So the International Olympic Committee approved plans for the options sports being offered at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Before getting to those, though, let's take a look at the optional sports for next year in Paris.

Three of them were held over from Tokyo - skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.  While I didn't see a lot of any of the competitions in these sports, what I did see varied from underwhelming (skateboarding) to meh (sport climbing) to fine (surfing). If nothing else, keeping surfing allows Paris to run the event in Tahiti,which is pretty cool.

The fourth sport, replacing baseball and softball, is breakdancing. I did see some of this when it was part of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and I can say it was more entertaining to watch than skateboarding. I've come to think of competitive breakdancing as figure skating on cardboard. 

So what's on tap for LA?

Baseball/softball - which still have to travel together as they share an international federation. I'll be interested to see if MLB works out any allowances for its players to participate, though I don't expect they will.

Cricket - the planned venue will seat 10000, which I hope can expand to something much larger if the Indian team makes the gold medal match. The competition will be in a format called T20, which I now have just a little under five years to figure out.

Flag football - the NFL is already hyping this, to the surprise of no one. According to Al Michaels (reading from the NFL's press release during last night's Jags-Saints game, I assume), there are 20 million flag football players in over 100 countries. Who knew?

Lacrosse - which will finally make up for the lack of medal winners named Jaxxon.

Squash - of all the optional sports, this to me feels like it has the best chance of getting promoted to a core sport. It's popular internationally, and as an individual sport adds fewer athletes to the Games than the team sports (though it will require another venue, where you could play lacrosse, flag football, and rugby on the same fields).

All in all it's not a bad lineup, I think. I'd watch all of these.

For those of you looking for surfing, which seems like a no-brainer inclusion in one of the epicenters of surf culture, not to worry. It's now a core sport. What isn't a core sport for LA is boxing, as the IOC no longer recognizes the International Boxing Association as the federation for international amateur boxing. There's apparently a new federation that's trying to get recognized, so you may yet still get to see people punch each other in the face.

And while it's way too early to know what the optional sports will be for the 2032 Games in Brisbane, I could see baseball/softball, cricket, and squash making the list. I could see netball making it, but sadly not Aussie rules football. Unless there's a flag Aussie rules football that I don't know about.

 USA Today came up with a list of the 100 biggest tourist traps in the world, though I'm not a fan of their methodology. They looked specifically at Google reviews of the 500 most popular tourist attractions in 65 countries. I feel like they missed a lot of honest to God tourist traps by not looking at Yelp or TripAdvisor and not including smaller attractions.

Still, they gave us a list, so here's my two cents on the places on the list that I've been to (in reverse order, to build the suspence!).

99: Cloud Gate, Chicago. Better known as The Bean. I don't know how this rates as a tourist trap. It's a sculpture in a public park. It costs nothing to see. You can spend five minutes there, look at your funny reflections, and move on. There are souvenir places nearby, but if you want to buy stuff that's on you.

96: The Grand Old Opry, Nashville. OK, I've been by this but never inside. I'm not really a country music person so the odds of my actually attending a show is vanishingly small. So it could be a tourist trap, I guess.

95: Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. I can see this, given how the area's been tarted up.  On my first visit you could just park and walk out to the cliffs. Now, it's a much more structured (and costly) experience. I still think the view is worth the hassle, though there are equally dramatic (if not moreso) cliffs at Slieve League, though you have to hall yourself up to Donegal to see them.

83: Stonehenge, UK. Similar to the previous entry, going to see the stones is more of a pain than it used to be. They've recently opened a new visitor's center, which is nice, but it's a fair distance from the site, so you either have to walk out or take a shuttle bus.  I'm guessing people moaned about not being able to go right up to the stones.

81: Kennedy Space Center, Florida. I agree with this, and would move it up the list if I could. It's gotten very expensive and they've cut back on the actual space stuff. 

75: Cable Cars, San Francisco. I had fun riding them the one time I had the chance. I think of these as less of a tourist trap and more of an attraction that is priced above what you might normally expect to pay. 

63: Niagara Falls, Ontario. I know people say the Ontario side is better than the New York side, but there are definately more tourist trap-type attractions over there. The New York side may be depressed and a little grungy, but you can at least see the falls with fewer distractions.

57: Old Faithful Geyser, Wyoming. Bullshit. Yellowstone is great and Old Faithful is fun to see. Plus you can get the whole family into the park for seven consecutive days for $35, and see Old Faithful - and all the other natural wonders on offer - as many times as you like. 

56: Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Yeah, it kind of is. But if it's still set up the way it was when I went, you can walk around the site for free (going into things requires a pass).

52: Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. I liked the town, and what attractions I did see were worth the money. Maybe I just didn't go to the more obvious tourist traps. Or maybe people didn't like reading Shakespeare in high school and took it out on the town.

50: Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. It's pretty disappointing. The sculpture is underwhelming, and the concessions are tacky. 

48: The Alamo, San Antonio. Was fine, but I visited 15 years ago or so. Maybe it's become more tourist trappy since then. 

47: The World of Coca-Cola, Atlanta. Touristy? Yes. A trap? Maybe. But I like Coke and love getting to try drinks from around the world, so I'm willing to give it a break.

46: San Antonio River Walk, San Antonio. The entire area is designed to get you to spend money, but is at least pleasant. I probably wouldn't recommend the boat tour, not much to see other than shops and restaurants. I will say that I liked San Antonio quite a bit for the short time I visited. If you want to see something less touristy, try the San Antonio Missions.

43: Times Square, New York. Probably should be number one.

29: Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood. It's in a gross part of town and isn't much to look at (they're stars set in the sidewalk), but I don't think it's much of a trap unless you get roped into taking pictures with the fake movie stars.

27: Space Needle, Seattle. Was fine, like many things on the list I feel like it was more money than that it was worth going up. But I'd go again, I think.

23: Winchester Mystery House, San Jose. It is, but I was happy to spend the money to go in as I read about the house as a kid and always wanted to see it. The house was built by the heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, who also believed that the people killed by Winchesters were out to get her. So she never stopped building, hoping to confuse the ghosts. There are also a number of odd spiritual/occult references throughout the place. I don't think I'd go back, but I'm glad I was able to see it.

21: Blarney Castle, Ireland. Very much a tourist trap. The castle has little historic value, and is only popular for people kissing the stone (which has no real connection to what backstory the castle has). I've been a couple of times, only went in once, would probably go back if I was with people who've never been (but would more likely hang out on the grounds than go in again).

