Good News in History, June 15

30 years ago today, The Lion King was released in theaters, receiving critical acclaim for its music, story, themes, and animation, winning two Academy Awards, and enshrining itself as one of the greatest animated films of all time. Keeping everything simple, and borrowing plots from the Bible and Shakespeare, the story of paradise—paradise lost—paradise reclaimed resonated with all who watched it, and it grossed $763 million on its theatrical run, the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind Jurassic Park. READ more… (1994)

After Disney storytellers and producers came up with the rough idea of a “Bambi in Africa” and kicked around several story ideas, Walt Disney Studios ended up recruiting several screenplay writers over a 4 year period to create what became The Lion King during which time the film dramatically changed.

The score is the only animated film score to be certified 10x platinum, as the works by Hans Zimmer, Tim Rice, and Elton John deeply captivated all who heard it.

The Lion King is the first Disney film to have been dubbed in Zulu, the only African language aside from Egyptian Arabic to have been used for a feature-length Disney dub, and it was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

MORE Good News on this Day:

• Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity with his famous kite and key experiment (1752)
• Bono, U2, and Sting headlined a concert in New Jersey celebrating 25 years of Amnesty International (1986)
• Ontario passed a pay equity law to legislate equal pay for women (1987)
• Nik Wallenda became the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls (2012)

Happy 32nd Birthday to Mohamed Salah, the late-blooming wide forward who transformed himself into one of the deadliest finishers of his generation, and Liverpool into a trophy-winning force once again. From 2017 through 2018, Salah shocked the world as his debut season at Liverpool Football Club saw him break the single-season scoring record (31) in the English Premier League with 32 goals, one that was jointly held by such legends as Christiano Ronaldo, Alan Shearer, and Luis Suarez. Today, Salah is considered among the very best players in the world, and will likely retire as the greatest African footballer of all time.

With potential always exceeding current form, Salah’s early career was stop-start. Bought in 2014 by Chelsea from Basel after two titles in Switzerland, his first appearance in England seemed to have set him up for a career of success, but a failure to perform in subsequent appearances saw him relegated to just 13 of 38 games, before going on loan to Fiorentina in Italy.

After spending two seasons at a flourishing Roma, he was bought by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp looking to set up a more permanent attacking trio. Suddenly, Salah went from a tricky, assisting winger to a devastating goal machine, with 32 in the league, and another 12 in Europe as Liverpool made it to an unexpected Champions League final. That year catapulted him to superstardom. He was the featured person on Time Magazine’s TIME 100 edition, written by The Daily Show’s John Oliver.

Salah’s form continued to be red hot for the next four seasons, as Liverpool won the Champions League the following season, before the Premier League, and several other trophies. Until the recently-concluded season, he had never failed to score more than 20 goals in a league campaign; just one of a mountain of personal accolades, records, and awards.

A devout Muslim, Salah trains and plays through Ramadan, and his mere presence in the city of Liverpool has been enough to significantly reduce recorded hate crimes against Muslims. A song is sometimes sung by fans in the crowd that if Salah scores another goal, they will all convert to Islam. (1992)

WATCH Salah’s 10 best in the season when he shocked the world… 

724 years ago today, the city of Bilbao was founded in northern Spain’s Basque Country. It was established by the local lord Diego López V de Haro in a charter approved by the King of Spain at the time. Located about 10 miles south of the Bay of Biscay, its weather patterns bless the city with excellent weather. Among its nearly 350,000 residents, half can speak “some” of the Basque Language, while 29% consider themselves “fluent.” 

During the Industrial Revolution, the city became the second-most industrialized in all Spain, but has revitalized itself in modern times as a service-sector-heavy locale that won the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize presented by Singapore and the Nobel Foundation in 2010 for its exceptional development.

Part of the transformation of the city came after the construction of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which was built in a repurposed lumber warehouse in 1997. Considered a masterpiece, it attracted other architects to reuse the old industrial-era buildings. A good example of this is the Azkuna Zentroa, a wine warehouse built in 1909 and completely redesigned in 2010 by French designer Philippe Starck into a multi-purpose venue that consists of a cinema multiplex, a fitness center, a library, and a restaurant.

Bilbao is the capital of Basque culture and includes the center for the study and proliferation of the Basque language, the largest Basque museum in the world, and one of their most important cultural institutions—Athletic Club Bilbao, their soccer team.

