November 11, 1975: The Australian Constitutional Crisis

Gough Whitlam

November 11, 1975: Sir John Kerr, the Governor-General of Australia, dismisses the country's Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, from office. It is the only time in the history of the office, which dates to 1901, that its holder has been dismissed, rather than losing the office through death, resignation or an election defeat.

Australia is an unusual country in many ways, including the fact that its leading conservative party is named the Liberal Party. Its leading liberal party is named the Australian Labor Party. (There's another thing that's unusual: They use the American spelling, "Labor," rather than the British spelling, "Labour." Canada's version uses the extra U, while Israel's does not.)

Edward Gough Whitlam, who dropped his first name, became Prime Minister on December 5, 1972, having led the Labor Party to victory in the elections for the House of Representatives (not "House of Commons," as in Britain and Canada), with a small majority. However, the Liberals still held control of the Senate. Another election, in 1974, changed hardly any seats in either house of Parliament.

As a result, while Whitlam was able to get some reforms passed, others were stalled in the Senate. He tried to get a budget passed in October 1975, but the Liberals refused to pass a budget until Whitlam called another election. He tried to bypass this, calling for a "half-election," putting only the Senate up for election, which he had the authority to do, although it had never been tried before, and has not since.

But to get permission for the election, full or half, he had to go to the Governor-General. Since many nations in the British Commonwealth, formerly the British Empire, are far from the home islands, their head of state, the British monarch, appoints a representative, a Governor-General, to act as a "sub-king" or "viceroy" for the country.

Ordinarily, the G-G has very little power. But this person does have the power to call new elections and to dismiss the Prime Minister, even if that person has rightly won an election -- even if, as in Whitlam's case, he has won two of them.

On November 11, 1975, Whitlam went to the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, and asked him to call a half-election for the Senate. Instead, Kerr saw this as a power play on Whitlam's part, and dismissed him from office. The Prime Minister was fired. What's more, Kerr appointed the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Liberal Party, Malcolm Fraser, as a caretaker Prime Minister.

John Kerr

It should be noted that this had never happened before in Australia. Nor had it ever happened in the United Kingdom, or in Canada, or in Australia's neighbor, New Zealand. Nor has it happened in any of those countries since.

It was a counter-power play. It was a coup d'etat. And it got worse. This was before social media, and before the rise of mobile phones. Fraser quickly gathered his allies and formed a new Cabinet. They wrote new appropriation bills, and got Parliament to pass them, faster than Labour could even make sure all of its members knew what had happened. Kerr then dissolved Parliament and called a new election.

It should be noted that Kerr was not the head of state. He was the representative of the head of state, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. This was Kerr's decision, not the Queen's. Whitlam had to get Kerr's permission to do what he wanted. Kerr should have gotten the Queen's permission before doing what he wanted. It was certainly possible by that point to make a telephone call from Government House, the Governor-General's residence in the capital of Canberra, to Buckingham Palace, or to Windsor Castle, or to wherever the Queen was at that point.

Kerr didn't get the Queen's permission. He didn't even try to contact her. He acted completely on his own. He acted like a dictator. Did the Queen punish him for this? No, she took no action at all. That was seen as a royal endorsement of his action.

That, and the fact that there was now action on the budget, convinced Australians that this constitutional crisis might not have been so bad. On December 13, the Liberals gained 30 seats in the snap election, and Fraser remained Prime Minister for 7 years, winning elections in 1977 and 1980.

Malcolm Fraser

What reaction did President Gerald Ford have to this coup? Very little. He sent a letter of congratulation to Fraser upon winning the 1975 election, and hosted a State Dinner for him at the White House on June 27, 1976.

Whitlam, cast into Opposition, remained Labor's Leader until 1977, losing another election, and then stepping down. After Fraser was defeated by Bob Hawke in the 1983 election, Hawke appointed Whitlam to be Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations.

Whitlam may have lost the office and the subsequent elections, but he won the historical argument. Not only has no Governor-General fired a Prime Minister again, but while Kerr got the result he wanted, and Fraser got the support of the people, Kerr did not get the support of the people: They turned on him, and he resigned as Governor-General in December 1977, a few days before Whitlam resigned as Leader of the Opposition.

Whitlam called Fraser "Kerr's cur," meaning his dog. Nevertheless, the two former Prime Ministers eventually buried the hatchet and became friends. But Whitlam never forgave Kerr. Kerr died in 1991, Whitlam in 2014, and Fraser in 2015.

*

November 11, 1975 was a Tuesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Phoenix Suns, 112-81.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Boston Celtics, 100-91 at the Boston Garden. The Celtics went on to win the 1976 NBA Championship, anyway.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Buffalo Braves, 105-90 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-81 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 103-98 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 106-104 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

And there were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 128-106 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 126-117 at the McNichols Arena.

There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the St. Louis Arena. The Broadway Blueshirts, in the wake of the Eddie Giacomin fiasco and the Phil Esposito for Jean Ratelle and Brad Park trade, blew leads of 1-0, 2-1 (on a shorthanded goal) and 3-2.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at The Forum outside in Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

There were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association: 

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-6 at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Toronto Toros, 5-4 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* And the Calgary Cowboys beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-5 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. 

October 25, 2022: Britain's 1st Nonwhite, 1st Non-Christian Prime Minister

October 25, 2022: Rishi Sunak becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He is the 1st nonwhite person, and the 1st non-Christian person, to hold the office.

Rishi Sunak (his professional name is also his entire birth name) was born on May 12, 1980, making him 42 years old when he moved into 10 Downing Street. Britain is one of those nations, Canada (24 Sussex Drive) being another, where the official residence of the head of government does not have a fancy name.

