Category: This day in History

The Le Paradis massacre was a WWII war crime committed by German soldiers under the command of officer Fritz Knöchlein. After becoming isolated from their regiment and running out of ammunition during the Battle of France, a group of British soldiers surrendered to German troops. They were then led across the road, lined up against a wall, and shot. Ninety-seven British troops died. Two survived and hid, but they were captured several days later. What happened to Knöchlein after the war? Discuss

Johnson became president following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. When he attempted to dismiss his Secretary of War without senatorial consent, congressional leaders—for the first time in US history—sought to remove the president from office. Their first attempt failed, but in 1868, the House passed a resolution of impeachment against him. During the trial, the charges proved weak, and the two-thirds vote needed for conviction failed by one vote. Which senators voted against their party? Discuss

In 1979, Etan Patz left his apartment by himself, for the very first time, to walk the two blocks to his school bus stop. He never made it there. His disappearance was widely covered by the media and led to the implementation of new methods for tracking down missing children, such as the milk carton campaigns of the 1980s. In 2010, the Manhattan district attorney announced that he had reopened the case into Patz’s disappearance. Who was found liable for Patz’s death in a civil case in 2004? Discuss

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a 19th century American nursery rhyme. It was written by Sarah Josepha Hale, who turned to writing in 1822 as a widow trying to support her family and who eventually became an influential editor and arbiter of American taste. Thomas Edison recited part of the poem to test his invention of the phonograph, and a host of musicians have recorded versions of it. The nursery rhyme is said to have been based on an actual incident in which what happened? Discuss

Savonarola was an Italian preacher and religious reformer. After the overthrow of the Medici family, he became the ruler of Florence, setting up a democratic but severely puritanical government. He was opposed by the allies of the Medici and by Pope Alexander VI, who attempted to restrain Savonarola’s unusual interpretations of scripture and his claim of prophecy. He was tried, convicted of heresy, and hanged. His government was known for its “bonfire of the vanities,” which was what? Discuss

First released in Japan in 1980, Pac-Man went on to become one of the most famous arcade games of all time. Developed by Namco video game designer Toru Iwatani, the game became an icon of 80s pop culture and is often credited with being a landmark in video game history. For the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man in 2010, Google turned its homepage logo into a fully playable version of the game. How much productivity did businesses reportedly lose from employees playing the game? Discuss

The uninhabited island of St. Helena was discovered by Portuguese navigator João da Nova in the eastern South Atlantic, 1,200 mi (1,931 km) west of Africa. It became a port of call for ships sailing between Europe and the East Indies and was annexed by the British East India Company in 1659. Because of the island’s remoteness, when the British exiled Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, he was sent there. It became a British crown colony in 1834. What is its status today? Discuss

Shakespeare penned 154 sonnets in his lifetime. Likely written sometime in the 1590s, the majority of the poems were first published in a 1609 work titled Shake-Speares Sonnets. The first 126 of the 154 sonnets are addressed to a young man whose identity has long intrigued scholars. The publisher, Thomas Thorpe, wrote a dedication to the first edition in which he claimed that a person with the initials WH had inspired the sonnets. What are some theories about who the man might have been? Discuss

In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy’s birthday was celebrated with a lavish party at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the event, Monroe took the stage and delivered a sultry version of “Happy Birthday,” substituting “Mr. President” for Kennedy’s name, a gesture that has served to fuel the persistent rumors that she and Kennedy had engaged in an affair. The performance was one of Monroe’s last major public appearances. What did Kennedy say about the song during the party? Discuss

Reaching 27,890 ft (8,501 m), Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth. Tibetan for “south peak,” it is located in the Himalayas on the Nepal-Tibet border and is connected to Mount Everest by a 25,000-ft (7,620-m) ridge. The first ascent of the mountain was made by Swiss climbers Fritz Luchsinger and Ernest Reiss in 1956. Thirty years later, what mountaineer summited Lhotse, becoming the first climber to have ascended all 14 mountains on Earth that peak more than 8,000 m above sea level? Discuss