View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Mons – the first major battle of World War I.
1938 – England’s Test cricketer Len Hutton scored what was then a new world record test score of 364 against Australia at the Oval.
1940 – The German Luftwaffe began night bombing London.
1961 – Police launched a murder hunt after a man was found shot dead and his companion seriously wounded in a lay-by in Bedfordshire. Valerie Storie, who survived the shooting, identified James Hanratty as her attacker. Hanratty was convicted of the murder in 1962 and sentenced to death, becoming one of the last people to be hanged in Britain before capital punishment was abolished.
1962 – John Lennon, founder-member of The Beatles, married his childhood sweetheart Cynthia Powell.
1965 – Security guards at a Manchester TV Studio hosed down 200 Rolling Stones fans who broke down barriers while waiting for the band to arrive for a performance.
1977 – New, smaller pound notes, were introduced into the UK.
1990 – Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared on state television with western hostages, provoking a storm of outrage.
2001 – J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter creator) was given the Walpole Medal of Excellence for promoting British Excellence.
2005 – Hilary Lister, from Kent, became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel. She achieved this by using controls powered by her breath to navigate her boat and made the crossing in six hours thirteen minutes.
2010 – Publisher Harper Collins and the BBC began a court battle over a book that revealed the identity of Top Gear’s The Stig to be the former Formula Three driver Ben Collins. Henceforth Collins was always referred to by the Top Gear presenters as ‘Sacked Stig’.
2012 – Former fugitive Asil Nadir (71) was jailed for 10 years for the theft of almost £29m from his Polly Peck empire more than 20 years previously. The company collapsed in 1990 after a Serious Fraud Office investigation.
2013 – A Super Puma helicopter crashed off Shetland killed 4 of the 18 on board. In 2012 two helicopters had ditched in the North Sea only six months apart in incidents which were found to be caused by gearbox problems. Super Puma EC 225s were grounded in the wake of the two earlier accidents but were given approval to fly again and services had only resumed on 7th August 2013.
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” – Harry S Truman.
Useless Pronunciation: O as in ox
‘Yipes’ is the Fruit Stripe chewing gum zebra.
Hedy Lamarr – Real Name: Hedwig Kiesler
“She seems to have an invisible torture” #misunderstoodlyrics
Lilo means “lost” in Hawaiian, so the movie title “Lilo and Stitch” can be interpreted as “lost and pulled together”.
In the song “One More Time” by Daft Punk, “one more time” is said 28 times. #onemoretime
“Plastics.” – Mr. Maguire (Walter Brooke) #moviequotes
Garrison Keillor – Real Name: Gary Edward Keillor
umop-apisdn is upside-down upside-down.
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” – Robert A. Heinlein
The only difference between a dream and a nightmare is whether or not you enjoyed it.
“I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I pardon those who have occasioned my death, and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France.” – Louis XVI of France
“The way I look at a musical, you are commenting on the human condition no matter what you do. A musical may be light and frivolous, but by its very nature, it makes some kind of social comment.” – Gene Kelly
“I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.” – Kobe Bryant
“People are more interested in someone who goes on stage and tells the truth.” – Jay Mohr
“I don’t know any musician, successful or otherwise, that got in it to make money. Or a writer, for that matter. You get into it because you love it.” – Rick Springfield
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.