Puzzle book series Where’s Wally?, created by English illustrator Martin Handford, made its debut on the 21st of September, 1987, which makes Wally thirty-two years old today.
As the series was released around the world, several countries changed Wally’s name (e.g. “Where’s Waldo” that so often appears in popular culture in the United States).
Gelsey Kirkland, star of American Ballet Theatre, is seen here as Kitri in Don Quixote on the cover of TIME Magazine on the 1st of May, 1978. Kirkland, whose professional career began with New York City Ballet at only fifteen, moved to ABT in 1974, where she found fame dancing with Soviet ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov.
People magazine cover from the 1st of April, 1985. Featured are English actress Jacqueline Bisset and her then partner Alexander Godunov. Godunov was a Soviet ballet star who defected in the late 1970s, becoming a featured actor in Hollywood until his shock death a decade after this picture was taken.
The Battle of Grozny, the Russian siege of the capital of Chechnya that began in 1999, ended on the 6th of February, 2000.
In 2003, the United Nations named Grozny the “most destroyed city on Earth”.
Destruction after the Russian siege.
Ulrike Lytton as the bad fairy Carabosse in The Australian Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty in December, 1984. Lytton committed suicide in the 1990s, soon after retiring from dance.
Notorious for its terrible reviews and reception, and one of the first spinoffs of the Star Wars franchise, The Star Wars Holiday Special premiered on the 17th of November, 1978.
In the special, Chewbacca and Han Solo visit Chewbacca’s home world, Kashyyyk, to celebrate Life Day.
Perhaps because of the negative reception, the Holiday Special has never again been rebroadcast, and was not made available on video.
Today it is only available as a bootleg copy, and its IMDB rating sits at 2.4 stars out of ten.
American soap opera Days of Our Lives had its premiere on the 8th of November, 1965.
The Horton family cast in 1966. X
Famous for its outlandish storylines, including characters being possessed by the devil, and people coming back from the dead multiple times, it is one of the longest-running scripted shows in history.
The 2010 logo.
Due to Days’ popularity, episodes were expanded from half-hour to one hour length in April 1975.
Make It in Denim by Hazel Todhunter was published at the beginning of November, 1977.
On the 23rd of July, 1983 Air Canada flight 143 landed on a racing track in Gimli, Manitoba after experiencing both a fuel shortage and the failure of both engines.
All sixty-nine people on board survived.
After the landing.
The ground crew responsible for the refuelling had calculated the fuel in pounds instead of kilograms, which meant the plane was flying on less than half what it needed to reach its destination.
When one engine failed, the pilots assumed the other would not. However it did, and seconds later the entire plane lost all power, with everything in the cockpit going blank.
One of the pilots had previously served at RCAF Station Gimli, and suggested they try and land there. However, what neither he nor the air traffic controller knew was that part of the base had been converted into a motor racing circuit, including a karting track and an area for drag racing.
Additionally, a Winnipeg Sports Car Club race was underway.
After the landing.
With no working engines, the plane made next to no noise as it approached the track, and so the people on the ground had no warning.
Even so, the pilots managed to land the plane without anyone on the ground being hurt, though one pilot reported two boys were riding their bikes only feet from where the plane came to a stop.
The only injuries experienced by passengers happened when they were escaping the plane. Because the rear of the plane was higher than normal, the escape slides were not long enough to reach the ground.
In Times Gone By... 