19: Skylon Tower, Niagara Falls Ontario. Went by it rather than in it, some of the people in our group did go in and said it was fine. Though they only went in to kill time while I got the car, so I think it met the minimum requirement of being a time waster.

17: Navy Pier, Chicago. I guess is a tourist trap the same way the Riverwalk or Quincy Market in Boston is a tourist trap. It's a place specifically designed to get you to spend money, and if you don't know that going in you didn't do your homework. It was fine for what it is.

15: Fisherman's Whaft, San Francisco. See the entry for Navy Pier.

13: Guinness Storehouse, Dublin. Absolutely a tourist trap. People go for the bar on the roof and to buy stuff, the "museum" or whatever it's supposed to be is crap (or at least it was 20 years ago). Save your money and go drink Guinness at a nice pub.

4: Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota. It's a fair amount of money for what it is, and I expect people are mad that the statue isn't anywhere close to being done. You do get the sense there that the infrastructure around the memorial is now more of the focus than the memorial itself. Still, there are cultural and entertainment opportunities here involving indigenous Americans that you won't get elsewhere.

2: Salem Witch Museum, Salem MA.  Funny to think I live one town over from the second biggest tourist trap in the world. But it is, in fact, a tourist trap. It also gets a ton of visitors, so I have to think it earned its spot here through volume. Problem is I think most of the witch-related stuff in Salem is tourist trappy.

I think my doubts about this list are confirmed by South of the Border not being on this at all. It is the living, breathing, anachronistic definition of a tourist trap, and somehow escaped notice.

 Apropos of a recent trip, a list of places I've been to... but only in the airport.

Denver - After attending a wedding in Santa Barbara in 1992, I flew home through Denver. Got off the plane, walked about three gates down, and got on the other plane. I have never been back to Denver (or Colorado for that matter), though I thought we might go through Denver for a family trip. Turned out it made more sense to start in Salt Lake City. Sorry, Denverinos!

Cincinnati (or Covington, Kentucky) - there were a few years where I mostly flew Delta, and these flights almost always required a change in the Cincinnati airport, which is actually in Covington, Kentucky. I've been to other places in Ohio, but not the Queen City. I don't think I've been in Kentucky since the last time I flew through this airport.

St. John's, Newfoundland - this was an unscheduled stop, as there was a medical emergency on a flight to Dublin. We spent five hours on the ground, as the baggage handlers wouldn't take the sick passenger's bags off until they didn't have any Air Canada baggage to deal with (I've often wondered how much baggage they had to deal with at 3 am). In any case, as much as I am interested in visiting Newfoundland, I am still spiteful enough that I won't do so by plane.

Frankfurt - a cheap(er) flight home from a trip to England went through Frankfurt. I can't say I got the greatest exposure to German culture during the three hours we were there, but we did get a reminder that if you order a sandwich, it's probably coming out on rye bread (the wife is not a fan). I would like to go back (to Frankfurt or Germany, doesn't matter), and at this rate may do so before I ever get back to Denver.

Istanbul - flew through here during the recent trip mentioned at the top. It's a new airport, and is massive. You can easily spend 20 minutes walking between gates, with only moving sidewalks to help you on your way. Not surprisingly, there are a multitude of shops and restaurants along the way where you can take a break. 

I feel like Long Beach should get an honorable mention here, as I flew through there for a work trip to Anaheim, but only passed through in the shuttle van. I suppose I can list Dallas/Ft. Worth here for the same reason, depending on how much you want to differentiate DFW from Grapevine.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 40: The Three Dollar League rides again

While technically not the same league, the United States Football League "returned" to action on Saturday, April 16, 2022, with the Birmingham Stallions defeating the New Jersey Generals 28-24 at home (technically all games were home games for everyone, as all games save the championship were played in Birmingham).

The league bought the rights to the USFL name and several of its original franchises, so there was a lot about the new USFL that was familiar to anyone who watched the old USFL. Less familiar was the level of play, as the new USFL wasn't looking to actually compete with the NFL for players. So the actual gameplay was more on the level of other spring leagues (like the XFL or AAF).

The Stallions would go on to win the new league's first title, defeating the Philadelphia Stars. The league also won by making it to a second season (not common for spring football), helped no doubt by being a fully owned subsidiary of Fox.

And so we wrap up another year of Lentorama. See you early in 2024!

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 39: Back to back to back to back

Early season baseball games don't often raise much interest, but the April 17, 1976 game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs was the exception that proved the rule. In that game, Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt became the first National League player to hit home runs in four consecutive at bats. 

The Phils needed every one of those home runs, as they spotted the Cubs an early 12-1 lead (future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton was chased after giving up 7 earned runs in one and two-thirds innings). Schmidt, who had been moved down to sixth in the batting order due to a slump, 

The Phillies needed every one of those home runs (and then some), as the Cubs had jumped out to a 12-1 lead (they chased future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton after he gave up seven runs in one and two-thirds innings). Schmidt didn't hit his first home run until the fifth inning (making the score 13-4, Cubs), and his last homer in the 10th gave the Phils the lead, which they held to win 18-16. 

While he was the first player to hit four consecutive home runs in the National League, he was the fourth in major league baseball, behind Bobby Lowe of the Boston Beaneaters (1894), Lou Gehrig from the Yankees (1932) and Rocky Colavito from Cleveland (1959).

Schmidt would go on to lead the NL in home runs that year, as well as earn his first Gold Glove and second trip to the All Star Game (fitting played in Philadelphia). Schmidt played his entire career with the Phillies, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, his first year of eligibility. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 38: Fair achievements

The Paris World Exhibition official opened on Saturday, April 14, 1900, and would run through November, with an estimated 50 million visitors (though it's not clear if that includes people who went to related events, such as the 1900 Olympics). Two things of note from the fair:

* It was for the fair that Michelin published its first guide, though it was more to spur the sale of tires than to direct patrons to the best restaurants. The guide included information on tire repair, the location of garages and gas stations, and road maps.

* The fair was also the debut for the step-type escalator. Previous escalators were more of a conveyor belt with slats or other attachments riders could use for traction. 

