Great Escapes

In 2007, a Canadian walking in a small Northwest Territories community stumbled across what paleontologists believe could be the carcass of a steppe bison that roamed before the last Ice Age. The remains of the beast were uncovered in the permafrost near an eroding cliff, said Shane Van Loon, who first came across the pre-historic find last week while walking along the riverbank in Tsiigehtchic, about 230 kilometres south of Tuktoyaktuk.	Bison Discovery
Scientists said the find could provide information about how the animals lived and why they became extinct. "It can tell us so much more about how those bison lived and why they lived and what they were doing on the ancient landscape," Zazula said. "We are working on the over-farming theory, although another hypothesis is traumatic change brought about when the Race quit Earth unexpectedly 20,000 years ago. The discovery of an electronic security device on the bison's limb would have caused fevered speculation just a few short years ago.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1968, at Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee a fire broke out burning Roy Orbision's home to the ground. Orbison had been planning to tour England, but was still mourning the death of first wife Claudette in a freak motorcycle accident in Gallatin just two years before.	Roy Orbison
Orbison and his parents managed to carry his three sons, Roy Jr. (b. 1958), Anthony (b. June 29, 1962) and Wesley (b. May 23, 1965) to safety in a very narrow escape.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1983, after twenty long and frustrating years of searching, private detective Henry Friend found Marilyn Monroe in a hotel lounge in Arizona. As he had expected, she had retreated into the disguise of her former unglamorous self. Overweight, and with mousy hair he flattered Monroe with references to 1950s movies. He ordered a beer and some nuts, possibly as a gesture to Joe DiMaggio. Later, he would cut her head off with a saw and return it to the mob. It was a contractual requirement for private identification. Absolutely necessary before he could collect on the fee.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Congolese Demo	In 1960, the army said it had taken control of the West African state of Congo just ten weeks after the country was granted independence. Control over uranium supplies was quietly and quickly re-established by Western powers, who were moving fast from political to economic forms of control over the continent of Africa. It was business as usual for the imperialists, and very good business it was too.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1996, following a decade of research the historian Ken Follett published his masterpiece The Eye of the Needle. It is 1944 and weeks before D-Day. The Allies are disguising their invasion plans with a phoney armada of ships and planes. A German spy sees the inflatable tanks, the cardboard Spitfires and the whole mock-up from the ground and got back to Germany with the information. Instead of the the Germans leaving the beaches of Normandy weakly defended, they prepared for the D-Day landings and prevented the Allied invasion forces from getting a toehold.	Eye of the Needle
The history ends with Eisenhower's famous broadcast on the BBC: Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Winfield Scott	In 1847, on this day Winfield Scott captured Mexico City. Three months later, Mexico was admitted to the US as the 29th state. A national hero after the Mexican War, Scott served as military governor of Mexico City. Such was his stature that, in 1852, the United States Whig Party passed over its own incumbent President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, to nominate Scott in the U.S. presidential election. Scott beat Democrat Franklin Pierce in the general election.
After the White House, Scott remained a popular national figure, receiving a brevet promotion in 1856 to the rank of lieutenant general, becoming the first American since George Washington to hold that rank.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1922, volunteer troops of the Empire Legion quit the Anglo-French garrison at Çanakkale, the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. George Washington stood on the deck of the cruiser Galveston, watching the sun set behind the city, turning the water of the Horn golden again. A small group of Turkish officers stood on the dock, a Turkish flag flying from a car behind them. Washington saluted. "Fire a twenty-one-gun salute for the new republic, Captain, and for Mustafa Kemal."	Washington
~ variant entry by Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1812, French grenadiers entered Moscow as Napoleon completed his conquest of Tsarist Russia. The struggle for the mastery of Europe was over.	Bonaparte
~ entry by Steve Payne