View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1840 – Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, both aged 20, were married in St James’ Palace, London.
1846 – The birth of Charles Beresford, British admiral and politician. He was a well-known and popular figure who courted publicity and was widely known to the British public as ‘Charlie B’. He was considered by many to be a personification of John Bull and was normally accompanied by his trademark, a bulldog.
1884 – The birth of Frederick William Hawksworth, locomotive designer and Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway.
1894 – The birth of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who, as British Prime Minister after Eden’s resignation following the Suez crisis, claimed ‘You’ve never had it so good’ and warned South Africa that ‘the wind of change’ was blowing through the continent. He was nicknamed ‘Supermac’.
1906 – Britain’s first modern & largest battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was launched. It established the pattern of the turbine-powered, “all-big-gun” warship, a type that dominated the world’s navies for the next 35 years.
1971 – The Royal Albert Hall bans a scheduled concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention. Frank sues for breach of contract.
1988 – Sir John Gielgud made theatrical history when, after an absence of ten years from the stage, he played the longest role ever for an actor of his age. Just weeks away from his 84th birthday he played Sydney Cockerell in The Best of Friends by Hugh Whitmore at the Apollo.
1996 – IBM computer Deep Blue beats reigning champion Gary Kasparov at chess. On the same day, an IRA bomb explodes in the Docklands area of London.
2005 – Clarence House announces the engagement of HRH Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles. On the same day, singer Roger Daltrey is awarded the CBE for services to music.
2006 – The 20th Winter Olympic Games open in Turin, Italy. Luciano Pavarotti sings ‘Nessun Dorma’ in his last ever performance.
2008 – Amy Winehouse scored five awards at the 50th Grammy Awards. The British soul singer wasn’t able to attend even though she won big, including an award for her song about her own struggles called “Rehab.”
2013 – The Department for Transport announced that TV advertisements, which have been shown since the 60s, with characters such as Tufty the squirrel and the Green Cross Code Man would no longer be broadcast because of ‘re-prioritised’ budgets.
2014 – Child star turned diplomat Shirley Temple Black dies aged 85.
2014 – Jenny Jones from Bristol won bronze in the women’s snowboarding slopestyle event. Not only was it Britain’s first medal of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, but it was Britain’s first ever medal on snow. Aged 33 she was also the oldest in the competition.
Did you know that on this day in 1996, IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue, defeated Gary Kasparov at chess? This was the first time a computer beat a world champion chess player.
Geronimo – Real Name: Goyathlay
Only about 9 or 10 grandpas ago they were just discovering North America.
In the word queue, the “ueue” is silent.
Apples are more effective at waking you up in the morning than coffee
In eastern Africa you can buy beer brewed from bananas
“No comment” – Edward Abbey (the writer who was asked if he had any last words, the phrase is also engraved on his tombstone) #LastWords
Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan are the only two Doubly Landlocked countries in the world.
Like 90% of what the Dog Whisperer does involves modifying the behavior of the people who own the dogs, not the dogs themselves. He should be called The Human Whisperer.
All bicycles weigh 50 pounds: A 30-pound bicycle needs a 20-pound lock and chain.
All bicycles weigh 50 pounds: A 40-pound bicycle needs a 10-pound lock and chain.
All bicycles weigh 50 pounds: A 50-pound bicycle needs no lock or chain.
“When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.” – Barney Stinson
Rock band Journey never had a No. 1 hit single on the U.S. Billboard top 40.
A group of Tigers is called a Streak or Ambush.
The planet Venus is nearly identical in size to Earth, their radius’ differ in size by only 201 miles, with Earth being the larger.
If the force of every step I took for the rest of my life was all combined, it would probably be powerful enough to destroy a mountain.
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.