Friday, September 13, 2013

Elton John - 9-13

Flamboyant British musician Elton John receives a call-out on today's American Treasure Tour blog for his 1974 album Caribou.
Reginald Kenneth Dwight, a.k.a. Elton John, was born in 1947 and grew up in a fairly strict home.  Despite (or because of) his father's insistence that he take up banking as a career, John embraced a career in music, and he became increasingly associated with the outlandish costumes and sunglasses he wore during the first decades of a highly distinguished and successful career lasting over five decades.  He has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Tony, six Grammys and a British knighthood.  Caribou, a number one album for John, is not considered one of his greatest, despite that the songs "The Bitch is Back" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" were introduced on it.

Question:

Elton John re-released his own hit song "Candle in the Wind" in 1997 to celebrate the life of Princess Diana.  It proceeded to become the best selling single in both the United Kingdom and the United States.  The original 1973 version was written to honor what American movie actress?
a)  Charlize Theron
b)  Judy Garland
c)  Elizabeth Taylor
d)  Marilyn Monroe
e)  Veronica Lake
 Answer Below

Today in History

On this date in 1899, Henry Hale Bliss was struck by an electric-powered taxi cab as he disembarked from a streetcar at the intersection of West  74th Street and Central Park West in New York City.  

His death the next day due to complications from the accident made him the first recorded fatality in the western hemisphere due to a automobile collision. A plaque was placed at the intersection during its centennial to promote safety.

A senatorial election in the state of Maine on this day in 1948 found Margaret Madeline Chase Smith the victor, effectively making her the first woman to have held office both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.  She pursued the Republican nomination in the 1964 presidential election as well, becoming the first woman to be officially considered for that post by a major political party.

Births

Walter Reed was born on September 13th, 1851.  He enrolled as a teenager at the University of Virginia, and became the youngest student to graduate from their distinguished medical school prior to his eighteenth birthday, a distinction he still holds to this day.  He eventually joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and held positions at different bases across the country prior to joining the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission in Cuba.  Although he gives credit to others for the discovery that certain mosquitoes are carriers for yellow fever, Reed traditionally receives credit for this all-important discovery.  He passed away at the age of fifty-one due to complications from a ruptured appendix.

In 1939, American actor Richard Kiel came into the world.  A former cemetery plot salesman, Kiel became
most familiar to movie-going fans as Jaws, a character in two of the Roger Moore James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.  Standing almost 7'2", Kiel is often cast in roles as a villain.

Quote:

To be loved is important as is having a sense of accomplishment, but love is equally important in life especially when it is combined with taking action to do something for someone else to make their life better.  -- Richard Kiel

Answer:  d)

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