View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1951 – The Stone of Scone, (the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned) was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey in Angus. It had been stolen from Westminster Abbey 107 days earlier by Scottish nationalists who wanted it returned to Scotland. In 1996, in a symbolic response to growing dissatisfaction among Scots, the Conservative Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Edinburgh Castle when not in use at coronations.
1952 – Queen Elizabeth II announced that her children and descendents would bear the surname of Windsor.
1957 – Britain agreed to Singapore self rule, to come into effect in 1958.
1959 – Billy Wright, former England football captain became the first player in the world to play for his country in a hundred matches when England beat Scotland 1-0.
1961 – The trial began, in Israel, of Adolf Eichmann, accused of helping Hitler in his plan to exterminate the Jews. He faced 15 charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and war crimes.
1973 – The British Government introduced a tar content table to be printed on cigarette packets.
1981 – The arrest of a black man led to hundreds of youths rampaging through the streets of Brixton in south London. Over a 100 vehicles were burned and almost 150 buildings were damaged. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved.
1983 – The film Gandhi, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, won eight Oscars, the most any British film has ever won. In October 2004 a four feet high bust of Gandhi was erected in the city of Hull, donated by Hull’s Indian community. The chair of the ceremony, pointed out that no other city in the world had, within half-a-mile, the statues of Wilberforce, Mandela and Gandhi who devoted their lives to fight against slavery, racism and colonialism.
1987 – The London Agreement was secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan. The agreement outlined the framework for an international peace conference hosted by the United Nations, and whose purpose was ‘the peaceful solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.’
2001 – The death of Harry Secombe, Welsh actor, singer and comedian. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show (1951–60).
Wine is sold in tinted bottles because it spoils when exposed to light.
Pound cake got its name from its original recipe, which called for a pound each of butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.
Viewed from the scale of the entire universe, the speed of light is incredibly slow. So slow that, from that perspective, everything in existence is essentially motionless.
The Garfield comic strip debuted on June 19, 1978.
My father couldn’t control himself around an open bag of crisps. I can’t control myself around an open bottle of vodka. My family’s weakness is potatoes.
The Capital of Trinidad and Tobago is Port-of-Spain
Olivia Wilde – Real Name: Olivia Jane Cockburn
Car alarms are no longer effective. Instead of assuming someone is breaking into a car I naturally assume some idiot accidentally clicked his button.
New Warrior Squirrel Girl is actually one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe, defeating both Doctor Doom and Thanos.
There are no Sour Patch Adults because we eat them all when they’re kids.
One galactic year (our solar system around the Milky way) is 250 million Earth years. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Earth is only 18 galactic years old!
Little round donuts are called “donut holes” even though that’s pretty much the opposite of what they are.
2018 – Xi’an, China, introduced a pedestrian lane for people who walk while looking at their phones.
1993 – The Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, fell into the sea following a landslide, making news around the world.
1805 – The first Trooping of the Colour took place on Horse Guards Parade. It was Edward VII who moved Trooping the Colour to its June date, because of the vagaries of British weather.