The Mysteries of History (February 3 Edition)
Mark Twain Emerges, Rock and Rollers Killed in Plane Crash
1863 — Samuel Clemens Becomes Mark Twain
public domain images from wikimedia commons and, on the far right, an image from the cover of my novel Rebel With a Cause: Mark Twain’s Hidden Memoirs
Samuel L. Clemens signed his first dispatch (newspaper article) using the nom de plume Mark Twain on this date in 1863. The Missourian was already well-known locally (in Washoe/Nevada), but would soon find fame and acclaim nationwide and then worldwide, eventually being considered the most famous person on the globe for a time. Serial inventor (he of the 1,093 patents) Thomas Edison said of him, “An average American loves his family. If he has any love left over for some other person, he generally selects Mark Twain.”
Among many other things, Twain wrote the short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (which made him a household name in the U.S. in 1865) and the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court as well as the semi-fictional travelogues Roughing It (Nevada, California, and Hawaii), The Innocents Abroad (Europe and the Holy Land), and Life on the Mississippi (Mississippi River Valley) — to name just a few.
Me portraying Mark Twain a few years ago
Questions: What celestial events took place both at Twain's birth in Missouri and at his death in Connecticut? What polemics did Twain write, some of which he was afraid to publish during his lifetime due to the negative response his survivors might have to deal with because of them? What do you consider to be Twain's most important work? Do you agree with some of his books being banned in various places and times (even today)? What is your favorite writing of Twain's from a pure reading enjoyment perspective?1959 — The Day The Music Died
public domain images from wikimedia commons
1950s rock and roll stars Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, as well as J.P. Richardson (known as “The Big Bopper”) and Roger Peterson, the 21-year-old pilot, were killed in a plane crash on this day in 1959. Valens, at 17, was the youngest of them; the “old man” of the group was 28-year-old Richardson.
The tragedy was alluded to in Don McLean’s classic 1971 song American Pie.
Questions: What caused the plane crash? How much flying experience had Peterson had? Where did he learn to fly? What other famous musicians have perished in plane, helicopter, and car crashes since then? What were Buddy Holly's biggest hits? What were Ritchie Valens' biggest hits? Which song was "The Big Bopper" most known for? Which musicians later cited Holly and Valens as influences and/or inspirations?
