Page 94 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

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What
happened to

Glenn Miller?
David Amsel
On 15 December 1944, Glenn Miller
flew across the English Channel to make
arrangements for moving his Army Air Force
band to Paris. His plane
ALTON GLENN MILLER never arrived. Neither
Nationality: American the wreckage nor
Born-died: 1 March 1904 – the bodies were ever
15 December 1944
recovered and his death
was not reported by
Glenn Miller was a the army for nine days,
big band musician
Brief and bandleader in the which has led to various
Bio Swing Era. In 1942, at conspiracy theories —
the height of his fame, including the idea that
he gave up his professional he was working as a
career and formed the 50-piece spy. But Miller’s ill-fated
Army Air Force Band. In 1944, flight was in very bad
they toured England and gave weather, in a single-
800 performances to entertain
the troops. engined US Army Air
Force UC-64, with a
pilot who was not certified to fly in fog.
Military reports at the time stated that
the fuel lines must have iced up, causing the
engine to cut out while the plane was flying
This 16th-century ‘Pillars of Hercules’ low. A 2009 investigation on behalf of
emblem appears on the Town Hall of Miller’s son concluded that the pilot would
Seville in Spain have had just eight seconds to react before
the plane plunged into the sea and sank.
what is the origin of the $ symbol?

Alice Freeman Pieces of eight were silver coins, and the silver mine
it’s surprisingly controversial. the most widely accepted in Potosí, Bolivia, was the largest in the americas until
theory is that it comes from the symbol for the Spanish the 18th century. in 1672, the Spanish Colonial Mint
Peso, which was initially written as a P with a smaller S was established in Potosí and coins made there were
in the top right, but later had the letters superimposed. stamped with the letters ‘PtSi’, all superimposed. this
Spanish coinage, in particular the ‘real de a ocho’, or essentially looks like an S with a single vertical stroke,
piece of eight, was common currency across the world which may have later changed to the dollar sign we
and was used in north america into the 19th century. know today. the piece of eight was intended to have
these coins showed the royal Seal of King Ferdinand ii the same value as a German thaler coin, originally
of aragon, which was the twin Pillars of Hercules with made from silver mined in Joachimsthal, Bohemia. the The UC-64 was known to
an S-shaped scroll between them, and the $ symbol Joachimsthaler was nicknamed the ‘thaler’, and from suffer from icing problems
in its carburettor
could be a simplified version of this. that we (somehow) get the word ‘dollar’.
This day in history 17 August

1498 1549 1807 1908

l A cardinal resigns l Battle of Sampford Courtenay l First steamboat l First animated film
Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son The Prayer Book Rebellion in The North River Steamboat Emile Cohl releases Fantasmagorie,
of Pope Alexander VI, is the Devon and Cornwall, protesting begins its service on the the first animated cartoon. It is 80
first person ever to resign as against the introduction of Hudson River between New seconds long and shows a stick
a cardinal. His elder brother the English language liturgy in York City and Albany. It is figure tumbling through a barely
has been assassinated in church, comes to an end. 1,300 the first commercial steam- coherent stream-of-consciousness
mysterious circumstances and rebels are killed in a heavy gun powered boat in operation sequence of animals and people
Cesare wants to take his place. battle with government forces. and travels at 6.5kph. morphing into each other.

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