AUGUST 1 — 1981 Like, Totally Happy Birthday MTV; 1893 Shredded Wheat patented by Henry Perky & William Ford; 1876 Colorado admitted to Union; 1864 Battle of Petersburg
AUGUST 1
1981 – Totally awesome happy birthday to MTV. The first words spoken were ladies & Gentlemen, rock n roll, spoken by John Lack. The first video was, appropriately enough, the Buggles Video Killed the Radio star. The concept for promoting music through video was not new, however. The Beatles did with Hard Days Night and Help in the early 60s, Mason Williams did it for the Smother’s Brothers show,m in 1970.
Philadelphia DJ Bob Whitney video footage synchronized to music in Atlanta. But now that MTV truly revolutionized the way that music was promoted, it was a total game changer. Artists such as Madonna, Duran Du bran Prince, and Michael Jackson were in heavy rotation. In 1984, MTV began the annual Video Music Awards. In the 1990s, they introduced more reality shows such as the Real World, The Osbourne’s, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, Laguna Beach, Jersey Shore and the Hills. It also included popular cartoons Beavus & Butthead and Celebrity Death match.
1893 – Henry Perky & William Ford patent shredded wheat. Perky, who was having diarrhea problems at the time, saw someone eating boiled wheat with cream. He got together with William Ford and they came up with a machine that would shred the wheat. By 1898, he was selling shredded wheat as cereal all over the country. Even though John Harvey Kellogg and William Post are well known for making cereal, Perky was the originator for the cookies breakfast.
1876 – Colorado is admitted to the Union. President Ulysses Grant signed the proclamation. Some fun facts about Colorado. In 1976, Colorado became the only state in history to turn down the Olympics. It was planned to take place in Denver but state voters turned it down, saying they didn’t want the pollution, and population boom that would result. In Fruita, they celebrate Mike the Headless Chicken Day on September 10, 1945, in honor of a farmer who cut the head off the chicken that he was going to have for dinner but the chicken supposedly lived another four years without his head. Louis Ballast of Denver claims the originator of the cheeseburger. Colfax Avenue in Denver is the longest continuous road in America. Finally, the worlds first rodeo took place July 4th, 1869 in Denver.
1863 – David Porter assumes command of federal Navy forces on the Mississippi River. He was the son of Commodore David Porter, who fought bravely in the War of 1812. As a young boy, Porter constantly served on ships and spent most of his life at sea. He served in the Mexican War at the attack of Vera Cruz. During the Civil War, he was given command of the USS Powhatan pow-hatton to relieve Fort Pickens in Pensacola, then was promoted to rear admiral and joined Union forces to protect the mouth of the Mississippi River and aided David Farragut in capturing New Orleans.
We’ll get to Farragut in a few days. Later, he would assist Gen. Ulysses grant in the Vicksburg campaign, followed by the Red River Campaign in Louisiana under Gen. Nathaniel Bobbin Bow Banks. That didn’t turn out so well. Porters ship was stranded in low level waters and literally had to save the ship by having his crew dam the waters until enough water rose for the ship to become afloat. Porter then moved east to take command of the North Atlantic Squadron where he led against the assault on Fort Fisher, the final blow to the Confederates in the waters of the Civil War. After the War, Porter would be promoted to Vice Admiral, became the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, and was appointed by President Grant to special advisor to the Dep’t of the Navy. When his buddy and adoptive brother David Farrigut passed away, he was promoted to Admiral in 1870. David Dixon Porter died February 13, 1890.