Moments in Time: Bachelor of Hamburgerology
The History Channel
On Feb. 23, 1885, John Lee went to the gallows in Exeter, England, for allegedly murdering Emma Keyse, a rich older woman who'd employed him. Insisting he was innocent, he was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to hang. However, the lever to release the floor beneath his feet malfunctioned and he didn't drop. Baffled authorities sent him back to prison for the next 22 years, though his death sentence was commuted. Upon his release, he emigrated to America, leaving the cause of his reprieve unsolved.
On Feb. 24, 1961, the first 15 students received their Bachelor of Hamburgerology degree (not a traditional academic one!) from McDonald's Hamburger University, aka the "Harvard of Fast Food."
On Feb. 25, 1837, Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport received the first U.S. patent for an electric motor. He insulated the wires with strips of fabric from his wife's silk wedding dress (cut by his wife, and with her full approval).
On Feb. 26, 1968, Allied troops who'd recaptured the imperial capital of Hue from the North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive found the first mass graves in Hue. Communist troops who had held the city for 25 days had massacred about 2,800 civilians whom they identified as sympathizers with the government in Saigon, and one authority estimated they might have killed as many as 5,700 people in Hue.
On Feb. 27, 1935, 6-year-old rising Hollywood star Shirley Temple received the first-ever kid-size "juvenile" Oscar, measuring about half the height of a full-size Oscar.
On Feb. 28, 1982, the J. Paul Getty Museum became the most richly endowed museum in the world when it received a $1.2 billion bequest left to it by the late J. Paul Getty. A good portion of the endowment went to construct the Getty Center, a six-building complex on a hilltop in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.
On March 1, 1960, the first-ever Playboy Club opened its doors in downtown Chicago. Female servers known as "bunnies" were subject to the rules of a 42-page manual threatening demerits for offenses ranging from chewing gum to unkempt bunny tails.
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