Happy Dia de la Raza
Oct 12th, 2007 by Brian
On October 12, 1810 Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I of Bavaria) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen were married. In commemoration of their marriage a great horse race was organised.
The Germans are world renown for both their ability to party and also for their keen aptitude at naming things. Both the marriage and the party were a great success.
Ludwig later became King Ludwig I of Bavaria (his grandson, Ludwig II, would build the famous Neuschwanstein castle), the party became known as Oktoberfest, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Other things happened on October 12 too…
For instance, did you know that in 1609 “Three Blind Mice” was published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft? Or that in 1792 the first celebration of Columbus Day in the USA was held in New York (Columbus having “discovered” the new world 300 years earlier to the day)?
Where you even aware that in 1892 The Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in unison by students in US public schools? Or that in 1960 Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a desk at a United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonialist policy being conducted in Eastern Europe?
Some people were born on October 12…
- 1537 - King Edward VI of England (d. 1553)
- 1576 - Thomas Dudley, Massachusetts colonial magistrate, father of Anne Bradstreet (d. 1653)
- 1798 - Pedro I of Brazil (d. 1834)
- 1860 - Elmer Sperry, American inventor (d. 1930)
- 1872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
- 1904 - Lester Dent, American writer (d. 1959)
- 1951 - Sally Ride, first American woman in space
- 1968 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer
- 1969 - Martie Maguire, American musician (Dixie Chicks)
- 1970 - Kirk Cameron, American actor
- 1975 - Marion Jones, American “athlete”
- 1977 - Bode Miller, American alpine ski-racer
- 1997 - Prince Boris of Bulgaria
While other people died…
- 1576 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
- 1870 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
- 1940 - Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
- 1971 - Dean Acheson, U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1893)
- 1978 - Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (b. 1958)
- 1997 - John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1998 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
- 1999 - Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
- 2000 - 17 US Navy crew members of the The USS Cole
- 2002 - 202 people killed by terrorists bombs in Bali
- 2003 - Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (b. 1928)