He was born in Southampton, Hampshire, on the south coast of England, a major port city. His parents were born in African countries that were then British colonies: His father, a physician, in Kenya; and his mother, a pharmacist, in Tanzania. He has a brother and a sister, both accomplished in their fields as well. His grandparents were from the Punjab province of India.

The family is Hindu, which is the dominant religion of India. Given that Britain is about 60 percent Christian, 33 percent without a stated religion, 4.4 percent Muslim, 1.3 percent Hindu, and 0.4 percent Jewish, it shouldn't be surprising that the country had a Hindu Prime Minister before it had a Jewish one. Given that the country is about 86 percent white, 4.9 percent South Asian, 3 percent black and 2.1 percent East Asian, it also shouldn't be surprising that the country had an Asian Prime Minister before it had a black one.

Sunak went to what Americans would call high school at Winchester College in Winchester, Hampshire; and graduated from Lincoln College, Oxford University in 2001. He went to America as a Fulbright Scholar, and earned an MBA from Stanford University outside San Francisco in 2006. It was at Stanford that he met Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian billionaire. She is a month older than he is. They married in 2009, and have 2 daughters, Anoushka and Krishna. Through his wife's stock in her father's company, Sunak is one of the few Prime Ministers whose wealth exceeds that of the monarch, although the monarchy has access to far more money.

Sunak worked in the British office of Goldman Sachs, and in 2015 was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire. His rise from backbencher to 10 Downing in just 7 years is unusual, but not a record. He supported "Brexit," Britain's break from the European Union, in the 2016 referendum. For this, he was rewarded with a place in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Theresa May.

May couldn't make Brexit work, so she was forced out of the job in 2019, in favor of Boris Johnson. In 2020, Johnson appointed Sunak to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, equivalent to the Secretary of the Treasury in America or Minister of Finance in most countries with a parliamentary system of government.

In July 2022, with Britain hopelessly stuck in recession due to 12 years of the Conservative Party's governance having reduced the value of the pound and raised unemployment, and Johnson himself mired in personal scandals, his government collapsed, with the resignation of several Cabinet members, including Sunak. Johnson resigned, and Sunak stood for Conservative Party Leader.

He finished 2nd to Liz Truss, who had been Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. Accepting her as the new Prime Minister was the last official act as head of state of Queen Elizabeth II, who died 2 days later.

Little did anyone know that the last act of the longest-reigning English or British monarch would be to appoint the shortest-lasting Prime Minister. Truss' proposed budget gained no support, not even from other Conservatives (a.k.a. "Tories"), and she had to resign the office after just 45 days.

With Johnson hinting at running for Party Leader in an "I told you so" campaign, the Party rallied around Sunak, thinking his business expertise made him the right man for the job, in spite of his race and his religion, which do not exactly appeal to Tories. But, being conservative, and not of the American stripe, they are about money first and other concerns second, and they chose him.

On October 25, he visited Buckingham Palace, and gave the monarch, King Charles III, the magic words: "I can form a government." The King, who probably hoped he would receive his Coronation (currently scheduled for May 6, 2023) before he had to receive his 1st new Prime Minister, gave his assent.

Beyond the novelty of his race and his religion, Sunak is the youngest Prime Minister since Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, took office at a few months younger in 1812, and held the office for 15 years, including the defeat of Napoleon. William Pitt the Younger, whose father William Pitt the Elder had also been Prime Minister, remains the youngest Prime Minister in the country's history, only 24 when he first took office in 1783. Sunak is the 1st Prime Minister to represent a district in Yorkshire since Harold Wilson retired in 1974.

Since the Conservatives last took power from the Labour Party through election, he is their 5th different Prime Minister in 12 years. David Cameron (2010-16), May (2016-19), Johnson and Truss all had to give up the job due mainly to their mishandling of the national economy.

And yet, the Tories have won general elections in 2015, 2017 and 2019, by painting the Labour Party, with help from the defamations and outright lies printed by conservative-controlled national newspapers, as out-of-touch elitists, extreme leftists, and anti-Semites (due to some ill-advised positions by their former leader, Jeremy Corbyn). The Tories currently hold a 357-196 lead over Labour in the House of Commons. By law, the next election must come no later than January 23, 2025.

There are 7 former Prime Ministers currently living: Truss, Johnson, May, Cameron, Gordon Brown (2007-10, currently the last Leader of the Labour Party to hold the office), Tony Blair (1997-2007) and John Major (1990-97).

UPDATE: Sunak called an election for July 4, 2024, and the Labour Party won it, making Sir Keir Starmer, who in 2020 replaced Corbyn as Party Leader, the new Prime Minister. The Conservative Party replaced him as Leader, and thus Leader of the Opposition, with Olukemi "Kemi" Badenoch, a Londoner whose parents were Nigerian, making her the 1st black person to be Leader of a major party in Britain. She had served in the Cabinet under Sunak and Truss.

*

October 25, 2022 was a Tuesday. Baseball was between its League Championship Series and its World Series, with the Houston Astros set to play the Philadelphia Phillies. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Washington Wizards beat the Detroit Pistons, 120-99 at the Capital One Center in Washington.

* The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Dallas Mavericks, 113-111 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Luka Dončić led all scorers on the night with 37 points.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 108-94 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 134-105 at the Footprint Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

And there were 10 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The Devils got goals from 6 different players.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Florida Panthers, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

* And the Seattle Kraken beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

October 20, 1973: The Sydney Opera House Opens

October 20, 1973: The Sydney Opera House, Australia's most famous structure, opens, just 1 mile from the structure it replaced as such, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Danish architect Jørn Utzon designed it in 1957, to look like sails on a boat in the harbor. Construction was approved the following year, and the complex opened in stages, delayed because the materials necessary to sustain the design proved hard to determine.

