April 23 is a day rich in historical associations. It is, as all good Englishmen know, St George's Day. This dragon-slayer is also the patron saint of Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa and Venice. A Syrian friend of mine once had a religious vision involving St George.
It is the birthday of many a creative genius:
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon
Joseph Turner, Romantic painter
Max Planck, quantum scientist
Sergei Prokoviev, RUssian composer
Ngaio Marsh, New Zealandish mystery writer
Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American novelist
Avram Davidson, American fantasist
Roy Orbison, American singer
Slightly less worthy of praise but no less worthy of note are the following:
Herve Villechaize, Fantasy Island dwarf
Tony Esposito, Chicago Black Hawks goalie
Lester Pearson, Canadian politician
Shirley Temple, dimpled cutie of the silver screen
April 23 also seemed to be a good day for kings and writers to depart this vale of tears. For example:
Ethelred I king of Wessex, brother of Alfred the Great
Brian Boru, king of Ireland
Sweyn Forkbeard, king of England
Aethelbred II "the Unready", king of England
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish novelist
William Shakespeare
William Wordsworth, English poet
Rupert Brooke, English poet
But of all the sad events of April 23, what can surpass the greatest marketing disaster in American history, the 1985 introduction of New Coke?
Posted by at April 23, 2003 10:41 AM