SUNDAY HISTORY~MAY 18

Hello Everyone ~ I am a day behind on my History.  I've been waking up with a migraine everyday for nearly a week.  Sunday's didnt go away and actually lasted 2 days.  I and finally got a little break from the H/A, so here I am posting....

 

 

 

  1920  Pope John Paul II Born

On May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyła is born in the Polish town of Wadowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow. Wojtyla went on to become Pope John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century.

 

1968  Tiny Tim’s Warbly Tiptoe through the Tulips Was Released

An eventual top twenty hit, Tiptoe was a remake of a number one hit for Nick Lucas in 1929. Grab your banjo and sing along. “Ohhhhh, Tiptoe through the Tuuuuulips....”

 

 

1974  India Joins The Nuclear Club

In the Rajasthan Desert in the state of Pokhran, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, a fission bomb similar in explosive power to the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The test fell on the traditional anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment, and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi received the message "Buddha has smiled" from the exuberant test-site scientists after the detonation. The test, which made India the world's sixth nuclear power, broke the nuclear monopoly of the five members of the U.N. Security Council--the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and France.

1980  Mount St. Helens Erupts

At 8:32 a.m. PDT, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffers a massive eruption, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness.

Called Louwala-Clough, or "the Smoking Mountain," by Native Americans, Mount St. Helens is located in the Cascade Range and stood 9,680 feet before its eruption. The volcano has erupted periodically during the last 4,500 years, and the last active period was between 1831 and 1857. On March 20, 1980, noticeable volcanic activity began again with a series of earth tremors centered on the ground just beneath the north flank of the mountain. These earthquakes escalated, and on March 27 a minor eruption occurred, and Mount St. Helens began emitting steam and ash through its crater and vents.

The landslide debris, liquefied by the violent explosion, surged down the mountain at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. The avalanche flooded Spirit Lake and roared down the valley of the Toutle River for a distance of 13 miles, burying the river to an average depth of 150 feet. Mudflows, pyroclastic flows, and floods added to the destruction, destroying roads, bridges, parks, and thousands more acres of forest. Simultaneous with the avalanche, a vertical eruption of gas and ash formed a mushrooming column over the volcano more than 12 miles high. Ash from the eruption fell on Northwest cities and towns like snow and drifted around the globe within two weeks. Fifty-seven people, thousands of animals, and millions of fish were killed by the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Mount St. Helens became active again in 2004. On March 8, 2005, a 36,000-foot plume of steam and ash was expelled from the mountain, accompanied by a minor earthquake. Though a new dome has been growing steadily near the top of the peak and small earthquakes are frequent, scientists do not expect a repeat of the 1980 catastrophe anytime soon.

 

1995  Elizabeth Montgomery Dies

Elizabeth Montgomery, the star of the TV series Betwitched, dies on this day in 1995 at age 62. The daughter of film star Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth appeared in several films before landing the lead role in Bewitched, which ran from 1964 to 1972.

 

 

FROM ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN

Check out a very young Goldie Hawn!

 

 

 

 

 

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