Born on this day
Friday, February 23, 1685. : The great Baroque composer, Georg Händel, is born.
Georg Friedrich Händel was born on 23 February 1685, in Halle, Saxony. Already skilled on the harpsichord and organ at age 7, he began composing music when he was 9. His father wanted him to study law, but Händel abandoned his law studies when his father died. He visited London in 1710 and settled there permanently in 1712, becoming a naturalised British subject in 1726. He then anglicised his name to George Frideric Handel.
Handel was a prolific composer. During his composing career, he wrote around fifty operas, twenty-three oratorios, much church music and numerous outstanding instrumental pieces, such as the organ concerti, the Opus 6 Concerti Grossi, the Water Music, and the Fireworks Music. His best known work is probably the oratorio, “Messiah”, written within a 24-day period, and completed on 14 September 1741. An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus, telling a sacred story without costumes, scenery, or acting. “Messiah” is the story of the prophecy of the coming Messiah as told in the Old Testament, and the life and death of Jesus, set to texts from the King James Bible. Originally conceived as an Easter oratorio, it has become popular to perform it at Christmas, particularly as it contains the powerful “Hallelujah” chorus heralding Christ’s birth.
Handel’s style of composition influenced many composers after him, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. In 1751 he became blind, and died eight years later, on 14 April 1759, in London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Australian History
Wednesday, February 23, 1955. : Floods begin in the Hunter Valley, Australia, ultimately claiming 25 lives.
Australia, a country subject to devastating drought and bushfires, was hit by floods in 1955. In the latter months of 1954, heavy rainfall had already saturated the eastern coast of Queensland and New South Wales, while the countryside was still recovering from flooding in 1949 and the early 1950s. On 23 February 1955, an intensifying monsoon depression moved south from Queensland, and with it came torrential rainfall. The Hunter River was most affected, particularly the town of Maitland, where about 15,000 people were evacuated. Flooding also hit nearby Singleton, causing the evacuation of another 1600.
The floods extended down the Macquarie River to towns such as Dubbo, where 4000 were evacuated, and as far west as Warren and Narromine. Flooding of the Namoi and Gwydir Rivers caused devastation in Moree and Narrabri. The Castlereagh River was also flooded, causing the destruction of many buildings in the town of Gilgandra. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, a huge hole in Gilgandra’s main street was later found to contain two large semi-trailers. Ultimately, twenty-five people were killed in the floods.
Australian History
Monday, February 23, 1970. : The Indian Pacific train, the only service to cross an entire continent without the need to change trains, embarks on its inaugural transcontinental journey.
As Federation of the Australian colonies loomed in the late nineteenth century, Western Australia was lured to join the Commonwealth of Australia by the promise of a transcontinental railway line linking east and west. The eastern states already had an extensive network of railway lines, while the western railway line extended east from Perth to the goldfields. There remained a 1996 km span across the continent to connect the west to the east.
Construction of the Trans-Australian Railway began in September 1912 with two teams working from both western and eastern sides of the continent. On 17 October 1917, the teams met to complete the track near Ooldea about 1170km west of Adelaide and 1520km east of Perth. The following week, on 22 October, the first westbound passenger service known as the Great Western Express departed from Port Augusta. Despite the eastern and western ends being of different gauges, the line was constructed at the standard gauge of 1435 mm. Consequently, early travellers were required to change trains five times during the journey.
Conversion to standard gauge of the entire intercity route began in 1969 and the service was renamed the Indian Pacific in 1970. On 23 February 1970, the inaugural transcontinental journey of the Indian Pacific commenced from the eastern side of the continent. Approximately 10000 people greeted the train’s arrival in Perth four days later. Powered by two locomotives and travelling an average of 85 kph, the Indian Pacific now consists of 30 carriages for guests, staff and crew quarters, restaurants, lounges and power vans. Australia remains the only continent that can be crossed from east to west in a single train.
Australian History
Wednesday, February 23, 1994. : Jimmy Tambo, an indigenous Australian exploited by Barnum’s Travelling Circus, is finally laid to rest, 110 years after he died.
Jimmy Tambo was an indigenous Australian who was taken from his home on Palm Island, along with eight others, to ‘perform’ as part of Barnum’s Travelling Circus that toured America and Europe from 1883 to 1898. He performed under the name of Tambo Tambo and was exhibited as an untamed cannibal. Besides the indigenous Australians, native Americans, Fijian ‘cannibals’, a Zulu and other “exotic indigenous people” were put on display.
A year after being stolen, Tambo died of pneumonia, but his companions were not allowed to give him the proper funereal rites. His body was sold to the owner of a dime museum, who mummified it and put it on display. Somewhere through the years, the display was lost, and not discovered until 1993, in the basement of a funeral parlour in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Three representatives from Tambo’s Palm Island home travelled to the USA to bring him home. On 23 February 1994, 110 years after he died, Tambo was finally laid to rest.
World History
Friday, February 23, 1455. : The Gutenberg Bible, the first western book printed from movable type, begins its print run.
The original Gutenberg Bible is an incunabulum, that is, a book, single sheet, or image that was printed on a printing press, not handwritten, before the year 1501 in Europe. It was printed by its namesake, Johann Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, beginning on 23 February 1455. The production of the Gutenberg Bible marked the beginning of the mass production of books in the West. About 180 copies of the Bible were produced, 45 on vellum and 135 on paper. This was a phenomenal number in a society where, previously, books were written out and copied by hand, and a single copy of a massive tome such as the Bible could easily take three years.
Despite being produced by printing, each Gutenberg Bible is completely unique. Following the printing process, each one was rubricated and illuminated by hand. Rubrication usually refers to the addition of red headings to mark the end of one section of text and the start of another. Illumination meant the addition of decoration or illustration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniatures. As of 2003, the number of known extant Gutenberg Bibles includes eleven complete copies on vellum, one copy of the New Testament only on vellum, and 48 substantially complete integral copies on paper, with another divided copy on paper. The country with the most copies is Germany, which has twelve. London has three copies while Paris, New York, Leipzig, and Moscow each have two copies.
World History
Monday, February 23, 1885. : John Lee escapes execution when the gallows malfunction three times.
John Lee was a nineteen year old footman, servant to the wealthy Ellen Keyse in London. When Miss Keyse was found murdered, Lee was the prime suspect, as he had a reputation as a petty criminal. Circumstantial evidence also seemed to point to Lee, although he had a logical explanation for each piece of evidence which, today, could be checked through forensic testing. Lee was pronounced guilty and sentenced to execution by hanging, although he continued to vehemently declare his innocence, even announcing, “I am innocent. The Lord will never permit me to be executed!”
Lee was sent to the gallows in Exeter on 23 February 1885. The noose was placed around his neck and the lever pulled, but the trapdoor did not open. The equipment was tested several times, pronounced functional, and Lee again took his place on the trapdoor – which again did not open. After this happened a third time, Lee was returned to prison. The inexplicable malfunction of the trapdoor was attributed to an “act of God”, and Lee’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released after 22 years in prison, and emigrated to America after marrying his childhood sweetheart. Until he died in 1933, Lee continued to maintain that his reprieve was not due to mechanical failure, but due purely to divine intervention.