56 years ago today, the inaugural Dakar Rally Raid was staged, with the course stretching from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. 182 vehicles took the start of the inaugural rally in Paris, with 74 surviving the 10,000-kilometer (6,200 mi) trip to Dakar while crossing terrains such as sand dunes, mud, camel grass, hamada rock desert, and more. The race is split into motorbikes, cars, trucks, and quads, and is much tougher than a regular rally championship track, which is usually run by modified road cars. READ more about the competition’s history… (1978)

The logo of the Dakar Rally.

Based on several factors, from declining participation to GPS usage to terrorism, the Dakar Rally has actually been held all over Africa, and has expanded to South America and Saudi Arabia.

Many vehicle manufacturers use the rally’s harsh environment as both a testing ground and an opportunity to show off their vehicles’ durability even though most vehicles are heavily modified from their production specifications or purpose-built. Many vehicles, such as land cruisers, range rovers, and the Hilux will come off the assembly line with modifications that were tested in the rally, and bear the logo above stamped onto the trunk end of the car.

MORE Good News on this Date:

56 years ago today, Led Zeppelin played their first concert in North America—as the backup band for Vanilla Fudge and Spirit when their renowned debut album hadn’t been released yet. Set as the opener at the Auditorium Arena in Denver, 2 years later they would return to headline in front of more than 10,000 cheering rockers.

Photo by Jim Summaria in 1977, CC license

Regarding the 1968 show, Rocky Mountain News music critic Thomas MacCluskey said they took on their first show “powerfully, gutsily, unifiedly, inventively, and swingingly,” but he had stronger words for John Bonham and Robert Plant, calling the former “a very effective group drummer, but [a] uninventive, unsubtle, and unclimactic [soloist] and the latter’s vocals “a cut above average in style, but no special appeal in sound.” (1968)

233 years ago today, the English mathematician, inventor, and mechanical engineer, Charles Babbage, was born.

Considered to be the ‘Father of the computer,’ he originated the concept of a digital programmable computer—and he co-invented the first mechanical calculating machine, the Difference Engine, the precursor to Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which incorporated all the essential ideas of modern computers.

Babbage engaged in a broad range of interests, like philosophy, and authored several books on a variety of topics, including prohibition. WATCH a video about this monumental difference-maker… (1791)

People are celebrating around the world today: Boxing Day, the second day of Christmas; St. Stephen’s Day; and, in South Africa, The Day of Goodwill—a public holiday.

Also, Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration of West African heritage in the Americas, begins today and runs through January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving.

45 years ago today, a 4-night charity extravaganza—the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea—kicked off in London featuring British bands Queen, the Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and more.

Organized by Paul McCartney, the benefit shows raised money for UNICEF and the United Nations to care for victims and refugees of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, where three million people had been killed by Pol Pot’s forces.

The star-studded production was recorded and offered for sale on vinyl and cassette—and became a film. It was one of the first live benefit rock concerts, which laid the foundation for Band Aid, Live Aid, Earth Aid. Take your pick of videos on YouTube from the concert, here. (1979)

84 years ago today, The Philadelphia Story, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart debuted at Radio City Music Hall. Directed by George Cukor, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won two, for best screenplay and best actor—to Stewart, who played a tabloid journalist from Spy covering the wedding of a wealthy socialite.

Hepburn acquired the film rights to the mega-successful Broadway play, in order to control it as a vehicle for her screen comeback—and come back she did. It broke the box office record.

One critic said The Philadelphia Story had “just about everything that a blue-chip comedy should have—a witty, romantic script (by Donald Ogden Stewart); the flavor of high-society elegance, in which the patrons invariably luxuriate; and a splendid cast of performers.”

The studio, MGM, later remade the film in 1956 as a musical, retitled High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra. WATCH the famous scene, ‘Oh C.K.Dexter Haven!’… (1940)

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