This Day in Pop Culture for January 28

1813: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is Published

Today, most everyone is familiar with the author Jane Austen, but that wasn’t always the case. On this day in 1813, her book, Pride and Prejudice was published. It was her second book to be published anonymously (the first was Sense and Sensibility), followed by Mansfield Park and Emma. She died on July 18, 1817. It was shortly thereafter that her brother, Henry revealed to the public that she was an author. (Image: Wikimedia)

1956: Elvis Presley is on TV for the First Time

January of 1956 was a busy time for Elvis Presley. On the 10th, he recorded “Heartbreak Hotel,” his first recording for RCA. The song included pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Chet Atkins, and background singer Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires quartet. The single was released on the 27th. Then on this day, Presley made his first television appearance on CBS’ Stage Show. Presley performed “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, “Flip, Flop and Fly” and “I Got a Woman.” Presley performed five more times on the show over the next eight weeks. During that time, Presley recorded the future hit, “Blue Suede Shoes,” a cover of Carl Perkins song, and others at RCA’s New York studio. (Image: Wikimedia)

1958: LEGO Patents its Iconic Brick Design

Believe it or not, The Lego Group (which means “play well”) began a wooden toy company led by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932. However, the Demark company pivoted in 1947 to plastic toys creating the first versions of their signature “Automatic Binding Bricks.” Toy trade magazines were skeptical of toys being made out of plastic and felt that the substance would never be accepted as quality over wood. In 1954, Ole’s son Godtfred became the company’s junior managing director who wanted to create a toy system using these bricks. However, the problem was that they just didn’t “lock” together well. However, after five years of hard work and finding the right material to do the job, a patent application for the modern Lego brick design was filed on this day in 1958. (Image: Pixabay)