Philip Sousa’s The Liberty Bell
Is a song that you may know quite well
Think not of marching bands
But of Gilliam’s hands
And the SPLAT when his cartoon foot fell

Event: The first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus airs on the BBC
Year: 1969
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Flying_Circus

Things were fine under Confessor Ed
But without heir he found himself dead
Throne of England to fill
In came Conqueror Bill
‘Cross the island the Normans did spread

Event: Norman invasion of England begins
Year: 1066
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest

For ignoring all physical laws
Mr. Church merits thund’rous applause
It’s not science, it’s true
But here science falls through
Oh yes, readers: there’s a Santa Claus

Event: The “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial, written by Francis Pharcellus Church, appears in the New York Sun
Year: 1897
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

Perhaps modern psych’s most famous bit
It began with a study of spit
And you are quite the fool
If you think canine drool
Can’t teach us about learning-now SIT!

Event: Birth of Ivan Pavlov, first to describe the phenomenon of classical conditioning
Year: 1849
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning

Widely their notoriety rang
While in papers some their praises sang
But a surprising stroke
By some angry townsfolk
Spelled the end of the James-Younger Gang

Event: Resistance by armed citizens prevents the James-Younger gang from being able to rob the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota
Year: 1876
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James-Younger_Gang

All this brand-new American West
TJ thought should be put to the test
Meriwether’d embark
With his buddy Will Clark
To attempt this great land to digest

Event: Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Pittsburgh
Year: 1803
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

My Mom, though educated, was wrong
Showed us nine, but one didn’t belong
Pluto’s fate had been sealed
It sadly left the field
It was too small, so we said, “So long”

Event: The International Astronomical Union redefines the term “planet,” leading to Pluto’s “demotion” to dwarf planet status
Year: 2006
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_definition_of_planet

Jazz is all about trying things new
The album would be modal, all through
Now the critics attest
That this one was the best
So he cannot have felt all that blue

Event: Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz record of all time, is released
Year: 1959
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue

Their collections are second to none
The Hope Diamond and the Bell X-1
Plus old Honest Abe’s hat
They display all of that
By the will of a man named Smithson

Event: Smithsonian Institution established by act of congress
Year: 1846
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution

His great journey was a real hard sell
(Though the roundness of Earth was known well)
All his figures were wrong
The route was far too long
But he got to Ferd and Isabell

Event: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain, bound (he thinks) for the East Indies
Year: 1492
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus