About This Blog
An alternative "On This Day", On This Deity aims to bring light to and celebrate Culture Heroes, Outsider Icons, Beloved Immortals and Revolutionary Events in history.
Disclaimer: These are spirited and informed opinion pieces. Photos have been credited wherever possible, which hasn’t often been the case. Please contact me (via Comments) if you are the photographer of any pictures used by On This Deity and would like your photo to be credited or removed.
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Curiosities
24th February 1942 the Death of the Joint Fuehrer
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Today we consider the curious case of Anton Drexler, the artist-mentor of Adolf Hitler and temporary Joint Führer, who died on this day in 1942. Joint Führer? Surely not! Why, even the possibility of a world solipsist such as Hitler … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 2 Comments
14th February 1779 The Death of Captain James Cook
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“Do just once what others say you can’t do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.” Whatever you may think about British colonial expansion, its impact and subsequent noxious effects, you have to admire the bravery, spirit … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 1 Comment
20th July 1923 the Murder of Pancho Villa
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Today we make note of the splendidly awful murder of that outrageous Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa on this day in 1923, whose bulging-eyed corpse – exploded by nine fatal bullets – was left upside down hanging out of his trashed … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 5 Comments
17th July 1946 the Execution of Draza Mihailovic
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Today, we make brief note of the execution 70 years ago of the notorious Serbian Chetnik leader – General Dragoljub ‘Draža’ Mihailović – for war crimes and collaboration with the Nazis and Italians during the Second World War. Rejected at the end by … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 4 Comments
1st December 1976 The Filth and the Fury
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Today we recall the bizarre events of forty-two years ago, in which television presenter Bill Grundy – clearly ill-prepared for the motley posse sat before him, and possibly himself quite drunk – half-wittedly and quite inadvertently handed to the already notorious Sex … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 3 Comments
31st October 1961 Stalin’s Corpse Demoted
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Fifty-six years ago today, the Soviet Union’s policy of de-Stalinisation reached its peak when the tyrant’s body was removed from Lenin’s tomb in Red Square and reburied about 300 feet from that mausoleum, among minor leaders of the Revolution. A … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Tyrants 3 Comments
26th September 1919 Nestor’s Counterattack
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On this day in 1919 , anarchist leader Nestor Makhno – outrun, outnumbered and outmanoeuvred – led his Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (otherwise known as the Black Army) to the unlikeliest of victories over the anti-revolutionary and vastly superior … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, World Events 2 Comments
19th September 1952 America Banishes Charlie Chaplin
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Today we recall the shameful expulsion from America of Charlie Chaplin – the great film-making pioneer and veritable icon – who, with his deft touch of comedy and pathos, brought enduring pleasure to the world and generated millions of dollars for … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, World Events 14 Comments
12th September 1970 Timothy Leary Escapes
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Today we remember Timothy Leary’s daring and ingenious highwire escape across the highway from his Californian jail. A middle-aged Harvard professor yet symbol of the psychedelic revolution, Leary was assisted to freedom by members of the righteous terrorist organisation, the … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities 4 Comments
25th August 1900 the Death of Friedrich Nietzsche
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Who dares to celebrate the death in an insane asylum of this radical thinker, whose works – admittedly violated, even in places re-written, by his self-serving sister – contributed so much of demerit to the vile Nazi war machine of … Continue reading
Posted in Curiosities, Heroes 6 Comments