The fair also prompted the building of the Gare d'Orsay train station (now the Musee d'Orsay) and Line 1 of the Paris Metro, among other things that may be more important than the escalator. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 37: What a long strange trip it was

In the mid-1780s the painter Charles Gainsborough executed a portrait of Georgiana Cavendish, the the Duchess of Devonshire. It then hung in the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House... briefly. It went missing and its whereabouts were unknown until the 1830s, when it was found in the possession of a schoolmistress (who had cut it down so it would fit over her fireplace).

In 1841 she sold the painting to a dealer, who then gave it to a friend who was also an art collector. When that person died the painting went up for auction at Christie's, where it was sold to art dealer William Agnew for 10,000 guineas (at the time the highest price paid for a painting at auction). 

Three weeks later it was stolen out of Agnew's gallery. Once again, its whereabouts were unknown.

Things would stay that way for nearly 25 years, until it was discovered that Adam Worth, known as the "Napoleon of crime," had stolen it. He intended to sell it to bail his brother out of jail, but when his brother was released Worth decided to keep the painting. 

Which he did until 1901, when the Pinkerton detective agency negotiated the painting's return. In return for $25,000 (paid by Agnew's son), the Pinkertons collected the painting from Worth in Chicago (paying him most if not all of the 25 large) and retuned it to the UK. It made its return to British soil on Saturday, April 6, 1901.

It didn't stay that long. JP Morgan bought the painting soon after for a reported $150,000. The Morgan family held the painting until 1994, when it was sold at auction again. The 11th Duke of Devonshire paid $408,870 for the work, and finally returned it to Chatsworth House more than two centuries after it left.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 36: You will see the Doctor now

The day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy seems like a bad time to debut a new TV show, even in the UK. But on November 23, 1963, the BBC rolled out the first episode of Doctor Who, albeit 80 seconds late in order to finish news updates about the assassination. Originally intended as a family show that would use time travel to explain scientific concepts and visit moments of historical importance, it soon morphed into the sci-fi hit that attracted fans for decades.

In 1985 the leadership at the BBC tried to cancel the show, but only succeeded in delaying a new season for 18 months. That may have been enough, though, as once the show returned it did not draw as well (a move to a new time slot likely didn't help), and the show was taken off of the scheduled in 1989. There were vague promises that the show would return.

Which it did... eventually. There was new content in various media - books, audio plays, and even a TV movie in 1996 - but no new series, mostly due to attempts to create a feature film. Once it became clear that the film wouldn't happen, the BBC decided to bring back the series with Russell Davies as showrunner.

And so on Saturday, March 26, 2005, the first new episode of Doctor Who in fifteen years aired on BBC One (along with a companion documentary series on BBC Three, which aired directly after the episode). The show drew enough viewers to land in the top ten for the week, and was greenlighted for both a Christmas special and a second season. From there the show built into becoming a TV staple for viewers worldwide, along with a number of spin-off series such as Torchwood. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 35: A failure by all accords

As the 1930s progressed, Britain and France became increasingly concerned that fascist Italy would ally with Nazi Germany in the future conflict that was looming over Europe. This led both countries to take a less than forceful approach towards Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and the participation of Italian troops in the Spanish Civil War. 

Italy, for its part, wanted to isolate Britain from Spain so that when it did ally with Germany and start that future conflict, Italy could invade France without worrying about a British response. They also were spreading anti-British propaganda in the Middle East and supplying arms to Palestinian rebeles, who were fighting the British mandate.

These competing interests were addressed at the negotiating table, leading to the signing of the Easter Accords on Saturday, April 16, 1938. In these agreements the two countries agreed (more or less) to respect each other's possessions in the Middle East, which was assumed to include Ethiopia given that the country wasn't mentioned by name. Italy also agreed to remove its troops from Spain once the civil war there ended.

The Easter Accords wound up being an appetizer for the Munich Agreement that came later in 1938, in that the accords, like the agreement, failed to achieve its ultimate goals. Italy allied with Germany in the Pact of Steel, and Britain and France continued to be staunch allies against fascism.  

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 34: Last and first bookings

Saturday, April 5, 1980, marked the final episode of the TV show Hawaii 5-0, in which Honolulu police detective Steve McGarrett finally get his arch-nemesis, Wo Fat, in handcuffs. He'd been chasing after Wo Fat since the first episode in 1968, so you can imagine this final incantation of "Book him, Dan-O" was especially sweet.

Playing at their first booking on the same day was the band that would become R.E.M. They played the birthday part of Kathleen O'Brien, who introduced Michael Stipe and Peter Buck to Bill Berry and Mike Mills. Which seems like the least they could do, in hindsight.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 33: Toon debut

When Disney started its Silly Symphony series of animated shorts, the folks at Warner Brothers decided that imitation would be the sincerest form of profit-making. This led to the development of their own series of musically-inspired animated shorts, Looney Tunes. The first short released in the series, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, debuted on Saturday, April 19, 1930.

The star of the short was Bosko, who would go on to feature in 39 shorts during the decade. The early description of Bosko notes that he's Black, but his race would be made more ambiguous as the series went on (helped by getting rid of the "blackface" dialect that was only used for this particular short). Bosko had a girlfriend (Honey) and a dog (Bruno); any resemblence to Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto is probably intentional.

In this short, we get to see Bosko prepare for a date with Honey, and the comedic impediments they run into while taking a drive in the country. At the end, Bosko does cap things off with a "That's all, folks!," a line most people would now associate with Porky Pig.

The creators of Bosko moved from Warners to MGM in 1933, where they redesigned the character to the point where his name was about the only thing he shared with his Warners incarnation. MGM pulled the plug on Bosko after only 8 shorts, none of which were particularly popular.

Bosko short occasionally still show up on TV with the more well-known Looney Tunes shorts featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and that generation of characters. He does not fare well by comparison. Bosko has made a couple of appearances more recently, in Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and the original Space Jam. This did not spark a Bosko renaissance.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 32: Carry that weight

Pat Casey was born in 1939 in Los Angeles, and seemed to be heading towards juvenile delinquency until he wandered into Redpath's gym, where he discovered weightlifting. He began to spend all of his free time training, and quickly proved adept at powerlifting. By the age of 18 he'd done a 400 pound bench press, a mark only a dozen or so adult lifters had reached.

Casey was known for his marathon training sessions, easily spending up to six hours a day in the gym. He was also known for the voracious appetite that helped fuel those sessions, big meals washed down with up to six quarts of whole milk a day. He would top out at over six feet tall and 330 pounds, almost all of it upper body muscle.