The first person to perform at the Sydney Opera House site was Paul Robeson: The African-American football player-turned-lawyer-turned-singer-turned-actor sang his signature song, "Ol' Man River," to construction workers as they ate lunch in 1960. The formal opening was on October 20, 1973, dedicated by Australia's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. The opening was televised and included fireworks and a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's 1824 Symphony No. 9.

The complex includes the Concert Hall, seating 2,679, home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; the Joan Sutherland Theatre, seating 1,507, named for the country's most beloved opera singer, home of Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet; the Drama Theatre, seating 544, used by the Sydney Theatre Company; the Playhouse, seating 398; the Studio, seating 280; the Utzon Room, a small multi-purpose venue for parties, corporate functions and small productions, such as chamber music performances; the Recording Studio; and the Outdoor Forecourt: A flexible open-air venue with a wide range of configuration options, including the possibility of utilizing the Monumental Steps as audience seating, used for a range of community events and major outdoor performances.

The Concert Hall

The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales State Government.

*

October 20, 1973 was a Saturday. This was also the day of "The Saturday Night Massacre," a scandal within the larger Watergate scandal that would force the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, 10 months later. It was also the day that The Six Million Dollar Man premiered on ABC, starring Lee Majors as astronaut-turned-bionic-federal-agent Steve Austin. (Definitely not to be confused with the Stone Cold "professional wrestler" using the same name.)

Among the major college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Indiana, 37-7 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* Rivalry: Number 2 Alabama beat Number 10 Tennessee, 42-21 at Legion Field in Birmingham.

* Number 3 Oklahoma beat Number 16 Colorado, 34-7 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 35-6 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Syracuse, 49-6 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York.

* Number 6 University of Southern California (USC) beat Oregon, 31-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 7 Missouri beat Oklahoma State, 13-9 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Army, 62-3 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Number 9 Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Kentucky, 28-21 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* Number 11 Nebraska beat Number 18 Kansas, 10-9 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* One ranked team lost to an unranked team: Number 19 Arizona lost to Texas Tech, 31-17 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.

* Rivalry: Virginia Tech beat Virginia, 27-15 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

* Rivalry: Minnesota beat Iowa, 31-23 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

* Rivalry: Texas beat Arkansas, 34-6 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Navy beat Air Force, 42-6 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Yale beat Columbia, 29-0 at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan.

* Rutgers beat Delaware, 24-7 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

* Princeton beat Colgate, 37-21 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

There were no NFL games played that day. But a very big baseball game was played at the Oakland Coliseum: Game 6 of the World Series.

The New York Mets just need to win 1 of the last 2 games against the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, and they will have their 2nd World Championship in 5 seasons -- it has been 11 years since the Yankees went all the way. And Tom Seaver, "The Franchise," is on the mound. What can go wrong?

This can go wrong: Met manager Yogi Berra has sent Seaver out on just 3 days' rest, hoping that "Tom Terrific" can close out the defending World Champions on their own patch, so that no Game 7 will be necessary.

But Reggie Jackson, not yet a New York baseball legend, hits 2 doubles, scores 1 run and knocks in 2. Jim "Catfish" Hunter, also a future Hall-of-Famer and a future New York baseball legend, pitches brilliantly. The A's beat the Mets 3-1. So there will be a Game 7 tomorrow.

To this day, many Met fans are angry at Yogi for starting Seaver on short rest. I'm sure some of them thought of Yogi as a Yankee and hated him for that reason alone. They shouldn't: There are only 5 human beings who have managed the Mets to a Pennant: Yogi, Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine and Terry Collins. And only Johnson, Valentine and Collins are still alive.

There are 8 National Basketball Association games played on this day:

* The New York Knicks do not play like defending World Champions, losing to the Chicago Bulls, 85-69 at Madison Square Garden. Indeed, in the other 7 NBA games played that day, only 1 other team scored fewer than the Bulls' 85, but that 85 was enough to win this game.

* The Capital Bullets play their 1st home game after 10 years in Baltimore, at the Cole Field House on the campus of the University of Maryland, in College Park, just inside the Capital Beltway. At this point, the Bullets are one of the better teams in the NBA, and they prove it, beating the Boston Celtics 96-87. Phil Chenier leads all scorers with 26 points.

It will take until December 2 for their new arena, the Capital Centre in Landover, on the other side of the Beltway, to be ready for the Bullets to play there. They then changed their name to the Washington Bullets. The following season, it also became home to an NHL expansion team, the Washington Capitals. In 1997, both teams would move into a new arena in the District of Columbia, now known as the Capital One Arena, and the Bullets would change their name to the Washington Wizards.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 116-100 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks, 118-108 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 101-88 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Kansas City Kings, 100-81 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now the Oracle Arena).

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Houston Rockets, 107-104 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat their regional rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 123-108 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 3 games played in the American Basketball Association:

The Virginia Squires beat the Utah Stars, 106-95 at The Scope in Norfolk.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 105-102 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 92-66 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 6 games played in the National Hockey League:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the California Golden Seals, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars played to a 4-4 tie, at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

There were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The New York Golden Blades lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 8-1 at Le Colisee de Quebec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Toronto Toros, 6-4 at the Cleveland Arena, which also hosted a Cavs game that day.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

In notable college football games played that day:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Indiana, 37-7 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* In their traditional 3rd Saturday in October meeting, Number 2 Alabama beat Number 10 Tennessee, 42-21 at Legion Field in Birmingham.

