This Day in History: February 8

1587 - Mary, the Queen of Scots, was executed.

1693 - A charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.

1802 - Simon Willard patented the banjo clock.

1861 - The Confederate States of America was formed.

1861 - A Cheyenne delegation and some Arapaho leaders accepted a new settlement (Treaty of Fort Wise) with the U.S. Federal government. The deal ceded most of their land but secured a 600-square mile reservation and annuity payments.

1896 - The Western Conference was formed by representatives of Midwestern universities. The group changed its name to the Big 10 Conference.

1900 - In South Africa, British troops under Gen. Buller were beaten at Ladysmith. The British fled over the Tugela River.

1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began with Japan attacking Russian forces in Manchuria.

1910 - William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.

1918 - "The Stars and Stripes" newspaper was published for the first time.

1922 - The White House began using radio after U.S. President Harding had it installed.

1924 - The first U.S. execution to make use of gas took place in Nevada State Prison.

1927 - The original version of "Getting Gertie’s Garter" opened at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City.

1936 - The first National Football League draft was held. Jay Berwanger was the first to be selected. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles. (NFL)

1952 - Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the British throne. Her father, George VI, had died on February 6.

1963 - The Kennedy administration prohibited travel to Cuba and made financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. citizens.

1963 - Lamar Hunt, owner of the American Football League franchise in Dallas, TX, moved the operation to Kansas City. The new team was named the Chiefs. (NFL)

1968 - In Orangeburg, SC, three college students died during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley after a confrontation with highway patrolmen.

1969 - The last issue of the "Saturday Evening Post" was published. It was revived in 1971 as a quarterly publication and later a 6 times a year.

1971 - The Nasdaq stock-market index debuted.

1973 - U.S. Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal.

1974 - The three-man crew of the Skylab space station returned to Earth after 84 days.

1978 - The U.S. Senate deliberations were broadcast on radio for the first time. The subject was the Panama Canal treaties.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced a plan to re-introduce draft registration.

1985 - "The Dukes of Hazzard" ended its 6-1/2 year run on CBS television.

1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" had rigged two car-truck crashes to show that some GM pickups were prone to fires after certain types of crashes. The suit was settled the following day by NBC.

1999 - In Sri Lanka, 23 rebels were killed in fighting with Sri Lankan forces.

2002 - The exhibit "Places of Their Own" opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The works displayed were by Geogia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and Emily Carr.

Terrific Tuesday

Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual was one of 1983’s biggest albums. It spawned hits like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Time After Time, and All Through The Night. Not to mention catapulting Cyndi into the stratosphere as one of the most successful artists of the decade. This multi platinum album was one of those totemic 80’s LP’s that kept spinning out hits like an arcade game. It just didn’t quit.

She Bop was a Top Ten hit from She’s So Unusual that was a statement in its own right. I mean…come on! Was there anybody who didn’t know what this song was about? I remember walking around in high school grinning with everybody else about how big this song was on the radio and how its video was all over MTV, and nobody seemed to notice what it meant but us kids. It was hysterical!

And it still is. She Bop is a don’t stop number that goes round and round in the head like a mad top. You can’t get this one out of your mind and you find yourself singing along with it even when you know you probably shouldn’t. At least not in public. But Cyndi Lauper had great fun with it…and so did we. Even if we still grin whenever it plays on the radio.

Thought for Today

“Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.” -- Mae West