Daily Calendar for Sunday, May 18, 2025
Question of the Day
Did W. C. Fields really hate children, or was that just part of his comedy routine?
It was probably just part of his curmudgeonly act. William Claude Fields (1880-1946) was born William Claude Dukenfield in Philadelphia. He began his career at age 11, working as an itinerant juggler. The Ziegfeld Follies gave him his first real boost, and by 1925 he was doing film work with D. W. Griffith. His form of comedy was always raffish, featuring the drunken cad with a swaggering machismo. Fields is especially remembered for his one-liners, such as “I never met a kid I liked” and “Anybody who hates children and dogs can’t be all bad.” For all that bluster, however, his last will and testament suggests sentiments of a different sort. Fields had specified that his money be used to establish a “W. C. Fields College for orphan white boys and girls, where no religion of any sort is to be preached.”
Advice of the Day
Crush the seeds of sweet cicely and use them as a polish for wooden furniture.
Home Hint of the Day
When you use the fan over your cook stove, be sure to open a window elsewhere in the house, too. This will give the fan a greater supply of air to blow, so it will be more effective.
Word of the Day
Ceilometer
A cloud yardstick. A ceilometer measures the height of clouds.
Puzzle of the Day
What kind of fish only swims at night?
A starfish!
Born
- Bertrand Russell (philosopher & mathematician) –
- Frank Capra (director) –
- Perry Como (singer) –
- Pope John Paul II –
- Brooks Robinson (baseball player) –
- Reggie Jackson (baseball player) –
- George Strait (country singer) –
- Tina Fey (writer & actress) –
- Jack Johnson (musician) –
Died
- Elizabeth Montgomery (American actress ) –
- Elvin Ray Jones (renowned jazz drummer and member of John Coltrane’s quartet who also played alongside Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis) –
- Wayne Allwine (voice of Mickey Mouse for over 30 years) –
Events
- Montreal, Quebec, founded –
- Masses feared the end of the world during passage of Halley’s Comet –
- U.S. Selective Draft Act passed –
- Tennessee Valley Authority created –
- TWA was first airline to fly the Douglas DC-2 aircraft –
- Aviator Jackie Cochran became the first woman to exceed Mach 1 –
- Apollo 10 spacecraft launched from Cape Kennedy –
- India became world’s sixth nuclear power –
- A magnitude 5.1 earthquake causes the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens, killing 57 people. –
- Law passed to remove Confederate flag from South Carolina statehouse –
- Randy Johnson made history by becoming the oldest major league player (at age 40) to throw a perfect game. Cy Young was previously the oldest to pitch perfection at 37 –
Weather
- Major Arkansas River flood, Wichita, Kansas –
- Violent Lake Michigan storm wrecked several ships –
- Oklahoma experienced major floods –
- 116 degrees F at Death Valley, California –