* Number 3 Oklahoma also beat a ranked opponent, Number 16 Colorado, 34-7 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 35-6 at Michigan Stadium in the Detroit suburb of Ann Arbor.

* Number 5 Penn State beat Syracuse, 49-6 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse.

* Number 11 Notre Dame beat Army, 62-3 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. Army hadn't beaten Notre Dame since 1958, and still hasn't, losing 15 games over those 63 years.

* In New Jersey, Rutgers beat the University of Delaware, 24-7 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

* Princeton beat Colgate, 37-21 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And New York City's only major team of the time, Columbia University, lost to Yale, 29-0 at Baker Field.

Also, what would become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat New Brunswick, 41-0 at Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick.

And Arsenal drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town at Highbury. 

September 8, 2022: Queen Elizabeth II Dies

September 8, 2022: Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned longer as monarch of England or Great Britain than anyone, dies after 70 years on the throne. She was 96 years old, making her also the oldest English or British monarch ever.

She was born on April 21, 1926, as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, at 17 Bruton Street, in the Mayfair section of London. This was the home of her maternal grandfather, the Scottish nobleman Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and her father was Prince Albert Arthur Frederick George, the Duke of York, the 2nd son of King George V. In 1930, her younger sister, Princess Margaret, was born.

In 1936, George V died, and was succeeded by his eldest son as King Edward VIII. But before the year was out, Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry the woman he loved, Wallis Simpson, who, as a divorcée (never mind a commoner and an American), was unacceptable as a spouse for the monarch. So Elizabeth's father became King George VI, and, at age 10, she was suddenly heir presumptive to the throne.

During World War II, the Nazis bombed London, including Buckingham Palace, but the royal family survived. Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, still teenagers, entered the British Army. Elizabeth worked in a motor pool, meaning she could, literally, fix your wagon and clean your clock. To the end of her life, she hated fascists.

In 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, descended through intermarriages from the royal houses of Britain, Germany, Denmark and Greece. Like Elizabeth, he was a great-great-grandchild of Britain's Queen Victoria, making them 3rd cousins. They went on to have 4 children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, the Princess Royal; Andrew, Duke of York; and Edward, Earl of Wessex. Each child had 2 children, so Elizabeth had 4 grandchildren; and lived long enough to see 12 great-grandchildren.

Left to right: Princess Elizabeth, Prince Philip,

Queen Elizabeth (known after 1952 as the Queen Mother),

King George VI, Princess Margaret

In 1952, while Elizabeth and Philip were on vacation in Kenya, then still a British colony, King George died. They had to fly back, a 25-year-old Queen and her 30-year-old Prince Consort, the Duke of Edinburgh. They were met at Croydon Airport in London -- Heathrow had not yet been expanded into London's international airport -- by the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, the 1st of 15 Prime Ministers to serve under her. (Harold Wilson lost the office in 1970, and regained it in 1974, but is only counted as one Prime Minister.)

She became the greatest diplomat the world has ever known. No monarch ever traveled more. She enjoyed visiting America, where some of the racehorses she owned were kept, and she met (sometimes in America, sometimes in Britain) with every President from Harry Truman to Joe Biden, except Lyndon Johnson. (As far as I know, she didn't refuse to meet him, it was simply never set up.) She enjoyed visiting Canada, and she met with every Prime Minister from Louis St. Laurent to Justin Trudeau. And she was the 1st British monarch to visit Australia.

With President John F. Kennedy, 1961

But during her reign, several colonies declared their independence, though some of them remained in the British Commonwealth: There were still 15 nations, including Canada and Australia, where she was still the head of state, represented in said countries by a Governor-General.

Although various individual members of the royal family, including her jet-setting sister, saw their popularity rise and fall, her own remained high. The exception was the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana, the ex-wife of Prince Charles, in 1997. Charles had treated her poorly, including in public. And when the Queen stuck too closely to protocol thereafter, including not making a televised statement at first, the public turned on her.

It was the only time she ever lost a popularity contest, and the only time she ever had to eat crow: The day before Diana's funeral, she took to the airwaves and gave a brief, conciliatory speech. Unlike Charles, whose reputation was permanently damaged, the Queen won most of her new critics back.

But she knew she was reigning in a modern world. She proved adept at new media, including social media. She even agreed to record a short film for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London, with actor Daniel Craig in character as James Bond. Through his many incarnations, the Queen is the one woman to whom Bond was always faithful. When two figures jumped out of what appeared to be the royal helicopter into the Olympic Stadium, it was the sort of thing Bond would do, but not the 76-year-old Queen. Then again, who could say it was completely out of character? She did attend the Ceremony, and took the traditional head-of-state role in the host nation of declaring the Olympic Games open.

A common joke from 2017 to 2022:

"Your orders regarding Trump, Ma'am?"

"Make it look like an accident, 007."

Like most British monarchs since it opened, she didn't much like Buckingham Palace, the official royal residence in London. She preferred Windsor Castle in Berkshire, a royal home since William the Conqueror had it built in 1070; and, even more so, Balmoral Castle outside Aberdeen, Scotland, built for Queen Victoria in 1856. (Kings Edward VII and George VI, and Prince Charles, had Sandringham House in Norfolk as their preferred getaways.)

Like many other monarchs (in particular, Edward VII), she loved horses and horse racing. She also loved dogs, and was known for her Welsh corgis, 2 of whom even made guest appearances in the Bond Olympic video. When England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, she presented the trophy to team Captain Bobby Moore. And she supported North London soccer team Arsenal.

