30 Apr 2021
Historical Events  People
TS Eliot

Alternate:
TS Eliott?

Current:
TS Eliot

The famous poet

Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, in 1948 he won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "outstanding contribution to poetry", but was he called 'TS Eliot' or 'TS Eliott'?

Many remember it as "Eliott", but are they just assuming this because it's the more familiar spelling for a boy's first name?

He was born in the US in 1888 and moved to England in 1914, when he was only 25 and spent the rest of his life there, having become a British citizen in 1927. He was a pioneer of the Modernist movement, and also a renowned playwright of his day where his popularity was unprecedented.

Historical Events  Music
Moonwalk dance

Alternate:
First moonwalk dance was in the 1980s

Current:
First moonwalk dance was the 1930s

When was the first Moonwalk dance recorded?

Michael Jackson and the Moonwalk dance go together like Laurel and Hardy, Burgers and Coke or even Steve Jobs and Apple. Almost everyone assumes Jackson invented the dance, just because they'd never heard of or seen it before he brought it to the mainstream. In fact, it turns out this is wrong by quite a margin, since all he did was give an old move a new name.

So technically Jackson was the first if you ask "who first did the moonwalk?" and you strictly mean the dance with that name. There's even a date for that: 25th March, 1983 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, but he wasn't the first to perform the actual move itself.

Historical Events  Science
Ben Franklin's kite experiment

Alternate:
Ben Franklin was struck by lightning

Current:
Ben Franklin was not struck by lightning

Was Ben Franklin struck by lighting during his kite experiment?

Ben Franklin is famous for many things, not least of which beimg so many people remembering him being President when he wasn't, but that's for another day. 

He was one of the 8 founding fathers of the United States and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps he's equally as well-known for his kite experiments, because this is taught in school so children get an impression of him flying a kite in a thunderstorm at an early age. This is likely to stick with them because it's so dramatic. However, there's a part of this story which seems to be ingrained in most people's minds which just isn't true, and that's the idea that he was struck by lightning during a storm.

It's easy to see how the dramatic idea that he was struck by lightning is given, especially because the famous painting of the experiment almost gives that impression. However, it's simply not the case as a little thought and research would uncover. Had he in fact been struck by lightning, he would likely been injured or killed since he was holding the line carrying the electricity. This is not the case when people are struck by it in open fields etc, and survive the brief bolt.

Historical Events  Movies
Batman symbol

Alternate:
1960's

Current:
1940's

When was the first Batman movie?

Many people are aware that there was a Superman movie in the 1950's. When you ask them about Batman however, they just remember Adam West playing him in the 1960's and think that was his first appearance on film. They are surprised to hear he was around even earlier than Superman.

Batman first appeared in comic form, since his creation by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. In fact his first two movies were in the 1940's and titled Batman (1943) and Batman and Robin (1949). The first actor to play him on film was Lewis Wilson, and his role was played by Robert Lowery in the second movie. There's some controversy around the first movie. Since it was made by the US during World War 2, there is a great deal of anti-Japanese sentiment present.

Historical Events  TV
Rowlf Muppet

Alternate:
1955

Current:
1976

When did the first muppet appear?

The Muppets are so ingrained in popular culture today that it's hard to think of a time when they didn't exist. From Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy through to the Animal and all the rest of them, the very term "Muppet" has entered the vocabulary as a descriptive term for someone.

Yet there was a time when they first appeared, and most people assume this was when they got their own show in 1976. They are incorrect. Those even more savvy might point out they were on Sesame Street for many years prior to that, but when it comes to the first appearance, they are out by a couple of decades.

That's because the first Muppet to appear on television was actually in 1955. Jim Henson created them for the show Sam and Friends, which ran for 6 years from 1955, and following appearances in advertising campaigns and some late night TV shows, joined Sesame Street in 1969.

Historical Events  Books
Vampire

Alternate:
 Sunlight killed Dracula in the novel

Current:
Sunlight did not kill Dracula in the novel

Did sunlight kill Dracula in the novel?

Most everyone knows how Dracula in the movies flees sunlight. In many, he and other vampires are killed by it and his body is shown crumbling away to dust.

Not many people realise this is entirely a fiction introduced in the movies only, and was not present in the original novel.

In fact it is even possible to pinpoint which movie introduced this. It was the 1922 Nosferatu, which, whilst a classic in its own right, was widely regarded as a Dracula clone in all but name due to copyright reasons. It's not the only deviation from the novel either - a swarm of rats is brought in with his ship, which spreads a plague in the town. This is entirely missing from the novel. 

Historical Events  General
Credit cards

Alternate:
1950

Current:
1888

When were credit cards first described in detail?

People think of the origins of money being something like pebbles being used by cavemen, which is almost certainly untrue in any case. The idea of money evolving into something totally abstract, beyond mere entries in a bank account, is popularly associated with the rise of technology, computers and in particular the restructuring many economies were forced to undertake as part of their rebuilding process after the second world war. In particular, the Diners Club cars, launched in 1950, is popularly regarded as the world's first credit card.

It turns out that whilst the implementation of credit cards began at this time, the idea of how they would function was fully documented in great detail a lot earlier.

From the novel Looking Backward:

… a credit card issued him with which he procures at the public storehouses, found in every community, whatever he desires whenever he desires it. This arrangement, you will see, totally obviates the necessity for business transactions of any sort between individuals and consumers.

-- Edward Bellamy, 1888