Another Monday looms large and the Spark! Is here to kick off working week with a mixture of trivia to put a least the glimmer of a smile on your face.
On This Day – 23rd June 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes patents the “Type-Writer”
I am writing this on my laptop, which no doubt like many of yours, is equipped with a QWERTY keyboard. For this wonder of the computing world, we are indebted to Mr Christopher Latham Sholes, for ‘twas he who came up with this marvel that we now take for granted.
There had been many attempts over the years to perfect a machine that could type text on to a page but all had been failures. Sholes, along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soules, patented a type writing machine that had a fore-runner of the QWERTY layout. They brought in investor James Densmore who bought a quarter of the patent at the cost of the development funds spent so far.
When Densmore pronounced the machine no good, Glidden and Soules left the project selling their shares in the patent to Sholes and Densmore. The pair then recruited stenographers to test their machines, often to destruction, and implemented the feedback into improved models.
They eventually sold their patent to E Remington & Sons and Sholes returned to his native Milwaukee to work on his own models, coming up with the QWERTY keyboard in 1873. The rest, as they say, is history.
Read more here.
Also on this day:
1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded in Paris
1940 – Adolf Hitler undertakes a three hour guided tour of the Architecture of Paris
1969 – IBM announces that it will in future price software and services separately to hardware, enabling the modern software industry
1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released on the Sega Genesis platform, launching the franchise
2018 – A junior soccer team and their coach become trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand, leading to an 18 day rescue operation
Arrivals
1912 – Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist, inventor of the Turing Test
1927 – Bob Fosse, US dancer, choreographer and director
1929 – June Carter Cash, US singer-songwriter, musician and actress
1940 – Stuart Sutcliffe, British painter and musician, original bass player with The Beatles
1980 – Melissa Rauch, US actress (‘The Big Bang Theory’)
Departures
1995 – Jonas Salk, US scientist, developer of the first successful polio vaccine
1998 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish actress (‘Tarzan the Ape Man’, ‘A Day at the Races’, ‘Hannah and her Sisters’)
2006 – Aaron Spelling, US TV & Film producer (‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘Dynasty’, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’)
2011 – Peter Falk, US actor (‘Robin and the 7 Hoods’, ‘Anzio’, ‘Columbo’)
2021 – John McAfee, British computer programmer and businessman
The Funnies:
Recipe of the day: Bacon waffles with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce
This recipe from BBC Food is the perfect option for a posh Sunday breakfast. Load up the bacon!
Ingredients
For the waffles
· 250g/9oz plain flour
· 1 tsp baking powder
· 1 tsp salt
· 1 tbsp caster sugar
· 3 free-range eggs
· 425ml/15fl oz whole milk
· 115g/4oz unsalted butter, melted
· 8 slices cooked American-style bacon (or rindless smoked streaky bacon), chopped
For the hollandaise
· 1 shallot, finely diced
· 3 peppercorns
· 1 bay leaf
· 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
· 2 large free-range egg yolks
· 125g/4½oz butter, melted
· sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the eggs and bacon
· 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
· 4 free-range eggs
· 12 slices streaky bacon
· 2-3 tbsp finely chopped chives
Method
- Preheat a waffle maker to the medium setting. Preheat the oven to 135C/275F/Gas 1.
- In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk in the eggs, milk and melted butter until well combined. Stir in the cooked bacon.
- Pour a ladleful of the batter into each well of the waffle maker, close the lid and cook for five minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Repeat the process until the batter is used up, keeping the cooked waffles warm on a wire rack in the oven.
- For the hollandaise, place the shallot, peppercorns, bay leaf, white wine vinegar and two tablespoons of water in pan and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced by half. Strain into a large bowl and cool slightly.
- Add the egg yolks into the vinegar mixture with a pinch of salt. In a steady stream, gradually add the melted butter until it is all incorporated. Season the sauce with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- For the eggs and bacon, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the vinegar. Reduce the heat to a simmer and whisk the water to create a whirlpool. Once settled, carefully crack an egg into the water. Simmer gently for 2-3 minutes, remove the poached egg with a slotted spoon and place on a plate to drain. Repeat the process with the remaining eggs.
- Heat a frying pan until hot, add the bacon and cook until crisp on both sides. Drain the bacon on kitchen paper.
- To serve, place the waffles onto serving plates, top with the poached eggs and bacon. Finish with a drizzle of hollandaise sauce and the chopped chives.
Quote of the Day:
“In order to enhance the occult aspects of herself, Julia had begun to wear far too much handbeaten silver jewelry and green eyeshadow. She felt she looked haunted and gaunt and romantic, and she would have, if she had lost another thirty pounds. She was convinced that she was anorexic, because every time she looked in the mirror she did indeed see a fat person.” (Good Omens)
– Sir Terry Pratchett
Comic of the Day:
Mouseover: “Numbers can be tricky. On the day of my 110th birthday, I’ll be one day younger than John Tukey was on his.”
Image Credit: https://xkcd.com/3104
Explain XKCD: explain xkcd
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
If you missed Friday’s shark infested Spark! from @Lonny6654, you can find it here:
(Spark! Pro series – 20th June 2025)
