Jordan’s King Hussein died on this day in 1999, after being in power for 47 years.
King Hussein was proclaimed King of Jordan in 1952, and only 18 when he took the throne in 1953. He died of cancer at the age of 63.
King Hussein was an amateur radio enthusiast. As a ham radio operator, King Hussein was known as JY-1.
A resiliant Aron Ralston gets a laugh out of his missing right arm at the Australian premier of the movie 127 Hours on Monday night. The film stars James Franco …..
“In the Sixties, everybody theoretically had skin in the [war] game — anybody,
theoretically, could be drafted. Now we’ve emotionally outsourced the
war.”Gary Trudeau talks to Chip Kidd about Doonesbury, cartooning, and his strips about Gulf War veterans.
The Guardian tees off on The King’s Speech, George VI, Edward VIII… and Winston Churchill into the bargain:
Rosa Parks was born on this day in 1913.
“The tedious, self-serving volume is filled with efforts
to blame others… It is a book that
suffers from many of the same flaws that led the administration into
what George Packer of The New Yorker has called “a needlessly deadly”
undertaking — that is, cherry-picked data, unexamined assumptions and an
unwillingness to re-examine past decisions.”
Fans of thriller writers Ian Fleming (James Bond) and Raymond Chandler should enjoy this 1958 recording from the BBC.
February of 2011 will be National African American History Month, as proclaimed by the president. President Barack Obama issued the proclamation yesterday, following a tradition started in 1976 by President …..
The swimsuit worn by actress Farrah Fawcett in her famous 1976 poster is being donated to the Smithsonian Institute by her former husband, Ryan O’Neal.
Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning. That means an early spring, if you believe in a groundhog’s ability to predict the weather.
The mother of Frankenstein died 160 years ago today.It’s been closer to 200 years since she first published Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus in 1818.
If Punxsutawney Phil is smart he’ll stay hunkered down in his groundhog burrow tomorrow morning.
“Having Mohamed ElBaradei atop a million-person revolution is not unlike
having the head of your school’s debate club quarterbacking the varsity
football team in the state championships.”
Booker T. Washington and guests, about 1906. Washington is front row, center, with the watch chain. Booker T. Washington is our first featured biography for Black History Month 2011.
Well, they almost said it in Cairo.Too bad we don’t have a cilp of Thomas Paine singing “Walk Like a Pennsylvanian.” You know he would have been on YouTube.
On this day 50 years ago, Ham the Chimp blasted off in a Mercury rocket and flew 157 miles in space, just to see if it would be safe to send less hairy apes into orbit.
It was, pretty much.
LIFE magazine has a feature today where you can see rare photos of Ham the Chimp, called “In Praise of Ham the Chimp.”
Go see them.
Ernest Borgnine was given a lifetime achievement award at the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards last night.
For political wonks (and Chicagoans) only: David Axelrod talks about Obama’s first two years.
A fabulous gallery from LIFE photographer John Olsen. Starting with Frank Zappa:Zappa’s mom:
Today is the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger exploding after takeoff and killing all seven astronauts on board.
The most famous crew member at the time was probably Christa McAuliffe. She was a high school teacher from New Hampshire, the first of what was called the Teacher in Space Program from NASA.
Also on board: Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka and Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis.