Flashback Magazino

20 July

42 years after the Turkish Invasion on the Island of Aphrodite 

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion of the island country of Cyprus under the code name Operation Atilla. Turkey occupied 36,2 percent of the sovereign territory of the Republic and forcibly expelled about 180.000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. Another 20.000 Greek Cypriots, who remained in the occupied areas, were also forced to eventually abandon their homes and seek refuge in the safety of the government controlled areas. Turkey still deprives the displaced Greek Cypriots of their right to return to their homes and properties, keeping 45000 soldiers military force of occupation. This has given rise to appeals to the European Court of Human Rights, which has issued major decisions on Turkey’s violations of the European Convention.In addition to the economic devastation caused by the invasion and the forcible population movement, over 3.000 persons were killed, while some 1.400 Greek Cypriots remain missing.

Cyprus belonged to England until 1960. Meanwhile after the end of the war in September 1945 regent of Greece, Archbishop Damaskinos met England’s prime minister Clement Attlee in London  to discuss the outcome of the war since Greece was an ally country. George Seferis, as director of the Office of Damaskinos, accompanied him to London and incited to him to claim Cyprus. Regent of Greece, Archbishop Damaskinos said to the English officials that he did not wish to return to Greece without Cyprus. Apparently we were granted, for our togetherness and offer to liberty and victory, only with a civil war though, that has started 9 months earlier with the killing help of the English troops in the streets of Athens.

Note that the English had offered Cyprus to Greece once again in 1915, in order that Greeks were getting on their side in the First World War. Of course that promise has never been fulfilled

Afterall it was not a surprise to me that England  was simply trying to keep Greece away of the defence of the island while Turkish Invasion was taking place on a day that high officials of the United states were in Turkey watching closely the Attilas Operation together with Turk prime minister. Both England and United States were considered “allies” from the great war, but in my simple mind I don’t see any alliance feelings towards Greece and Greek Cypriots.  I was 10 years old when Attilas happened and I was trying intuitively from the radio news and TV to understand what was happening and I still remember that though in my heart I was sure that there is no danger and at the end the invaders will be forced away from the island, my soul was obscured from a feeling of treachery and that they will not let us defend the island of Cyprus. That was a very strong feeling, intuition I had and I still remember its effect very clear 

Peter Sellers has arrived ten months earlier in september 1973 with a very big cast to make a film in the area of the turkish invasion.

The floating coffin "Santa Barbara" which in the film has given the name ‘The Prophet’s Sward’ was not able to sail into the deep, although curiously in some way it has arrived in the port of Kyrenia impressive with its red and white sails. Peter Sellers movie used as a smoke screen for the preparation of 'Operation Attila  Cameramen-secret agents were filming the Cypriot coast and from the ship all those days they were measuring the depth of the waters 

September 1973: the weak morning light passing through the clouds couldn’t conceal the ‘pirate’ ship that appeared on the cloudy horizon. It was an impressive vessel and looked like something out of a fantasy story. It literally looked like a “Ghost in the Noonday Sun,” just like the title of the film it would be featured in. That’s why the pirate ship had arrived in the picturesque port of Cyprus awaiting not for Captain Hook but for … Inspector Clouseau, aka Peter Sellers to board it, for the needs of a film that would turn out to be the famous actor’s biggest flop.In the harbor, the actors were waiting impatiently for the ship to arrive and huge quantities of food were arriving to feed the countless staff. The British protagonists seemed unaware of the riots raging in various parts of Cyprus and the explosions of buildings.

In fact, just a few days after the start of filming – on October 6 – the Israelis were clashing with the Arabs on the famous Yom Kippur War. The island of Cyprus and Kyrenia in particular were considered then a base for Mossad spies, who were coexisting in good faith with the British agents. According to several confidential documents which have come to public attention, the British side was at the time providing coverage for the Turkish agents, paving the way for the invasion that would take place a year later. And the film entitled “Ghost in the Noonday Sun,” starring Peter Sellers was used as smoke screen to help the Turkish side prepare for the Operation Attila.

The conclusion about the tragedy of 1974 which was approved by the Cyprus Parliament refers to the presence of agents in the region, who were presenting themselves as member of the filming crew of the Peter Sellers film.What other reason could there be for shooting such an expensive film amid political unrest and conflict, and especially a film that would turn out to be a major flop?  "Ghost in the Noonday Sun"  was never released theatrically and it is considered to be one of the biggest flops in the history of cinema

I was 10 years old when the Turks invaded Cyprus and since then Turkey never lost the support of the foreign powers, only Greeks always have to suffer the injustice, Melina was singing for the Cypriot-Greek women at that time

Greece tried to help Greek Cypriots in the second day with the suicide operation “victory” sending secretly 15 Noratlas with 300 commando from Creta island, 300 men trained to fight until death like Spartans.  Approaching Cyprus from the west, and from having time to break radio silence, they noticed that the sea area south of the island showedunusual moves of big number of warships of the U.S. 6th fleet. One Noratlas passed fairly close by a large aircraft courier without incident.Other aircraft accidentally flew over the British base of Akrotiri whichsounded alarm. Immediately the Administration of the British Forces inCyprus warned the Greek authorities that henceforth they would stifleany Greek aircraft would approach the area of Cyprus! But surely they haven't said the same to the Turkish aircrafts that were bombing the island all days long, what a good “ally” really. Unfortunately the first Noratlas was hitted by friendly fire at the time of landing and all 33 commando and crew died so sadly.

The father of Chris Ligdis from Atalanti (photo below) who was killed in the accident. These were the heaviest losses in that war from the invincible 300 green berets from Creta, who have fought with courageous and victorious resistance with their heavy armour during the next days but the outcome of this conflict had already been decided long before the invasion...

Της δικαιοσύνης ήλιε νοητέ
και μυρσίνη εσύ δοξαστική 
μη παρακαλώ σας μη 
λησμονάτε τη χώρα μου "Oδ.Ελυτης"

Greek Airborne Manolis Mpikakis from Asi Gonia Chania- He managed to destroy 6 Turkish M48 Tanks with his PAO. Not in 6 differend occasions but in one! He was alone against 6 Tanks, and he managed to destroy them, changing positions all the time! A trully hero alone holding half a battalion and forcing them to retreat in his first day on the island. He returned together with the rest 268 warriors in Greece after the end..

Sun of Justice,

And glory-bringing myrtle

Please don't ever forget my country  "Od. Elytis"

21 July  

Alexander The Great  was born in Pella in 356 B.C.

Alexander III the Makedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great was born on the sixth day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion,  although the exact date is not known, in Pella, the capital of the Greek Kingdom of Macedon.   

He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of Epirus. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for some time, likely a result of giving birth to Alexander.

His father Philip II, being in Samothrace, when he was quite young, fell in love there with Olympias, in company with whom he was initiated in the religious ceremonies of the country, and her father and mother being both dead, soon after, with the consent of her brother, Arymbas, he married her.Several legends surround Alexander's birth and childhood. 

The night before the consummation of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt fell upon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed themselves all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip, some time after he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife's body with a seal, whose impression, as be fancied, was the figure of a lion. Some of the diviners interpreted this as a warning to Philip to look narrowly to his wife; but Aristander of Telmessus, considering how unusual it was to seal up anything that was empty, assured him the meaning of his dream was that the queen was with child of a boy, who would one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion.

Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of these dreams: that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb; or that Alexander's father was Zeus. Ancient commentators were divided about whether the ambitious Olympias promulgated the story of Alexander's divine parentage, variously claiming that she had told Alexander, or that she dismissed the suggestion as impious.

On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and that his horses had won at the Olympic Games. It was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down.

Antipater of Sidon who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of thehigh pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand"

This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, attending the birth of Alexander.Such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception.

Just after Philip had taken Potidaea, he received these three messages at one time, that Parmenion had overthrown the Illyrians in a great battle, that his race-horse had won the course at the Olympic games, and that his wife had given birth to Alexander; with which being naturally well pleased, as an addition to his satisfaction, he was assured by the diviners that a son, whose birth was accompanied with three such successes, could not fail of being invincible.

https://www.history.com/news/history-lists/eight-surprising-facts-about-alexander-the-great

Eratosthenes says that Olympias, when she attended Alexander on his way to the army in his first expedition, told him the secret of his birth, and bade him behave himself with courage suitable to his divine extraction. Others again affirm that she wholly disclaimed any pretensions of the kind, and was wont to say, 'When will Alexander leave off slandering me to Hera?' -  joke may be authentic.

There are others who believe that such a personality should have been born under the Leo sign, me too, and there are some astrologers who tried to investigate it

https://astro-n.page.tl/Alexander-The-Great-in-Astrology.htm

22 July      Imagine 

1971 John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent the second day filming the Imagine promotional film at their home in Tittenhurst Park Ascot, England

Today's footage included the morning walk on the grounds through the mist and John Lennon singing ‘Imagine’ in the white room on his white piano

 2011 --  red roses in memory of the 95 young people killed in Utoya island 

   On the death of Poet's Daughter  -- Robert Burns

Here lies a rose, a budding rose

Blasted before its bloom;

Whose innocence did sweets disclose

Beyond that flower's perfume

To those who for her loss are griev'd

This consolation's given-

She's from a world of woe reliev'd

And blooms a rose in heaven

23 July   first typewriter, was invented and made by William Austin Burt in 1829.  

When i started writing on my old typewriter I felt like Ernest Hemingway Using an old typewriter is not only cool but I would say romantic. I still remember all the moments I used to spend striking the keys either in midday sun or under the stars. Listening to the sound  I become nostalgic,  taking sometime to think gently about the things that matter without worrying about how long it takes. It is such a gift to hear the gears click and the keys clack as the words fill the lines on the thick linen page,  and all this is music in my ears 

