Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

June 30, 1894: London’s Tower Bridge was officially opened to traffic. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and has become a world-famous feature of the London skyline.




June 30, 1937: The world’s first emergency telephone service “999” was introduced in London. It allowed a caller to contact the emergency services for urgent assistance. All 999 calls are always free.


The system was introduced following a house fire in Wimpole Street on 10 November 1935, in which five women were killed. A neighbour had tried to telephone the fire brigade and was so outraged at being held in a queue by the Welbeck telephone exchange that he wrote a letter to the editor of The Times, which prompted a government inquiry.  999: can somebody help?


"What Price Bikini?" editorial cartoon by Bruce Russell (1903-1963) published June 30, 1946.



June 30, 1946: the goddess "Gilda" went atomic.


"The tradition of tagging some tongue-in-cheek message or name upon bombs has been carried out for the A-bomb. The world's greatest potential for large-scale destruction has been dubbed 'GILDA,' after the recent movie by Hollywood star Rita Hayworth." - Radio announcer, June 30, 1946.


The first test was Able. The bomb was named Gilda after Rita Hayworth's character in the 1946 film Gilda, and was dropped from the B-29 Superfortress Dave's Dream of the 509th Bombardment Group on June 30, 1946 (July 1st in the states). It detonated 520 feet above the target fleet and caused less than the expected amount of ship damage because it missed its aim point by 2,130 feet.

Operation Crossroads radio coverage from this day in 1946...



Part 1 of Operation Crossroads radio coverage of the "Gilda" Atomic Test at Bikini Atoll - 1946:



Part 2 of radio coverage of the "Gilda" (or ABLE) atomic test at Bikini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsx0fRKlZcY


June 30, 1946: Susannah Gregory [1923-1946] jumped off the Arcady building in Los Angeles allegedly after listening to a radio broadcast about the Bikini A-bomb test. In late June of 1946, media hype over the first post-World War II test of an atomic weapon was hitting a fever pitch. News of the imminent Operation Crossroads detonation of the "Gilda" bomb at Bikini Atoll on June 30, 1946 (U.S. time zone) screamed from headlines and blared from radio broadcasts. There was even a (true) story about atomic scientists pasting a pinup photo of screen star Rita Hayworth on the weapon they had named after her hit film.

Two weeks after the Able shot: "Extra Added! ATOMIC BOMB EXPLOSION AT BIKINI. See for yourself the Most Important Event of a Lifetime!"




BIKINI ATOLL EVACUATION PRIOR TO CROSSROADS ATOMIC BOMB TEST 70594




June 30, 1951: a group of about 30 Japanese soldiers and sailors on Anatahan finally surrendered to the US Navy. The group had been larger but infighting thinned their ranks over the years after they learned how to make coconut wine and began to battle over the island's only woman.

The strange story of the “Queen of Anatahan” and her 33 men

The story of Kazuko and her soldiers was retold in books and films, one of them directed by Josef von Sternberg. The lurid retellings largely paint the “Queen of Anatahan” as a Machiavellian temptress, manipulating men for her own entertainment. A few depict her as a helpless victim. The true story of what really happened on Anatahan will only ever be known to those who were there.

Anatahan is an island in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and has one of the most active volcanoes of the archipelago. Although formerly inhabited, the island is currently uninhabited due to the constant danger of volcanic eruptions.


June 30, 1997: Britain handed Hong Kong back to China when the 99 year lease agreed with China expired at midnight. The lavish ceremony on July 1st 1997 was attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles and the Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Luckily I got to visit Hong Kong 3 times before this happened. First time I was shocked by how many British girls were living there and all the British pubs/night clubs. I was naive back then, just did not know.


Exactly one minute before midnight the Flag of the United Kingdom and the flag of British Hong Kong were slowly lowered to the British national anthem "God Save the Queen", symbolizing the end of British colonial rule in Hong Kong as very final and last time. A hiatus of exactly twelve seconds occurred between the British and the Chinese anthems due to a timing misunderstanding.

The missing ten seconds during the Hong Kong handover


Congratulations to James Donovan who was presented with the Arctic Star on his 105th birthday last week. Donovan is one of the last men to see Bismarck in action. He was serving aboard HMS King George V when the Royal Navy hunted down the dreaded German battleship in 1941.


One of the final sailors to witness the destruction of Hitler’s flagship Bismarck