July 22, 1940

It's a day that falls once a week every Tuesday, but instead of serving tacos, it serves knowledge.

The question is - What is the Tuesday Timeline?

On the Tuesday Timeline, we take a look at one major event and a few minor events, as well as wishing a few famous faces a very happy birthday.  So, should we get right on with it?  We have a lot of ground to cover in this blog entry and not a lot of time to do it!

So, what happened in the world on July 22?  A lot of things!

1686 - Albany, New York is formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan

1793 - Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first person to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada

1796 - Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name a section of Ohio after General Moses Cleveland

1812 - British forces defeat French troops in the Battle of Salamanca

1864 - The Battle of Atlanta takes place which sees Confederate General John Bell Hood launching an unsuccessful attack on Union troops on Bald Hill

1894 - The world's first motor race is held in France, between Paris and Rouen

1916 - Ten are killed and forty more injured following the detonation of a bomb on San Francisco's Market Street

1933 - Wiley Post becomes the first pilot to fly solo around the world

1934 - John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago

1942 - The deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins on the same day that the United States government issues a rationing demand for gasoline because of World War II

1951 - Desik and Tsygan become the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight

1977 - Deng Xiaoping is restored to power as Chinese leader

1991 - After police discover human remains in his Milwaukee apartment, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested and taken into police custody

2003 - The sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay, as well as Qusay's son and a bodyguard, are killed after members of the 101st Airborne of the United States attack an Iraqi compound

2005 - Jean Charles de Menezes is killed by police as the hunt begins for the terrorists who planted bombs in London on July 7 and July 21

2008 - Actress Estelle Getty passes away at the age of 84 in Los Angeles

2011 - A bomb blast targeting government buildings and a massacre at a youth camp occurs the same day in Norway

2013 - Eighty-nine people are killed when a series of earthquakes strike China

And the following people are celebrating turning another year older today. So, a very happy birthday to Bob Dole, Orson Bean, Oscar de la Renta, Louise Fletcher, Terence Stamp, George Clinton, Ron Turcotte, Bobby Sherman, Rick Davies, Danny Glover, Albert Brooks, Gilles Duceppe, Don Henley, Sylvia Chang, Brian Howe, Lonette McKee, Willem Dafoe, Dave Stieb, Keith Sweat, Rob Estes, Emily Saliers, John Leguizamo, David Spade, Patrick Labyorteaux, Rhys Ifans, Colin Ferguson, Daniel Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Franka Potente, A.J. Cook, Sharni Vinson, Selena Gomez, Amber Beattie, and Madison Pettis.

Whew...I'm exhausted!  That was a lot of birthdays!  Oh, and for the record, I am not related to jockey Ron Turcotte.  At least, not that I'm aware of anyway.

So, what date will be looking at this week?

The answer is July 22, 1940.  Here's the question.

What is the date in which our Tuesday Timeline subject was born?

Okay, let's continue on with the same category...for oh, how about $600?

The answer is Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. 

Oh!  I know!  What is the place of birth for today's Tuesday Timeline subject?

Correct!  Should we try the $800 question?  Maybe it's a Daily Double.

In 1984, this man took over the hosting duties of the long running game show, "Jeopardy", and will be celebrating his thirtieth year of hosting the program on September 10, 2014.

This is an easy one.  Who is ALEX TREBEK?

All right!  We win!  And, your prize is a blog entry on the game show host who will be blowing out seventy-four candles on his birthday cake today.  Alex Trebek is the subject of the blog.  And in this blog, we'll be taking a look at some of the things that Alex did before hosting Jeopardy, as well as learning about some of the funny and bizarre moments that he's experienced since.

And, I think I'm going to follow the Jeopardy method of introducing trivia by having the answer first, and then the question will reveal the answer to the...ahem...answer.  Does that make sense to you, because it did to me.

Anyway, here we go.

NAMES FOR $200
The answer is George.  What's the question?

What is Alex Trebek's real first name?  This is true.  He was born George Alexander Trebek.  I suppose George Trebek just didn't have that nice ring to it.

CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS FOR $600
He had a hairy situation when he did this in 2001 after almost three decades.  What's the question?

What is shaving off his moustache?  Yes, after growing a moustache for well over thirty years, he decided to shave it off completely in 2001.  I still remember seeing the episode after he shaved it off, and I couldn't even recognize him.  I don't know if it was just me, but I thought it changed his entire look.

Okay, let's pick again.

GAME SHOWS FOR $800
Alex Trebek broke a record in 1991 for hosting three game shows at the same time - Jeopardy!, To Tell The Truth, and this game show which had contestants picking pairs to win cars.  What's the question?

The answer is..."Classic Concentration".  Here's a clip below.

For the record, I used to watch this game show when I was still in school.  It always aired during my lunch hour, so I would watch it every day until its cancellation in the fall of 1991.  It was challenging to solve the rebuses, but it was by far a much easier game than Jeopardy!

Okay, let's stick with GAME SHOWS FOR $400
In 1997, Alex Trebek swapped places with this game show host for an April Fools Day joke.  I guess you could say that he had a "wheely" good laugh.  What's the question

Who is Pat Sajak?  Those of you probably know that Pat Sajak is the host of "Wheel of Fortune", which airs alongside "Jeopardy!" in most television stations.  Well, on April 1, 1997, Sajak hosted Jeopardy!, and Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune with Vanna White.  Personally, I wish they had Vanna on Jeopardy presenting the clues by touching the puzzle board on Jeopardy, but I guess that was a missed opportunity.

Okay...let's do this category now.

CANCELLED TV SERIES FOR $1000

Alex Trebek has had a lot of opportunities hosting television shows...but this Canadian dance music show was his very first hosting gig.  What's the question?

What is Music Hop?

Admittedly, I've never heard of that show at all.  Mainly because it debuted a full eighteen years before I was even born.  But he would have been just 23 years old when that show debuted.  Maybe he was trying to be the Canadian Dick Clark?  It's possible, I suppose.

Okay.  Last question.  In fact, let's make this the final Jeopardy question.  Here's the final answer...

In Jacksonville, Florida, Alex Trebek literally ran with a flame in his hands towards this final destination, a place in which athletes wish for gold in the year that the Macarena stayed at the top of the charts for fourteen weeks.  Thirty seconds, people.  Good luck!

Okay, Matthew.  You're the only contestant playing today so, let's see your answer.

You say it's the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were held in Atlanta, Georgia, and the torch run extended into part of Florida, in which Alex Trebek carried the Olympic torch.  You're correct!  And you win three thousand dollars!

Well, okay.  Not really.  I didn't win three grand.  However, I do have it on my bucket list that I would love to appear on a game show.  And I'm a lot more intelligent now than I was when I was a child.  I'd love to try and take part on Jeopardy one day...preferably before Alex Trebek retires from the show in the summer of 2016.  I think it'd be cool to meet him.  And to have the opportunity to play on a game show just once?  That would be very cool.

Until then, happy birthday, Mr. Trebek!