DROPPED THE MOON

  (Written 5 years ago) From as far back as I remember I have always absorbed the credits at the end of films and television programmes. I have built up a store of knowledge that is useful occasionally but otherwise useless, but it's a bit of an obsession. In fact, if I don't see the opening credits to a film, it spoils the whole thing for me. Similarly, if I don't see the end the credits, I feel shortchanged. These days, TV does that very irritating thing of reducing the size of closing credits in order to advertise what is coming next. A load of names of skilled and talented people are reduced to tiny letters that even the sharpest of eyeballs would fail to decipher. It's insulting really. After the names of the big stars, co-stars, familiar writers and directors, most names on movie reels are of people we may never hear of again, but they have been involved in what we have just experienced. In their own ways, they are important ingredients. They deserve a nod at the ...

  On 28 May, 1984, we lost Eric Morecambe at 58.  One of the funniest comedians in the history of forever. Here with his comedy partner, Ernie Wise, and their special gust, Andre Previn.  Their sketch, even after multiple viewings, still cracks me up.  Look it up on YouTube. Eric and Ernie - comedy gold.

Novel and short story writer Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland on 27 May, 1894.  He was described as “the dean of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction” in the New York Times. He created Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man and The Continental Op in The Dain Curse. He was a war veteran and a political activist who was blacklisted for refusing to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in the era of McCarthyism. Hammett died at 66 in a Manhattan hospital of lung cancer and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He more than made his mark in literature and films. From The Thin Man:  “The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”   

      John Wayne  26 May, 1907 - 11 June, 1979

On 25 May, 1961,  President Kennedy called for millions of dollars to fund a space programme to land the first man on the Moon by 1970.   In a speech to a joint session of Congress broadcast on TV and radio around the United States, he asked for an extra $1,700m to add to the federal budget.  The largest proportion of this would be spent on researching and developing ways of getting an American on the Moon by the end of the decade.  "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth,"  he said.  He said $9,000m (£3,214m) would be needed over the next five years to fund space rockets and other projects to get a man on the Moon. But the president added the plan would not need to be supported by extra taxes provided the economy continued to grow and companies exercised wage and price restraint. In July, 1969, there was a small step and a gia...

  On 24 May, 1989, a jury at the High Court in London awarded £600,000 damages to Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, against the satirical magazine Private Eye.  The award was £100,000 more than the previous record British libel sum.  Mrs Sutcliffe, who was legally separated from her husband, made no comment. She left the court shrouded in a blanket. She was due to get £25,000 of the award immediately and the rest pending an appeal lodged straightaway by Private Eye.  Its editor, Ian Hislop, said the magazine could go out of business and would be appealing to its readers for financial assistance.  He pointed out the award was 100 times larger than that awarded to three of Sutcliffe's victims. On the steps of the court Hislop said: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." In 1981 Sutcliffe was jailed for life for killing 13 women. When he was first arrested and charged, Private Eye accused Mrs Sutcliffe of doing a d...

  Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were US criminals who robbed banks, small stores and gas stations during the years of the Great depression.  In their two-year partnership, they were relentless in their crimes that also included murder.  Their exploits captured the attention of the American public.  They had many confrontations with the police including car chases and violent shoot-outs. Finally, on 23 May, 1934, Parker and Barrow were ambushed by law enforcement officers in the Louisiana woods area.  They opened fire and Clyde was killed instantly and Bonnie moments later.  In all, about 130 rounds of ammunition were fired into the couple’s car. An extract from a police statement said: “Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns. There was smoke coming from the car, and...