christophercox.co.uk

11/10/2021

11 October 1844 - Henry J. Heinz, the brainz behind the beanz at Heinz UK . Born in Pennsylviania USA, at the age of 25 Heinz started a company making bottled horseradish. After this venture failed, he started again but this time focused on less spicy condiments – including tomato ketchup, or 'catsup' as it was known then. The famous '57 varieties' slogan demonstrates Henry's understanding of showmanship, despite his conservative religiousness – in fact the company had well over 60 lines by this point, it's just that 57 combined his and his wife's lucky numbers, and it sounded good. For most of their success in late 19th century USA, Heinz were possibly best known for their pickles. Meanwhile in 1886, Heinz Baked Beans were first sold at the Fortnum & Mason department store in London – and went on to be such a staple of British food that the WWII Ministry of Food classified Heinz Baked Beans as an "essential food" in the rationing system. In the USA, baked beans are nowhere near so big an institution despite being their point of origin - possibly because Britain has a tradition – totally baffling to Americans – of the “on-toast meal”. As the 20th century progressed, Heinz tomato ketchup became more and more popular. (However in recent times sales have plunged, with strong 21st century competition from mayonnaise.)

Heinz died in 1919, and his legacy is continued in the family line, with Christopher Heinz a current heir.

PS Heinz's father hailed from Kallstadt in Bavaria, and his mother was called Charlotte Louisa Trump. Yes, he was a second cousin (twice removed) of Donald Trump.

Henry John Heinz (October 11, 1844 – May 14, 1919) was an American entrepreneur who, at the age of 25, co-founded a small horseradish concern in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. This business failed, but his second business expanded into tomato ketchup and other condiments, and ultimately became the inte...

21/09/2021

(21st September 1908) Allen Lane, co-founder of Penguin Books and populariser of the paperback book. After working for his uncle's publishing house Bodley Head for a number of years, the legend goes that Lane was returning from a visit to Agatha Christie and waiting at Exeter station where, frustrated by the lack of books on sale (or perhaps just realising a market opportunity), he hit upon the idea of cheap paperback books 'the price of a pack of ci******es' and just as easy to get hold of. We now have to imagine a world dominated by expensive hardbacks with no good-quality writing available in paperback form. Lane's Penguin Books (plus his often-overlooked co-founding brothers) created the world we live in, where paperback editions are the norm rather than the exception. Lane was also behind the distinctive and clever design of the early Penguin books, that both stood out on the shelves and helped readers see at a glance whether something was - for example - general fiction (orange), or crime fiction (green). He was a risk-taker. In 1936 while at Bodley Head, Lane was behind the controversial decision to publish Ulysses by James Joyce. Another supposedly 'obscene' work, Lady Chatterley's Lover, was published in full by Penguin in 1960 – they were charged under the Obscene Publications Act as a result. And when Lane launched Penguin, many people thought that the venture would fail due to the cheap units not generating enough profit – instead Penguin sold three million paperbacks in its first year. He also gave his secretary Eunice Frost a large amount of editorial responsibility, and she would eventually become a director of the company. In later years he fought off an attempt to oust him, but soon retired, and then died shortly afterwards of bowel cancer aged 67.

Sir Allen Lane CH (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.[1][2]

15/09/2021

September 15th 1908: Penny Singleton - actor and activist who risked her life as an anti-gangster union official. Singleton was best known to 1940s movie-goers from a hugely popular series of 28 (!) 'Blondie' films, as the titular Blondie Bumstead. Then, in the 60s, she became the voice of Jane Jetson in the animated Hanna-Barbera tv show 'The Jetsons'. However, Singleton's talents and bravery went far beyond performance. Irked the limits of her Blondie stereotyping, she created the concept of 'residuals' - aka repeat fees - transforming the working lives of actors forever after. Yet her work for actors' rights even further than that - she risked her life for them. In the 1960s she stood to be elected as vice president of the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), standing up to the organised crime gang who ran the New York division. In those days the union was "a garbage union" according to performer Jack Carter - "It was on the take." AGVA was in the pocket of the mob - men who "if you crossed them you'd wind up with your feet in cement". Penny Singleton directly attacked the union's mob connections in her campaign. "Penny Singleton is Racket-Free! [...] Penny Singleton has no 'STRINGS' attached to her and therefore isn't afraid to speak the truth!". She won, somehow avoiding recriminations from the mob, and went on to lead successful actions, including the first-ever strike against Disneyland.

Penny Singleton (born Mariana Dorothy McNulty, September 15, 1908[2] – November 12, 2003) was an American actress and labor leader. During her 60-year career, Singleton appeared as the comic-strip heroine Blondie Bumstead in a series of 28 motion pictures from 1938 until 1950 and the popular Blon...

07/09/2021

This one was jaw-dropping to research, and I'd never even heard of him before... Born on this day, 7 September 1924: Daniel Inouye, a war hero with an incredible story – also the first Japanese American to serve in Congress, the second Asian American senator ever, third in the presidential line of succession from 2010 until his death, and (until the inauguration of Kamala Harris as vice president) the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in U.S. history.

