Christmas Every Day

1931 

Birth of William Shatner

The famed Canadian over-actor and toupee model was born  in Montreal and was educated at McGill University. Here are ten fascinating facts about this man and his indestructible career:

1. He began his stage career behind the scenes before moving on to acting. He was a business manager for a Montreal theatre company — his degree was, after all, in Commerce.
2. He was cast as Ranger Bob in the Canadian version of Howdy Doody. (I don’t remember Ranger Bob; I do remember Timber Tom).
3. Shatner was a Shakespearean actor at the Stratford Festival.
4. His first Hollywood film was as Alexei in The Brothers Karamazov. Other brothers were Yul Brynner, and Richard Basehart; Lee J. Cobb played their Dad.
5. In 1966 he starred in a movie with Esperanto-only dialogue. Not a hit.
6. His role as Denny Crane on The Practice was described as “William Shatner the man . . . playing William Shatner the character playing the character Denny Crane, who was playing the character William Shatner.”
7. Shatner has been married four times; his third wife died in a drowning accident; he has just divorced his fourth wife and in the settlement he was given control of the couple’s horse semen.
8. He auctioned a kidney stone for $75,000; the money went to Habitat for Humanity.
9. Was one of only five actors to play two different killers on Murder, She Wrote.
10. “I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don’t live on Starship NCC-1701, or own a phaser. And I don’t know anybody named Bones, Sulu or Spock. And no, I’ve never had green alien sex, though I’m sure it would be quite an evening. I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt’s, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me “Live long and prosper”, I seriously mean it when I say, “Get a life.” My doctor’s name is not McCoy, it’s Ginsberg. And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. And yes, I’ve gone where no man has gone before, but I was in Mexico and her father gave me permission! My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!”

1952 The World’s First Rock and Roll Concert

Disk jockey Alan Freed (1921-65) is credited with popularizing the term rock and roll as a description of a certain type of popular music derived from black rhythm and blues. His Cleveland radio show drew a large listenership and prompted Freed and his commercial sponsor Leo Mintz who owned a record store, to arrange a concert with many of the artists whose music he played. It was called the Moondog Coronation Ball after the pseudonym Freed used on his show. Among the acts scheduled to perform were Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers, and Tiny Grimes and the Rocking Highlanders (an African-American instrumental group that appeared in kilts — surely an artistic concept that needs to be revived.)

It was a disaster.

There were twice as many tickets printed as there was space for. A mob invaded the arena making conditions extremely dangerous and the fire marshal shut down the show after the first song of the first act. The audience was unhappy in the extreme, but the “teensters” as they were called left without further disturbance.

A very exciting day in history

1279 The Mongols crush China’s Song Dynasty. They will set up the Yuan dynasty which will exist until overthrown by the Mings in 1368.

1406 Death of Muslim historian Abū Zayd ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī better known as jus Ibn Khaldun. His Muqaddimah was the first sociology of history.

1649 The Puritan-controlled Parliament abolishes the English House of Lords. This was restored along with the Stuart monarchy in 1660.

1687 Murder of French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. From his base in Quebec, La Salle was the first European to penetrate central North America. He was killed by his mutinous men in what is now Texas.

1853 The Taiping rebels capture the Chinese city of Nanjing and make it the capital of their Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. The Taiping rebellion was the biggest civil war in history and may have claimed 50 million lives.

1885 Metis visionary Louis Riel sets off the Northwest Rebellion. He will be executed for treason later that year.

1943 Frank “the Enforcer” Nitti, Capone gang member, commits suicide. He is buried near Al Capone and members of the North Gang whom Capone’s gang had murdered.

1945 A Japanese kamikaze pilot crashes into the American aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 crew members. The ship returned to base for repairs but never saw action again.

1982 Argentina provokes the Falklands War with Britain after invading South Georgia Island.

1987 Scandal-hit televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club.

2014 The death of Fred Phelps, leader of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, hater of homosexuals, Christmas, and pretty much everything else.

1941 

The American National Art Gallery is opened

Many interesting things happened throughout history on March 17. Marcus Aurelius died in 180, leaving his worthless son Commodus as Roman Emperor. It is the birthday of golfer Bobby Jones, crooner Nat King Cole, and dancer Rudolf Nureyev. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India. But none of these things gives me the opportunity to display wonderful works of art, so hats off to Andrew Mellon and other plutocrat donors who gave their country their collections of paintings and sculptures.

Here are some of my favourites from the collection housed in the neo-classical West Building. (Of the modern rubbish on display in the hideous East Building, we shall not speak.)

The Archangel Gabriel, c. 1430, by Masolino da Pasicale:

Portrait of a Lady, Titian, c. 1555

The Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Family with Madonna and Child, Tintoretto, c. 1573. (He, incidentally, is a character in the novel I am writing on Venetian skulduggery.)

Annunciation, Van Eyck, c. 1434

1185

Death of the Leper King

After the success of the First Crusade, the invading western knights set up four feudal states along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The largest, and most dominant of these, was the Kingdom of Jerusalem which ruled over a mixed population of Muslims, Jews, and Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian Christians. The politics of this state were turbulent, as the kingship was only partly hereditary, with a strong elective element. The High Court, composed of the great nobles, played a role in choosing the kings and limiting their power.

