Well it's a big day in 1943. Nothing all that earth-shattering, I don't think, and frankly none of them are that interesting taken separately. But together... we have an almost interesting day! For starters, the Japanese admit the obvious, on at least a small scale. They've been fighting the US since the fall on the gawd-awful island of Guadalcanal, with decreasing success. The naval battles, which started well for Japan, have also taken a turn for the worst- which is a good chunk of the problem they have with the land battles. In any case, they finally launch Operation Ke, which is the evacuation of the Island. It's a success, at least relatively speaking... Meanwhile, the proverbial half a world away, FDR
hops aboard is put aboard an airplane to fly from Florida to Morocco. Not terribly exciting, except that it's the very first time a serving US president has flown while in office. Now of course, it's routine, and some presidents have been known to fly, at taxpayer expense, from DC to New York for instance, to take their wife out to dinner. Then they fly to Hawaii for vacation, while said wife flies separately, thus doubling the expense for the hoi polloi. It's nice to be president, and if the commoners object, well let them eat cake. They're probably just racist anyway... Continuing our theme though, once FDR lands in Morocco, he meets with Churchill in Casablanca for a conference so that they and their advisers can try to figure out what the hell they're gonna do next. The Americans are sorely outmatched, politically speaking. They seem to just figure they'll show up, explain how the War should be won, and the Brits will nod in agreement. The British, knowing that the Americans will probably take that approach, come prepared with those things... whaddya call 'em, "facts" to explain how the American plan has no basis in reality, and the British have A Better Plan. The Brits win this round, and the current plan becomes to use the forces already in Africa to do other things, rather than turning around once they reach Tunis and ship them all to Britain. It works, so what the hell.
Heh. A big day for the Danes, in 1972. Queen Margrethe II takes the throne. Why does anyone care? Well, she's the first of them there women types to rule in Denmark since 1412. And, showing that the Danish reputation for lack of imagination exceeds even the French (at least when it comes to naming monarchs), she's also the first one since a mere hundred years after the women last touched the throne to have a name other than Frederick or Christian. Wonder how many "King Christians" they're up to by now. And at some point do they reboot the process and start over again?
Speaking of monarchy, the very next year The Real King appears on TV. From Hawaii. It's a satellite broadcast of Elvis, known as "Aloha from Hawaii". To say it's a resounding success is an understatement. It's a smash, a hit, a tour de force and all that! It's still the holder of the record for most watched TV event featuring a single performer (the band doesn't count apparently). But the billion plus viewers do! Given the world population at the time, that might mean that a quarter of the people on earth had access to it. Astonishing. It says here that some information suggests that over 90% of the people in the Philippines saw it when it aired there. It shows in the US in April (not clear if that was the initial showing, or a repeat, but I assume the former) and gets over half the people here also. Imagine what Elvis could have done if his manager was honest! Or if he'd ever actually toured overseas, rather than being kept away because his manager turned out to be an illegal alien, who thus couldn't leave the US for fear of being banned from returning. Elvis might have reached JK Rowling levels of wealth. And his daughter might have been incapable of blowing through it all!
And in 1978, a highly anticipated US tour by the Sex Pistols ends with a bang when the band breaks up in the middle of the Tour. Oops.
There you have it!
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