The permanence of the words you put down on the page, and the hassle of changing them once they’re there, makes you think more carefully about what you want to say before you write it, and this is why everything I've written with my old typewriter is always better than what I write on a computer or by handwriting. Using my typewriter is a constant inspirational process which generates phrases and thoughts 

24 July    Kiwis at Sea Anniversary of Bean Rock lighthouse first being lit is upon us

Bean Rock Lighthouse is the only surviving wave washed wooden cottage lighthouse in New Zealand. The rock that the lighthouse stands on is known in Māori as Te Toka-o-Kapetaua (Kapetaua’s rock) in memory of Kapetaua, an ancestor of Ngāti Pāoa, who was marooned there by his brother in law.

Bean Rock is named after Captain P. C. D. Bean, Master of HMS Herald, which surveyed the Waitemata Harbour in 1840.  “Waitemata” is the native Mäori word for “sparkling waters.”  The Thames gold rush saw the need for substantial lights to be built on Bean Rock and also in the Ponui Passage. Both lighthouses were designed by engineer James Stewart, who arrived in New Zealand from Scotland in 1859, and construction began on the Bean Rock lighthouse in 1870.

Stewart with Captain Burgess took three lines of section to establish the required position and depth of the piles. Following an axiom in engineering, often referred to:- 

 

On 24 July 1871, the kerosene light was lit by Hugh Brown, the first keeper.  Mr. Brown stayed at the lighthouse for 19 years until his retirement in 1890. The keeper lived in three rooms: a living area which included a kitchen, a bedroom and the ‘long drop’ toilet to the sea below.  The keeper’s family lived at Devonport and transportation to and from the light was by rowing boat.

From 1909—1911, James Anderson was the lighthouse keeper. He would row a small boat to and from shore to visit his young family that lived in Devonport. It must not have been easy living away from them. 

copying by Jeremy D'Entremont  http://www.lighthousedigest.com/Digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=1230

“My father, James Anderson, was stationed at Bean Rock Lighthouse from 1909 to 1911, having been transferred there from Kahurangi Point on the West Coast of the South Island... Then in case of families with children, school age, they had to live ashore, and the men did not take kindly to having to spend every night away out on the beacon. In the case of our family, we were pleased indeed when we got notice of transfer to Manukau South Heads.

“My mother seldom went out to the beacon, but to me it was another world, and I was out with Dad at every possible chance... I used to like to see it come up rough, so I would miss a couple of days school, but Dad would ask some small boat passing if they would give me a trip home.

“Fishing was a special attraction... On calm days Dad would lower the boat, and I was allowed to fish from it while it would be tied on the north side in the deeper water where some good snapper lived.

“A blue heron often came and sat on the lower platform, so Dad put a little shelter shed for it to sleep in, and he called it Charlie... Dad fired a shot at a harrier hawk one day when it tried to attack his blue heron on the lower platform, and it did not come back again.

“There was no telephone and the only signal was the New Zealand ensign hoisted on the flagpole if a launch was urgently needed... Morse code was fairly new, and Dad taught me to signal with the torch. We could see the beacon from our home in Devonport, and I would relay bits of news to him most evenings.

“One afternoon, while in school at Devonport, there was a loud explosion, and when I heard that the powder-hulk had been on fire off Karaka Bay, I wondered how Bean Rock fared. It smashed quite a few panes of glass on the place.

“I was out at the beacon shortly after the steamer Kaipara hit a rock off Narrow Neck, and her cargo of frozen mutton had to be dumped... There were carcasses floating around and sharks nosing at them around the tide mark... Often a lot of flotsam would come out with the tide. Sometimes a dinghy, a crate of cheese, or a box of butter, and a good supply of firewood to take home to Devonport.

“The scows used to unload cattle on Kohimarama Beach to drive to Westfield. One day a young steer panicked and swam out to Bean Rock. Dad tried to lasso it but it took off for North Head, but the poor animal could not make it when the tide turned...

“Father got me out of bed early one morning to see a wonderful sight, Halley’s Comet... There was a good telescope at the Rock and with all the coastal shipping there was usually plenty to see, and a look at Mt. Victoria [signal station] would tell you if any ship was coming in.

“There were very few visitors to the Rock. On one occasion a small boat would come out from Parnell and perhaps have a little party and sing-song, and they were always most welcome...

“In the winter months things were rather lonely. My father’s hobby for such times was shell carving from pearl shell, mussel and Parnell, mostly birds and fish in the form of brooches, and he won a lot of prizes at exhibitions, besides selling a few.

“During gales the wind would howl through the steel rods on the beacon, and the structure would vibrate a bit in extra big gusts, but it would never actually shake. A person had to be most careful using the outside stairway at such times... The dwelling was very drafty in windy weather and windows had to be pegged to stop the clatter.

