View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
Ice-T, (Tracy Morrow), rapper/actor, 63; John McEnroe, tennis legend, 63; Andy Taylor, guitarist, 61; Christopher Eccleston, actor, 58; Dave Lombardo, drummer (Slayer) 57; Amanda Holden, actress/broadcaster/TV personality, 51; Mahershala Ali (Mahershalalhashbaz George), actor, 48; Valentino Rossi, champion motorcycle racer, 43; Elizabeth Olsen, actress, 33.
What : day is it
1923 – Howard Carter, having discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun 12 months previously, lifted the lid off the sarcophagus to reveal a golden effigy of the young king.
1927 – The birth of actress June Muriel Brown, MBE. She is best known for her role as the busy-body, chain-smoking gossip Dot Cotton in the long-running British soap opera EastEnders.
1940 – World War II: In a daring night raid, known as the Altmark incident, a boarding party from HMS Cossack successfully rescued 299 British prisoners of war from the Altmark, a 12,000 ton German tanker, in Norwegian waters. The Altmark was returning to Germany with the merchant sailors who had been picked up from ships sunk by the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
1946 – The birth of actor Ian Lavender. His best remembered role was as Private Frank Pike, the youngest member and ‘stupid boy’ of the platoon in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army. Lavender has a ‘cameo role’ in the 2016 film adaptation of the series and the actor Frank William takes the role of the Reverend Timothy Farthing. The Dad’s Army went on general release in cinemas on 5th February 2016.
1950 – The birth of Peter Hain Labour Party politician. He served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and as both Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales under Brown.
1957 – Death of the politician Leslie Hore-Belisha, minister of Transport who introduced the driving test, the Highway Code and the Belisha beacon used at zebra crossings.
1965 – A 2nd report from British Railways’ Board chairman Dr. Richard Beeching outlined transport needs for the following 25 years. The report followed his 1st controversial review of the state of the railways, published in 1963 in which he said the system was uneconomic and under-used, and recommended that a quarter of the railway system should be shut down.
1972 – Many homes and businesses were without electricity for up to nine hours a day from this day. Miners, into the sixth week of their strike over pay, picketed power stations and all other sources of fuel supply in an attempt to step up pressure on the Government.
1985 – Ministry of Defence assistant secretary Clive Ponting resigned from his post. He was charged with leaking two documents about the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War.
1989 – Dr. Raymond Crockett, a Harley Street nephrologist, resigned as the director of the National Kidney Centre after revelations that kidneys had been purchased from impoverished Turks to be used in transplants for wealthy patients.
1990 – Wives of Royal Navy seamen protested over a decision to allow WRENs (women sailors) to go to sea.
2002 – Thieves break into George Michael’s London home and steal over £100,000 worth of paintings, jewellery and designer clothes, causing £200,000 worth of damage and driving off in his £80,000 Aston Martin DB7.
2005 – The Kyoto Protocol that aimed to slow down global warming took effect, but the US and Australia refused to support it.
Princess Diana was a Rocky Horror fan! The princess requested a meeting with Tim Curry and in an interview, Curry remembers she told him with a “wicked smile” that Rocky Horror “quite completed my education.”
Progress is made by lazy men looking for an easier way to do things.
If alien life is ever discovered, ‘aliens don’t exist’ will become the new popular conspiracy theory.
The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde were both released on May 16, 1966.
“Say ‘hello’ to my little friend!” – Tony Montana (Al Pacino) #moviequotes
“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” #songlyrics
“I am Groot” – Groot (Vin Diesel) #moviequotes
Pedro López, a South American serial killer confirmed to have killed 110 people and confessed to having killed more than 300 between 1969 and 1980, was released in 1998 on good behaviour. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
Groucho Marx – Real Name: Julius Marx
A group of Minnows is called a Shoal or Steam or Swarm.
“Well, when I see 5 weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards. That’s my policy.” – Frank Drebin #moviequotes
The Capital of the Philippines is Manila
The biggest film of 1979: Kramer vs. Kramer (Drama)
A group of Lions is called a Pride or Sault or Troop.
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams
“Be authentic to your dreams. Be authentic to your own idea about yourself. Grind away at your own minds and bodies until you become your own invention. Be Mad Scientists.” – Warren Ellis
“There’s a saying among prospectors: ‘Go out looking for one thing, and that’s all you’ll ever find.” – Robert Joseph Flaherty
“It’s not about division. It’s not about politics. My concern is how do we come together?” – LeVar Burton
“We believe a scientist because he can substantiate his remarks, not because he is eloquent and forcible in his enunciation. In fact, we distrust him when he seems to be influencing us by his manner.” – Ivor Armstrong Richards
“Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” – Henry Adams
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” – Edgar Bergen
“Heroism is endurance for one moment more.” – George F. Kennan
“It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.” – Warren Ellis
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.