View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1769 – Venetian blinds were patented (in London) by Edward Beran.
1914 – In the Battle of the Falklands, all British ships survived whilst four German cruisers were sunk.
1936 – After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. Edward planned to marry divorcee Mrs. Wallis Simpson and, before he left for France, he made a final radio broadcast to the nation. He was succeeded by his brother, George, who became George VI.
1952 – Derek Bentley, aged 19, and 16 year old Christopher Craig, were found guilty of the murder of a policeman in south London. Because of his age, Craig was sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, while Bentley, who did not fire the gun, was sentenced to hang. Despite a public outcry, the sentence was carried out on 27th January 1953.
1967 – Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner, was rolled out of its hangar for public viewing for the first time.
1975 – An Icelandic gunboat opened fire on unarmed British fishery support vessels in the North Atlantic Sea, heightening the ‘Cod War’.
1979 – Rhodesia reverted to British rule after Parliament passed a bill to end 14 years of illegal independence from Britain.
1986 – Church leaders condemned a radio campaign about Aids for ‘condoning promiscuity’.
1987 – Charlie Chaplin’s famous memorabilia were sold at Christie’s in London. His cane and bowler went for £82,500 and his boots for £38,500.
1990 – The Government set aside £42M to British haemophiliacs who became infected with the HIV virus after being treated with contaminated Factor VIII
2005 – A huge fire continued to burn at Buncefield oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It was the largest of its kind in peacetime Europe and the noise of the explosions could be heard as far away as the Netherlands.
2012 – Sitar player Ravi Shankar dies aged 92 after undergoing heart valve replacement surgery. On the same day, Professor Stephen Hawking wins the $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize, the most lucrative academic prize in the world.
2014 – Ray Teret, a 73 year old DJ friend of paedophile Jimmy Savile, was jailed for 25 years for a catalogue of historical sex offences against young girls. He was convicted of seven rapes and 11 indecent assaults against schoolgirls in the 1960s and 1970s
2015 – Playboy magazine publishes its last nude issue.
2017 – A trial for Huntington’s disease procured positive results. This was a breakthrough trial, as it was the first time a drug had suppressed the effects of an incurable brain disorder.
2019 – Botanist and TV presenter, David Bellamy dies aged 86.
2019 – Climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
Did you know that on this day in 1866, the first yacht race across the Atlantic Ocean began? The idea started as a drunken bet between some wealthy Americans a couple of months before.
Biometric data (like fingerprints) are not legally protected in the U.S. under the Fifth Amendment and, unlike a passcode, can be compelled from a defendant.
When people agree with you, “you’re right”. But when they don’t, “that’s just your opinion”.
I’m smart enough to wait until my wife is finally ready before putting on my winter coat, but not smart enough to keep my mouth shut about doing it.
Cat Stevens – Real Name: Stephen Georgiou
The United States rents Guantanamo Bay from Cuba for $4085 a month, but Cuba has only cashed one check in the past 55 years – by accident.
The Capital of Bahrain is Manama
“You can’t handle the truth!” – Col. Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson) in A Few Good Men, 1992
“There’s no crying in baseball!” – Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) #moviequotes
Hours before being murdered by Jack the Ripper, Catherine Eddowes was taken into police custody after being found drunk, when prompted for her name, she gave the police a fake name, “Mary Kelly” A woman named Mary Kelly was the next victim. #clue
Vera Lynn – Real Name: Vera Welch
Four out of six Marlboro Men died died of smoking-related diseases, thus earning Marlboro cigarettes, specifically Marlboro Reds, the nickname “Cowboy killers”.
Birthday : quotes
“It is through art that we will prevail and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people.” – Rita Moreno
“Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“It needs to be said and heard: it’s OK to be who you are. My mom taught me to live by the three p’s: to always be passionate, persistent, and prepared.” – Hailee Steinfeld
“All men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” – George Mason
“I forgive my mom for being a psycho and my dad for being a loser.” – Nikki Sixx
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.