View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1919 – Gandhi organized a day of ‘prayer and fasting’ in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by the British. Official Government of India sources estimated the fatalities at 379, with 1,100 wounded, many of them women and children.
1953 – Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia (see ©BB picture) at Clydeside. She was used by the British Royal Family for state visits and diplomatic missions for the next 45 years and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal, Leith – Edinburgh.
1964 – Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced, to a total of 307 years.
1982 – Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the new Canadian constitution, severing Canada’s last colonial links with Britain.
1986 – Brewery heiress Jennifer Guiness was released in Dublin after being kidnapped and held hostage for 7 days.
1996 – The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced that they were to divorce.
1996 – Barclay’s bank revealed that it had been the target of a 15-month terrorist campaign by the ‘Mardi Gras’ bomber who was attempting to extort large sums of money from the bank.
1997 – A DNA data base for birds was launched, to deter thieves from stealing valuable eggs.
2008 – It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February. On 23rd January 2009, Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison by Mr. Justice McCombe. In February 2017 a British television drama of the kidnap (entitled ‘The Moorside) was shown on BBC Television.
2020 – Shortly before 06:00 this morning, Tom Moore, a 99-year-old war veteran from Bedfordshire, who is walking 100 laps of his garden with the aid of a walking frame before he turns 100, had raised nearly £12million for the NHS. More than 600,000 people from around the world donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up the previous week.
The word ‘almost’ is the longest in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
The dot on top of the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.
A group of Sharks is called a Shiver or School or Shoal.
“Round up the usual suspects.” – Capt. Louis Renault (Claude Rains) #moviequotes
“There’ll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more.” #songlyrics
TV shows like NCIS and CSI are basically the grown-up versions of Scooby-Doo.
“I am perplexed. Get Satan out!” – Aleister Crowley (famous occultist) #LastWords
“It’s kinda like a new pair of underwear. At first, it’s constrictive, but after a while, it becomes a part of you.” – Garth Algar #moviequotes
“Ssshhhhh… He’s asleep” is a consideration. “Ssshhhhh… He’s awake” is a conspiracy.
The female equivalent of a “dude” is a “dudine,” not a “dudette.” #really?
Based on the number of times I’ve failed those captcha tests, I’m not entirely convinced that I’m not a robot.
If dogs played poker, the ones with long tails would always lose.
I love how when you drop something small and take your eyes off it for one second it immediately transports you to an alternate universe.
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.
2012 – The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant took place on the Tideway of the River Thames, as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.