February 18 – Today’s Food History

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1478 George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence died. Brother of Edward IV whom he was accused of plotting against. He was thrown into prison and secretly executed in the Tower of London. The rumor is that he was drowned in a butt (large cask) of malmsey wine.
1871 Harry Brearley was born. Brearley was an English metallurgist who invented stainless steel in 1912.
1885 The ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain was published.
1901 Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner. Because of its large size, he mounted the machine on a horse carriage, with a long hose to reach inside a house, and offered cleaning services.
1930 At the St. Louis International Air Exposition, a cow supposedly flew in an airplane for the first time, and this same cow became the first cow to be milked while flying. Most likely the first true flying cow dung also.
(Reminds me of the ‘WKRP’ TV show – the Thanksgiving episode in which the radio station gave away 40 live turkeys by dropping them from an airplane over a shopping center, and Mr. Carlson (the station owner) uttered those famous words, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”)
1968 Actress Molly Ringwald was born. Two of her movies were ‘The Breakfast Club’ (1985) and ‘In the Weeds’ (2000).