“Regarding the living quarters on Bean Rock, they could not compare in any respect to the houses provided for lightkeepers on other stations. The accommodation consisted of a fair-sized living room with a table and four chairs, a sofa, and adjoining was a small kitchen, with a coal stove, and pantry shelves, and a small bench with a sink. The toilet was off one corner, but there was no bathroom. The rest of the house was the bedroom off the opposite end of the living room.

“Beside the bed on the wall was a small glass window about two inches square and with a small reflector above. It acted like a periscope, enabling a person to see from his bed if the light was burning all right. I can remember my Dad setting the alarm clock for about three hours each night. Sometimes he would just look in the periscope, but on stormy or foggy nights he would go up the ladder a few times to make doubly sure that all was burning brightly.

“On fine Sundays, the steamer Minerva was usually on a fishing excursion to the crater hole close to the west side of the beacon, and some summer evenings you would hear the band on a ferry moonlight excursion close at hand. In early morning, we would often be treated to a show of dolphins playing around.

“There was quite a lot of maintenance work to be done, everlasting chipping off rust and painting... The keeper did all this work in his own time, according to the weather... A lot of the awkward places, including the house roof, were painted with the paint brush on what was known as a man-help, which was a stick with a hold in the end to put the paint brush handle through. No handy rollers in those days.

“Most times the keeper would go ashore early in the morning, often avoiding the wind. If you were lucky, you would be able to sail home.”

According to interviewer P. W. Shirley, in later years Ivan Anderson “seldom passed old Bean Rock without thinking something about it, happy or otherwise.”

25 July   Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival 

https://youtu.be/S1TKUk9nXjk

Dylan made a spontaneous decision on the Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band. Taplin said that Dylan had been irritated by what he considered condescending remarks which festival organiser Alan Lomax had made about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, when Lomax introduced them for an earlier set at a festival workshop. Dylan's attitude, according to Taplin, was, "Well, if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I'll do it. On a whim he said he wanted to play electric." Dylan then assembled a band and rehearsed that night at a mansion being used by festival organiser George Wein.

Sunday, July 25, 1967 -- The band that went on stage to back Dylan included two musicians who had played on his recently released single, "Like a Rolling Stone": Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar and Al Kooper on organ. Two of Bloomfield's bandmates from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band also appeared at Newport: bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, along with Barry Goldberg on piano.

Dylan being introduced by Master of Ceremonies Peter Yarrow: "Ladies and gentlemen, the person that's going to come up now has a limited amount of time ... His name is Bob Dylan." In the documentary footage, the sound of both booing and cheering can be heard a few bars into Dylan's first song, "Maggie's Farm", and continues throughout his second, "Like a Rolling Stone". Dylan was said to have "electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the other".

Dylan and the band left the stage. The sound of booing and clapping can be heard in the background. When Peter Yarrow returned to the microphone, he begged Dylan to continue performing. According to Robert Shelton, when Dylan returned to the stage, he discovered he did not have the right harmonica and said to Yarrow, "What are you doing to me?" Dylan then asked the audience for 'an E harmonica'. Within a few moments, a clatter of harmonicas hit the stage. He then performed unplugged for the audience: "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" subconsiously stating his feeling of disappointment and his attitude to go on his way "strike another match, go story new and it's all over now Baby Blue" and never this verse carried such a true feeling before, since Bob never singed again in Newport, only after 37 years in an enigmatic gesture,  Dylan performed sporting a wig and fake beard, actually he never returned and trully they didn't deserve him

Dylan appears to have believed the booing represented disapproval of his new sound. I have experienced the same situation in the ancient greek Theatre of Epidavros, trully a sacred place, back in the summer of 1989.   I was there to watch "Edipus Re" performed by Karezi-Kazakos theatrical team and the actress who came in as ex-angel to tell the news about Iocaste's death lighted a cigarette before she speak, you can't imagine what followed by the audience, they took it as an offence mostly because of the cigarette.  Likewise,  people cannot accept new sounds or neoteristic changes instantly, especially when their narrow minds are dedicated in a kind of a religious way to the old and sacred sound 

"I believe every chess player senses beauty, when he succeeds in creating situations, which contradict the expectations and the rules, and he succeeds in mastering this situation." - Vladimir Kramnik

26 July      Happy B - Day, Sir Mick Jagger!

29 years ago Billy Joel plays an historic concert in LeningradNo American rock star had ever included the USSR in a fully-staged tour, and when Billy and his family flew into Moscow on a sunny July afternoon, no one knew what to expect; not the musicians, not the Soviet officials who agreed to the tour, not the Soviet rock fans whose curiosity drew them to the arenas. When Billy left the Soviet Union, almost three weeks later, his name had become virtually a household word across the vast expanse of the USSR.

http://billyjoel52ndstreetserenade.blogspot.gr/2014/06/billy-joel-must-go.html

Each concert played to a packed house, but not all of them went exactly according to plan as confused and subdued audiences took a while to warm up to the sight of Joel bouncing around the stage to his high energy music.

The problems were partly because many in the audience had no idea how to behave at a rock concert. In the early concerts, especially, tickets were given away to Communist Party functionaries, as a perk, rather than to rock fans. Unsurprisingly, with much to lose and not quite sure how to behave, many stayed awkwardly seated at first.

The technical crew’s decision not to turn down the concert hall lights didn’t help, either. They had a good reason – they were filming a documentary of Joel’s tour and wanted him to look good on screen – but the harsh lighting served only to intimidate the audience into staying firmly in their seats.

A frustrated Joel dealt with the problem in true rock style. He tipped over his piano and trashed the stage while local fans are carried Joel off the stage in triumph at the end of the set

26 July   Pyrros Dimas lifts Greece high again winning the Gold medal in Atlanta 1996  after Catalonia's Gold in olympics 1992

 when he shouted  "Gia tin Ellada!"  before he lifts the weight!  BBC athletic reporters have said that if he didn't spend all that energy at that moment he should surely have lifted more than the world record!

https://youtu.be/aK7EZqOnmVI

 But Pyrros is the greatest athlete in weight-lifting three times Olympic Champion Barcelona - Atlanta - Sydney

he is from Northern Epirus and bears the heavy name of the ancient invincible King of the Greek Kigdom of Epirus Pyrrhos

Likewise the courageous Pyrrhos Dimas is the King of Greek Weightlifting and thrice Olympic Champion. recently he has agreed to work for the U.S.A.  weightlifting team after 2017

 12 minutes standing ovation in Athens, never happenned again in Olympic games!  

27 July    Hard Times for Princes

Pavlos Sidiropoulos "The Prince of Greek Rock" was born on 27 July 1948 in Athens and he rocked his life dangerously in pursuit of   " a weatherproof idea to keep us when the cold winds blow " 

His mother Jenny was granddaughter of George Zorbas (the real person behind the novel Alexis Zorbas of Nikos Kazantzakis. He was also nephew of writer Elli Alexiou and poet Galatea Kazantzaki who was the first wife of Nikos Kazantzakis. 

http://tvxs.gr/news/san-simera/san-simera-efyge-apo-ti-zoi-o-paylos-sidiropoylos

28 July        Summer Jam at Watkins Glen N.Y.

 It was a 1973 rock festival which once received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans came to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway outside of Watkins Glen, New York on July 28, 1973, to see the Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead and The Band perform.

Many historians claimed that the Watkins Glen event was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. In essence, that meant that on July 28, one out of every 350 people living in America at the time was listening to the sounds of rock at the New York state racetrack.

Considering that most of those who attended the event hailed from the Northeast, and that the average age of those present was approximately seventeen to twenty-four, close to one out of every three young people from Boston to New York was at the festival. 

Although there were no reports of violence at Watkins Glen, the day was marred by the death of Willard Smith, 35, a skydiver from Syracuse, New York. Smith dived from an airplane carrying flares. One of the flares ignited his body suit, and he was engulfed in flames. Smith's body was eventually found in the woods near the concert site.

 On the same day Led Zeppelin performed in Madison Square Garden New York     One fan remembers  "I am so glad that the Watkins Glen Festival was at the same time or I would never have been able to get tickets. still the best concert I've ever seen after." 

 Another one says: "The concert was a magical one I remember it vividly even 36 years later! All I could think was "Raw Power" afterward. That's what rock & roll show is supposed to be!"

The Song Remains the Same is a concert film featuring the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The filming took place during the summer of 1973, during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with additional footage shot at Shepperton Studios.

      29 July   

50 years ago  29 July was Friday and it was an unlucky day for sure, well it was not Friday the 13th but it was certainly a Friday on another big prime number    

In U.S. that day you could listen on your radio to the Troggs "Wild Thing" and on your walk you could see the magazines with Lady's Laureen Bacall elegant portrait in Time's edition, but in another magazine called "Datebook" you could read an interview with John Lennon  published by Maureen Cleave in which he said ‘We’re bigger than Jesus now.’ American Christian’s reacted with outrage, organising ‘Beatle bonfires’ burning the group's records

Surely Lennon was talking about the huge amount of Love that Beatles were generating in our young hearts,  but he was misinterpreted by the narrow-minded theologists wearing blinkers, who made innocent Beatles feel uncomfortable 

On this same unlucky Friday the 29th, Bob Dylan was riding his Triumph 55 motorcycle to a garage near his home in Woodstock, New York for repairs when the rear wheel locked. Dylan lost control and was thrown over the handlebars, suffering a broken neck vertebra. His recuperation led to a period of reclusive inactivity

