...And My Love He Has Stolen Away!

When I was a little girl, I had a record player that played at all 3 speeds.

One of my favorite albums, one which I simply wore out, had some of the silliest songs on it. They included the "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" song, along with things like, "I Ain't No Beatle, But I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died", "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose", and "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze".

This last one ended with the daring young trapeze artist stealing away the lady love of the person singing the song.

What brought back this song to my mind on a busy Thursday morning when I have 2 loads of laundry to do, errands to run, and lessons to teach? Well, today in history, in 1859, Jules Leotard performed the first flying trapeze act ever.

We think of the circus, these days, as centering around such acts. But if you study the origins of the circus, which can be fascinating and time consuming, you find out that the modern circus, like so many things, changed and grew into what we know today over the course of time.

Naturally, I will now be doing everything I have to do today with snippets of that song running around in my head, and I don't remember all the words. Oh, well, could be worse. I could be running around with that other annoying song in my head instead. You know the one, the Disney song that is the cure to any other song that gets stuck in your head, but you hesitate to use it because in this case the cure is worse than the disease!

May your day be productive, and with no annoying songs stuck in your head.


Today is:

Birth of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day

Exotic Dancer's Day

Hollantide Day a/k/a Hallow-tide, Isle of Mann (season of All Saints, first day of Winter

Independence Day, Israel

Indian Summer Festival

National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day

National Young Reader’s Day

Old Teutonic Yule Festival

Order of Fools

Remembrance Day, UK

Republic Day, Austria

St. Emillion's Day (patron of Spain, finding lost objects)

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (patron of hospital administrators)

St. Josaphat's Day (patron of Ukraine)


Anniversaries Today:

The Arches National Park established, 1971


Birthdays Today:

Sammy Sosa, 1968
Michael Moorer, 1967
David Schwimmer, 1966
Nadia Comaneci, 1961
Neil Young, 1945
Al Michaels, 1944
Wallace Shawn, 1943
Grace Kelly, 1929
Jo Stafford, 1918
Sun Yat-sen, 1866
Auguste Rodin, 1840
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815


Today in History:

Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days starting today, 764
Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament, 1439
Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris); he also designed garment that bears his name, 1859
World's Fair in Paris opens, 1900
The first movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river from a burning balloon, 1910
Robert Scott's diary & body are found in Antarctica, 1912
The first underwater tunnel, the Holland Tunnel connecting NY to NJ opens, 1927
The first photo of whatever is in Loch Ness is taken, 1933