On a 1991 visit to America, President George H.W. Bush invited her to a baseball game at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, then the closest city to Washington with a team in Major League Baseball. The Orioles hosted the Oakland Athletics, who had one of their legends, Reggie Jackson, as a guest.

This was a bit awkward: In 1988, the film The Naked Gun had Jeannette Charles, who often played the Queen in movies and TV shows due to her resemblance, play the Queen as the target of a murder plot of a villain played by Ricardo Montalban. Leslie Nielsen played Lieutenant Frank Drebin, the Los Angeles policeman charged with protecting her.

The climax of the film was at a baseball game between the team then known as the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners -- supposedly at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim), but actually filmed up the freeway at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. During the game, Reggie -- who had played for the Angels, but, by this point, was retired in real life -- was brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate-style, and robotically walked from his position in right field to the Queen's box seat, all the while robotically saying, "I... must kill... the Queen." Drebin manages to stop him, in a rather haphazard way.

Retroactively, the most bizarre thing about this spoof of police movies is that one of the Los Angeles cops is played by O.J. Simpson. The Queen was very media-savvy, and was, doubtless, aware of the film. But there were no hard feelings when she and Reggie were introduced for real.

There were jokes that the reason the Queen lived so long was that she didn't want to hand the crown over to Prince Charles. But, understanding her duty, she refused to abdicate, even as King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands had done so in 2013, and King Juan Carlos I of Spain had in 2014.

Or maybe she was willing herself to live long enough to see Prime Minister Boris Johnson and "President" Donald Trump leave office. She didn't like either one. In 2021, she saw Trump leave, but when Prince Philip died a few weeks later, at the age of 99, royal observers thought she wouldn't live much longer. Nevertheless, at age 95, having survived the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the modernization of the world, and even a bout with COVID-19, she continued to not only do her job, but enjoy her job.

The year 2022 marked her 70th Anniversary on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee. For the 1st half of the year, turning 96, she was still involved in the celebrations. But she began canceling some appearances, due to what were being officially called "mobility issues." When she appeared in public, she seemed thinner, and was using a cane.

On September 6, with the Conservative Party having finally chosen a new Leader, triggering Johnson's announced resignation, that new Leader, Liz Truss, went to Balmoral, where the Queen was spending the Summer.

This was the 1st time since the establishment of the office of Prime Minister that the new holder of it had met with the monarch other than at a palace in London. That was considered a bad sign. And when no video of the event was released, that was also considered a bad sign. But in the official photographs, the Queen, while still thinner and looking frail, was smiling, and appeared to be fully mentally engaged. That was a good sign.

Just 2 days later, at 12:30 PM British time on September 8, Buckingham Palace released this announcement: "Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral."

It was eventually revealed that she died at 3:10 PM, with the cause of death listed as "old age." At 4:30 PM, Truss was informed that the Queen had died. At 6:30 PM -- 1:30 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- the Queen's death was announced on the BBC.

Over 90 percent of people living in Britain had no memory of any monarch except Queen Elizabeth II. Now, they do: Her son became King Charles III. His son, Prince William, is now next in line.

Although Charles automatically gave up the titles he had previously held, including his father's title of Duke of Edinburgh, William, already Duke of Cambridge, did not immediately receive Charles' title of Prince of Wales, which is usually given to the eldest son of the monarch. He will likely be invested in that title after Charles' coronation, which usually takes place a little over a year after the death of the preceding monarch.

William did, however, immediately inherit Charles' former titles as Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay (a Scottish title), Earl of Carrick (a Northern Irish title), Baron of Renfrew (also Scottish), Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

On September 9, in his first address to the nation as King, Charles announced that he had given William and his wife, the former Catherine Middleton, the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales. Officially, William is now listed in England as Prince of Wales, and Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge, and retains his pre-2022 titles of Earl of Strathearn (Scottish) and Baron Carrickfergus (Northern Irish). (UPDATE: In 2023, Charles gave the title Duke of Edinburgh to his brother Edward.)

And so, after 70 years, British coins and banknotes would have a new face on them. All the institutions that were named "Her Majesty's (whatever)" are now "His Majesty's." (This means that, for the first time since the character was created in books in 1953, James Bond will be on His Majesty's Secret Service.) And the National Anthem, for 70 years titled "God Save the Queen," became, for the first time since February 6, 1952, "God Save the King."

Charles waited 73 years for this. He should get it right. There are people in the Commonwealth who no longer want a monarchy. Indeed, in Australia, it is said that there are many people who were Elizabethans, but not monarchists. It is entirely possible that some of the 14 nations in the Commonwealth, other than Britain itself, were waiting for the Queen to be gone before finally jettisoning the monarchy. We shall see.

Prime Minister Philip Davis of the Bahamas announced that his country would have a referendum on whether to become a republic, which would leave the country in the Commonwealth, but no longer have the British monarch as their head of state. Barbados had already done so earlier in the year, but, if the Bahamian referendum ends with a majority of votes for Yes, it would make the nation of islands in the Caribbean, less than 200 air miles east of Miami, the 1st country to say, "Cheerio" to King Charles and his Governor-General. (UPDATE: As of March 2024, that vote had not yet been held.)

Not counting individuals implied as being part of a group, like the Beatles and the performers at Woodstock, Queen Elizabeth was 1 of the last 5 people mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire" who were still alive. The 4 to survive her were actress Brigitte Bardot, singers Chubby Checker and Bob Dylan, and 1984 New York "subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz.

Among the actresses who have played Elizabeth II have been Helen Mirren in The Queen in 2006, Sarah Gadon in A Royal Night Out in 2015, and Jennifer Saunders providing her voice in the cartoon Minions in 2015.