29 July   Finale of the Great Chess Marathon in Vienna 1898

The Emperror's Anniversary Tournament in Vienna took place at the Vienna Chess Club from 31 May to 25 July. Apart from Lasker, all the leading masters of the world were present, but after 38 rounds it needed a series of four more games in play-offs for the first place, since according to the rules the first prize could not be shared

https://zanchess.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/vienna-1898/

Tarrasch won the first game, Pillsbury the second. The third game was played on 29th of July. it was a four knight game and Tarrasch have seen after the 13th move that the black king was exposed because the pawns in front of him have left their original squares and won the game and the first prize(the last game was a draw) 

1.P-K4 P-K4 2.N-KB3  N-QB3  3.B-N5  N-B3  4.N-B3  B-N5  5.O-O O-O 6.P-Q3 P-Q3 7.B-N5 BxN 8.PxB N-K2 9.B-QB4  B-K3?  10.BxN!  PxB  11.BxB  PxB  12.N-R4 N-N3 13.NxN  PxN 14.P-KB4  K-N2?   15. P-B5!   KP-P  16.PxP  R-R1  17.PxP  R-R3  18.R-N1 P-N3  19.R-N4! Q-Q2?   20.R(B1)xP!  KxR  

 I'm not sure if I can make out the moves correctly from this old book, they are written in an old way   after some unsuccesfull efforts finally I did it!

21.Q-B3ch  K-N2  22.QxR  P-B4  23.R-N1  RxNP  24.R-KB1  Q-K2  25.P-B4  P-K5!?  26.QxKP  QxQ  27, PxQ  R-N5 28.R-K1 K-B3 29.P-N3 K-K4 30.P-B3 R-N2 31.K-N2 R-QN2 32.P-QR4 P-R3 33.P-R4 P-N4 34.RPxP PxP 35.PxP RxP 36.K-R3 P-B4 37.K-N4 R-N7 38.P-R5 R-QB7 39.R-KR1 R-QR7 40.P-R6 R-R1 41.P-R7 R-KR1 42.K-N5 KxP 43.K-N6 K-Q6 44. K-N7 RxPch 45.KxR KxP 46.R-Q1  resignation

30 July   "Happy B' Day"  Sir Paul Anka

The Hague Olympiad 

Gösta Stoltz – Isaac Irving Kashdan  

30 July 1928 

Scotch Game

The 2nd Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between July 21 and August 6, 1928 in The Hague, Netherlands. Isaac Kashdam was the winner in the 2nd chess Olympiad (photo top in the center with the glasses)

Gösta Stoltz – Isaac Irving Kashdan   (in a famous bishop v knight endgame)

31 July      Beatles' Apple Boutique

On July 30 '68 the cashiers at Apple Boutique,  a psychedelic clothing store located at 94 Baker Street in London, began to inform customers that they would not be charged for the merchandise they select. The Boutique also gave away merchandise to the public on July 31 before closing.  The store was closed that evening for good. 

Apple Boutique Press Release (Paul): "We decided to close down our Baker street shop yesterday and instead of putting up a sign saying 'Business Will Be Resumed as Soon as Possible' and then auction off the goods, we decided to give them away. The shops were doing fine and making a nice profit on turnover. So far the biggest loss is in giving things away. But we did that deliberately. We came into the shops by the tradesman's entrance but we're leaving by the front door".

http://www.formidablemag.com/fool/

All of The Beatles left with some of the best clothes[from the boutique's free giveaway], except for Ringo Starr, who told Rolling Stone magazine that he couldn't find anything in his size 

1 August      Jeep Day

75 years ago the first Jeep was produced by the Ford motor company

As the Axis powers began to score victories in Europe and Northern Africa and the need to rapidly develop this vehicle became urgent. The Army put out a call to automobile manufacturers asking for a running prototype for such a vehicle 
The original government specifications were as follows:

Vehicle weight: approximately 1,300 pounds (This proved to be totally unrealistic and later was raised to 2,160 pounds.)

• Four-wheel drive
• Engine (power): 85 pound-feet of torque
• Wheelbase: Not more than 80 inches
• Tread: Not more than 47 inches
• Ground Clearance: Minimum ground clearance of 6.25 inches
• Payload: 600 pounds
• Cooling System: Good enough to allow a sustained low speed without overheating the engine

the name Jeep come from  the character "Eugene the Jeep" in the Popeye comic strip

  Eugene the Jeep was a small, impish looking animal that had the power to travel back and forth between dimensions and could solve all sorts of problems

2 August       After the execution of her husband on 2nd August 1343, "Lioness of Brittany" sells her estates and raises a force of men with which to attack French shipping and ports.

Jeanne de Clisson (1300–1359), also known as Jeanne de Belleville and the Lioness of Brittany, was a Breton privateer who plied the English Channel.

Jeanne Louise de Belleville, de Clisson, Dame de Montaigu, was born in 1300 in Belleville-sur-Vie in the Vendee, a daughter of nobleman Maurice IV of Belleville-Montaigu and Létice de Parthenay of Parthenay in the Gâtine Vendéenne.