In 1174 Baldwin IV (1161-85) became king, but his rule was always overshadowed by the fact that he had contracted leprosy. In the medieval illustration above the boy is seen (on the left)  not showing any pain in his arms as he plays with his friends and being diagnosed (on the right) by his tutor. Despite his illness he was able to lead his crusader armies into battle and once defeated the fabled Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. Though he had no sensation in his right arm, he was able to wield a sword with his left hand.

It was clear that Baldwin would not live long or produce male heirs, so the kingdom looked to his sister Sibylla to succeed him. Baldwin unwisely chose Guy de Lusignan, a charming but weak-willed adventurer, to be her husband. When Guy proved unreliable, Baldwin chose his nephew, a 5-year-old child, to be the next king and to co-rule with him as Baldwin V. By this time Baldwin was blind and unable to walk. He died in 1185 but his nephew only survived him by a year. When Baldwin V died Guy and Sibylla took the throne, a disaster which ended with the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187.

The cinematic atrocity, Kingdom of Heaven, which purports to cover many of these events, is utterly not to be trusted and should be cast into the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

565

Death of Belisarius

The Byzantine Emperor Justinian is known for three great ambitions: the creation of the grandest church in the world; the recodification of centuries of Roman law; and the reconquest of the western empire lost to the barbarians. He achieved the first with the construction of the Hagia Sophia; his legal staff under Tribonian succeeded in the second aim; and for the third he turned to his general Belisarius, whose topsy-turvy life is here described by Chamber’s Book of Days:

The origin of Belisarius is doubtful, but he has been conjectured to have been a Teuton, and to have been at least bred in his youth among the Goths. We find him first serving as a barbarian recruit among the private guards of Justinian, before he ascended the imperial throne, and, after that event, which took place in A.D. 527, he was raised to a military command, and soon displayed qualities as a warrior and a man which give him a rank among the most celebrated names of antiquity. His great services to the Empire commenced with the arduous campaign in 529, in which he protected it against the invasions of the Persians. He returned to Constantinople to save the Emperor from the consequences of a great and dangerous insurrection in the capital. In 533, he received the command of an expedition against the Vandals, who had made themselves masters of Carthage and Africa, and by his marvellous skill and constancy, as well as by his moderation and policy, he restored that province to the Empire. 

In the command of his army he had to contend with troops who, as well as their officers, were demoralized and turbulent, and in reducing them to discipline and obedience he performed a more difficult task than even that of conquering the enemy. The consequence was that the officers who served under Belisarius indulged their jealousy and personal hostility by writing to Constantinople, disparaging his exploits, and privately accusing him of a design to usurp the kingdom of Africa. Justinian himself was jealous of his benefactor, and indirectly recalled him to the Court, where, however, his presence silenced envy, if it did not overcome it, and he obtained the honours of a triumph, the first which had yet been given in the city of Constantinople. It was adorned by the presence of Gelimer, the captive king of the Vandals of Africa; and immediately afterwards Belisarius was declared consul for the following year.

Belisarius was soon called upon to march at the head of the Roman armies against the Goths of Italy, where new victories and new conquests attended him, and Italy also was restored to the Imperial crown. During this war, Rome was besieged by the Goths, and only saved from them by the conduct of the great imperial commander. The glory of Belisarius was now at its height, and, though the praise of the court was faint and hollow, he was beloved by the soldiers, and almost adored by the people, whose prosperity he had secured. 

After another brief expedition against the Persians, Belisarius fell under the displeasure of the empress, the infamous Theodora, and was disgraced, and even in danger of his life. He only escaped by submission, and again left Constantinople to take the command of an Italian war. The Gothic king Totilas had again invaded that province, and was threatening Rome. Unsupported and unsupplied with troops and the necessaries of war, Belisarius was obliged to remain an idle spectator of the progress of the Goths, until, in A.D. 546, they laid siege to Rome, and proceeded to reduce it by famine. Before any succour could arrive, the imperial city was surrendered to the barbarians, and the king of the Goths became its master. It was, however, preserved from entire destruction by the remonstrances of Belisarius, who recovered possession of it in the following year, and repaired its walls and defences. But treachery at home continued to counteract the efforts of the general in the provinces, and, after struggling gloriously against innumerable and insurmountable difficulties, Belisarius was finally recalled to Constantinople in the year 548. After his departure, the Goths again became victorious, and the following year Rome was again taken by Totilas.

The last exploit of Belisarius saved Constantinople from the fury of the Bulgarians, who had invaded Macedonia and Thrace, and appeared within sight of the capital. Now an aged veteran, he attacked them with a small number of troops hastily collected, and inflicted on them a signal defeat; but Justinian was guided by treacherous councils, and prevented his general from following up the success. On his return, he was welcomed with acclamations by the inhabitants of Constantinople; but even this appears to have been imputed to him as a crime, and the emperor received him coldly, and treated him with neglect. This, which occurred in 559, was his last victory; two years afterwards, an occasion was taken to accuse Belisarius of complicity in a conspiracy against the life of the emperor. He presented himself before the imperial council with a conscious innocence which could not be gainsayed; but Justinian had prejudged his guilt; his life was spared as a favour, but his wealth was seized, and he was confined a prisoner in his own palace. After he had been thus confined a few months, his entire innocence was acknowledged, and he was restored to his liberty and fortune; but he only survived about eight months, and died on the 13^th of March, 565. The emperor immediately confiscated his treasures, restoring only a small portion to his wife Antonina.