Good News in History, June 10

65 years ago today, one of the greatest football managers of modern times, Carlo Ancelotti, was born. With his calm demeanor, raised eyebrow, and tactical nouse, the Italian became the most decorated manager in UEFA Champions League history, having won the trophy a record four times as coach of AC Milan and Real Madrid. There has perhaps never been a manager so calm, who can nevertheless inspire his players to run through several brick walls at his command. The photograph below, after beating Liverpool in the final of the 2021-2022 Champions League, has become one of the most iconic images in the modern game—of a reserved and noble character letting his armor down for the first time, and endeared him even more to the world. READ about how Ancelotti’s coaching style… (1959)

Ancelotti is the first and only manager to win the top-flight season title in all of Europe’s top-five leagues, with Chelsea in England, Real Madrid in Spain, Bayern Munich in Germany, AC Milan in Italy, and PSG in France.

“I think that the methodology of training in football has changed a lot in the last 20 years,” Ancelotti commented in 2020 during his second spell managing Real Madrid, during which he won the La Liga and Champions League double.

“So I’ve had to be ready to change my style and my idea of football, because the rules have changed. It’s a completely different sport. But what hasn’t changed is my relationship with the players. That’s the same.”

On that relationship, Ancelotti has won praise throughout his career for his kindness, good humor, and his calm, balanced approach as a manager, as well as his ability to motivate his players and cultivate a good relationship with them, and foster a united, winning team environment.

When asked in the Spanish press about the photo with the cigar, he replied that “No, I don’t smoke cigars! It was only a photo with my friends. Yes, these players are my friends.”

MORE Good News on this Day:

• The Chicago Tribune newspaper began publishing (1847)
• A patent for the window envelope (an envelope with a window in it) was granted to H F Callahan (1902)
• Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett), the singer-guitarist and harmonica player with the booming voice and imposing physical presence, who became one of the best-known Chicago blues artists, was born (1910)
• The United Church of Canada held its first service following the merger of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches (1925)
• The Eagles released One of These Nights, their fourth studio LP, which became the band’s first No.1 album with its three top 10 singles One of These Nights, Lyin’ Eyes, and Take It to the Limit (1975)
• Apple Computer shipped its first Apple II personal computer (1977)
• ‘Web 2.0‘ became the millionth word to enter the English language, a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services (2009)

102 years ago today, Judy Garland, the singer and actress who played Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, was born in Minnesota. Named Frances Ethel Gumm, she was performing at the age of three and went on to earn Academy Award nods for roles in A Star Is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg. During her 40-year career, she is perhaps best known for singing ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, which was voted the ‘Song Of The Century’ in an American poll. In 1969, at the age of 47, the international star died of a barbiturate overdose. Other famous films include Meet Me in St. Louis and Easter Parade. Her children, Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft, carried on her legacy as singers and actors. 

Garland was the first woman to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year; for Judy at Carnegie Hall called “the greatest night in show business history”. The 2-record live album is peppered with early Hollywood scores, particularly from movies Garland starred in, like The Man That Got Away, from A Star is Born, other showbiz classics like Puttin’ on the Ritz, and a few Gershwin tunes like Do it Again. 

She was described as the greatest entertainer in history, and was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her contralto voice belied her small frame, with its resonance and relentlessness leaving an indelible mark on all who heard it. Somewhere over the Rainbow was placed in the Grammy Hall of Fame, as well as another song written specifically for her voice, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. WATCH her sing a few bars… (1922)

113 years ago today The Rembrandt House Museum was opened by Queen Wilhelmina in Amsterdam. The historic ‘Rembrandthuis’ is the home and studio where the Dutch Master lived and worked for two decades.

With more than a quarter million annual visitors, the 17th-century interior has been thoroughly decorated to show how the house looked in Rembrandt’s days—and quite exactly, too, due to the unfortunate fact that the painter went bankrupt in his 50s, and a ledger had documented all his belongings before they went on auction.

Rembrandt purchased the house in 1639 and, much like Thomas Jefferson, spent beyond his means to purchase valuable items that were both manmade and from the natural world. The museum displays a near-complete collection of the artist’s etchings, meticulously carved into metal or wood before being inked to paper. Watch a video to see the home and unparalleled etchings he made that are housed there… (1911)

89 years ago today, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Bill Wilson—who, the previous day, drank his last drink. He co-founded it with Dr. Bill Smith who helped form AA’s Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development to enable its members to “stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.”

With the help of early members, the book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism was written in 1939—and, by 2016, close to two million people worldwide were estimated to be members of AA.

Self-supporting and apolitical, AA operates under tenets called the Twelve Traditions, introduced in 1946 to stabilize the fellowship and keep it disengaged from “outside issues” and influences. Other addiction treatment fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous have adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions for their respective groups. (1935)

And, on this day in 1964, The Rolling Stones visited Chess Records studio at 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago during their first U.S. tour where they recorded R&B covers from some of their favorite artists. During the day, they met their blues heroes, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, and rock pioneer Chuck Berry, some of the famous artists who recorded there. The visit came just after their debut album was climbing the charts in the UK where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards got their start playing covers of Chess recordings.

The sessions were featured on their U.K. EP Five by Five and on their second U.S. studio LP 12 x 5, and included the song that became their first #1 hit, It’s All Over Now, as well as Time Is On My Side. It also included the Stones’ original instrumental named after the studio’s now-famous street address, 2120 South Michigan Avenue.

Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, which is located at the site of the famous blues label’s headquarters, works to restore the Chess Records building. In his biography, Keith Richards described Chess records as “hallowed ground” and the “perfect recording studio”.

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