In 1312, Jeanne married her first husband, 19-year-old Geoffrey de Châteaubriant VIII, a Breton nobleman, and had two children, 14 years later Geoffrey VIII died and Jeanne remarried to Olivier de Clisson IV, a wealthy Breton, holding a castle at Clisson, a manor house in Nantes and lands at Blain and had together 5 more children. 

During the Breton War of Succession, the de Clissons sided with the French choice for the empty Breton ducal crown, Charles de Blois, against the English preference, John de Montfort. In 1342, the English, after four attempts, captured Vannes. Olivier and Hervé VII de Léon, the military commanders defending this city, were captured. Olivier was the only one released after an exchange for Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford (a prisoner of the French), and a surprisingly low sum was demanded. This led Olivier to be subsequently suspected of not having defended the city to his fullest, and he was alleged by Charles de Blois to be a traitor.

In 1343, the Truce of Malestroit was signed between England and France. Under the perceived safe conditions of this truce, Olivier and fifteen other Breton lords were invited to a tournament on French soil, where he was arrested, taken to Paris, tried by his peers and on 2 August 1343, executed by beheading at Les Halles. 

This execution shocked the nobility as the evidence of guilt was not publicly demonstrated, and the process of exposing a body was reserved mainly for low-class criminals. Jeanne took her two young sons, Olivier and Guillaume, from Clisson to Nantes, to show them the head of their father at the Sauvetout gate.

Jeanne, enraged by her husband's execution, swore retribution against the French King, Philip VI, and Charles de Blois. She considered their actions a cowardly murder. Jeanne then sold the de Clisson estates and raised a force of loyal men and started attacking French forces in Brittany.

Jeanne is said to have attacked a castle occupied by Galois de la Heuse, one of the officers of Charles de Blois, massacring the entire garrison with the exception of one individual.

Jeanne also attacked another garrison at Château-Thébaud, about 20 km south east of Nantes and a former post under control of her husband.

When the fighting in Brittany became too intense, Jeanne and her sons escaped by boat, but on the trip to England, her son Guillaume died of exposure. Jeanne's remaining son, Olivier, was subsequently brought up with John de Montfort in the English court.

With the English king's assistance and Breton sympathizers, Jeanne outfitted three warships. These were painted black and their sails dyed red. The ships of this Black Fleet then patrolled the English Channel hunting down French ships, whereupon her force would kill entire crews, leaving only a few witnesses to transmit the news to the French King. This earned Jeanne the moniker "The Lioness of Brittany". Jeanne continued her piracy in the channel for another 13 years.

Jeanne is also said to have attacked coastal villages in Normandy and have put several to sword and fire. In 1346, during the Battle of Crecy, south of Calais, in northern France, Jeanne used her ships to supply the English forces.

In 1356, Jeanne married for a third time to Sir Walter Bentley, one of King Edward III's military deputies during the campaign. Bentley had previously won the battle of Mauron on August 4, 1352 and was rewarded for his services with "the lands and castles " Beauvoir-sur-mer, of Ampant, of Barre, Blaye, Châteauneuf, Ville Maine, the island Chauvet and from the islands of Noirmoutier and Bouin.

Jeanne finally settled at the Castle of Hennebont, a port town on the Brittany coast, which was in the territory of her de Montfort allies, and later died there in 1359.

2 August  Queen guitarist Brian May submitted his revised astronomy PhD thesis in 2007   http://astro.ic.ac.uk/bmay/home

Brian May carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation of "zodiacal dust clouds" The Zodiacal Light, that misty diffuse cone of light seen in the West after Sunset and the East before Sunrise, is a beautiful and intriguing phenomenon. Even though everyone can enjoy the sight from a suitably dark location, it is poorly understood, and has been the subject of relatively little research.

 Brian May began his research into the subject in 1970. After a viva voce, the revised thesis was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced.  He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my years playing guitar and recording music with Queen, but it's extremely gratifying to see the publication of my thesis," May said. "I've been fascinated with astronomy for years, and I was happy to finally complete my Ph.D. last year and record my studies of the Zodiacal Light in this book."

Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, diffuse white glow seen in the night sky that appears to extend up from the vicinity of the Sun along the ecliptic or zodiac.  It is caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the zodiacal cloud. It is best seen just after sunset in spring, and just before sunrise in autumn, when the zodiac is at a steep angle to the horizon, but is so faint that either moonlight or light pollution renders it invisible.

The zodiacal light decreases in intensity with distance from the Sun, but on very dark nights it has been observed in a band completely around the ecliptic. In fact, the zodiacal light covers the entire sky and is responsible in large part for the total skylight on a moonless night. 

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news116.html

The dust forms a thick pancake-shaped cloud in the Solar System collectively known as the zodiacal cloud, which occupies the same plane as the ecliptic.

“We are the universe experiencing itself.”