All of this led up to Saturday, March 25, 1967, when Casey went where no lifter had gone before by cracking the 600 pound mark for the bench press by putting up 615 pounds. In his career he'd also record other firsts, such as the first 800 pound squat and the first 2000 pound three lift total (bench, squat, and deadlift).

Casey became a police officer after retiring from competitive lifting, and a private investigator after retiring from the police. He passed away in 2005 from cancer.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Satuday

Day 31: Take me down to Imperial City

Pedro de Valdivia was a conquistador who was also the first royal governor of Chile. His time in South America was focused mostly on fighting indigenous peoples and founding cities. Two of those cities - Santiago and Concepción - still exist today.

One that doesn't is La Imperial (or Ciudad Imperial), which de Valdivia founded on April 16, 1552. While the plan was for it to be a major city of New Spain, it came under attack during the Mapuche Rebellion of 1598 and during the War of Arauco and was eventually destroyed. The city was finally abandoned in 1600.

In its wake, though, rose two new cities - Carahue and Nueva Imperial - though they weren't established until the late 19th century. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 30: Ripple Rocked

Ripple Rock is an underwater mountain in the coastal waters of British Columbia, located in Discovery Passage, the strait between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands. It has two peaks, both underwater at low tide, and the presence of these peaks caused significant eddies from currents passing them as water receded. This posed a significant threat to ship traffic, with many ships choosing to wait until slack tide to pass.

The Canadian government decided the best way to solve this problem and open up the passage to shipping regardless of the tides, was to blow Ripple Rock up. Attempts in the 1940s proved unsuccessful, as barges meant to place charges were ripped from their anchoring cables. After studying the problem, it was determined that the best approach to this was to tunnel vertically from Maude Island, and then up into the twin peaks. This process took nearly three years to complete.

Once the tunnels were dug, over 1200 tons of Nitramex explosive were placed within them, and on Saturday, April 5, 1958, the explosives were detonated during a live coast-to-coast broadcast. Water and debris blew nearly 1000 feet into the air, with chunks of rock landing on both sides of the narrows. The height of both peaks had been significantly reduced, with clearance at low tide going from 10-20 feet to 45-50 feet. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 29: Strike one!

Saturday, April 1, 1972 saw a first in the history of Major League Baseball: all games were cancelled by a strike, which lasted just under two weeks. It ended on April 13, after owners agreed to increase payments into the players' pension fund by $500,000 (which was real money at the time) and add salary arbitration to the collective bargaining agreement.

While the strike started during exhibition season, it did run into the regular season and caused the cancellation of a number of games. They weren't replayed as owners refused to pay players for games they missed due to the strike. This resulted in teams not playing the same number of games, which fit right into the Curse of the Bambino, as the Detroit Tigers won the AL East by a half-game over the Boston Red Sox, who had played one fewer game than the Tigers.

This was only the first of many labor stoppages, from a lockout the following year that only delayed spring training to the 2021-22 lockout that delayed the start of the 2022 season.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 28: Don't lose your head

Kazimierz Łyszczyński was a minor Polish noble who was also a philosopher and soldier. You would expect the military service to be the danger to his life, but you'd be wrong.

Łyszczyński spent some time studying with the Jesuits, but had left the order by the time he picked up the book Theologia Naturalis, which attempted to prove the existence of divinity. Łyszczyński, finding the arguments complicated and not particularly convincing, took to writing notes in the margin mocking the arguments, including one that said "therefore God does not exist."

Which would have been a reasonable private joke, but when a local nuncio found the book and the comment, he found a way out of having to repay Łyszczyński a significant debt. The nuncio took the book to the bishop of Poznan, claiming it as evidence that Łyszczyński was an atheist. Not helping matters was that the nuncio also had a hand-written draft of a book Łyszczyński was working on that described reality from an atheistic perspective.

So perhaps that margin note wasn't that much of a joke.

Łyszczyński was accused and went on trial, during which he claimed that his book was only part of the work, that was supposed to include the winning rebuttal of a Catholic. He stated that he'd stopped writing the work on the advice of a priest, which in hindsight seems like pretty bad advice.

Łyszczyński was found guilty and executed on Saturday, March 30, 1689. There is some doubt that Łyszczyński was an actual atheist, and over time his killing was seen by some as a case of legalized religious murder. That would change a bit during communist times, as the regime would tout Łyszczyński as a martyr to atheism. The true depths of his feelings will likely never be known, as almost nothing remains of his original writings or the trial transcript.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 27: Bye, Guy

Guy of Thouars is a minor French noble, who served as the regent of Brittany for his daughter, Alix, who served as duchess from 1203 until her death in 1221 (at least in name; in 1206 the French king Philip II made himself regent, and served in that role until Alix married, at which point her husband became duke).

 
Guy's most notable (infamous?) historic achievement was the 1204 siege of Mont-Saint-Michel, the island community and abbey which is separated from the French mainland at high tide. Guy led troops to take the island away from the Normans, but was unable to take the abbey due to its stout walls and hilltop location. So he chose to slaughter the townsfolk and set fire to the settlement, a blaze that would spread and burn the roofs of the abbey buildings. Which I guess could be seen as a minor victory, except that Philip wound up paying the abbot to replace the roofs.

Guy died on Saturday, April 13 1213, and was buried at Villeneuve Abbey, next to his wife (and the abbey's founder) Constance.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 26: Hail to the future Chief

James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, was born on Saturday, April 23,1791. For a president who didn't appear to be that good at presidenting, there are a number of aspects of his presidency worth noting:

• Buchanan was the last president born in the 18th century.
• He was the only President with military experience who was not an officer
• He was the last President to have fought in the War of 1812
• And, as most people know, he was the only bachelor President (a source of rampant speculation about his sexual orientation, though he did profess sadness at the sudden death of his fiancee Anne Coleman)

Of course, none of this outweighs his performance as President, which saw him consistently act in sympathy with southern slave owners and do little, if anything, to prevent the secession of the states that made up the future Confederacy. This table of Presidential rankings will give you an idea of how he's veiwed relative to the other Presidents. Spoiler alert: it's not good.

Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 25: Orders countermanded... for what it was worth

If there's any piece of Irish history that non-Irish people know about, it's the Easter Rising of 1916, an attempt at declaring a free Irish state that was put down by the British after a few days. Events of the preceding weekend, including those of Holy Saturday, April 22, made the success of the Rising unlikely at best.