In the 2009 Channel 4 serial The Queen, she was played at various stages of her life by Emilia Fox, Samantha Bond, Susan Jameson Barbara Flynn and Diana Quick. In the 2016 Netflix series The Crown, scheduled to end in 2023, she has been played by Claire Foy in Seasons 1 and 2, Olivia Colman in Seasons and 4, and Imelda Staunton in Seasons 5 and 6.

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September 8, 2022 was a Thursday. It was Opening Night of a new NFL season. The Buffalo Bills defeated the defending World Champions, the Los Angeles Rams, 31-10 at Sofi Stadium, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

There were 7 games scheduled for Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. After taking the 1st 3 games of the series, the Bronx Bombers lost when former Houston Astro nemesis Carlos Correa hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 8th inning.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers swept a doubleheader from the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 and 4-2 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

* The Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-6 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Chicago White Sox played the Oakland Athletics, at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the RingCentral Coliseum).

August 31, 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, Is Killed

August 31, 1997: I woke up in the middle of the night, turned on the TV, and found out that Princess Diana had been in a car crash in Paris. Her post-Prince Charles boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, had already been announced as dead. The newscasters didn't reveal her condition, and may not have known it. But I had a feeling she wouldn't make it. And she didn't. She was 36 years old.

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, England, not far from one of the royal family's retreat homes. The Spencers and the Windsors had known each other for decades, and it wasn't a total surprise to "royal-watchers" when, at 19, Diana, then a teacher, was engaged to Charles, Prince of Wales, then 31. They married on July 29, 1981, in a wedding ceremony televised around the world. Prince William was born the following year; Prince Harry, 2 years after that.

But, as she put it, there were 3 people in the marriage. Prince Charles' true love was Lady Camilla Parker-Bowles, who had married someone else in 1973. Charles and Camilla ended up cheating on their respective spouses, with each other. In retaliation, Diana developed her own infidelities, and left Charles in 1992. The divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996.

Diana kept up her charity work, which made her beloved all over the world. She worked with India-based nun and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, who died just a week after Diana did. One of Diana's last public appearances was in Miami, at the funeral for fashion designer Gianni Versace, whose designs she had worn. She was seen comforting singer Elton John, a close friend of Versace's.

But the media wouldn't leave her alone. Near midnight on August 30, 1997, Diana and Dodi left the Hotel Ritz Paris, along with bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, in a Mercedes-Benz S280 sedan driven by Henri Paul, the hotel's acting security manager. Paparazzi chased them, and Paul tried to lose them in the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel, and crashed at 12:23 AM, August 31, Paris time. (11:23 PM, August 30, London time; 6:23 PM, August 30, U.S. East Coast time.)

An off-duty doctor arrived on the scene, and heard Diana say some fitting last words: "Leave me alone." She was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:00 AM. (2 AM in London, 9 PM in New York.) Rees-Jones was the only person in the car to survive the crash, though he sustained a head injury.

Paul was later found to have a blood-alcohol content 3.5 times France's legal limit. As a result, the French criminal justice system brought no charges against anyone. But most people, including Diana's brother, Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, blamed the paparazzi chasing the Mercedes. One witness saw one of the photographers get out of his car, and beat the photographer.

(There are also those who believe the royal family, angry with Diana's public actions, had her killed, but this is ridiculous. Those who know Charles say that, regardless of his anger at Diana, he would never harm the mother of his sons.)

The outpouring of grief in Britain was staggering. Not since John Lennon had there been so much grief over the death of a single person. There were piles of flowers outside Buckingham Palace, the royal residence, and Kensington Palace, where Diana had lived with Charles, and still lived after the divorce.

Queen Elizabeth II, and Princes Charles, William and Harry were at another royal home, Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the time of the crash, and returned to London, over 500 miles away.

On the following Thursday, 2 days before the funeral at Westminster Abbey, Charles, William and Harry walked toward the main gate at Buckingham Palace to greet some mourners. A woman called out, "William, I'm so sorry!" The would-be future King, only 15 years old, walked over, reached through the gate, took her hand in his, managed a smile, and said, "Thank you very much." In my opinion, Charles looked like he'd rather be doing anything else, while William looked more like a King in those 5 seconds than Charles had in his 48 years.

The Queen insisted upon proper royal protocol for the arrangements, which was seen by the public as being too rigid, and insufficiently compassionate. She initially refused to lower the royal standard to half-staff. Diana was the most popular woman in the world, more so than the Queen, and the Queen finally assented to lowering the standard, and giving a televised speech on the Friday, the day before the funeral. It may be the only time in her 70-year reign that she had to publicly eat crow.

The funeral the next day was watched by more people than watched the wedding. Elton sang "Candle In the Wind," which he and Bernie Taupin had written in 1973 in memory of Marilyn Monroe, with new lyrics. It remains the only time he has ever sung the Diana version in public, and the record shot to Number 1 all over the world, becoming the biggest-selling single of all time.

Diana was buried on an island in the middle of a lake called The Oval, on the grounds of Althorp, the Spencer family home in Northamptonshire, England, about 75 miles northwest of London.

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August 31, 1997 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Before the game, they honored Don Mattingly with a Plaque in Monument Park, and the retirement of his Number 23. Bernie Williams hit a home run, in support of Andy Pettitte. Derek Jeter went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk.

* The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Bernard Gilkey and Butch Huskey hit home runs. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-5 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their cross-State rivals, the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mark McGwire did not play.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers, 5-3 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 44th home run of the season. Dan Wilson singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* And the Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-4 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.

