Gumball machine in a tux.

Death on the Eastern Front at 8pm on History Television. Not much about this show except "Research seeks to determine the mental state of the German and Soviet armies during World War II." I dunno. For some odd reason it's repeated off and on all night. Finally at 2am they have an episode of Digging for the Truth: City of the Gods.

Discovery Channel has a couple of cool shows on starting at 10pm. Mammals vs. Dinos
The Age of Gigantism, and then right after Mammals vs. Dinos The Rise of Mammals. Lots of computer animation.

TCM has Soylent Green on at 10:30pm. Better read the label.

I'm all giddy.

So, okay this had to happen. On this day in 1859, the very first oil well starting pumping oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Hmmm, that sounds kinds odd. I better check to see if it's the first ever oil well, or first in the States. It appears this is the first oil well in the USA. The first in North America was drilled near Petrolia (no kidding) in Ontario, Canada.

Tarzan of the Apes was first published on this day in 1912.

Confucius was born on this in 550BC.

And keeping with the heavies in birthday town, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa to you) was born on this day in 1910.

Daryl Dragon, writer of such heavy song hits such as Muskrat Love, was born this day in 1942.

Doesn't get any better than this.

Crow in a tux.

For those who can't remember, or who never visited, PBS has The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation at 8.

Takes a heck of a time to get to anything good on History Television tonight. It's all the way to midnight before we get to Rome: Caesarion. Then some repeats of old Digging for the Truth. Yawn.

AMC has The Flight of the Phoenix (1965 version) at 1am. Good old rollicking fun with this.

The History Channel takes it up a notch with Modern Marvels: Bread at 8. I suppose . . .but if you hang around till 11pm they have Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Dollar Bill. Sounds fun. A whole show on bread, really.

what would benny hill think?

I'm back after a long weekend away from the blog. Tonight's stuff is quite predictable- Digging for the Truth: Timbuktu at 8pm on History Television. The right after at 9 it's Finding the Fallen: Passchendaele 1917: Drowning in Mud. "The team goes to Northern Belgium to excavate the site of the battle of Passchendaele." Then some repeats and a final Digging for the Truth
The Da Vinci Code: Bloodlines at 2 am.

However some much see TV at 7 with Psycho on TCM. Part of a whole evening of Janet leigh flicks.

Tiny little Tuesday, can only get better.

He was a rat.

Tune in right now to TCM for the Gregory Peck classic, On the Beach. Starts in a mo at 7pm.

Looks like an underwater theme on History Television starting at 8pm with Deep Wreck Mysteries: U-Boat Death Trap and right after that U-864: Hitler's Last Deadly Secret at 9pm. Now we have to skip a few repeats and boring things till 2am when Digging for the Truth
The Vikings: Voyage to America is on.

Hey campers, it's a quiet little night in history town.

6'2"

Paul Child was a designer and artist closely attached to highest levels of command in the East. There were many opportunities to mix and mingle with all levels of staff as cocktail parties, dinners and at the very least, gin drinking, was common even when the war raged in the countryside.

By early 1945, the OSS headquaters was moved to Chungking, China. Julia, in her usual fashion, immedaitely set to work organizing filing systems and getting everyone on board with the program. Rumours circulated that she was in line for the spy corps.

Paul was present in Chungking too. As the war wound down, their romance started up, with Paul taking her to the best restaurants. Her love of cooking was born.

get the pigeon out of the cistern.

Ah finally a decent war movie. Full Metal Jacket is on at 10 on Showcase.

Late, late start for History Television. Sheesh. At midnight they have Rome: Pharsalus. Then a shirt jump to 2 am when they have Digging for the Truth: Stonehenge: Secrets Revealed. Of course they don't really reveal the secrets, but I go for it every time too.

History Channel can barely pull this dismal night out of the fire. All they have is UFO Files: Ancient Aliens at 11pm. I think I'm gonna go and listen to my old Dave Edmunds albums.

For the lovers of gritty, or is it crusty, TCM has Edward G. Robinson flicks on all night. Boy after 10 hours of those you'll feel odd.

peanuts

Digging for the Truth: Kings of the Stone Age starts our night off at 8 on History Television. At 9 they have Finding the Fallen: Ypres 1914: The First Trench. " The Northern Belgium farmlands hold the final resting place of some of the fallen of the First World War." And as usual, there is a gap while they run some mainstream shows and pay the bills. Then at midnight it's back to basics with another Digging for the Truth: Pirates: Terror in the Mediterranean. And then Christ we gotta skip another hour for another one at 2am The Aztecs: Of Blood and Sacrifice.