The problems actually started on Good Friday, when rebel leader Sir Roger Casement was arrested and the shipment of 20000 rifles that he was supposed to take was scuttled in Cork harbor. The Rising needed those weapons if it were to have any chance to succeed, and on the following day Eoin MacNeill - founder and chief of staff of the Irish Volunteers - countermanded the plans made by other leaders of the Volunteers to mobilize its members for the Rising (an event MacNeill had only learned about two days before).

While MacNeill's orders had force within the Volunteers, those leaders in the organization who had planned the Rising decided to stay the course. They feared that not going through would be more damaging to the cause of Irish independence than failure. And they were sort of right - the Rising failed and its leaders executed, become martyrs for the cause. Ireland would become free within a decade, though not without further violence.

Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 24: Resolved

March 23, 1940 was the middle day of a three day general session of the All-India Muslim League, a political party formed to advance Muslim interests in British India. It was on this day that the session penned what came to be known as the Lahore Resolution, which argued for a unified, indepdendent Muslim state separate from an independent India.

Prior to the resolution, it was generally thought that Muslim areas of India would remain part of India, but have some sort of special status that would grant those areas greater autonomy. However, concerns about how a Hindu majority would actually rule over Muslim-majority areas led the party leaders to pen this resolution, which called for the Muslim areas of northwest and eastern India to be grouped into separate, independent nations.

Which is kind of what happened when India became independent in 1947. India and Pakistan were created as separate independent dominions, with Pakistan having territory on both sides of India. The partition was chaotic - some provinces where split based on religious lines, and the migration of people between the two dominions led to over 14 million people being displaced. 

In time, Pakistan declared itself an Islamic republic - the first country in the world to do so - and did so also on a March 23, this time in 1956. The country had two administrative regions - East and West Pakistan - until 1971, when Bangladesh declared its independence after a nine month civil war.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Satuday

Day 23: April fools?

Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker met at Bible college, and were married on April 1, 1961. After graduation they moved into ministry, but quickly became part of the Christian Broadcasting Network, hosting a kid's show before Jim became the first host of The 700 Club. They would leave CBN and move to California to help launch the Trinity Broadcasting Network, but differences with that network's founder saw the Bakkers relocate to Charlotte.

It was there that Jim was approached to buy two hours of time per day on a local TV station. He did so, launching The PTL Club, a religious-themed talk show much like The 700 Club. The show was a success, and its growth allowed the Bakkers a national audience. The money sent in by that national audience allowed the Bakkers to open Heritage USA, a campus with a theme park, TV studio, and other attractions. At one point it was the third-largest theme park by number of visitors in the US.

And then everything fell apart. The government had been investigating PTL and the Bakkers as far back as 1979, over allegations that church funds were being redirected for personal use. A later IRS investigation suggested taking away PTL's tax exempt status in 1985. But nothing really happned to the Bakkers until the 1987 rape accusation by former church secretary Jessica Hahn. 

Bakker denied the accusation but did admit to an affair and a hush money payment to Hahn. He never was charged for a crime over the accusation, but did wind up facing 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He was found guilty on all of them, and sentenced to 45 years in prison (he once had Lyndon LaRouche as a cellmate). That sentence was eventually reduced to eight years, of which he served five.

Once out, Bakker returned to television with a self-named show, offered mostly on sattelite TV. His religious outlook became apocalyptic, focusing on end times prophecy and the sale of bulk freeze dried food. During the Covid-19 pandemic he got into legal trouble for hawking colloidal silver products as a cure.

Tammy Faye would divorce Bakker in 1992, got remarried, and became an unexpected gay icon based on her early support and advocacy for people with AIDS. She would also co-host a talk show with Jim J. Bullock, make other TV appearances, and wrote books. She had a long battle with colon cancer, which eventually claimed her life in 2007.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 22: Adieu, Pierre

The Vérendrye family were involved in the French fur trade in Canada, and were involved in trying to expand the French reach into the Great Plains and the Canadian prairie. In 1732, two brother from the family set out to find the "River of the West," a river believed to flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Or at least we think that's what they were doing. The documentation of the trip is pretty sparse, just one surviving journal and a lead plate dug up in 1913. It's believed they were the first Europeans to cross the Great Plains and see the Rocky Mountains, though there's some speculation that what they actually saw was the Black Hills. There are a number of problems trying to connect the information in the journal to present-day locations, as there are no coordinates (the expidition's astrolabe kept breaking) and names for peoples and landmarks changed over time.

One thing we do know is that the brothers buried the lead plate mentioned earlier in what is today Fort Pierre, South Dakota, which appears to claim the land for France. That being done the brothers left on April 2, 1734, headed for home. Their trip took three months and surviving a Sioux raid. The family did not follow up with further trips, as without a river to the Pacific or a new source of furs there was no future profit to justify more trips.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 21: TV twofer

April 15, 1933 gave us not just one iconic TV figure, but two, as it was the birth date of both Elizabeth Montgomery and Roy Clark.

Montgomery is best known for playing Samantha Stevens on Bewitched (making this the second mention of the show during this Lentorama, which is two more than I was expecting). Clark parlayed his music career into hosting the country variety show Hee Haw for nearly 30 years (as well as being a common guest host for The Tonight Show during the 1970s). 

Both would work steadily after their best-known TV work ended, Montgomery focusing on dramatic roles while Clark would focus more on music, and was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Montomgery passed away in 1995 from cancer, while Clark would outlive Montgomery by more than two decades, passing from complications of pneumonia in 2018.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 20: Rockin' in Rovinj

OK, they may not have literally been rockin', but I have to think that the people of this city felt the March 26, 1503 earthquake with an epicenter at Medvednica (a mounain in north-central Croatia), which had an estimated intensity of VII or VIII (very strong to severe). This was the first-ever earthquake recorded in what is now that country, or at least the first quake for which documentation has survived. There have been a number of earthquakes in the region since this one, not surprising as geologists have found a fault line running near the mountain.

This quake may have been the first documented, but it's not particularly well documented, at least not online. The one thing I did find is that the quake caused the tower of the Church of St. Mark in Zagreb to collapse. It was fixed, and the church is now one of the city's most notable tourist attractions, thanks to its colorful tiled roof.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 19: Gus has his first successful launch

Virgil "Gus" Grissom was born on April 3, 1926, and had a pretty typical childhood growing up in Indiana.  He liked to build model airplanes as one of his hobbies, and did spend time hanging out at the airport in Bedford, Indiana, where a local lawyer would take him on flights and teach him the basics of flying.

