1914 – Jina Guseva attempted to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia. That was the first time. In 1916, three co-conspirators attempted to assassinate Rasputin again. He was poisoned first. When that didn’t work, they shot him four times. He survived that, as well. Then they beat him, wrapped him in a carpet and tossed him into the Neva River. That finally did him in. And I should point out this all took place in one night!
1915- Actress Ruth Warrick was born. While she did many films, she is most famous for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children.
1919 – Actor Slim Pickens was born. He played in a bunch of cowboy/western movies, but is probably best remembered for his role in Dr. Strangelove.
1933 – Actor Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle died of a heart attack just as he was about to make a comeback after the scandal in 1921 that ruined his career. He was only 46 when he died.
Tonight on TV, we have new episodes of Wipeout, Memphis Beat (I still need to watch the first episode) and Deadliest Warrior which has become one of my top favorite shows.
Reading: Finished up A Killer Plot which turned out to be really good even though I had some problems with it in the first couple of pages. Now I’m reading a kids’ book, The Time Bike by Jane Langton.
1914 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo by a young Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip, which was the cause of World War I. Though to be honest I’ve never really been clear as to why this started World War I.
1919 – The Treaty of Versailles was signed in Paris, formally ending World War I. I find it really odd that it ended on the five year anniversary of its beginning.
And while it’s not concerned with early 20th century history, I think it’s important to remember this particular anniversary:
2005 – Three U.S. Navy SEALs and 16 American Special Operations Forces soldiers were killed during Operation Red Wing, a failed counter-insurgent mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Marcus Luttrell was the sole survivor of the mission.
There’s nothing on tonight that I can see, so it’ll be a recorded shows night.
Reading: Now I’m reading A Killer Plot by Ellery Adams. I had a bit of trouble getting into this book but now I’m loving it.
