The Breezer - the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from me, Steve Winduss, at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more". - 13th October 2024.

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Happy Sunday!

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Beards polarise opinion more than most; moustaches, full beards, goatees, mutton chops, the Van Dyke and the Verdi. All styles raise the heckles of non-bearded folk in one way or another.
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The Ancient Greeks viewed beards as a sign of virility, strength and wisdom, while the Romans chose to remain clean-shaven. Those same Greeks interpreted touching another man’s beard as a sign of reverence, while in medieval Europe, touching another man’s beard was considered an insult.
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Religions take various stances on beards, as does the military. Politicians often go beardless to avoid being seen as unsympathetic to women’s issues.

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Like them or not, beards have seen a resurgence since Covid. In the UK, more than half of all men now sport some kind of facial hair, up from 37% in 2011. A whopping 19% of women now prefer a man with a beard. Mmmmm, I suppose that means 81% don’t. Ah well….

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I believe it’s a similar story in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

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Today, 13 October, is the Feast Day of Edward the Confessor. Edward was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last to claim Alfred the Great as his ancestor.
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He ruled the kingdom between 1042 and 1066 and is remembered, among other things, for his distinctive beard. His wife commissioned a book about his life after he died, The Vita Ædwardi Regis, which noted that he was “distinguished by his milky white hair and beard”.
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Edward had been exiled in Normandy for 25 years, but when his half-brother, Harthacanute, died in 1042, he secured succession to the throne.

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He had vowed to Pope Leo IX that if he ever returned safely to England, he would pilgrimage to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. However, because his early tenure as King was particularly unstable, he had difficulty leaving the kingdom.
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Pope Leo IX allowed him to fulfil his vow if he instead built a monastery in England to dedicate to St Peter.
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As such, Edward commissioned the construction of Westminster Abbey somewhere between 1042 and 1052. The abbey was consecrated in December 1065, just days before he died the following January.
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Edward was a fair king, pious and generous. His reign marked an elongated period of peace in England. He was the only King canonised by the Pope, which took place in 1161, 95 years after his death.
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There is some evidence that Henry II, the king at that time, may have pushed this canonisation for personal gain. After all, it did associate him with sainthood.
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What is beyond question is that Edward the Confessor was an exemplar for future kings such as Henry III, Edward I, and Henry VIII.
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Edward was buried at Westminster Abbey’s high altar. Today marks the 861st anniversary of his body’s translation* to a newly built shrine within the abbey as a result of his canonisation two years earlier - 13 October 1163.
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Today also marks the date of the second translation of his body to a new, even grander, shrine within Westminster Abbey, as instructed by King Henry III when the abbey was further developed - 13 October 1269.

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*'Translation' refers to a body being moved from one location to another.

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Grace Bedell was born in New York in 1848. On 15 October 1860, at the age of 11, Grace wrote a letter to the unbearded Abraham Lincoln, the Republican presidential candidate for the forthcoming election.
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She wrote:

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Grace had encouraged Abraham Lincoln to grow a beard, which, of course, he did.
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Lincoln acknowledged Grace’s letter, meeting her soon after at a railway station to comment,

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That beard is the key feature of the iconic image of Abraham Lincoln remembered today. That’s quite an achievement for an 11-year-old girl.

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​Out of curiosity, when Grace sent that letter, the bearded Charles Darwin had recently released his thesis, “On the Origin of Species” and the bearded John Brown had been executed in Virginia, a significant contributor to the outbreak of the American Civil War. Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell was about to demonstrate the world’s first colour photo (check out his beard!).

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Podcast episode... a look back

​Episode 30. JFK and the Lone Star​

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18 October 1939 proved to be a memorable day on the US calendar. I know Chicago Bears fans (American football) might suggest that this is because it was the day one of their legends, Mike Ditka, was born.
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But I’m not referring to Mike Ditka. I am referring to another, more notorious, individual who was born that day: Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was the oddball who assassinated President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Or was he?
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The beleaguered whodunnit has been running since that tragic day, implicating nearly every prominent figure and organisation as the culprits.
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The list ranges from Mafia boss Sam Giancana to the CIA, Lyndon B. Johnson (the future President), the KGB, anti-Castro groups and even Lady Bird Johnson, Lyndon Johnson’s wife.
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I was lucky enough to talk to Katanna Zachry and Sara Peterson, authors of the book, The Lone Star Speaks, in 2023. While a gazillion books have been written on the assassination of JFK, Katanna and Sara’s perspective was refreshing.
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History matures, so the wisdom assumed in 1963 may not be valid today. Katanna and Sara talked to over 200 primary witnesses over the seven years leading up to publication in 2020.
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It was a fascinating new look at the event.
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Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music or just about any other podcast player of your choice. Check out the show notes for the links and transcript to learn more.

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My favourite quotes from the episode…

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...and referring to a comment from one of Oswald's ex-Marine colleagues:

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By the way...