It was also the opening weekend of a new NFL season:

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-17 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Seattle Seahawks, 41-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The New England Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers, 41-7 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Baltimore Ravens, 28-27 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-10 in the 1st regular-season game at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the San Francisco 49ers, 13-6 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Indianapolis Colts, 16-10 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the New Orleans Saints, 38-24 at the Trans World Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Buffalo Bills, 34-13 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 37-7 at Three River Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-21 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons, 28-17 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Tennessee Oilers beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-21 at the Liberty Bowl (now Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium) in Memphis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 19-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* And, the next day on ABC Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 38-24 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

July 29, 1981: Prince Charles Marries Lady Diana Spencer

"The happy couple"

July 29, 1981: Charles, Prince of Wales, and heir to the British throne, marries Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

There is an awkward moment during the vows. As Robert Runcie, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked her to repeat her intended's full name, "Charles Philip Arthur George," she mixed it up: "Philip Charles Arthur George." She gave an uneasy smile that the entire world, or at least that portion of it watching on television, could see.

Despite the age difference -- Charles was 32 years old, and Diana, then a teacher in what Americans would call elementary school, only 19 -- the marriage was sanctioned by Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, head of state for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and thus the head of the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the highest-ranking official in that church, but the British monarch remains his boss. (Since 2013, Justin Welby has held that title.)

The marriage would produce 2 sons: William Arthur Philip Louis, now Duke of Cambridge and 2nd in line to the throne after his father; and Henry Charles Albert David, a.k.a. Prince Harry, now Duke of Sussex, currently 6th in line after Charles, William, and William's 3 children.

But in 1992, after accusations of infidelity on both sides, Charles and Diana separated. The "fairy tale" was over. They divorced in 1996. In 1997, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris.

In 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles, who had been his mistress, and, before meeting Diana and her own 1st marriage, his first love. At long last, he had married his one true love. But he paid a price for it. The royal family as a whole paid a price for it. And Diana paid the biggest price of all -- even before that price came to include her life.

In 1986, Charles' brother, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, married Sarah Ferguson. That marriage didn't last, either, although Andrew and "Fergie" seem to have remained friendly since. And she goofed the name, too: When the Archbishop read off Andrew's name during the vows, he said it very carefully, so she wouldn't goof it: "Andrew -- Albert -- Christian -- Edward"; but she stumbled: "Andrew Albert Christian... Christian Edward."

When the youngest brother, Prince Edward, now Earl of Wessex, married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, she got the full name right: Edward Antony Richard Louis. As of July 29, 2022, they are still married. Is that the key? Perhaps not: Charles' younger sister was the 1st of the Queen's 4 children to marry, and her husband, Army Captain Mark Phillips, got her name right: Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise. But they divorced.

UPDATE: Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. On May 6, 2023, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey. Had Charles and Diana worked things out, she would have been Queen Diana, age 61.

William received all the titles formerly held by his father, including Prince of Wales. Edward got the title formerly held by his father, Prince Philip: Duke of Edinburgh. Anne got no new titles, but, as she and Charles are close, she was moved up into the main level of advisors to the monarch. Andrew, for reasons I won't get into here, not only got no new title, but was frozen out by his brother.

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July 29, 1981 was a Wednesday. It was during baseball's Strike of '81, and during the off-seasons for the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. So there were no games on this historic day.

May 29, 1953: The Conquest of Mount Everest

Tenzing Norgay on the summit.

Photo taken by Edmund Hillary.

May 29, 1953: For the 1st time, there is documented proof that someone has set foot on the summit of the world's highest mountain, on the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. and Nepal, in the Himalayan mountain range. The Nepalese name for it is Deodungha, meaning "Holy Mountain." The Tibetan name is Qomolangma, meaning "Holy Mother." In 1849, Andrew Waugh, the British-appointed Surveyor General of India, named it for his predecessor, George Everest -- who opposed the honor, but got it anyway.

In 1856, a British survey team determined that Mount Everest was the tallest on Earth. Over the years, various figures have been cited: It has been 29,000 feet high exactly (as measured by early surveyor Andrew Waugh), or 29,002 (Waugh listed it as such, because he didn't think anyone would believe it was exactly 29,000, thus earning him the mock title of "the first man to put two feet on Mount Everest"), or 29,028 (the generally accepted height in 1953), or 29,035 (a revision determined in 1999).

In 1922, a British expedition, with several Sherpa guides from Nepal assisting them, made the 1st serious attempt to climb to the top. It was led by George Mallory, and it made 3 attempts, with the last resulting in a height of 27,320 feet, before causing an avalanche that killed 7 people.

In 1924, Mallory announced another expedition. Someone asked him why he was doing this, when it was so dangerous. His answer has become legend: "Because it is there." (This answer would be cited by President John F. Kennedy, 38 years later, when giving a speech about America's mission to the Moon.) A member of Mallory's crew, Edward Norton -- no relation to the real-life actor or the fictional sewer worker of that name -- got to 28,126 feet before he had to turn back.

On June 9, Mallory and Sandy Irvine went up the route he'd taken, and were never seen alive again. Irvine's body has never been found. Neither was Mallory's... for decades.

English adventurer Maurice Wilson set out to climb it in 1934. Alone. His body was found a year later, not even as close to the summit as either of Mallory's attempts.

The Communist revolution in China in 1949 led to the mountain's North Face being closed off to would-be adventurers for decades, forcing them to try the more dangerous south side, the Nepal side. On October 31, 1952, a Swiss expedition tried to reach the top, when Dorje Mingma was killed by falling ice, and they chose to turn back.

