View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1942 – The first broadcast of Desert Island Discs on BBC radio, devised and presented by Roy Plomley. It is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio.
1943 – The birth of Tony Blackburn, English disc jockey. He broadcast on the “pirate” stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1, in 1967.
1963 – A French veto stopped Britain joining the European Common Market.
1966 – A bill was published by the government, permitting random breath tests.
1985 – Oxford University snubbed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by refusing her an honorary degree. Academics led a campaign against honouring Mrs. Thatcher in protest against the government’s cuts in funding for education.
1989 – The artificial leg that had belonged to Sir Douglas Bader was catalogued for sale. His widow was selling memorabilia to raise money to buy her own house, instead of renting.
2003 – Solicitor Sally Clark was cleared by the Court of Appeal of murdering her two sons after serving more than three years of a life sentence. Sadly, she never fully recovered from the effects of the appalling miscarriage of justice and was found dead at her home on 16th March 2007.
2015 – Lt. Danielle Welch was presented with her ‘wings’ by The Duke of York. She was the first and also the last woman to become a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter pilot, as the aircraft is due to be replaced in 2017.
2015 – There were tears of joy for widower Stan Beaton as he heard again the answerphone message of his late wife Ruby. The message had been accidentally deleted during an upgrade by Virgin Media, but engineers searched through thousands of recordings and eventually managed to restore the message, which he had kept on his phone for 14 years.
2016 – The Land Rover Defender ceased production at 9:30am GMT (and at 8:30pm on the same day for the East Coast of Australia). Over 2 million Land Rover Series and Defender vehicles were produced since 1948. To mark the Defender’s passing, the Sunshine Coast Land Rover Owners’ Club held a gathering at the exact time that production ceased, to hold a wake and to remember the Defender.
Waldo has been traveling all over the world for years and never chosen a place to call home. Maybe the person trying the hardest to find Waldo is himself.
The Seven Virtues #7- Temperance is moderation of needed things and abstinence from things which are not needed.
Biggest film of 1997: Titanic (Thriller) earned ~ $659,000,000
The boiling point of water on top of Mt Everest is 160f (71c).
I’m not sure if it’s a false memory, but I remember climbing across monkey bars without feeling like my arms were being torn from their sockets.
Offense: When it’s a legal matter, it’s pronounced o-FENCE. When it’s sports, it’s pronounced OFF-ence. Climbing? A fence.
“You talkin’ to me?” – Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in Taxi Driver, 1976
According to a study, people will believe anything that’s according to a study.
Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good. – Thomas Paine
I personally stay away from natural foods. At my age I need all the preservatives I can get. – W.C. Fields
Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws, and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs. – Anton Chekhov
Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves; when that right is pre-empted it is called brain-washing. – Germaine Greer
Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others. – Edward Abbey
I don’t have to attend every argument I’m invited to. – W.C. Fields
Newlyweds shooting budget: 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food, and drink. 9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That’s how to make an independent film. – Edward Burns
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.