View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1929 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from Russia.
1933 – Author John Galsworthy dies aged 65.
1941 – Joe Louis KO’s Red Burnam in round 5 for the boxing heavyweight title.
1945 – Soviet troops reach the Oder River, less that 50 miles from Berlin.
1950 – US President Harry Truman publicly announces his support for the development of a hydrogen bomb.
1953 – A car ferry sinks in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales of the winter, claiming the lives of up to 130 passengers and crew. On the same day, Isthmian League side Walthamstow Avenue draw 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
1955 – RCA demonstrates the first music synthesizer.
1956 – Death of author A.A. Milne aged 74.
1957 – Film star Elizabeth Taylor divorces second husband Michael Wilding.
1958 – James van Allen discovers the radiation belt.
1967 – The Beatles spent a second day at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, to complete filming for the ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ promotional video. On the same day, John Lennon bought an 1843 poster from an antiques shop advertising a fair which contained the words ‘Being for the benefit of Mr Kite’ and others which he used as lyrics for the song of the same name.
1970 – Blues musician Slim Harpo dies of a heart attack aged 46 while recording in London.
1971 – Launch of Apollo 14.
1974 – Death of film magnate Sam Goldwyn aged 91.
1978 – Israel turns three military outposts in the West Bank into civilian settlements.
1983 – The seat belt law comes into effect in Britain.
1985 – South African president P W Botha offers to release Nelson Mandela if he will renounce violence.
1988 – The Washington Redskins beat Denver Broncos, 42-10 to win the Super Bowl.
1993 – The Dallas Cowboys beat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17 at Pasadena to win the Super Bowl.
1996 – A lorry carrying heavy explosives crashes into a bank in Colombo bank killing more than 50 people.
1999 – Family Guy is first shown on US TV. On the same day, the Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19 in Miami to win the Super Bowl.
2000 – Family GP Dr Harold Shipman is jailed for life for murdering 15 of his patients, making him Britain’s most prolific convicted serial killer. It was later estimated that he could have been responsible for the deaths of up to 300 people.
2001 – In The Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Al Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in 1988.
2009 – At least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, Kenya.
2015 – R&B singer-songwriter Don Covay dies aged 78.
2016 – Death of broadcaster Terry Wogan aged 77.
2017 – US President Donald Trump fires Attorney General Sally Yates after she instructs Justice Dept officials not to defend Trump’s travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries. On the same day, singer, bassist, and songwriter John Wetton dies at his home in Bournemouth from colon cancer.
I always imagined life in the Star Wars universe to be much more awesome, yet I probably still would only be sitting behind a desk of an intergalactic insurance company imagining how awesome life would be in a fictional universe.
The Capital of Romania is Bucharest
Biggest film of 1996: Independence Day (Action/Adventure) earned ~ $307,000,000
If you blow up a balloon too much, it’ll blow up.
What if aliens never invaded earth because they have seen Hollywood movies and think past attempts from other races continually fail.
“Don’t let your dreams be dreams.” – Jack Johnson
TV Quotes… “We are two wild and crazy guys!” (Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd, as Czech playboys) on “Saturday Night Live”
The phrase “old sport” is said 55 times during The Great Gatsby.
A group of Turtle Doves is called a Pitying or Dule or Piteousness.
The state of Rhode Island’s official name is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Plurals can be used to properly refer to a titleless party in question. – “They then broke the window of the car and took off with my phone. I didn’t see their face.”
Dr. Seuss – Real Name: Theodore Seuss Geisel
Plagiarism is getting in trouble for something you didn’t even do.
Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent. – Nolan Ryan
To bear up under loss- to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief- to be victor over anger- to smile when tears are close- to resist evil men and base instincts- to hate hate and to love love- to go on when it would seem good to die- to seek ever after the glory and the dream- to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about to be- that is what any man can do, and so be great. – Zane Grey
You’re not meant to do what’s easy, you’re meant to challenge yourself. – Justin Timberlake
There’s nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it. – Johnny Rotten (John Lydon)
Science is clearly one of the most profound methods that humans have yet devised for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning… if some sort of reconciliation between science and religion is not forthcoming, the future of humanity is, at best, precarious. – Ken Wilber
We live in a time which has created the art of the absurd. It is our art. It contains happenings, Pop art, camp, a theatre of the absurd … Do we have the art because the absurd is the patina of waste…? Or are we face to face with a desperate or most rational effort from the deepest resources of the unconscious of us all to rescue civilization from the pit and plague of its bedding? – Norman Mailer
Listen, I’m not cool. Being cool is about keeping your blood pressure steady. So no. Don’t be cool. Be passionate. Be dedicated. Be tenacious. Be uncompromising. Be pissed. Be happy. Be sad. – Justin Timberlake
2018 – Xi’an, China, introduced a pedestrian lane for people who walk while looking at their phones.
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.