AC Bilbao was part of the signees that established the Spanish league system, and has won the top division 8 times. Athletic is noted for its Basque policy, in place since 1911, with only players born in or having a clear connection to the Basque region being allowed to represent the club. (1300)

83 years ago today, the singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson was born in Brooklyn, NY. His experimental work with pioneering overdubs in the 1970s, can be heard on Without You, One (is the Loneliest Number), and Everybody’s Talkin‘ from the film Midnight Cowboy.

John Lennon, who produced and played on Nilsson’s Pussy Cats LP, once was asked at a 1968 press conference to name his favorite American artist. He replied, “Nilsson”. Paul McCartney was also asked—and he said, “Nilsson”.

Nilsson’s multi-octave voice was never so full of life as it was on the Nilsson Schmilsson LP, which earned him a 1973 Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Without You won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The musician tragically died of heart failure at age 52. WATCH a mini bio, Who Is Harry Nilsson—And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?… (1941)

And, on this day 809 years ago, England’s King John put his seal to the Magna Carta. The historic document established the foundations of parliamentary democracy, human rights and the supremacy of law for rebellious English Barons demanding freedom and legal due process.

The clause at the heart of the Great Charter states that no free man should be seized or imprisoned or stripped of his rights or outlawed or exiled except by the judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it laid the foundations for the current British–and later, American– legal and constitutional system, with three of the 60 clauses still in force today. The U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”, a phrase that was derived directly from Magna Carta. (1215)

And, 46 years ago today, King Hussein of Jordan married the Arab-American woman Lisa Halaby, who became the mother of four of his children as Jordan’s beloved Queen Noor.

She gained influence by using her role as queen—and her education in urban planning—to benefit charities and improve the country’s economy. Her memoir, set against a backdrop of 30 years of Middle Eastern conflict, is called Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life. (1978)

And, 57 years ago today, the Oscar-nominated World War II drama The Dirty Dozen was released. Inspired by a true story, a small band of convicted criminals are trained for a top-secret mission, to attack a fancy chateau full of Nazi officials prior to D-Day.

Directed by Robert Aldrich, the all-star cast featured Lee Marvin, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Telly Savalas, George Kennedy, John Cassavetes, and Trini Lopez. A massive commercial success, the film was also nominated for four Academy Awards. If there are any survivors of this virtual suicide mission, the newly-skilled commandos are to be pardoned and returned to active duty at their former ranks.

Based on the best-selling novel, the cast included many World War II American veterans who became actors, including Lee Marvin, Robert Webber and Robert Ryan (US Marines), Telly Savalas (US Army) and Charles Bronson (Army Air Forces), Ernest Borgnine (Navy), and Clint Walker (Merchant Marine). Jim Brown, one of the greatest NFL football players of all time, was forced to choose between his roles as running back and film star during the making of the film—he chose acting. (1967)

And, 105 years ago today, British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Brown became celebrities worldwide for completing the first nonstop transatlantic flight—a harrowing 16-hour journey through ice and fog with a broken radio that led people to believe they had crashed into the ocean.

The aviators were freezing cold, drenched with rain, navigating in their open cockpit through a snowstorm and their instruments and carburetor were crippled by ice.

16 hours and 1890 miles later they spotted the Irish coast and landed nose first after the green field they spotted in Galway turned out to be a bog. Despite it all, Alcock and Brown took home an enormous prize of £10,000 offered by The Daily Mail and were welcomed back to London by King George V. They carried several items of mail with them when they took off from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, and in doing so, effectively transported the first transatlantic airmail to Britain.

The pioneering flight was made a full 8 years before Charles Lindbergh became a household name for flying from New York to Paris. WATCH some historical film from the day… (1919)

64 years ago, The Apartment, a romantic comedy-drama that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, premiered in New York City. Its co-writer and producer Billy Wilder also won Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The Apartment stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine who were both nominated for Oscars for their performances.

A mild-mannered man (Lemmon) moves up the corporate ladder by letting executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications ensue when he falls for the elevator operator (MacLaine), who in turn is having an affair with Bud’s boss… WATCH one of the best clips… (1960)

Although Lemmon did not win the Oscar, Kevin Spacey dedicated his Oscar for American Beauty (1999) to Lemmon’s performance.

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