Sir John-Eh MacDonald's birthday!

[Yakk]

Happy birthday, ya old souse.

[Daoust]

I think you are the only person on TFP that knew that. Perhaps the only one that cares, also. But good on ya.

[the_marq]

I knew, but only because someone emailed me a "on this day in history" snippet this morning.

Happy Birthday Johnny Mac!

[Powderedmaggot]

I knew, but only because it is marked on my Canadian Wildlife Federation calender.

[kulrblind]

This is what I got in my paper:

Originally Posted by kulrblind's local newspaper

Published on 2005/01/11

This is the day commonly cited to commemorate the birth of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, because his birth was registered on this date 190 years ago, in 1815. However, Macdonald was born on Jan. 10 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Just FYI

[Charlatan]

Is he the guy that founded McDonald's Restaurants?






....j/k

[Scorps]

I didn't even know that. He is buried just up the street here.

[Malou]

He was one of the Fathers of Confederation... I do believe

[Yakk]

He was Canada's first Prime Minister.

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by Yakk

He was Canada's first Prime Minister.

Damn right he was

[Malou]

How did he die anyways... wasn't right before he was elected into like his second term?

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by Malou

How did he die anyways... wasn't right before he was elected into like his second term?

I don't know.....never learned that in History Class.

[Charlatan]

from wikipedia

Macdonald stayed in office until his death in 1891. His career spanned 19 years, making Sir John A. Macdonald the second longest serving Prime Minister of Canada. He died while still Prime Minister, winning praise for having helped forge a nation of sprawling geographic size, with two diverse European colonial origins, and a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and political views. Grieving Canadians turned out in the thousands to pay their respects while he lay in state in the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and they lined the tracks to watch the train that returned his body to Kingston, Ontario where he was buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.

This is the best part, just can't see this happening today...

Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his alcoholism. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in parliament. One famous story is that during an election debate Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting violently on stage while his opponent was speaking. Picking himself up Macdonald told the crowd, "see how my opponent's ideas disgust me."

In another version of the story, he responded to his opponent's query of his drunkenness with "It goes to show that I would rather have a drunk Conservative than a sober Liberal.".