Saturday, December 31, 2005

Spotlight
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to min'...." Auld Lang Syne" was played by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians as a New Year's Eve song for the first time on December 31, 1929. Though it was played as the band's theme song for years, and it had even occasionally been sung on New Year's Eve, this was the first time that Lombardo's group played it at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City to usher in the new year. The annual tradition continued when the party moved to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1959-1976) and the song still kicks off the Times Square celebration every New Year's Eve.

Quote
"Every man regards his own life as the New Year's Eve of time." – Jean Paul Richter

Word of the day
carouse: to drink excessively while partying; on New Year's Eve it is customary to see revelers carousing about. (© )

Holiday
New Year's Eve

Today's News

• wasps: recruited for war on terror (story)
• meatloaf: popularity grows among foodies (story)
• Jeff Reardon: former closer arrested for robbery (story)

Today's History

• light bulb: was first demonstrated by Thomas Edison, in Menlo Park, New Jersey (1879)
• Times Square: Waterford crystal ball dropped for the first time (1907)
• farthing: British coin in use since the 13th century ceased to be legal tender (1960)

Today's Birthdays

• Henri Matisse: French painter and leading Fauvist (1869-1954)
• Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi hunter (1908-2005)
• actors: Anthony Hopkins of Silence of the Lambs (68), Ben Kingsley of Gandhi (62)