OT - Weird History

[Gigem]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

Roger Bannister Breaks Four-Minute Mile (1954)
Bannister was a British medical student when he became the first man to run the mile in less than four minutes—a barrier many experts had long considered unbreakable. His official time was 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Australia's John Landy and New Zealand's Peter Snell bettered the record that year, but in August, Bannister defeated Landy at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, clocking 3:58.8 in a thrilling race.

I wonder what the current record is?  
It would be fun to guess! I'll say 3:27. No idea if right, just figure could shave a few seconds every decade, and maybe 10 seconds once or twice along the way.  

[FearlessF]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 
Coca-Cola Hits the Market as a Health Tonic (1886)
At a time when soda fountains were popular in the US due to the widespread belief that carbonated water was good for the health, American pharmacist John Pemberton came up with his own formula for a health tonic. Among its ingredients were cocaine, derived from the coca leaf, and caffeine, derived from the kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola. It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass.

[FearlessF]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 
First Flight over the North Pole? (1926)
In 1926, aviators Floyd Bennett and Richard Byrd took off from Spitsbergen Island on what would be a historic flight. When they returned, they announced that they had flown over the North Pole, becoming the first to do so. Although both men received the Congressional Medal of Honor for the feat—and Byrd went on to make the first flight over the South Pole in 1929—many were skeptical about their North Pole claims.

[SFBadger96]

I wonder what the current record is? 
It would be fun to guess! I'll say 3:27. No idea if right, just figure could shave a few seconds every decade, and maybe 10 seconds once or twice along the way. 

3:43.13, set in 1999. (women’s is 4:07.64).

At this point I think they are trying to shave hundredths of seconds.

[FearlessF]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 

US Supreme Court Classifies Tomatoes as Vegetables, Not Fruit (1893)
To most of us, a fruit is a sweet plant part eaten as a dessert or snack, but to a botanist, a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant. All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A vegetable, on the other hand, is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. The tomato—one of the newer additions to world cuisine—can be said to meet both criteria but is technically a fruit.

[MrNubbz]

Birthdays
1818 Paul Revere
1838 John Wilkes Booth
1890 Alfred Jodl
1899 Fred Astaire
1930 Pat Summerall
1960 Paul Hewson (Bono)

Events
1775 American Revolution: Green Mountain Boys capture Fort Ticonderoga, New York

1775 Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, issuing paper currency for the first time

1801 First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (first US foreign war)

1823 1st steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River arrives at Fort Snelling

1863 Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson dies in the Fairfield Plantation farm office. Today the only building left standing amongst what was once a much more developed landscape.

1865 Confederate President Jefferson Davis captured by Union troops at Irwinsville Georgia

1869 The first US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific is completed

1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for the US presidency by the Equal Rights Party at Apollo Hall, NYC

1877 US President Rutherford B. Hayes has the first White House telephone installed in the telegraph room

1908 1st Mother's Day observed (Philadelphia)

1924 J. Edgar Hoover appointed head of FBI

1940 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government

1941 Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland planning to negotiate peace with the British – without the knowledge or approval of his boss, Adolf Hitler.

1963 Decca Records signs The Rolling Stones on the advice of Beatles guitarist George Harrison

1976 Paul Harvey's daily syndicated program "The Rest of the Story" premieres on the ABC Radio Networks, continuing until his death in 2009

1994 Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa's first Black president

[MrNubbz]

Repossessed the Bank
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c3TzAxdOtFI