October 13, 2007
I'm really not into celebrating my birthdays in any big way, and my 55th was no exception. Of course being 55 years old is some sort of milestone when you consider that I worked in the British Columbia government service, and the rules state that being 55 years old is the earliest a staff member may qualify to apply for a pension. Since I also had over 30 years of service (another pension rule), this meant I could retire. I decided a couple of years ago that I would retire as early as possible, so 2007 was the year.
I suppose my 55th birthday in 2007 is cause for celebration!
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I decided to find out what happened in
history on my
birthday, but it appears the answer is "nothing much", just trivial stuff. Here
are some interesting tidbits I gleaned from the Time magazine archive for their
October 13, 1952 edition:
Ike was President; communists were seen to be under every bush; the Korean
Conflict was still fresh in everyone's mind; the Atomic Age was in full swing;
Gertrude Stein was being her usual outrageous self; radio shows were still big,
and TV was struggling to catch up. Speaking of TV, "Our Miss Brooks" moved from
radio and debuted as a TV program - produced by Desilu Productions. Britain's De
Havilland Aircraft Company delivered the last of 9 Comet jets to BOAC for use on
their London-Tokyo and South Africa, Columbo and Singapore routes; Pompeii was
still be excavated; and Queen Elizabeth's Coronation was still nine months away.
Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea was published; Evita Peron died two
months previously, and her husband the President of Argentina had already claimed her
considerable fortune from a Swiss bank. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie cut a
ribbon with gold scissors to open the frontier with the former Eritrea, which
was now part of Ethiopia and provided access to a coastline.
Finally, here are two fascinating snippets from Time's Names make News:
Celebrating his 16th anniversary as the head of the Spanish government, Dictator Francisco Franco sat on a gilded throne in Madrid's Royal Palace as his ministers, generals, admirals and other high-ranking officers filed before him, bowing. On one side of the throne room 50 envoys looked on, including U.S. Ambassador Lincoln MacVeagh. After the ceremony, bigwigs and diplomats proceeded to the Church of St. Francis the Great for a thanksgiving ceremony with a Te Deum Mass.
Hurrying down the gangplank of the United States after it docked in Manhattan, elusive Greta Garbo spotted reporters and photographers, stopped abruptly, put on a pair of dark glasses, and continued silently on.
By the way, on the day I was born Louis St.
Laurent was Prime Minister of Canada (1948-1957), and he appointed Vincent
Massey as the first Canadian born Governor General. Sir Winston Churchill
was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time (1940-1945 & 1951-1955).
