George Bizet
by George Denham

George Bizet was a Minnesotan, Lutheran-bred.
And at the age of twenty, flew to Paris for a visit
And on the Champs Elysee decided to be French instead
And pronounce his name Be-zay instead of Bizet.
He came back to Minnesota in a black beret.
Something French in him needed to be expressed,
He felt, and one bitterly cold February day,
Eating cornflakes, he decided to leave the Midwest.
His mother cried, “George, please don’t leave!”
He said, “Maman, I love you but what is the harm in
Finding a little gaiety and joie de vivre
And socialized medicine?” He said to Carmen,
            “Darling, it’s cold here and the water tastes like copper.  A
            Plane leaves for Paris at midnight. Let’s be an opera.”



George Denham, "George Bizet." Reprinted with permission of the author.

On this day in 1952 the British Overseas Aircraft Corporation inaugurated the first commercial jet airliner service. The 36-seat de Haviland Comet 1 was the first jet-powered airplane built specifically to transport large groups of people from Point A to Point B for money, and its first voyage was from London to Johannesburg, with stops in Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe, and Livingstone. Compared to our jetliners today, early models were noisy and remarkably inefficient but, compared to the old propeller-driven planes powered by piston engines, they were tremendously fast. The trip to Johannesburg took only 23 hours and the jet could fly above storms, eight miles high.

The Comet had a sleek silhouette and large windows and had a fairly comfortable cabin, but it was prone to metal fatigue and was withdrawn from the market after two years and two catastrophic crashes in which planes ripped apart in mid-flight. It was thoroughly tested and redesigned to correct the problem, but sales never fully recovered.

On this day in 1536 Anne Boleyn was arrested and imprisoned for high treason, incest, and adultery. Anne was born around 1502 in Norfolk, England, and she was educated in the French court where she served as a lady-in-waiting to the queen. She grew to be quite accomplished in music and dancing and she had a keen eye for fashion and a knack for flirtation. She was also intelligent, forward, and interested in politics and religious reform. Some people described her as beautiful, although not in the fair, blonde way preferred at the time; she had black hair, olive skin, and big dark eyes. She never lacked suitors, but it was her charm, spirit, and wit that captivated them.

When she was about 20 Anne returned home to the court of Henry VIII where she joined her older sister, Mary, as lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. Mary was also the mistress of the king for a while, and it didn’t get her anywhere except married off to a dull husband when Henry got tired of her. Anne was clever, though, and when the king turned his attention to her, she refused him. She may have been in love with another man, Henry Percy, but she was also smart enough to look out for her own best interest. The king married Percy off to another woman and began looking for ways to annul his marriage to Catherine, banishing her from the court.

Anne gradually took Catherine’s place at court, though not yet in Henry’s bed. For seven years he tried to wear her down, writing many love letters to her when they were apart, even though he hated to write — and for seven years he tried to convince the pope to give him an annulment. Anne gave in before the pope did, and by the end of 1532 she was pregnant. They were secretly married in January 1533 and Henry denied the authority of the pope, declaring himself head of the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury declared the king’s first marriage invalid in May and the baby was born in September: a daughter, dismissed as a “useless girl,” who would become England’s greatest monarch, Queen Elizabeth I.

Anne never produced the son and heir that Henry needed, though, and she suffered three miscarriages in the next three years. Henry turned his attentions to Jane Seymour, Anne’s lady-in-waiting, and began looking for ways to get rid of Anne. He made sure there was no way she would escape execution, accusing her of numerous affairs, incest with her brother, high treason, and witchcraft. The only mercy he showed her was in ordering that she be beheaded by a sword rather than a common axe.

Today is the birthday of Dr. Benjamin Spock (books by this author), born in New Haven, Connecticut (1903). He wrote The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946). It began, "You know more than you think you do," and it became the parenting bible for all the post-war moms and dads raising the baby boomer generation. People like Spiro Agnew and Norman Vincent Peale blamed his permissive parenting philosophy for the '60s counterculture movement. Spock replied, "Maybe my book helped a generation not to be intimidated by adulthood. When I was young, I was always made to assume that I was wrong. Now young people think they might be right and stand up to authority."

Today is the birthday of Jerome K. Jerome (books by this author), born in Walsall, England (1859). It was he who said, "I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." He's best known for his play Three Men in a Boat and his book Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886).

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^®

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