The interplanetary dust cloud is cosmic dust (small particles floating in outer space) which pervades the space between planets in the Solar System and in otherplanetary systems. It has been studied for many years in order to understand its nature, origin, and relationship to larger bodies. In the Solar System, the interplanetary dust particles not only scatter solar light (called the "zodiacal light", which is confined to the ecliptic plane), but also producethermal emission, which is the most prominent feature of the night-sky light 

3 August      First Voyage of  Christopher Columbus 

 Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail in command of three ships on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

In the morning of August 3, 1492, Columbus departed from Castilian Palos de la Frontera with three ships (Niña, Pinta, and the Santa Maria). The ships were property of Juan de la Cosa and the Pinzón brothers (Martín Alonso Pinzón and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón), but the monarchs forced the Palos de la Frontera inhabitants to contribute to the expedition as well.

Three days into the journey the rudder of the Pinta broke. The owners of the ship, Gomez Rascon and Christoval Quintero, were suspected of sabotage, as they and their ship had been pressed into service against their will. The crew was able to secure the rudder with ropes until they could reach the Canary Islands, where they arrived on August 9, 1492. Here the Pinta was repaired and the Niña's lateen sails were re-rigged to standard square sails. While securing provisions from the island of La Gomera, Columbus received word that three Portuguese caravels had been seen hovering near the island of El Hierro with the supposed intention of capturing him. However, on September 6, 1492 the westward voyage began without incident. The ships departed San Sebastián de la Gomera for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean.  (photo below Santa-Maria)

As described in the abstract of his log made by Bartolome de Las Casas, on the outward bound voyage Columbus recorded two sets of distances. Las Casas originally interpreted that he reported the shorter distances to his crew so they would not worry about sailing too far from Spain. However, according to Oliver Dunn and James Kelley,  this was a misunderstanding by Las Casas. Columbus did report two distances each day but one was in measurements he normally used, the other in the Portuguese maritime leagues used by his crew. (photo below Niña)

Magnetic declination

On September 13, 1492, Columbus observed that the needle of his compass no longer pointed to the North Star. The needle instead had varied a half point to the northwest, and continued to vary further as the journey progressed. Columbus at first made no mention of this, knowing his crew to be prone to panic with their destination unknown, but after several days his pilots took notice with much anxiety. Allegedly the crew grew so homesick and fearful that they threatened to sail back to Spain. Columbus reasoned that the needle didn't point to the North Star, but to some invisible point on the Earth. His reputation as an astronomer held weight with the crew, and his theory alleviated their alarm. It was once believed that Columbus had discovered magnetic declination, but it was later shown that the phenomenon was already known, both in Europe and in China 

In his first journey, Columbus visited San Salvador in the Bahamas (which he was convinced was Japan), Cuba (which he thought was China) and Hispaniola (where he found gold).

After twenty-nine days out of sight of land, on October 7, 1492, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds", some of which his sailors trapped and determined to be "field" birds (probablyEskimo curlews and American golden plovers). Columbus changed course to follow their flight. (photo below 3rd ship La pinta)

Land was first sighted at 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodriguez Bermejo) aboard La Pinta. Columbus would later assert that he had first seen the land and, thus, earned the reward of 10,000 maravedís.  Columbus called the island San Salvador, in the present-day Bahamas or Turks and Caicos;

the indigenous residents had named it Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos this corresponds to is an unresolved topic; prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island (named San Salvador in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus's San Salvador).

The indigenous people he encountered in their homelands were peaceful and friendly. At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, and the Leeward Islands; the Island Caribs (Kalina) and Galibi in theWindward Islands and Guadeloupe; and the Ciboney (a Taíno people) and Guanahatabey of central and western Cuba, respectively.

The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico; Western Taínos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamian archipelago; and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the Leeward Islands.^[29]Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib-speaking and Arawak-speaking groups. Most of modern Central America was part of the Mesoamerican civilization. The Native American societies of Mesoamerica occupied the land ranging from central Mexicoin the north to Costa Rica in the south. The cultures of Panama traded with both Mesoamerica and South America and can be considered transitional between those two cultural areas.

Columbus proceeded to observe the people and their cultural lifestyle. He also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, landing on October 28, 1492, and the northern coast of Hispaniola, present day Haiti and Dominican Republic, by December 5, 1492. Here, the Santa Maria ran aground onChristmas Day, December 25, 1492, and had to be abandoned. Columbus was received by the native cacique Guacanagari, who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus founded the settlement, La Navidad, leaving behind 39 men.

4 August   The Piper At the Gates of Dawn

On 4 August 1967 Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett 

In subsequent years, the record has been recognised as one of the seminal psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s. When reviewed, by the two main UK music papers in the UK, Record Mirror and NME both gave the album four stars out of five.

The album which was recorded at Abbey Road studios, London during the same time that The Beatles were recordingSgt. Pepper peaked at No.6 on the UK album chart and failed to chart in the US.