Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Doc Holliday, the Tombstone Gravesites, Pirate Radio and The Corpse Reviver No. 2


 

On this day is 1851, the American dentist, gambler and gunfighter John Henry Doc Holliday was born. The son of an army pharmacist, Doc Holliday received a degree in dentistry from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery but shortly after beginning his practice as a dentist, Holliday was diagnosed with tuberculosis and left the east for the southwest where he hoped the drier air might help prolong his life.

Moving to Texas, he would practice dentistry for a short while but coughing spells wracked his body during dental procedures and he saw his business decline. Finally, forced to find another way to earn a living, Holliday would turn to gambling and found himself quite good at it. Unfortunately, if you were good at gambling in the old west, you also had better be good with a gun.

It was on January 2, 1875 that Doc would have his first gunfight. A disagreement with a local saloonkeeper turned violent and although neither party was injured both men were arrested. It would only be a few days later however, that Doc's pistols would claim their first victim, this time a prominent Dallas resident. Fleeing town, Holliday headed to the lawless town of Jacksboro, Texas where three more gunfights would occur leaving one man dead but since there was no law in Jacksboro, Doc remained there.

When a gunfight left a US soldier dead, a reward was offered for his capture and he was pursued by the army, Texas Rangers and pretty much anyone with a gun. Holliday would escape to Colorado but after a fight where he nearly severed someone's head off with a knife, he would move on.

Meeting up with a prostitute named Kate, she and Doc would travel to Wyoming, then New Mexico and finally back to Texas, Kansas, New Mexico and finally Tombstone, Arizona where the famous "Gunfight at the OK Corrall would occur. While leaving a river of blood in his wake, Holliday would not die from a bullet but would pass away in bed from tuberculosis at age 36.

For more information:

A NPR segment that aired today on Boot Hill cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/14/158585753/a-wild-resting-place-for-gunslingers-and-cowboys





The Historical Inebriant: The Corpse Reviver #2



Ingredients:
1 shot gin
1 shot Cointreau
1 shot Lillet Blanc
1 shot fresh lemon juice
Dash of absinthe or substitute (roughly ¼ teaspoon)


Shake well with ice and strain in to a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

 “Four of these taken in straight succession will revive the corpse again"  -  Harry Craddock

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On this day in 1967, the UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares offshore pirate radio illegal.

Since radio began in the UK the government decided that such a powerful means of mass communication needed to be under state control to avoid abuses, so in 1927 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed. The conservative organisation charged a licence fee to every home possessing a radio and in return provided provided lively programs of news, weather, lectures, educational matter, and symphony concerts.

Enter the world of Pirate Radio where ships with radio antennae would anchor in international waters and broadcast a signal into England. Rock, American Blues and even England's own "The Who" filled the airwaves.  Living as outlaws DJ's manned the booths on floating radio stations trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities and the weather.

To learn more of the story of perhaps the most famous Pirate Radio ship Caroline:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Caroline





A gunfighting joke:

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