Good News in History, August 23

Happy 73rd Birthday to DC’s own Lisa Halaby, famously known to the world as Queen Noor of Jordan. The second-generation Washingtonian married King Hussein of Jordan, becoming the queen of that country. Noor is the longest-standing board member of the International Commission on Missing Persons. As of 2023, she is president of the United World Colleges movement and an advocate of the anti-nuclear weapons proliferation campaign Global Zero. READ more about her life… (1951)

Before her marriage, she accepted her husband’s Sunni Islamic religion and upon the marriage, changed her name from Lisa Halaby to the royal name Noor Al Hussein (“Light of Hussein”). The wedding was a traditional Muslim ceremony.

Her conversion to Islam and wedding to the King of Jordan received extensive coverage in the Western press; many assumed that she would be regarded as a stranger to the country since she was an American of mostly European descent who was raised in Christianity. However, because of her Syrian grandfather, she was considered by most of the population to be an Arab returning home rather than a foreigner.

Queen Noor’s international work focuses on environmental issues and the connection to human security with an emphasis on water and ocean health. At the 2017 Our Ocean Conference, she delivered a keynote address on the link between climate change and ocean health with human security. Queen Noor is a Patron of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Founding and Emeritus President of BirdLife International, Trustee Emeritus of Conservation International, and an Ocean Elder.

More Good News from this date in History:

• Gene Kelly, the actor and dancer who choreographed his own dance routines in Hollywood hits like Singin’ in the Rain, Anchors Aweigh, An American in Paris and On the Town, was born (1912)
• World Council of Churches formed (1948)
• Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at the New York Club ‘Max’s Kansas City’ (1970)
• Armenia declared its independence, becoming the first non-Baltic republic to secede from the Soviet Union, which dissolved the following year, allowing the Republic of Armenia to choose its first democratically elected president (1990)
• West and East Germany announced that they soon would become a united Germany once again (1990)
• Eugene Bullard, the only black pilot in World War I, was posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force (1994)
• And, Happy 74th Birthday to Rick Springfield (below), the actor and singer, whose 1981 hit Jessie’s Girl rocketed him to fame (1949)

78 years ago today, The Big Sleep, an American film noir starring ‘Bogie and Bacall’ was released.

Directed by Howard Hawks, The Big Sleep stars Humphrey Bogart in the first film appearance of the private detective Philip Marlowe. With a screenplay co-written by novelist William Faulkner, the movie also starred a young Lauren Bacall, who eventually became Bogart’s real-life true love.

The plot involves a grizzled private detective in England investigating a complicated case of blackmail turned murder involving a rich but honest elderly general, and his two loose socialite daughters. The film was added to the National Film Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, and the AFI named Philip Marlowe the 32nd greatest hero in films. WATCH the trailer… (1946)

88 years ago today, Keith Moon, the self-destructive and beloved drummer of The Who, was born in London. Moon was born in a suburb of Wembley and took up the drums during the early 1960s. After playing with a local band, the Beachcombers, he joined the Who in 1964 before they recorded their first single. According to a long-time staff member of the band, The Who were playing a gig when “a gingerbread man” with “great big brown puppy-dog eyes,” approached Pete Townsend off stage and said, “I heard you need a drummer, and I’m better than the one you’ve got.”

His drumming style is sometimes described as “zig-zag” and Moon was near one-of-a-kind in his days for instinctively putting mini drum fills at the end of each bar, and in any case, all over The Who’s songs in places most drummers would never think to put them. In addition to his talent as a drummer, Moon developed a reputation for smashing his kit on stage and destroying hotel rooms on tour. He was fascinated with blowing up toilets with cherry bombs or dynamite, and destroying television sets.

A true rock & roll character, he had strong opinions. Among which were the belief that drum solos were boring to listen to, and so he avoided them. Another was his opinion on his own ability, which could be summed up with the quote “I’ve got no real aspirations to be a great drummer. I just want to play drums for the Who and that’s it.”

Lastly, he routinely made his bandmates laugh, regardless of the situation—whether performing live or recording, and despite his destructive behavior towards himself and others, he is remembered fondly for it. (1946)

Also, 30 years ago today, Dennis Eckersley, who previously set a Major League Baseball record for most consecutive saves (40), became the first pitcher ever to record 40 saves in four separate seasons. Known for his championship play for the Oakland A’s, “Eck” played for five different teams in his 23-year career.

Born in San Francisco, the now 64-year-old won nearly every award in baseball during a career which was unique in that he was the first of two pitchers in MLB history to have logged both a 20-win season and a 50-save season as a starter-turned-reliever. (1993)

And, 43 years ago basketball legend Kobe Bryant was born. He helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three straight NBA Championships from 2000 to 2002—and two more in 2009 and 2010. He also won an Academy Award in 2018 for Best Animated Short film, ‘Dear Basketball‘. He tragically died in an aviation crash in 2020. WATCH his speech at the Oscars… (1978)

44 years ago today, David Bowie went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ashes To Ashes‘. From the Scary Monsters album, the song continued the story of Major Tom from Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity‘—the first of five chart-toppers.

The video for Ashes to Ashes was one of the most iconic of the 1980s and cost £250,000, according to ThisDayInMusic.com. It was the most expensive music video ever made until that point, and led the way to ever more extravagant productions. WATCH it below… (1980)

And, on this day in 1989, the astounding non-violent Singing Revolution for Baltic independence reached a peak when Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians joined hands to form a 400-mile human chain connecting the three capitals.

Called The Baltic Way, it united two million people, roughly a quarter of the total population of the 3 states along the 650-km chain—from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius—in a successful bid for democracy and to end Soviet occupation. The emotionally captivating and visually stunning scene of people lining roadways publicized the unpopular Soviet rule as not only a political matter, but also as a moral, human rights issue.

The demonstration marked the 50th anniversary of the secret ‘Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact’ between the Stalinist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, which carved up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence and led to the occupation of the Baltic states after World War II. The event, organized by Baltic pro-independence movements, was designed to draw global attention to the region by demonstrating a popular desire for independence in each of the three nations, and symbolizing the solidarity among them.

On the day of the event, special radio broadcasts helped to coordinate the effort, free bus rides were sponsored in rural areas, and Estonia declared a public holiday. The demonstrators peacefully linked hands for 15 minutes, while elsewhere, priests held masses or rang church bells. The Soviet authorities responded to the event with intense rhetoric, but within six months of the protest, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare independence. Within a year, the Soviets allowed elections in all three Baltic states, which toppled Communist control and won the Baltic states their independence. WATCH a video and learn more about this inspiring protest…

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