William Gillian 1918 - 1997
William Gillian's Biography
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1918 - 1997 World Events
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In 1918, in the year that William Gillian was born, federal spending was $12.68 billion, unemployment was 1.4% and the cost of a first-class stamp was 3 cents.
In 1925, at the age of merely 7 years old, William was alive when in July, the Scopes Trial - often called the Scopes Monkey Trial - took place, prosecuting a substitute teacher for teaching evolution in school. Tennessee had enacted a law that said it was "unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school". William Jennings Bryan headed the prosecution and Clarence Darrow headed the defense. The teacher was found guilty and fined $100. An appeal to the Supreme Court of Tennessee upheld the law but overturned the guilty verdict.
In 1951, at the age of 33 years old, William was alive when on June 25th, CBS began broadcasting in color. There were well over 10 million televisions by that time. The first show in color was a musical variety special titled "Premiere". Hardly anyone had a color TV that could see the show.
In 1987, he was 69 years old when was the first time that a criminal in the United States - a serial rapist - was convicted through the use of DNA evidence.
In 1997, in the year of William Gillian's passing, on August 31st, Princess Diana of Great Britain was killed when her car crashed into a pillar in the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris. The car she was riding in was trying to evade the paparazzi but it was also discovered later that the driver of the car, who was also killed, had three times the legal limit of alcohol which likely contributed to the accident.
