The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).  The point of contention was whether or not the England selectors would include Basil D'Oliveira, a mixed-race South African player who had represented England in Test cricket since 1966, having moved there six years earlier.  With South Africa under apartheid, the potential inclusion by England of a non-white South African in their tour party became a political issue.  A Cape Coloured of Indian and Portuguese ancestry, D'Oliveira left South Africa primarily because the era's apartheid legislation seriously restricted his career prospects on racial grounds and barred him from the all-white Test team.  He qualified for Worcestershire County Cricket Club through residency in 1964 and first played for England two years later.  South Africa's Prime Minister B. J. Vorster sought to appease international opinion by publicly indicating that D'Oliveira's inclusion would be acceptable, but secretly did all he could to prevent it.  D'Oliveira was omitted from the England team for most of 1968 amid a slump in his batting form, but he marked his return in late August with a score of 158 runs in England's final test match of the year, against Australia at The Oval.  Days later, the MCC selectors omitted D'Oliveira from the team to tour South Africa; they insisted that this was based entirely on cricketing merit, but many in Britain voiced apprehension and there was a public outcry.  After Tom Cartwright's withdrawal because of injury on 16 September, the MCC chose D'Oliveira as a replacement, prompting accusations from Vorster and other South African politicians that the selection was politically motivated.  Attempts to find a compromise followed, but these led nowhere.  The MCC announced the tour's cancellation on 24 September.  Sporting boycotts of South Africa were already under way by 1968, but the D'Oliveira controversy was the first to make a serious impact on South African cricket.  The South African Cricket Board of Control announced its intention to remove racial barriers in South African cricket in 1969, and formally integrated the sport in 1976. Meanwhile, the boycott movement escalated sharply, leading to South Africa's near-complete isolation from international cricket from 1971, though the country continued to play international rugby into the 1980s, twice allowing mixed-race New Zealand rugby teams into the country during the 1970s.  D'Oliveira played for England until 1972, and for Worcestershire until 1979.  South Africa returned to international cricket in 1991, soon after apartheid began to be dismantled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Oliveira_affair

Cheese Cake adapted from Mountain Top Bakery's recipe

3/4 lb. cream cheese

1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 min.  Cool and refrigerate.  

If desired, add crust and topping of your choice.

7Up was invented in October 1929 by Charles Leiper Grigg, a man who ten years earlier had formulated a carbonated orange-flavored drink ("Whistle").  In 1920, Grigg had produced the orange-flavored soda "Howdy" that was unable to seriously challenge Orange Crush, the leader in the field.  The "uncola" wasn't known as 7Up for the first few years of its existence.  It was originally christened "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda."  In his formulation, Grigg had included lithia, a naturally-occurring substance found in minute quantities in bubbling waters fed by underground springs.  (Lithia is better known as lithium, a drug used to even out mood swings.)  Grigg had the notion that the chemical's presumed healthful aspects would be a selling point with the soda-buying public, hence the "Lithiated" in the name.  As for "Bib-Label," it was Howdy Corporation's intent to use paper labels of the sort that could be dropped over the necks of otherwise unlabeled bottles.   The unwieldy name was soon morphed to "7Up Lithiated Lemon Soda," and in 1936 the soda was officially re-dubbed "7Up."  That same year, the Howdy Corporation became the Seven-Up Company.  As to why "7Up," C.L. Grigg never explained how he came up with the cryptic name.  Several theories exist about its origin, one being that7Up was the product of seven ingredients.  (Which, in a way, was at least true with regard to the classes of ingredients in that original formulation:  sugar, carbonated water, essences of lemon and lime oils, citric acid, sodium citrate, and lithium citrate.)  http://www.snopes.com/business/names/7up.asp

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.  It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year.  In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.  This day was later sanctioned in a Proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.  A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.  Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in recognition of his work.  While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.  Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

EARSHOT  noun   the range within which one may hear a person's unaided voice  first known use:   1607  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earshot

EYESHOT  noun   the range of the eye  first known use:  1599  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eyeshot

Celebrate National Library Week 2015, April 12-18, 2015, with the theme "Unlimited possibilities @ your library®."  First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.  Best-selling author David Baldacci will serve as Honorary Chair of National Library Week 2015.  Baldacci’s novels have been translated into more than 45 languages and have been adapted for film and television.  Over 110 million copies of his books are in print worldwide.  In addition, Baldacci is involved with several philanthropic organizations, including his family’s Wish You Well Foundation®, which fosters and promotes the development and expansion of literacy and educational programs.  Celebrations during National Library Week include:   National Bookmobile Day, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, a day to recognize the contributions of our nation's bookmobiles and the dedicated professionals who make quality bookmobile outreach possible in their communities; and Celebrate Teen Literature Day, Thursday, April 16, 2015, aimed at raising awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today's teens.  http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek

Q.  How do you pronounce David Baldacci's last name.  A.  Ball-DAH-chee.   Q.  What authors does David Baldacci admire?  A.  David admires many of the traditional southern scribes:  Flannery O’Connor, Lee Smith, Eudora Welty, Harper Lee, Walker Percy and Truman Capote are among his favorites.  He says, “Since college I have been reading and re-reading works by Anne Tyler and John Irving.  I’ve also been reading Graham Greene and Patricia Highsmith and am a big fan of David McCullough.  And I am never far from a well-read copy of Mark Twain.”  http://davidbaldacci.com/faq/#one

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1284  April 15, 2015  On this date in 1755, Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London.  On this date in 1802, William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy saw a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.  On this date in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth.  On this date in 1912, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg.