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| William Miller |
Today the 22nd October is a pot pouri of events, starting with The Great Disappointment. This was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel (Chapters 8 and 9, especially Dan. 8:14 "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed"), William Miller, a Baptist preacher, proposed that Jesus Christ would return to the earth during the year 1844. The more specific date of the 22nd October 1844, was preached by Samuel Sheffield Snow - a skeptic turned Millerite preacher who calculated that the return of Christ was to take place on 22nd October 1844.Thousands of followers, some of whom had given away all of their possessions, waited expectantly. When Jesus did not appear, the 22nd October, 1844 became known as the Great Disappointment.
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Granville-Paris Express wreck on 22nd October 1895. The original Gare de l'Ouest name of the station is visible on the outside of the building. |
The Gare Montparnasse became famous for a derailment on the 22nd October 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 30 metres (100 ft) of the station concourse, crashed through a 60-centimetre (2 ft) thick wall, shot across a terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes 10 metres (33 ft) below, where it stood on its nose. Two of the 131 passengers sustained injuries, along with the fireman and two conductors. The only fatality was a woman on the street below who was killed by falling masonry. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine drivers who were trying to make up for lost time. A conductor incurred a 25 franc penalty and the engine driver a 50 franc penalty.
Toastmasters International (TI) is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.
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Toastmasters International curriculum, tracks, and awards. Arrows are used to demonstrate awards required. |
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| Ralf Smedley |
The organization grew out of a single club, Smedley Club Number 1, which would become the first Toastmasters club. It was founded by Ralf C. Smedley on 22nd October 1924, at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, United States. Toastmasters International was incorporated under California law on the 19th December, 1932. Throughout its history, Toastmasters has served over four million people, and today the organization serves over 260,000 members in 113 countries, through its over 12,800 member clubs.
And finally in October 1964, Jean Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature but he declined it. He was the first Nobel Laureate to voluntarily decline the prize, and he had previously refused the Légion d’honneur, in 1945. The prize was announced on 22nd October 1964; on 14th October, Sartre had written a letter to the Nobel Institute, asking to be removed from the list of nominees, and that he would not accept the prize if awarded, but the letter went unread; on 23rd October, Le Figaro published a statement by Sartre explaining his refusal. He said he did not wish to be "transformed" by such an award, and did not want to take sides in an East vs. West cultural struggle by accepting an award from a prominent Western cultural institution. What most people do not know, is that JP was and active member of Toastmasters International. He was an Advanced Communicator Gold and an Advanced Leader Silver - a clearly Distinguished Toastmaster.
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