View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1819 – British explorer William Smith discovered the South Shetland Islands, an archipelago lying about 75 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula and claimed them in the name of King George III.
1901 – The birthday of Florence Beatrice Green, a former member of the Women’s Royal Air Force. She was the last known surviving veteran of the First World War and died on 4th February 2012, aged 110.
1910 – Manchester United played its first game at Old Trafford. The Sporting Chronicle said “The most handsomest, the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed.”
1914 – ‘Colonel Bogey March’ was registered at the British Museum by its composers Kenneth J. Alford and F. J. Ricketts.
1915 – The birth of the comedian Dick Emery. In the 1950s he worked with comedians such as Charlie Drake, Tony Hancock and Michael Bentine that led to an exclusive BBC contract, and the long-running programme The Dick Emery Show (BBC, 1963–81).
1957 – The beginning of British TV’s first medical soap opera series ‘Emergency Ward 10’ which ran twice a week for 10 years.
1959 – The United Kingdom granted Cyprus independence, which was then formally proclaimed on 16th August 1960.
1968 – The High Court awarded compensation to 62 children born with thalidomide induced deformities.
1975 – The Queen knighted cricketer Gary Sobers on her visit to Barbados, his birth place.
1976 – Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Britain after the two countries failed to agree on limits in the ‘cod war’ fishing dispute.
1982 – Ozzy Osbourne is arrested in San Antonio, Texas, for urinating on the cenotaph at the Alamo while wearing one of his wife Sharon’s dresses after she had hidden all of his clothes in an effort to stop him from going out.
1985 – EastEnders begins on BBC1. It began with a bang as, Arthur Fowler, Ali Osman and Den Watts forced their way into Reg Cox’s flat and found Reg near death. Several weeks later Nick Cotton was revealed as Reg’s murderer.
1996 – Icelandic singer Bjork attacks a news reporter as she arrives at Bangkok International Airport.
1996 – The oil tanker Sea Empress grounded near Milford Haven. 3,500 dead sea birds were washed ashore and the disaster had a devastating impact on the fishing industry.
2001 – A five-mile exclusion zone was placed around an abattoir in Essex after a suspected case of foot and mouth disease was detected. By the end of March the disease was at its peak, with up to fifty new cases a day. The final case was reported on Whygill Head Farm near Appleby in Cumbria on 30th September. Tourism and farming were severely affected.
2002 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
“It’s very beautiful over there.” – Thomas Edison #LastWords
Criticism is not nearly as effective as sabotage.
Biggest film of 1978: Grease (Musical)
Eye problems caused by computer use fall under the heading computer vision syndrome (CVS).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle only wrote four Sherlock Holmes novels (but 56 short stories).
Isn’t it weird how we don’t collectively care about anything the news doesn’t care about?
When a cat is no longer puzzled by his reflection in the mirror, is it because he’s figured out that it’s only a reflection, or because he thinks that the “other cat” is not interesting anymore?
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” – Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption
Mentioning food on your dating profile gets more matches, and Guacamole is the best food to mention.
Star Wars is my favourite period drama.
Singer Peter Gabriel’s great-great-great-uncle, Thomas Gabriel was the Lord Mayor of London in the 1860s.
“I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers.” – Jimmy Two Times in Goodfellas #moviequotes
Its weird that I know that any YouTube URL ending in dQw4w9WgXcQ is Never Gonna Give You Up.
New word: anticippointment
“If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?” #songlyrics
“I have two hands: one for me, one for other people.” – Millie Bobby Brown
“Ah, stardom! They put your name on a star in the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard and you walk down and find a pile of dog manure on it. That tells the whole story, baby.” – Lee Marvin
“I am not so enamoured of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher’s ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavour to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned.” – Nicolaus Copernicus
“I don’t see the world completely in black and white. Sometimes I do.” – Benicio Del Toro
“External success has to do with people who may see me as a model, or an example, or a representative. As much as I may dislike or want to reject that responsibility, this is something that comes with public success. It’s important to give others a sense of hope that it is possible and you can come from really different places in the world and find your own place in the world that’s unique for yourself.” – Amy Tan
“In a world full of people, only some want to fly, Isn’t that crazy?” – Seal
“One of the good things about getting older is you find you’re more interesting than most of the people you meet.” – Lee Marvin
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.