OTD 50 years ago the Great Lakes Freighter Edmund Fitzgerald foundered and sank with all 29 crew lost; Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the tragedy in his 1976 song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, two versions of which are featured on today's @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses at 2 pm.

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

Two students from my rather good 4th year seminar (where we are doing a role play about statues and naming controversies) just Bcced me on their in-role emails as a concerned board member and the university head of advancement. If I didn't know better I'd swear they were pros!

Born OTD 100 years ago, American actress Doris Roberts (d 2016); best known for tv roles on Remington Steele and, latterly, Everybody Loves Raymond. In a 7-decade career she earned 5 Emmy Awards.

RIP Diane Ladd. A long career as far back as the 50s and some bravura performances such as in Alice Doesn't Live here Anymore. I once saw 24 year old Ladd in a 1958 episode of the classic tv cop show "Naked City" and was staggered how much she resembled her daughter Laura Dern at that age.

On today's @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses at 2 EST, we pay tributes to 2 departed jazz giants, electric bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Jack de Johnette. Plus Oscar Peterson, a long track from Miles Davis's classic Bitches Brew, and new music from Ontario roots musician Kate Weekes.Tune in!

[thread] Some upcoming titles in the @universitypress.cambridge.org series Elements in Historical Theory and Practice: 1."Knowledge and Narrative"-Chiel van den Akker. 2."The History of Contingency and Future Oriented Thought"-Thomas Moynihan. 3."Gender, Theory and History"-Maria Ines La Greca

Left: the Artist Formerly Known as Prince Right: the Prince Formerly Known as Prince

Happy 100th birthday to actress/director Lee Grant (née Lyova Haskell Rosenthal) whose long career saw her in film, theatre and TV from 1951 to 2020 (career interrupted for 12 years by refusing to name names to HUAC). 1/2

The Department of History at Queen’s University seeks a postdoctoral fellow to start July 1, 2026. Applications are due on January 15, 2026 for the Marjorie McLean Oliver Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The full position description can be found here: www.queensu.ca/history/abou...

Congratulations to @kreskildsen.bsky.social on the publication of his @universitypress.cambridge.org THINGS OF THE PAST: a modern yearning, in the Elements in Historical Theory and Practice series. Free to download till 13 November at DOI: 10.1017/9781009342988. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Born OTD 100 years ago, British actor Robert Hardy (d 2017). Familiar to Millennials from Harry Potter films, his varied roles included Leicester in Elizabeth R, Prince Albert in Edward VII, Churchill, FDR and perhaps most belovedly, vet Siegfried Farnon in 70s series All Creatures Great and Small.

BOO! It's Hallowe'en Week and time for the annual scary music themed episode of Dark Glasses on @cfrcradio.bsky.social at 2. Tunes from Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans, Lou Donaldson, Ahmad Jamal, Philly Joe Jones, Jackie McLean, plus Canadian acts Jane Bunnett, and Murley Bickert and Wallace. Tune in!

3 years later and I'd like to stress this: Orderly progression, cumulative development, incremental improvement. These concepts are not to be confused with the concept of progress. They carry none of the temporal expectations and moral assumptions that progress carries 1/2

Born OTD 100 years ago, legendary late night host Johnny Carson (d 2005). A show biz career that started in the US Navy in World War II finished up with 3 decades of hosting The Tonight Show.

I'm delighted to welcome another title to the CUP @universitypress.cambridge.org series Elements in Historical Theory and Practice. Maria Grever, Contested Public Monuments. doi.org/10.1017/9781.... This is available for free download till Nov 5 2025.

In 1978 as a 2nd year undergraduate at my current institution I received a letter indicating that I was awarded a book prize in Canadian history named for the gent below and from his private library. I duly wrote a sincere thank you letter. 1/2

Just heard Prof. Donald Wright giving the 43rd annual Archives Lecture at Queen's, on his many forays through the fonds of A.R.M. Lower, the distinguished Canadian historian of the early to mid 20th century. A great talk, with some good questions from students in my 4th year historiography seminar.

Born OTD 100 years ago, actor and director Bernard Hepton d 2018. Not often in film, he worked primarily in theatre and tv. Notable roles as slippery characters in 2 of my very favourite mini-series: Toby Esterhase in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (and Smiley's People) and Pallas in I Claudius.

At the Red House with Tom Saunders, Smaro Skoulikidis and Arts 80 alums marking 45 years since graduation from @queensuglobal.bsky.social

Our walk in the park was progressing quite well until we came to this entirely unanticipated fork in the road.

2nd of 2 birth centenaries OTD--where even to begin with Dame Angela Lansbury? from Gaslight, through the Manchurian Candidate, to Murder She Wrote she played heroines and villainesses with equal grace and skill. Died in 2022 just days short of 97.

1st of 2 centenary OTDs for today: Michael Conrad, regular character actor from late 50s to his death in 1983 while playing Sgt Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues "let's be careful out there!". Often played heavies, such as the psychopathic thug in 1959 episode of Naked City, "Fire Island".