PBS has The Lost Pyramids of Caral at 9 as well. "Researchers believe the ancient city of Caral may be the missing link of archaeology, a stage between primitive existence and advanced society." What do you think?

A&E has a show that's just called "Ernest Hemingway" at 1 am. Think I can guess what's up. The episode guide says "Hemingway travels through Italy, Spain, France, and Africa." No point in giving us any details. Dog bites man.

Cheerio.

go for the gold

Hurry up and kick off the week with Dogfights: Supersonic at 8pm on History Television.

For a bit of sports history, check out PBS at 10 for Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami. "From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, the champion's evolution is part of a chronicle of Miami's black community and the famed 5th St. Gym."

The History Channel has a rather chilling evening of entertainment starting at 8 with Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: The End of Days. (wow lots of colons in that title). The on to Life After People at 9.

If that doesn't get you edgy enough TCM has a spate of cheesy hay burners, with a lot of Lee's in them (Lee Marven and Van Cleef).

Mix in a little deception.

So as I read the days news and poked around the fringes of possible stories to use I came upon this gem. It's already starting to make the rounds of the news sites but it's still a fun little story.

Chef Julia Child's first big job was not as a chef, but as a spy. During WWII she worked for the OSS (it turned into the CIA). She and her team were tasked with creating a method to keep sharks away from underwater explosives. Seems the sharks were setting off underwater bombs that were laid to snare German submarines. Even if the sharks didn't set them all off, they sure as hell let the German's know where the shit was.

Julia McWilliams, her maiden name, started her spy career shortly after Pearl Harbour. A tall (over 6 feet) good natured girl who enjoyed her fun, she was not exactly what the US military wanted, but through friends in the OSS she started as a clerk. her natural take charge attitude earned her promotions and got her noticed. One of the first real OSS type projects she worked on was to see if water could be squeezed from fish. Bleh. Apparently not. Downed pilots in life rafts would have to look elsewhere.

When a chance to work in the far east arose she was first in line. She arrived in Kandy, Sri Lanka and set to work with the other women in her unit. Although she trained as a file clerk, she in fact was privy to the highest secrets on a daily basis. Her good humour and obvious talents for quickly making sense out of chaos did not go unnoticed.

It was here that she met Paul Child. Check back tomorrow for part 2.

it's a two roll movie

History Television continues it's tear on dark musty places with 2 more Cities of the Underworld: Secret Pagan Underground and Istanbul. As always, starting at 8pm. Then it's a long break till 2am when Digging for the Truth: Lost Treasures of Petra comes on.

History Channel has one show on tonight at 10 The Works: Guns and Ammo. "Host Daniel H. Wilson traces the history of guns and uncovers their incredible role in our everyday lives."

That is the whole she-bang folks. Unless you want to catch the Greer Garson festival over on TCM.

some kinda day

Hey, I got my Foyles War DVD's today, so I'm a happy guy. Series 5. Gonna settle down for a night of detective stories this weekend.

But before that happens lets look at what is on tonight of the historical variety. History Television has a couple of Cities of the Underworlds on - Freemason Underground and Scotland's Sin City starting at 8pm. Then we have a 2 hour break and back again at midnight with another one: Underground Bootleggers. And if you have the gumption to stay in dark, damp places stay up till 2am for Digging for the Truth: New Maya Revelations.

Looks like this is the whole works tonight campers. History Channel has some weird fighting dinosaurs and cheapo UFO shows. I am disappointed.

But, TCM has a pile of Peter Lorre movies on if you like his thyroidal sleaze.

cheap imitation

Looks like we're in for one of those basement nights. History Television has 2 Cities of the Underworld on starting at 8: London's Lost Cities and and Dracula's Underground. Skip to midnight to catch one more: Rome's Hidden Empire. And to round out a night of underground delights Digging for the Truth: Stonehenge of the Americas. "Host Josh Bernstein tours the ancient city of Tiwanaku from the air and the ground." Guess we're supposed to know where that is.

History Channel has a neat show on at 8: Modern Marvels: Coin Operated. That's it except for a show about jaws (seriously) at 10 called Evolve: Jaws. They had the companion pieces to this last week, eyes and ears. Can't wait for the history of asses.

howdy

Getting at it a bit late but I'm being buoyed up by the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Yes.

So History Television starts the week at 8 off with Cities of the Underworld: New York. Not a bad series, but followed at 9 by Gangs of New York, an overly ambitious, overly gritty flick, (I'm not kidding here), that just wears you down. And, since this appears to be "gritty" night they follow it up with Cape Fear. Shit, I'll be picking this out of my teeth for a week.

Go to PBS at 10pm for Chasing Churchill: In Search of My Grandfather: Worth Doing Once. "During World War II, Morocco and the South of France inspired Churchill to paint."

Over on the History Channel you can check in at 9pm for Hillbilly: The Real Story, hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus. I just have to pass on the smart ass remarks, just go watch it. At 11 they have Cities of the Underworld: Jerusalem. Glad they settled down.

Gonna go and listen to some Light Crust Doughboys, see ya.

Turned a tidy profit.

In reading up on the state of fairs I was quite surprised to find how many they're were. Hundreds and hundreds of them from the mid 1700's onward. Most were held in the larger centre's, particularly the ones with an industrial achievement theme. Seems every city with a better way to bake bread or flush body fluids had to have a fair.

Not to be outdone, tiny little Launceston, Tasmania had a cracker of a fair in 1891-92. It ran from November till March and had nearly 1400 exhibitors.

Dubbed The Tasmanian International Exhibition, it was the biggest event the town ever hosted, which pretty well meant the whole damn island. Like many similar fairs it was part trade fair, part cultural splash and part community pride.

A rather unique historical quirk occurred when it came time to issue tickets. For those attendees who purchased a season ticket, their photograph was taken and affixed to the ticket, much like a passport. The photographer, Richard Nicholas, kept a copy of all the photos taken for the tickets and pasted them into an album with the corresponding name next to them. In all, over 1300 locals have their picture in this album. A perfect snapshot of life in small town Tasmania in the 1890's.

The fair turned a handsome profit of 180 pounds.

He's a Siberian hamster.

Had to wait all the way to midnight on History Television to see an episode of Rome: Egeria, and then even later, 2am, for Digging for the Truth: King Tut: Secrets Revealed.

The History Channel has few odds and ends tonight, but again, kinda on the edge. Starting at 8 they have to 2 Monster Quests in a row- Chupacabra and Vampires in America, then skip an hour and come back at 10 for UFO's of the 70's. I'm getting a bit iffy on these.

But hey, all's not lost. TCM has an entire evening of Anne Bancroft movies.

Do you have any wesleydale?

History Television let go of its bi-monthly Hitler fest and is on a Hiroshima tack with the 1995 flick Hiroshima. Easily as upbeat. Then it's a few hours till midnight when we get a shot of Digging for the Truth: Kings of the Stone Age. "Hunter Ellis explores how Central America's Olmecs moved mountains to make giant stone heads from single basalt boulders." And then another big gap but it's worth it cause we get another Digging for the Truth: Lost Empire of Ghengis Khaan at 2am.

If you're into a good yarn catch The Great Escape at 10pm on AMC.

Now I don't know what to do about this, but History Channel has some history -ish stuff that just doesn't do it for me, and I would not normally include it but for this time I will. Starting at 8 they have 2 back to back Jurassic Fight Clubs, then 2 Evolve's in a row, Guts and Eyes.

K. there you have it. I'm off to dig up some dirt on fairs somewhere.

Everyone clean?

So after spending 70 odd days at the cotton exhibition we may need a day or two at the 1911 International Hygiene Exhibition. Dresden, Germany was the lucky town that hosted this gem.

I had to do some digging to come up with any real details about this celebration. Thank god that many newspapers are digitally archived. Still, who would archive this?

Anyway, the Hungarians had quite an exhibit it seems. They showed off the hygiene quality in their public school system, demonstrations of sewage works and had a working slaughterhouse.

The Chinese showed off preserved fruit. Apparently it was cheap.

The Austrian pavilion featured something called "electro-hygeine." Hmmmmm.

Wonder where all the exhibits went after the show?

nother monday

A great way to start a new week is when History television has Dogfights: MiG Killers of Midway on at 8pm.

PBS has another in the is series Chasing Churchill: In Search of My Grandfather: The Other Country on at 10pm. A good little series for those with a Churchillian twist.

And the History Channel has a 2 reasonable offering tonight too, neither mega sized but both substantial. At 8 catch Ancient Discoveries: Ancient Computer? and right after that at 9 they have China's First Emperor (no question mark).

Good pace to the first week of August.