Grissom graduated from high school towards the end of World War II, enlisting in the Army Air Corps after graduation. While he received basic flight training, he mostly worked as a clerk. He would get his chance to fly in combat during the Korean War, where he completed 100 missions and earned a Distinguished Flying Cross, among other awards. He was rotated back to the US, and eventually wound up becoming a test pilot for the Air Force.

Being a test pilot with an engineering degree (picked up at Purdue betwen the wars) made him an attractive candidate to join NASA, and after a grueling competition Grissom was named one of the seven Mercury astronauts. Grissom would fly in both the Mercury and Gemini programs; his Mercury flight almost ended in tragedy when the emergency bolts for his capsule's hatch blew unexpectedly, causing the capsule to flood. Grissom was rescued but the capsule sank.

Unfortunately, Grissom was not so lucky as one of the astronauts for the Apollo 1 mission. A fire broke out in the command module during a pre-flight test, killing Grissom and his fellow crewmates, Roger Chaffee and Edward White. 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 18: But was he a duck?

Edward Wightman grew up in what appears to have been relatively comfortable circumstances, was educated at a grammar school and went into the clothing business established by his mother's family. It was when he also became an Anabaptist minister that things started to take a turn.

As Wightman's status within his religious community grew, he became more comfortable voicing opinions on dogma that fell outside of orthodoxy. He believed in the mortality of the soul (saying it died with the body and was resurrected on Judgement Day), argued against infant baptism (saying that those being baptized should have an understanding of the sacrament), and rejected the Trinity. 

That last part is what really got him into trouble. He was charged with heresy and found guilty, not helped by a volume of theological arguments that he published to explain his views (a copy of which he sent to James I, maybe not the best thing to send the Defender of the Faith). Wightman was sentenced to burning at the stake, but when the time came he said he would recant, and was pulled from the flames.

Of course, he wound up not recanting, but repeated his beliefs even more passionately when he was brought back to court. Back to the fire he went, and on Saturday, April 11, 1612, Wightman became the last person to be burned at the stake in England for heresy. Not long afterwards James I decided that heretics should be locked away in prison, where they could be forgotten rather than become a public spectacle. It wasn't until 1677 that burning at the stake was legally proscribed as a punishment for heresy.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 17: Paris Expos-ed

The Exposition Universelle, also known as the 1900 Paris Exposition, opened on Saturday, April 14. This world's fair (France's fifth) looked to celebrate the century that had just ended and spur scientific and industrial development for the century to come. To that end, the fair unveiled a number of innovations, from a moving sidewalk to electrified buses to a 360 foot high Ferris wheel (things running on electricity were big at this fair).

The fair also attracted other events during its run, most notably the 1900 Olympic Games. The fair also played a large role in the dissemination of Art Nouveau, which heavily influenced the fair's advertising and design. While most of what was built for the fair was destroyed or repurposed, one way you can see this influence today is in two surviving Metro entrances designed by Hector Guimard (at Port Dauphine and Abbesses stations). The fair also gave us the Gare d'Orsay train station, which is now the Musee d'Orsay

The fair would close in mid-November, and France waited a whole 37 years before hosting another fair.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 17: Polymath produced

David Rittenhouse was born outside of Philadelphia on April 8, 1732.  An inheritance of carpenter's tools and books allowed young David to display a knack in making working scale models of mills and the like. While he was never formally schooled, his self-study would also show an aptitute for math and science. 

These combined interests would lead to a varied career as a maker of scientific instruments, a surveyor, and astronomy. He would complete the Mason-Dixon survey of the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland, make significant astronomical observations of Venus and Uranus, and serve as the treasurer of Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. He would become the first director of the US Mint, and even produced its first coins, hand-striking them using metal from flatware donated by George Washington.

Today, Rittenhouse is remembered through Rittenhouse Square, one of Philadelphia's original city squares, and the David Rittenhouse Laboratory, which houses the Physics and Astronomy and Mathematics departments at the Univerisity of Pennsylvania (a building I've spent a number of weekends in, especially for someone not from Philadelphia or a UPenn student).

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 16: Holy Saturday comes early

March 21, 1818, doesn't appear to be particularly notable, except in one way that's pretty meta. This is the earliest day on which Holy Saturday can occur in Western Christianity, and Holy Saturday won't occur on March 21 again until 2285, a gap of 467 years. That's a pretty unusual length of time between Holy Saturdays, at least based on it happening on March 21 about once a century between 1500 and 1818.

Expect a post about the latest possible Holy Satuday (April 25), especially if it comes with an equally large gap.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 15: Pyhäjoki artichokey

Russia and Sweden fought a war in 1808 and 1809, an offshoot of the Napoleonic Wars that roiled Europe during the early part of the 19th century. The Battle of Pyhäjoki took place on April 16, 1808, though it was less of a battle and more of a contested retreat.

Sweden was not ready for war; apparently the only person who thought they were was their king, Gustav IV Adolf (though he was likely counting on support from Great Britain to keep the Russians at bay). In any event, Russia invaded in February 1808 and were able to defeat what defenses Sweden could put up.

Pyhäjoki is the place where Sweden chose to make a stand, but the leader of Swedish forces, Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor, ordered the retreat to continue based on the agreed upon strategic plan. This proved difficult, as the practicalities of retreating meant that only one Swedish battalion could fight the Russians at a time. In the end, the Swedes lost a little under 200 men in that day's fighting.

The retreat was probablly the right move - once the harbors thawed out the British were able to get invovled, and Sweden was able to fight back more effectively - but in the end Sweden ceded all of Finland to Russia. Gustav IV Adolf wasn't on the throne to see that happen, as before the end of the war he was deposed by a coup (one of whose leaders was Klingspor). 

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 14: Permanently on the level

Unless you are a particularly astute student of the history of Amsterdam, mathematics, or systems for measuring water levels, you've probably not heard of Johannes Hudde. A mayor of Amsterday in the late 17th century, his earlier study of mathematics led him to develop a couple of namesake rules about polynomial roots. He corresponded with several of the leading mathematicians of the day, and both Newton and Leibnitz referenced his work in their own development of calculus.

However, Hudde's most notable accomplishment came as part of his mayoral duties. He developed a system that would keep the water in Amsterdam's canals at a constant level, as denoted by marker stones placed near various canals. This system would be adopted in other countries, and would eventually lead to the system in use today by the EU. 

Hudde died on Holy Saturday, April 15, 1704.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 13: The Birth of Derwood the Second

Dick Sargent, born on April 19, 1930, is forever destined to be the answer (or part of the answer) to the trivia question about who played Darrin Stephens on Bewitched.  It's not his only role - his filmography boasts work from the mid 1950s up to the early 1990s - but it's easily his best-known.

What may not be remembered as well is his 1991 coming out, which he did to help highlight the elevated suicide rate among younger gay people. He was able to support a number of LGBT-focused organizations before he died in 1994 from prostate cancer.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 12: A major award

Margaret MacDonald grew up in Nova Scotia, but moved to New York to study nursing. After graduating in 1895, she went to Panama and cared for workers on the Panama Canal. She would become one of the first military nurses during the Spanish-American War, when she worked on a hospital ship caring for American soldiers. She would also serve as a nurse during the Boer War in South Africa.

Upon returning to Canada she was named the head nurse of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, where she insisted on implementing professional standards to military nursing. Her dedication to military nursing would pay off when, on April 11, 1914, she would be named Matron in Chief and became the first woman to rise to the rank of major in any military service related to the British empire.

Her service in World War I focused more on leadership than practical nursing, and in making military nursing a realistic career opportunity for women. She would return to Canada in 1919 and was involved in the reorganization of Canada's military medical service until her retirement the following year.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 11: No More Labouring

James Callaghan was a British politician, the prime minister before Margaret Thatcher and the last Labour prime minister until Tony Blair. He served in the office from 1976 to 1979, and is the only person to have held all four of what is known in the UK as the Great Offices of State (Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Prime Minister).

Callaghan took office after the retirement of Harold Wilson, at a point where Labour's majority in the House of Commons was dwindling. He entered into a "confidence and supply" agreement with the Liberal Party, but economic turmoil led several smaller parties to support the Conservatives, which helped destabilize the deal with the Liberals. This led to a vote of no confidence in Callaghan in March of 1979, and a Labour loss in the ensuing general election.

Callaghan would hold on as Labour leader for another year, and stayed in Commons until 1987, at which point he was the longest-serving MP with 42 years service. That year he was also awarded the Order of the Garter and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff.

Callaghan would pass away on March 26, 2005. At 92 years of age. he is the longest-living prime minister in British history. Sort of like the British version of Jimmy Carter.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 10: Thanks, John

On April 14, 1781, the Continental Congress of the United States voted a resolution thanking navy captain John Paul Jones for his service. Which leads to the question: why?

It's not that he wasn't due thanks, given his performance in the Revolutionary War. It's just the timing is weird, as the war was still on and you'd think he'd still be out there fighting the British. On the other hand, his record of battle seems to have dried up after his deafeat of the HMS Bonhomme Rirchard (which was two years before the thanking), so maybe Congress knew what was coming.

Jones would in fact struggle to get commissions, and wound up spending a fair amount of time in Europe, including two years as a rear admiral in the Russian navy. Jones died in 1792 and lay in relative obscurity in a Paris cemetary until he was repatriated in 1905. Today, Jones is at rest in the chapel crypt at the US Naval Academy.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 9: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

For centuries, Dubrovnik was the capital of the Republic of Ragusa, a political entity on the southern Dalmatian coast. It's nominal independence came with fealty to larger powers (like Venice or the Ottoman Empire), and despite calling itself a republic it was run by the aristocracy. None of this mattered when, on April 6, 1667, the city suffered what is estimated as a 6.4 magnitude earthquake.

The quake devastated the city, destroying upwards of three-quarters of all public buildings. The death toll was estimated as between 3000 and 5000 people. The casualties included a number of aristocrats and the city's leader, the rector Simone Ghetaldi. Not surprisingly, the city entered a period of lawlessness after the quake, though the majority of the crime was theft of building materials.

The quake did hasten the decline of the republic, which would eventually be conquered by Napoleon and made part of the Kingdom of Italy. Dubrovnik today is part of an independent Croatia, and is very popular with tourists, thanks in part to its distinctive architecture - which came as a a result of the rebuilding after the earthquake.

 Lentorma 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 8: End of the Road 

Henry Leland worked in machine shops in his early life, where he developed skills in precision manufacturing and engineering that he would apply to various fields, most notable automobiles. He built engines for Oldsmobile before moving on to found Cadillac, which he would sell to General Motors in 1909 but run until 1917. At Cadillac he was responsible for introducing the idea of interchangable parts, which cut down production costs, and an electric starter motor to replace the hand crank.

Leland left GM due to a dispute over making weapons during World War I (Leland was a pacifist who opposed the company making engines and vehicles for military use). He apparently got over his objections, as he founded the Lincoln Motor Company off of a major contract to build airplane engines for the US government. When World War I ended the company shifted to automobile production, but struggled to transition and went into receivership. Ford was the only bidder, and bought the company for below its appraised value, seen as revenge for Leland selling Cadillac to GM. 

Leland and his son assusmed they would be allowed to stay on to run the company, similar to what happened with Cadillac. Ford had other ideas, and forced both Lelands out of the company in 1922.

Leland spent the last ten years of his life dabbling in progressive political causes, and passed away on March 26, 1932.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 7: Continental Navy Blocked

The Continental Navy executed a raid on Nassau, Bahams in early April, 1776, capturing a couple of forts and seizing all of the military equipment and stores they could fit on their ships before withdrawing to head back to New England. The fleet split into two columns, comprised of Continental naval vessels and prize ships captured at Nassau and during the trip home.

One of the columns encountered the HMS Glasgow, a dipatch ship sailing from Newport, Rhode Island to Charleston, South Carolina, in the early hours of Saturday, April 6 off of Block Island. Three Continental ships engaged the Glasgow, but none were able to do so effectively. The Glasgow's more effective fire damaged the Continental ships, and allowed the Glasgow to retreat to Newport. The Continental fleet broke off the engagement, as it did not want to fight the British naval squadron headquartered there. 

The skirmish, known as the Battle of Block Island, was a win for the British, as the Glasgow only suffered four casualties, while the Continental ships counted 24. In the aftermath of the encounter, the commanders of the USS Columbus and USS Hazard were both accused of a variety of charges. A court martial cleared the commander of the Columbus, but the Hazard's commander was convicted and forced to surrender his commission.