Born OTD 100 years ago, movie and tv actress Virginia Leith, d 2019. Memorable roles include The Brain that wouldn't die (1962) and the more fortunate of 2 sisters (the less fortunate was a young Joanne Woodward) dating a murderous Robert Wagner in 1956's noir A Kiss Before Dying.

Watching the last episode of Foundation season 1 and (only other viewers will get this) wondering why the writers passed up the chance to call this ‘When Hari met Salvor’.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving, and unlike previous years where I've featured food-themed music appropriate to the day, instead on today's Dark Glasses we will play all-new jazz from Collin Sherman, Dayna Stephens (a take on Monk's Stuffy Turkey--ok, ONE turkey-themed track), 1/2,

Having cleverly worked out that, unlike the squirrels, he is small enough to reach our bird feeder and secure himself while dining, Thelonious Chipmunk considers how to escape while trapped in the ring.

This Is Fascism

EL PASO — a family says ICE showed up at their house looking for migrants and shot and KILLED THEIR DOG, then didn’t help them as the agent ran away and was not identified. kfoxtv.com/news/local/e...

John Lodge has died aged 82. Along with Justin Hayward, he joined the Moody Blues in 1965 and was part of the group's transition from a moderately successful blues-cover band to the super group that emerged with Days of Future Passed. I got to hear him and Justin and the late Graham Edge in 2010.

The RHS is a membership organisation of 6500+ historians. We welcome applications to join us at any time. Our next closing dates are 13 October and 15 December. We offer categories for all kinds of historians and at all stages of research, from Postgraduate to Fellow: bit.ly/46V8WOQ #Skystorians

Today on @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses, new music from Gary Bartz and Montreal's Kate Wyatt (who performs in Kingston this Saturday at 3 at the central public library!). Plus Karen Robinson, the Doxas Brothers, and lots of quartets and trios: Allison Au, @jodiproznick.bsky.social, Mike Murley.

‘Sorry mum. I’ve run the numbers again and it comes up the same. We just can’t afford a cat.’

The newest Heritage Minute from @historicacanada.bsky.social on the pioneering Canadian female zoologist Anne Innis Dagg and her lifelong study of giraffes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9qR...

This looks really interesting--and available Open Access!

The lethal warfighter at work.

Born OTD 100 years ago, actor William Forrest Andrews (d 2013). Because of the mid-40s fame of his older brother Dana Andrews, he changed his own name to STEVE FORREST. While he never quite cracked the Hollywood A-list he had memorable lead TV roles such as British TV's art dealer/spy The Baron. 1/2

My review of @stefanbauer.bsky.social and Simon Ditchfield's edited collection A Renaissance Reclaimed: Jacob Burckhardt's Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Reconsidered, in Marginalia Review of Books. www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/moderni...

Today marking exactly 2.5 years since we were adopted by our lovely rescue hound Layla, here assisting me with lecture prep. @jagwoolf.bsky.social

Wrapping up the Anglo-Saxon phase of my course today with rapid tour from Edw the Elder to Edw the Confessor, with stops at Athelstan, Edgar the Peaceful, Aethelreds, and Cnut and his sons. Special attention to that most formidable of late A-S queens, Emma of Normandy. And, of course, Lady Godiva.

Born OTD 100 years ago, veteran S. African/British actor Stratford Johns, whose most famous character was Detective Barlow in long-running Z-cars. Played regicide judge Bradshaw to Alec Guiness's Charles I in 1970 film 'Cromwell'. d 2002.

On @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses at 2pm today we lead with a salute to B.B. King who would have turned 100 last week; new music from Trio of Bloom, Kate Wyatt, and Caity Gyorgy. Plus vintage Cassandra Wilson, Leonard Cohen and the Handsome Family. Tune in!

My vote for the coolest if most ambiguous name for a scholarly association. Who is the keynote this year? Livy? Polybius? It's quite difficult to follow Ephorus with his fragments of text delivery. And please, not Ammianus Marcellinus again. He does go on...

Buyer's remorse in action.

Except now we actually DO have to worry about several governments headed by psycho killers with no compassion, and whether there is any truth in the book I read.

Born OTD 100 years ago, veteran character actor Morgan Woodward (d 2019). Had a steady gig on late 50s western "Wyatt Earp" and was 16 different characters on "Gunsmoke". Cinematically, he was the villainous rancher Ab Cross in The Wild Country (1970) vs homesteaders Steve Forrest and Vera Miles.

RIP Robert Redford at 89. I recall seeing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as a 10 year old in 1969. So many other good films, and some early memorable TV roles such as a friendly angel of death in The Twilight Zone episode "Nothing in the Dark" 1962.

Born OTD 100 years ago, "King of the Blues", B.B. King. The guitarist and composer died in 2015 at the age of 89. Ranked no 6 by Rolling Stone Magazine among 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

It's an all Joni Mitchell day on @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses today at 2, marking the release of her box set "Joni's Jazz". We'll interlace some of Joni's jazzier tracks from 70s onward with covers by other jazz performers including Ian Shaw, Colin Steele, Keith Jarrett and Caecilie Norby.