Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam Webster, is retrospective, an adjective that means “of or relating to the past or something that happened in the past.” According to www.etymonline.com, the word entered the language in the 1660s, combining retrospect, which entered the language c. 1600, and the word-forming element –ive, which is used to make adjectives out of verbs. The website says about retrospect, “’a regard or reference’ (to something), from Latin retrospectum, past participle of retrospicere ‘look back,’ from retro ‘back’ (see retro-) + specere ‘look at’ (from PIE root *spek- ‘to observe’). Meaning ‘survey of past events’ is from 1660s.” We often speak of “a retrospective,” which would make one think that the word is a noun, but it is what we call a substantive, which is a word or group of words functioning syntactically as a noun (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/substantive); curiously, substantive is itself a substantive.

Today is December 31, a day on which people frequently look back at the events of the year coming to an end. We will see articles and news shows focusing on who has died in the past year (Pele, Pope Benedict, Barbara Walters, Kirstie Alley, and Gaylord Perry, and that’s just December) or on what significant events have happened in the past year (the Russian invasion of Ukraine, protests in Iran, and the return of inflation in both the US and Europe).

But in this blog, I have looked back on what has happened on the date in years past. I usually focus on just one thing from the past, but today I thought I would look at a number of events that have happened on this date in years past. So, in no particular order….

In 1961, the Beach Boys performed for the first time under that name. Brian Wilson and his two younger brothers, along with a couple of friends, had started a garage band several years earlier, called the Pendletones (apparently a Pendleton was a kind of shirt popular among the surfing community in the late 50s and early 60s). Dennis Wilson was an avid surfer, and he suggested that they write some surfing songs. Brian, along with Carl Love, wrote “Surfin’” and “Surfin’ Safari,” and the Wilsons’ dad took the songs to a record company. The songs were produced, but the producer changed the name of the group to the Beach Boys. And the group played on gig on New Year’s Eve under that name.

On this date in 1984, Bernhard Goetz turned himself in to New York City police. Goetz had his 15 minutes of fame because he became known as the vigilante shooter. He boarded a subway train in NYC on December 22, 1984, and was quickly approached by four young people who demanded money from him. At this time, New Yorkers were experience a rise in crime that had many people on edge. What the four alleged robbers did not know was that Goetz had a handgun. He pulled it and used it on them, injuring all four, including one who was paralyzed. Goetz ran, but nine days later he turned himself in. He was tried for murder, assault, and possessing an illegal firearm, but he was convicted of only the last charge. Opinions about the incident varied, with some thinking that Goetz was a hero and others that he was a killer. However, nobody blamed Hollywood for Goetz’s actions despite the popularity of vigilante movies, like Death Wish (1974), Death Wish 2 (1982), Taxi Driver (1976), Walking Tall (1973, 1975, and 1977), The Exterminator (1980), Magnum Force (1973), Sudden Impact (1983), and many others.

On this date in 192 A.D., the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, commonly known as Commodus, was assassinated. Apparently he first survived an attempt by his mistress, Marcia Aurelia Ceionia Demetrias, to poison him. But then he was drowned in his bathtub by his wrestling partner, Narcissus, at the urging of Marcia, Laetus, and Eclectus, all three of which were on a list of people Commodus was planning on having executed on January 1, 193. Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius and inherited the position of empire from his father. In fact, Marcus Aurelius had has son appointed co-emperor for several years. Marcus Aurelius was perhaps the most thoughtful, introspective emperor in the history of the Roman Empire, a man lauded for his Stoic philosophy and his hesitancy to take power. His son, on the other hand, was a megalomanic. Theirs is a father-son combo that exemplifies why inheriting authority is a really bad idea.

According to Today in History, “On December 31, 1695, King William III decreed a 2 shilling tax on each house in the land. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to ‘stick-it-to-the-rich,’ there was an extra tax on every window over ten, a tax that would last for another 156 years.” Apparently the English were vehemently opposed to an income tax because an income tax necessitated reporting one’s income to the government, and the people felt that such reporting would be too much of an invasion of their privacy. The law led to some people bricking up their windows as a way of reducing their tax obligation.

Today’s image is of a house in Bath, England, with its windows bricked up. It comes from Amusing Planet (https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/04/why-do-many-historic-buildings-in-uk.html). According to Amusing Planet, Charles Dickens wrote in 1850, “The adage ‘free as air’ has become obsolete by Act of Parliament. Neither air nor light have been free since the imposition of the window-tax. We are obliged to pay for what nature lavishly supplies to all, at so much per window per year; and the poor who cannot afford the expense are stinted in two of the most urgent necessities of life.” And then the tax was lifted a year later. Perhaps the pen is mightier than the sword.