FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is a retired American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995, with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as “the last great newspaper comic”, Calvin and Hobbes has enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest.
Calvin and Hobbes follows the humorous antics of the title characters: Calvin, a precocious, mischievous and adventurous six-year-old boy; and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. Set in the contemporary suburban United States of the 1980s and 90s, the strip depicts Calvin’s frequent flights of fancy and friendship with Hobbes. It also examines Calvin’s relationships with his long-suffering parents and with his classmates, especially his neighbor Susie Derkins. Hobbes’ dual nature is a defining motif for the strip: to Calvin, Hobbes is a living anthropomorphic tiger, while all the other characters see Hobbes as an inanimate stuffed toy. Though the series does not frequently mention specific political figures or contemporary events, it does explore broad issues like environmentalism, public education, and philosophical quandaries.
At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. In 2010, reruns of the strip appeared in more than 50 countries, and nearly 45 million copies of the Calvin and Hobbes books had been sold worldwide.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Do we know when the first tornado hit the United States?
No. Tornado records have been kept only since 1916.
Advice of the Day
Everyone can keep house better than her mother until she trieth.
Home Hint of the Day
To get a screw into a tight place, push the screw through the sticky side of a piece of masking tape, then tape the screw to the screwdriver. After the screw is well seated, pull the tape and screwdriver free.
Word of the Day
Tidy
Being in proper time; timely; seasonable; favorable; as, tidy weather. Arranged in good order; orderly; appropriate; neat; kept in proper.
Puzzle of the Day
What English word has all the vowels in alphabetical order?
Facetiously
Born
- Carl Maria von Weber (composer) – 1786
- Asa Gray (botanist) – 1810
- Elizabeth Gilmer (journalist) – 1870
- Clarence Day (author) – 1874
- George Wald (chemist) – 1906
- Imogene Coca (actress) – 1908
- Alan Shepard, Jr. (astronaut) – 1923
- Mickey Mouse (cartoon character) – 1928
- Margaret Atwood (author) – 1939
- Linda Evans (actress) – 1942
- Elizabeth Perkins (actress) – 1960
- Owen Wilson (actor) – 1968
- David Ortiz (baseball player) – 1975
Died
- Chester Arthur (21st U.S. president) – 1886
- Marcel Proust (novelist) – 1922
- Niels Bohr (physicist) – 1962
- Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (patriarch of the Kennedy family) – 1969
- Cab Calloway (bandleader) – 1994
- Norma Connolly (actress) – 1998
- James Coburn (actor) – 2002
Events
- William Tell shot an apple off of his son’s head– 1307
- Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer discovered Antarctica– 1820
- Mark Twain’s, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was published– 1865
- U.S. railroads adopted four standard time zones– 1883
- Standard Railway Time went into effect for most North American railroads– 1883
- The animated short, Steamboat Willie, was released featuring Mickey Mouse– 1928
- Ben-Hur, the film epic starring Charlton Heston, premiered in N.Y.C.– 1959
- The Chrysler Corporation announced the discontinuation of its DeSoto line of cars, in production since 1928– 1960
- First commercial push-button telephone introduced, in Pennsylvania– 1963
- Bill Watterson’s comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, made its debut– 1985
Weather
- 72 degrees F in Youngstown, Ohio– 1958
- New York State received 6 to 16 inches of snow– 1959
- Twenty inches of lake effect snow fell east of Cleveland, Ohio– 1989
COURTESY www.almanac.com