Inouye was born in Hawaii, and served as a medical volunteer during the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943, he was training to be a doctor when the US Army dropped their ban on enlisting Japanese Americans. So Inouye joined up, and was soon promoted to second lieutenant. While serving in Italy, a shot near his heart bounced harmlessly off two silver dollars in his pocket. And yet, this wasn't the most miraculous thing to happen to him during his military service. While leading an assault on three German positions towards the end of the war, Inouye was shot in the stomach. He carried on anyway, to destroy both the first and second positions. As his squad moved on the third gunner, Inouye prepared to throw his last hand gr***de. A rifle gr***de-wielding German soldier spotted this – and simply shot right his arm off. Inouye's hand gr***de "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore" dropped at his feet. Due to nerve trauma, the lifeless hand still squeezed the gr***de and stopped it going off, sparing his life. Inouye then prised the live gr***de out with his remaining hand, threw it as originally intended - and destroyed the German position the second before they had a chance to finish him off. With one arm and a stomach injury, Inouye still continued to fight, killing at least one more German soldier before suffering a yet another wound - in his leg, this time - and finally passing out.

Due to the loss of his arm he gave up ambitions to become a surgeon after the war and went into Democratic Party politics instead. President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted Inouye to be a Vice Presidential candidate in 1968, but Presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey ignored this advice, and lost the election.

Inouye died on December 17, 2012 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. There are too many other awards and achievements to list here - read his obituary here.

Longest-serving member of the US Senate who investigated the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals

30/08/2021

Born on this day, 30 August 1912 - Nancy Wake, WWII spy. Māori through her great-grandmother, Wake was born in New Zealand but was living in France when war broke out. After escaping, then being recruited to the SOE (Special Operations Executive), Wake parachuted back into France in 1944. A resistance leader found her in a tree and said, “I hope that all the trees bear such beautiful fruit this year,” to which Wake replied, “Don’t give me that French s**t.” Later she killed an SS sentry during a raid. Describing the event later, Wake simply drew her finger across her throat. “They’d taught this judo-chop stuff with the flat of the hand at SOE, and I practised away at it. But this was the only time I used it – whack – and it killed him all right. I was really surprised.” The Gestapo called her the ‘White Mouse’. “A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I’d pass their posts and wink and say, ‘Do you want to search me?’ God, what a flirtatious little bastard I was.” In later life she lived in London as a resident of the Stafford Hotel. She celebrated her 90th birthday there, and in the mornings could be found in the bar, sipping gin and tonic. She died on 7 August 2011, aged 98 - her amazing obituary:

The WW2 resistance heroine, who has died aged 98, was 'a force of nature' who topped the Gestapo's most-wanted list

30/08/2021

Born on this day, 30 August 1912 - Nancy Wake, WWII spy. Māori through her great-grandmother, Wake was born in New Zealand but was living in France when war broke out. After escaping, then being recruited to the SOE (Special Operations Executive), Wake parachuted back into France in 1944. A resistance leader found her in a tree and said, “I hope that all the trees bear such beautiful fruit this year,” to which Wake replied, “Don’t give me that French s**t.” Later she killed an SS sentry during a raid. Describing the event later, Wake simply drew her finger across her throat. “They’d taught this judo-chop stuff with the flat of the hand at SOE, and I practised away at it. But this was the only time I used it – whack – and it killed him all right. I was really surprised.” The Gestapo called her the ‘White Mouse’. “A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I’d pass their posts and wink and say, ‘Do you want to search me?’ God, what a flirtatious little bastard I was.” In later life she lived in London as a resident of the Stafford Hotel. She celebrated her 90th birthday there, and in the mornings could be found in the bar, sipping gin and tonic. She died on 7 August 2011, aged 98.

30/08/2021

Born on this day, 30 August 1912 - Nancy Wake, WWII spy. Māori through her great-grandmother, Wake was born in New Zealand but was living in France when war broke out. After escaping, then being recruited to the SOE (Special Operations Executive), Wake parachuted back into France in 1944. A resistance leader found her in a tree and said, "I hope that all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year," to which Wake replied, "Don't give me that French s**t."

Later she killed an SS sentry during a raid. Describing the event, Wake drew her finger across her throat. "They'd taught this judo-chop stuff with the flat of the hand at SOE, and I practised away at it. But this was the only time I used it – whack – and it killed him all right. I was really surprised."

The Gestapo called her the 'White Mouse'. "A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I'd pass their posts and wink and say, 'Do you want to search me?' God, what a flirtatious little bastard I was."

In later life she lived in London as a resident of the Stafford Hotel. She celebrated her 90th birthday there and in the mornings could be found in the bar, sipping gin and tonic.

Wake died on 7 August 2011, aged 98.

The WW2 resistance heroine, who has died aged 98, was 'a force of nature' who topped the Gestapo's most-wanted list

07/05/2021

In which I attempt to help non-experts navigate Drupal vs WordPress CMS choice dilemma, and invoke Harry Hill.

I'm pitting these two big CMSs against each other on the basis of three fundamental themes, without any jargon (not for techies).

01/04/2021

Putting my freelance business stupid smiling face photo everywhere means I have to look at my stupid freelance business stupid smiling face quite a lot. Oh no. *Boosts post*