"Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields" - "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Lennon-McCartney)...
"It's always spontaneous. There's nothing official" says Thomas Leighton, co-founder of the John Lennon Memorial Committee. "The fans come on their own. They just gather". They will gather at Strawberry Fields in Central Park to mark John Lennon's 66th birthday...
It was Mayor Ed Koch who named the 2.5 patch of land in the shadows of the Dakota where Lennon lived and was gun downed, Strawberry Fields. That was in 1981. In 1985, the official dedication would take place on what would have been Lennon's 45th birthday. And there's another Lennon birthday to celebrate today - Sean Lennon's. The son of John and Yoko who was 10 years old at the dedication service is 31 today...
Yoko Ono will mark John's birthday in Iceland by presiding over 2 events to further world peace. Mark David Chapman, 51, continues to serve his 20 year-to life prison sentence upstate in Attica. Ironically, his next parole hearing comes up this month...
Ten Timeline Memories...
- [1701] The Collegiate School of Connecticut is charted in New Haven. The name of the school will be changed to Yale...
- [1855] Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor (his sewing machine would become the standard. He will use his name for his company's name, calling it The Isaac Sewing Machine Company). (Just wanted to see if you were paying attention)...
- [1872] Aaron Montgomery starts his mail order business with the delivery of the first mail order catalog. The firm later becomes Aaron Wards (just wanted to see if you were paying attention again)...
- [1959] At the age of 23, Bobby Darin becomes the youngest performer to headline at the Sands in Las Vegas...
- [1967] The Red Sox rebound to take game 5 of their World Series in St. Louis as Jim Lonborg pitches a 3-hitter against the Cardinals, 3-1 (Both teams head for Fenway for Game 6)...
- [1974] Frank Robinson becomes baseball's 1st black manager after agreeing to a deal with Cleveland...
- [1985] The hijackers of the Achille Lauro surrender after the ship docks in Port Said, Egypt...
- [2000] Brett Hull passes Dad, Bobby, on the all-time scoring list, bringing him to 9th place, with his 611th goal...
- [2001] Anthrax letters postmarked in Trenton (NJ) are mailed to Senators Daschle and Leahy...
- [2002] A man is gunned down moments after filling his tank at a gas station in Manassas (VA) in the latest sniper shooting in the Washington (DC) area...
"Happy Trails": 1958] Pope Pius XII dies of kidney disease at 82 (the Pope had served for 19 years)...1967] Latin American guerrilla Che Guevara is executed in Bolivia while attempting to incite revolution. Guevara was 39...1974] Oskar Schindler dies in Frankfurt, Germany at 66 from an undisclosed illness (Schindler is credited with saving the lives of over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust)...1997] North Carolina coach Dean Smith retires as the winningest college basketball coach in history (his teams were 879-254 and he coached 2 National Championship teams and 11 final 4's)...
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E-D": 1973] Elvis Presley and Priscilla (after 6 years of marriage)...
Released on this date: 1969] "Someday We'll Be Together" - Supremes...1971] "Wild Night" - Van Morrison...1979] "Babe" - Styx...1980] "Starting Over" - John Lennon...
Premiered on this date: 1986] "The Late Show" hosted by Joan Rivers on Fox (the show will tank after one season)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Commentary...
Happy Trails to Negro League baseball star Buck O'Neil who fell one vote shy of the Hall of Fame, died over the weekend in Kansas City (MO) at 94. O'Neil was both charismatic and eloquent and never complained about not having a chance to play in the major leagues. We need more Buck O'Neil's in this world. R.I.P. Buck...
Staying on baseball, since none of the 4 remaining teams has won a World Series in this century, we will have the 6th different team winning the World Series. Talk of parity, only one of the 4 has a chance to appear again in the World Series over that span of years - the Mets (who lost to the Yankees in 2000)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Sean Ono Lennon (31), John O'Hurley (50), Scott Bakula (52), Tony Shaloub (53), Sharon Osbourne (54), Jackson Browne (58) and Fyvush Finkel (83)...
Timeline Countdown: 13 days (counting today) until the World Series, 83 days until 2007 and 89 days until the NFL playoffs...
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