Commodore Esek Hopkins, who was in charge of the Continental fleet, also came under scrutiny, both for disobeying orders (he was supposed to sail to Virginia and the Carolinas rather than Nassau) and for distributing prizes without consulting Congress. He would hang on for a couple of years, but was finally dismissed from the navy in 1778.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 6: One Moore player for England

Bobby Moore, who captained the England football team to the 1966 World Cup championship, was born on Holy Saturday, April 12, 1941. He joined West Ham United as a 15 year old, making his professional debut two years later against Manchester United. He would spend 16 seasons at West Ham before moving to Fulham for three seasons and ending his career with stints in the US and Denmark. 

But Moore is best known for his run with the English national team. He played in the 1962 World Cup, and became England's youngest captain the following year. His participation in the 1966 tournament was briefly in doubt due to issues with his West Ham contract, and there was some talk prior to the championship game of leaving Moore out of the lineup. In the end leaving him in paid off, as he assisted on two goals towards the Three Lions' 4-2 win over West Germany.

Moore captained England in the 1970 World Cup, where they lost 3-2 to West Germany in the quarterfinals. England failed to qualify for the 1974 tournament, making a 1973 friendly against Italy the 108th and final cap of Moore's international career. He retired as the most capped player in England history and with the most appearances as captain for the national team. 

Moore survived a bout with testicular cancer in the early 1960s, but was not so fortunate with a case of colorectal cancer that spread to his liver. Moore would be the first player from the 1966 team to pass away, dying in 1993 at the age of 51.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 5: To (not) live and die in (not) Dixie

Richard Taylor was the only son of President Zachary Taylor, and despite being born in what would become a border state (Kentucky) and educated in Union states (Massachusetts and Connecticut), he spent most of his adult life in the south and would become a general in the Confederate army during the US Civil War.

Taylor had no military experience prior to the war, but was a wealthy planter in Louisiana, where he built a fortune on the backs of the 200-plus slaves who grew and processed his sugar cane. He was chosen to be a commander of a Louisiana militia unit in the Civil War because his (then deceased) sister had been married to Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

Potential cronyism aside, Taylor proved to be an able commander, leading troops that played a pivotal role in the Shenandoah campaign. He would be sent back to Louisiana to raise troops and fight Union incursions into the state. He defeated Nathaniel Banks during the Red River campaign, was promoted to lieutenant general, and would wind up commanding both a Confederate military department and, briefly, the Army of Tennessee. 

After the war, his plantation ruined, he lived in New Orleans, but relocated to Winchester, Virginia after his wife died. From there he often visited friends in Washington and New York while staying active in Democratic Party politics. It was during a visit to New York that he died, on April 12, 1879.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 4: Assassination averted

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim grew up in Finland when it was still part of Russia, and rose in the ranks of the imperial Russian army to become a lieutenant general. Finland would declare itself independent after the Bolshevik revolution, but soon had its own civil war between the pro-Bolshevik "Reds" and the "Whites," who were anti-communist and backed the Finnish Senate. Mannerheim was made the leader of the White army, which was also supported by Germany troops.

The Whites won the civil war, raising Mannerheim's profile. He served as regent of Finland for a short time, and ran a losing campaign for president. By 1920 he had left politics but was still an active public figure as well as a war hero.

Which made him a ripe target for assassination by former Red officers. A group assembled in St. Petersburg to plan the attack, which was to take place during a White Guards parade in Tampere. A shooter and two backups were selected, and they went to the parade on Holy Saturday, April 3 1920, but were unable to complete their mission. The shooter got cold feet, and his backups, not able to see him, were not able to fire on Mannerheim themselves. A second attempt was made for April 6, which also failed, and resulted in the arrest of all three assailants.

This all worked out for Mannerheim, as he would go on to become the army's Commander in Chief during World War II, as well becoming Finland's sixth president.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 3: Prominent polymath passes

Arthur Aikin was born into a family of noted writers and scholars, including a father who was a doctor, historian, and biographer. He followed his father's footsteps into science, studying chemistry under Joseph Priestly and becoming a lecturer in the subject at Guy's Hospital in London for 32 years. He would be the first treasurer of the Chemical Society (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) and its second president.

Outside of chemistry, he was also a president of the British Mineralogical Society, a founder of the Geological Society of London, and was a member of the Society of the Arts, the Linnean Society, and the Institution of Civil Engineers. He also supported himself writing, translating, and lecturing to the public, and his writing often introduced foreign scientific news to the British public. He was even a Unitarian minister for a short time.

Aikin passed away on Holy Saturday, April 15, 1854.

 Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 2: Pentecostalism revival arrival

Pentecostalism has roots prior to April 14, 1906, but it owes much of its worldwide reach to the revival that started that day at the Azusa Street mission founded by William J. Seymour. His church had been meeting elsewhere priot to that day, but after the group started speaking in tongues (and after the growing crowds caused the porch of their previous meeting space to collapse), Seymour moved to a new building on Azusa Street.

Worship services there were frequent, and pulled in hundreds. The crowd was notable for it racial and gender balance, which did not always sit well with others (notably Charles Parham, another of the founding figures of the Pentecostal movement). This would change, as segregated congregations would become the norm until the 1960s.

While the revival would wane after a few years, Seymour would preach at what became to be called the Apastolic Faith Mission for the rest of his life. Other preachers, who left Azusa Street to found their own churches, would grow Pentecostalism to the worldwide faith it is today. This timeline gives a good idea of where the Azusa Street revival fits in the history of the movement.

Another Lenten season is upon us, and I am totally doing what I said I was going to do at the end of last year's Lentorama:

Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Same basic idea as last year, you're getting 40 days' worth of historical events that happened on the day before (Western) Easter. Such as:

Day 1: So Long Sam Stephens 

Sam Stephens served as an Army broadcaster during the Korean War, and after the war became co-owner of KOJM radio in Harve, Montana. He went into politiccs in 1969, rising to the position of state senate president during his 16 years in that chamber.  

In 1988 he ran for governor, beating former governor Thomas Lee Judge to become the state's first elected Republican governor since 1964. Stephens served one term, the highlight of which seems to be overseeing the state's centennial celebration.

Hopefully the other 39 days are more interesting.

I was lucky enought to find this site that calculates church calendar dates for any year you put in. It will come in handy when we get to 2032 and I'm reduced to a Lentorama of "It Happened on the First Day of the Second Week of Lent."