen magazine DATEbook reprints an earlier quote from March by Beatles' member John Lennon stating that "We're more popular than Jesus now." The cover of the magazine had the quote, "I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity!" This prompted Beatles Bonfires and the banning of their music by radio stations. Lennon later stated that "if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it. Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
An apology by Lennon eased tensions and stopped a wave of planned bonfires during their last U.S. tour.
Mark David Chapman would cite this quote and the song Imagine as the reasons he killed Lennon.
Also on the cover was a quote from Paul McCartney about America, "It's a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty n****!" This prompted very little response.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
3

Join Us on Facebook

Bob Dylan Crashes His Motorcycle Photo Credit: Jean-Luc Ourlin

Bob Dylan Crashes His Motorcycle Photo Credit: Jean-Luc Ourlin
Close Large View

Bob Dylan Crashes His Motorcycle

July 29, 1966

Folk singer Bob Dylan crashes his Triumph motorcycle near his home in Woodstock, New York, fracturing several vertebrae in his neck. Dylan used this accident to take a much needed break and drop out of the public eye for about eight years while recording with his touring group The Band. Dylan later commented, "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race."

Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
1

Vietnam Women's Memorial

Vietnam Women's Memorial Close Large View

Vietnam Women's Memorial

July 29, 1993

Ground is broken for the first memorial in Washington D.C. to honor women's military service. It honors the 11,500 women who served in Vietnam and the 265,000 uniformed women who served during the war. The memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1993.

Thumbs Up
10
Thumbs Down
0

First 8-Foot High Jump

July 29, 1989

Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor clears 8 ft. 0 inches.

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

Royal Wedding

July 29, 1981

Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.

Thumbs Up
8
Thumbs Down
0

Berkowitz and part of letter he left near victims Berkowitz and part of letter he left near victims

Berkowitz and part of letter he left near victims Berkowitz and part of letter he left near victims
Close Large View

Son of Sam Killer

July 29, 1976

David Berkowitz claims his first murder victim. He would kill five more times, initially claiming he was acting under orders of his neighbor Sam's demon-possessed dog Harvey, but later stated that was a hoax. He had stabbed two victims the previous December, but they survived. He was called "Son of Sam Killer" after he left a note near the bodies of two of his victims in which he referred to himself as "Son of Sam."
In the mid-1990s, he changed his confession to claim that he had been a member of a Satanic cult that orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder.
Berkowitz was also suspected in a number of unsolved arsons.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
4

Tour de France Begins Drug Testing

July 29, 1966

Tour officials conduct their first drug test on riders. The use of performance-enhancing drugs was considered legal until 1965.

Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
0

Hitler Becomes President of NAZI Party

Hitler Becomes President of NAZI Party Close Large View

Hitler Becomes President of NAZI Party

July 29, 1921

The future German leader Adolf Hitler becomes president of the National Socialist German Workers (NAZI) party.

Thumbs Up
5
Thumbs Down
5

Indians Cede Land in the Michigan Territory

July 29, 1829

Chippewa, Ottawa, and Powatomi Indians cede their land in the Michigan territory to the U.S.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
3

Birthdays

Edith Shain Photo Credit: Life

Edith Shain Photo Credit: Life
Close Large View
This is a birthday

Edith Shain

Born July 29, 1918 d. 2010

American nurse. She claims to be the recipient of the sailor's kiss in Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous Times Square photo on V-J Day in 1945. It is also believed that Glenn McDuffie was the sailor in the photo.

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

Clara Bow

Clara Bow Close Large View
This is a birthday

Clara Bow

Born July 29, 1905 d. 1965

American actress. Clara Bow came to symbolize the Roaring Twenties. A star of both silent and talkie movies, she was the top box office draw and one of the leading sex symbols of the era. Max Fleischer based his cartoon character Betty Boop on her and Helen Kane.

Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
0

Bara as Cleopatra Bara as Cleopatra

Bara as Cleopatra Bara as Cleopatra
Close Large View
This is a birthday

Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman)

Born July 29, 1885 d. 1955

American silent film actress. Known as "The Vamp" for her femme fatale roles and is often cited as the first sex symbol of the movies. Film: A Fool There Was (1915, the Vampire) and Cleopatra (1917, title role).

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
1

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini Close Large View
This is a birthday

Benito Mussolini

Born July 29, 1883 d. 1945

Italian Fascist dictator. He was executed by partisans who then hanged his body for exhibit in Milan's main square.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
3

This is a birthday

Peter Charles Jennings

Born July 29, 1938 d. 2005

Canadian-born TV news reporter. He scored 100 out of 100 on the U.S. citizenship exam. He was a high school drop out.

Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
0

Robert Fuller

Robert Fuller Close Large View
This is a birthday

Robert Fuller (Leonard Leroy Lee)

Born July 29, 1933

American actor. TV: Laramie (1959-63, Jess Harper), Wagon Train (1959-65, Cooper Smith), and Emergency! (1972-78, Dr. Brackett).

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

This is a birthday

Lloyd Bochner

Born July 29, 1924 d. 2005

Canadian actor. TV: Dynasty (1981-88, Cecil Colby) and The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" (1962, the cryptographer trying to decipher the alien text).

Thumbs Up
2
Thumbs Down
1

Professor Irwin Corey

Professor Irwin Corey Close Large View
This is a birthday

The World's Foremost Authority

Professor Irwin Corey

Born July 29, 1914 d. 2017

American comic, "The World's Foremost Authority." In 1959, he ran for president on the Playboy ticket. Quote: "If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

This is a birthday

Dag Hammarskjöld

Born July 29, 1905 d. 1961

Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-61). He was killed in a suspicious plane crash while en route to negotiate a cease-fire between U.N. and Congolese forces. He was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
0

This is a birthday

Booth Tarkington

Born July 29, 1869 d. 1946

American Pulitzer-winning novelist. Writings: The Magnificent Ambersons (1918, Pulitzer), and Alice Adams (1921, Pulitzer).

Thumbs Up
3
Thumbs Down
0

Deaths

Mama Cass Elliot

Mama Cass Elliot Close Large View
This is a death

Mama Cass Elliot (Ellen Naomi Cohen)

Died July 29, 1974 b. 1941

American folk singer, with The Mamas & the Papas. Music: California Dreamin' and Monday, Monday. She claimed she was hit on the head by a pipe that fell at a construction site and it increased her vocal range by three notes. The urban legend that she died from choking on a ham sandwich is false. She actually died of heart failure.
Even though she initially chose the nickname "Mama Cass" at the formation of The Mamas & the Papas, she grew to dislike the name after she later began her solo career.
She died at 32 years old in the same flat Keith Moon would die in four years later, also 32 years old.

Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
0

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh Close Large View
This is a death

Vincent van Gogh

Died July 29, 1890 b. 1853

Dutch ear-cutting (actually only the lobe) postimpressionist painter. Although he created over 900 paintings, which now sell for millions, he sold only one during his lifetime. In 1888, during a fit of dementia, he chopped off part of his ear and gave it to a prostitute. After years of mental illness and poverty, he shot himself in the chest and died 30 hours later of an infection. According to his brother, his final words were, "The sadness will last forever."

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
0

Tom Snyder

Tom Snyder Close Large View
This is a death

Tom Snyder

Died July 29, 2007 b. 1936

American talk show host. TV: Tomorrow Show (1973-82) and The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder (1995-99) and anchor of the primetime NBC News Update, consisting of one-minute capsules of news updates in primetime.
"Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Raymond Massey

Died July 29, 1983 b. 1896

Canadian actor. Film: Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940, title role). TV: Dr. Kildare (Dr. Gillespie).

Thumbs Up
2
Thumbs Down
0

David Niven

David Niven Close Large View
This is a death

David Niven

Died July 29, 1983 b. 1910

British Oscar-winning actor. Film: Around the World in 80 Days (1956, Phileas Fogg) and The Pink Panther (1964, the Phantom).

Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Crohn's Disease

Burrill Bernard Crohn

Died July 29, 1983 b. 1884

American gastroenterologist. For whom Crohn's disease is named.

Thumbs Up
1
Thumbs Down
2

This is a death

Bill Todman

Died July 29, 1979 b. 1916

American TV producer. TV: To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, and Family Feud.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Richard Leo Simon

Died July 29, 1960 b. 1899

American publisher, co-founder of the publishing house of Simon and Schuster (1924). Their first book was the world's first crossword puzzle book.

Thumbs Up
3
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Richard Pearse

Died July 29, 1953 b. 1877

New Zealand farmer, aviation pioneer. He reportedly built and flew a monoplane craft in March of 1903 - eight months before the Wright brothers.

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Urban VIII

Died July 29, 1644 b. 1568

Italian religious leader, 235th Pope (1623-44). He brought Galileo Galilei up before the Roman Inquisition for teaching that the Earth revolved around the Sun (1633).

Thumbs Up
4
Thumbs Down
0

This is a death

Urban II

Died July 29, 1099 b. circa 1042

French-born religious leader, 159th Pope (1088-99).

Thumbs Up
3
Thumbs Down
0