In the Spring of 1953, Colonel John Hunt of the British Army launched a new expedition. He had hoped to reach the summit by June 2, to help celebration the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On April 12, they established a base camp at 17,900 feet. On April 15, they got to 19,400; on April 22, 20,200; on May 1, 21,000; on May 3, 22,000; on May 4, 23,000. Then, things stalled, and it took them until May 17 to get to 24,000. On May 21, they got to 26,000; On May 26, 28,700. They were now 300 (or so) feet away. But altitude sickness set in, and they had to turn back.

On May 29, another attempt was made, by 2 members of the team: Edmund Hillary, 33, who had served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II; and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer. At 11:30 AM local time -- Nepal is in a unique time zone, so it was 5:45 PM in Hillary's native New Zealand, 6:45 AM in Britain, and 1:45 AM on the U.S. East Coast -- Hillary set foot on the summit, planting a pole with the flags of Britain, New Zealand and Nepal.

Edmund Hillary. Not on Mount Everest.

Just as most of the photographs of the first manned Moon landing were taken by the first man to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, and are of the second man, Buzz Aldrin, the first photograph of a human being on top of Mount Everest is of the second man, Norgay, taken by the first man, Hillary.

Tenzing Norgay. Not on Mount Everest.

In his memoir, Norgay wrote, "I motioned to Hillary that I would now take his picture. But for some reason he shook his head; he did not want it." In his memoir, Hillary asked Norgay if he'd ever used a camera before, and Norgay said he hadn't. "This didn't seem like the time to teach him," Hillary said, so he took the picture of Norgay.

On the way back down, they were met by expedition member George Lowe. Hillary told him, "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off." Not exactly "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," but certainly memorable.

They got back to base camp in time to relay the news around the world, and it was announced on June 2, Coronation Day. As a native of a country in the British Commonwealth, both men were eligible to be knighted by the Queen. She did knight Hillary. She did not knight Norgay, possibly under pressure from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, who was then feuding with Nepal's government. Norgay did get medals from various countries. He died in 1986.

On May 1, 1963, James Whittaker became the 1st American to reach the summit of Mount Everset. On May 16, 1975, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the 1st woman to do so. On April 30, 1985, American businessman Richard Bass reached the summit of Everest, thus becoming the first conqueror of "The Seven Summits," the highest mountains on each continent. In addition to Everest in Asia, he had also reached the top of Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) in Alaska, North America; Aconagua in Argentina, South America; Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa; Mount Elbrus in Russia, Europe; Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales, Australia; and Vinson Massif in Antarctica. In 1992, Tabei became the 1st women to reach all 7.

In 1999, an expedition found a well-preserved body on Mount Everest, at 26,760 feet. The remains were taken back down, and determined to be those of George Mallory, finally found after three-quarters of a century. But was he on his way up, or on his way back down?

Sir Edmund Hillary was asked for his thoughts on the subject, and he was sacrosanct: "For 45 years, I've been regarded as the hero of Everest, so I really couldn't be upset now if it was someone else's turn." But he added, "You know, to mountaineers, it's one thing getting to the top, but another getting back to the bottom. I'll settle for that."

(After all, again to connect the conquest of Everest with that of the Moon, 16 years later, JFK said the goal was, before the 1960s were over, "of placing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to the Earth.") (Emphasis mine.)

In 1999, Sports Illustrated conducted a joint interview with Sir Edmund Hillary and Dr. Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile race in less than four minutes. The 2 events took place a little less than a year apart, and while each achievement has been matched many times, there could be only one first time for each.

Hillary died on January 11, 2008, at age 88. At the time, his face was on his country's five-dollar bill -- and his name was still listed in the Auckland phone book. "If someone wants to believe I'm a heroic figure, fine," he said in that SI interview. "But for me, I did a reasonable job at the time. I didn't get carried away then, and I never have."

Richard Bass died in 2015, and Junko Tabei the next year.

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May 29, 1953 was a Friday. Film composer Danny Elfman was born.

Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. These baseball games were played on the day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 12-7 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The former Shibe Park had just been renamed for the A's elderly owner and former manager. The A's scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, including a home run by Gus Zernial, and manager Casey Stengel pulled starting pitcher Vic Raschi and replaced him with Ray Scarborough.

Not only did Scarborough pitch the rest of the way, but helped his own cause with a home run. He was also supported by home runs from Gil McDougald, Irv Noren and Billy Martin. Mickey Mantle had an RBI single, and Yogi Berra went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-3 at the Polo Grounds.  Larry Jansen got knocked out of the box before getting an out in the 3rd inning. The Phillies hit 4 homers: Bill Nicholson, Richie Ashburn, Earl Torgeson and Connie Ryan. The Giants got one from Ray Noble. Willie Mays was unavailable for the Jints, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Russ Meyer -- no relation to the man of the same name who directed exploitation films -- was the winning pitcher. The Dodgers hit no home runs, but Gil Hodges went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-4, but did reach base once, by being hit with a pitch.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams was also serving in the Korean War, and was unavailable for the BoSox.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-5 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961. Dave Madison pitched a scoreless 9th and 10th for the Tigers, but melted down in the 11th, allowing 6 runs. It was a rare highlight for the Brownies, in their final season before being moved to become the Baltimore Orioles.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Braves, 11-7 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Anheuser-Busch brewery owner Gussie Busch had just bought the Cards, and renamed their ballpark for himself, after being told he couldn't name it after his signature brand, Budweiser Stadium. That park had stood since 1909, and previous ballparks on the site went back to 1866, all of them, until now, named Sportsman's Park.

The Braves got 3 hits each from Eddie Mathews (including a homer) and Sid Gordon (2 homers), but it wasn't enough. (Hank Aaron arrived the next season.) Stan Musial went 2-for-4.