Have a heart today...
Whether you do it with candy, flowers, gifts, or not, today is Valentine's Day and it's not going away, like it or not. This mysterious day dates as far back as the ancient Romans, the name coming from one of 3 saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. By the middle ages, one of the Saints Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France (even more popular than Jerry Lewis). We Americans started celebrating by exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700's. By the 1840's good ole Esther A. Howland started selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. In addition to the U.S., Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada (will you be my Valentine, eh ?), Mexico, Britain, France and Australia...
Lest you think celebrities are not moved by Valentine's Day, think again. Those struck by Cupid's arrow include: The Captain and Tennille, Prince, Cindy Adams, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Garcia. All got married on this day. I mean, even Elton John got hitched (to a woman !). Throughout the timeline you'll find the dates all said "I do" in addition to the other events that happened on Valentine's Day past...
And the person getting the best Valentine's Day present of all ? That would be Robin Givens when she received a divorce from Mike Tyson. Happy Valentine's Day...
More Valentine's Day Memories...
1918) "Tarzan of the Apes" (me Tarzan, you Jane, you my Valentine) is released...
1919) United Parcel Service (UPS) is formed...
1920) The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago with Maude Wood Park named as the 1st president of the organization...
1924) IBM is founded by Thomas Watson...
1929) The "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" claims 7 victims, all rivals of Al Capone. The mobsters were cut down in a hail of bullets in a Chicago garage...
1932) The U.S. wins the 1st bobsled competition at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid...
1952) Comedian Joey Adams marries gossip columnist Cindy Heller (Cindy still has a column in New York)...
1962) First lady Jacqueline Kennedy gives us a televised tour of the White House...
1967) Aretha Franklin records "Respect" (written by Otis Redding) at the Atlantic Studios in New York...
1968) The Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central merge into Penn Central...
1972) "Grease" opens off-Broadway...
1974) The Captain and Tennille walk down the aisle...
1977) The B-52s debut at a Valentine's Day party in Athens, GA...
1977) Janis Ian receives hundreds of Valentine's Day cards after she reveals in the song "At Seventeen" that she never received any in her teen years...
1980) Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from the "CBS Evening News"...
1983) "Baby, Come to Me" by Patti Austin and James Ingram is #1 (the song was featured on the soap, "General Hospital"...
1984) Jayne Torvil and Christopher Dean of Britain win a gold medal at Saravejo for ice-dancing to Ravel's "Bolero"...
1984) Elton John and Renata Blauel say "I do" (the marriage lasts for 4 years. Huh ?)...
1988) In a great example of fatherly love, 50-year old Bobby Allison holds off a challenge from 26-year old son, Davey Allison, to take the Daytona 500...
1989) Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini calls on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie for writing the novel "The Satanic Verses" (Happy Valentine's Day Salman)...
1989) Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the government of India for the devastating results of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak...
1989) Mike Tyson gives Robin Givens the greatest Valentine's Day gift ever, a divorce...
1994) The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) marries Deborah Koons...
1995) Roseanne Barr marries bodyguard Ben Thomas...
1996) Prince and Mayte Garcia exchange vows...
2003) "Dolly" the cloned sheep is put to death at age 6 due to premature aging and disease (Dolly was the 1st mammal cloned)...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Valentine's Day Birthdays To...
1921) Hugh Downs...
1931) Phyllis McGuire (sister Dorothy of the McGuire Sisters celebrated her 77th birthday yesterday)...
1934) Florence Henderson...
1942) New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg...
1948) Pat O'Brien (on Valentine's Day ? How appropriate)...
1948) Teller (of Penn and Teller)
Commentary...
Some things you may not know about Valentine's Day:
- Cupid represents the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of Love. In Greek mythology, Cupid is known as Aphrodite's son Eros...
- 192 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making it the 2nd most popular greeting card giving occasion (Christmas, Channukah, etc is 1st)...
- California produces the most Valentine's Day chocolate and cocoa products in the U.S. Pennsylvania is 2nd...
- Approximately 85% of all valentines are purchased by women...
- Esther A. Howland is known as the Mother of Valentine's Day, obviously Bobby Valentine is the Father of Valentine's Day...
- statistics courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau...
Today is the 45th day of 2006 with 320 days left in the year, Spring is 34 days away and pitchers and catchers just 2 days away. The opening day countdown will begin when pitchers and catchers report...