This week, I asked three people I was talking with to name the incumbent Prime Minister at the time they were born. The final score was 0-3. None of them knew.
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Can you name the President, Prime Minister, Chancellor, Taoiseach, or whichever flavour of political leader your country prescribes to, that was in power on the day you were born? And if you can, what about other world leaders at the time?
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For me in England, it is Sir Alec Douglas Home (pronounced “hyoom” owing to some quirky Scottish aristocratic naming convention over several hundred years).
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Home came to office 61 years ago this Saturday, 19 October 1963. Unfortunately for him, he was back out of office 60 years ago this Wednesday, 16 October 1954.
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In 1963, the Conservatives had been in power for 12 years. Signs of rot were setting in, and scandals were further tarnishing the brand. You may detect echoes of the tenure of Rishi Sunak, Britain’s most recent ex-Prime Minister.
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The most notable of these 1960s scandals was the Profumo Affair. John Profumo, the British Secretary of State for War, was having an affair with a young model, Christine Keeler.
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Unbeknown to - and sadly for - John Profumo, Keeler was simultaneously having an affair with a Soviet naval attaché.
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Well, it was the swinging 60s, after all.

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So, John Profumo resigned, and Sir Alec Douglas Home’s government eventually had to fall, along with his brief shift as Prime Minister.

Also on the day of my birth, Lyndon Johnson held the reins as President of the United States, while Lester B. Pearson served as Canada’s Prime Minister north of the border.
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Down under, the long-serving Robert Menzies led Australia as its Prime Minister, and across the Tasman Sea, Keith Holyoake governed New Zealand in the same capacity.
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Full disclosure: I knew about Lyndon Johnson and Robert Menzies but scored ‘nil points’ for Canada and New Zealand—sorry.

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​As for other nations:

Charles de Gaulle - President of France

Ludwig Erhard - Chancellor of West Germany

General Franco - Spanish dictator

Nikita Khrushchev - First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Mao Zedong - Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - President of India

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How did you get on?

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Dates with History...

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​Today...

On 13 October 1792 in Washington, D.C., the cornerstone for the Executive Mansion was laid, the official new residence and workplace for the President of the United States.
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The United States was a new nation. Two hundred and forty-three years ago on Saturday, 19 October 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis signed the terms of surrender to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. This signalled the end of the Revolutionary War (or as we call it this side of the pond, the ‘American War of Independence’).
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Neither Cornwallis nor Washington attended the official ceremony.
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By 1792, George Washington was the incumbent first President. He approved the Executive Mansion’s design and meticulously watched over its construction. It would symbolise his new nation, a centre of power and stability. The Capitol was built and completed at the same time.

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Washington never lived in the Executive Mansion, as it was completed in 1800 after his Presidency had ended and, unfortunately, a year after he passed away. President No. 2, John Adams, moved into the nearly completed building in November 1800.
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One hundred and twenty-three years ago this Thursday, 17 October 1901, the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, officially renamed the Executive Mansion.
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The long-standing name did not distinguish it from the many other executive mansions occupied by state governors, so it needed to be changed.
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The building had been (literally) whitewashed from the outset, and the press had consistently referred to it as the ‘white house’. If you can’t beat them, join them. So, the Executive Mansion officially became the White House.

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Tuesday

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in the Netherlands in 1876. In 1904, she moved to Paris to escape her abusive husband. In desperate need of money, she took any work she could, including circus performer, artist’s model and prostitute. Finally, she settled as an exotic dancer.
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She had lived in Indonesia for a period (then the Dutch East Indies) and absorbed herself in the local culture. This inspired her to invent an exotic - and erotic - persona for her dancing. She became “Mata Hari” on stage and later off-stage.
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During early World War I, Margaretha had aroused the authorities’ suspicions on both sides of the English Channel. In 1917, the French arrested her, accusing her of spying for the Germans while working for French Intelligence.
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Despite circumstantial evidence, Mata Hari was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death. One hundred and seven years ago on Tuesday, 15 October 1917, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was executed by firing squad.
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In 2017, the French authorities released the “Mata Hari Papers”. Exactly 100 years after her death, they were admitting that she may have been a scapegoat for the precarious military situation at the time.

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Despite her probable innocence, Mata Hari’s name will always be synonymous with an image of the seductress spy - a femme fatale*.
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​*Christine Keeler perhaps?

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Question of the week...

George Bernard Shaw’s literary work, Pygmalion, was first performed at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna, Austria, 111 years ago on Wednesday, 16 October 1913. It is still considered a classic of English literature.
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What is the name of the famous musical which opened on Broadway in 1956, later to become a box office sensation, whose story is based on Pygmalion?

(answer at bottom of newsletter)

And finally...

Charles Strite was born in 1878. While working in a Minnesota factory during World War I, the inveterate inventor noticed that the canteen was expert at serving up burned toast.
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He set about designing a more modern version of a toaster. He designed a utensil that could heat bread on both sides simultaneously, that would release the toast when it was ready AND turn off automatically.
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One hundred and three years ago on Friday, 18 October 1921, Strite was awarded a patent for his new invention - the pop-up toaster.
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Unfortunately, that date would take on a new meaning for Charles Trite. He died 35 years later to the day, 18 October 1956.

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Thank you for joining me. Have a great week!

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Steve

HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER

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P:S: Incidentally, I am always keen to receive your feedback to help me continuously improve this newsletter and the podcast. Just hit reply to this email and...... let it rip! I respond to every email that I receive.

Answer to Question of the week: My Fair Lady was the musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. The film later became a box office sensation. The original stage show starred Jullie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle, Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle.

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In the 1964 film, Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway played their original characters, but Audrey Hepburn replaced Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle. Jack Warner, the boss of Warner Bros. at the time, didn’t consider Julie Andrews ‘box office’.

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George Bernard Shaw disapproved of turning Pygmalion into a musical. My Fair Lady premiered six years after he died in 1950.

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