View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1904 – The CQD distress signal was introduced. CQ stood for ‘seek you’, and the D for ‘danger’. It lasted just two years before being replaced with SOS.
1927 – A telephone service began operating between London and New York. A three-minute call cost £15. Nevertheless 31 different people made a call on the firstday.
1945 – Second World War – General Montgomery held a press conference in which he claimed credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge (also known as the Ardennes Offensive). The defeat left many German units severely depleted of men and equipment. America suffered 89,000 casualties, their bloodiest battle of World War II
1965 – Identical twin brothers Ronald and Reginald Kray were in custody, charged in connection with running a protection racket. When they died (1995 and 2000 respectively) their funerals were like those of royals, rather than those of notorious criminals.
1976 – The Ministry of Defence claimed that a British naval frigate, HMS Andromeda, had been deliberately rammed into by an Icelandic gunboat in the Atlantic. The ‘attack’ was one of several incidents between Britain and Iceland with regard to disputed fishing territory.
1994 – After a wait of 800 years, girls were invited to join the Cathedral Choir at Wells in Somerset.
1994 – Oasis started recording their debut album Definitely Maybe at Monnow Valley Studio in South Wales. On the same day, the US female Figure Skating championship is won by Tonya Harding after her rival Nancy Kerrigan had to withdraw due to an attack by a man who hit her on the knee with an iron bar.
1998 – Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky signs an affidavit denying she had an affair with President Bill Clinton.
1999 – President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial begins in the US Senate after the House voted to impeach him for lying about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
2000 – Former Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was released from jail after serving less than half of his 18-month sentence. He had been imprisoned for perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granada Television collapsed.
2012 – Casualty, the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world, was broadcast from Cardiff’s Roath Lock studios in the Porth Teigr area of Cardiff Bay for the first time. For 25 years the fictional Holby City Hospital’s emergency department had been staged in studios in Bristol.
2014 – The Royal mail issued a series of stamps celebrating characters from more than 60 years of children’s television. Characters ranged from Andy Pandy (screened in 1950) to Peppa Pig (who celebrated her 10th anniversary in 2014).
2014 – Figures from ‘Care for the Wild’ showed that pilot culls of badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire had cost more than £7m – equivalent to more than £4,000 per badger killed. The government scheme was to test how effective, humane and safe a cull could be in their attempt to stop the spread of bovine TB.
Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
What’s the definition of a will? It’s a dead giveaway.
The term “blueprint” is from the 19th century technique for copying technical drawings using a blue dye.
“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks
The palace of the parliament in Bucharest is the heaviest building in the world.
“No one knows what its like to feel these feelings, like I do… and I blame you!” #songlyrics
Thanks to Ghostbusters if some god asked me to think of a monster to destroy the world, I would immediately think of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
“Truth” is an anti-smoking campaign and “D.A.R.E.” is an antidrug campaign. #truthordare
“I swear, if I hadn’t promised Mother on her deathbed that I wouldn’t kill you, I would kill you!” #moviequotes
26 year old Kyle MacDonald was able to trade a single red paperclip all the way up to a house, using the “Bigger and Better” game strategy.
PJ Proby – Real Name: James Marcus Smith
With her marriage she got a new name and a dress. It was an emotional wedding. Even the cake was in tiers.
Romeo and Juliet is proof that communication is key in relationships.
If you tried your best to make the most ugly, unattractive and most ridiculous looking mash-up between a french maid and a velociraptor, it would probably look a lot like an ostrich.
The Capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is Kingstown
Courage is always rewarded. – Kenny Loggins
The whole country is full of enterprise. Our common schools are diffusing intelligence among the people and our industry is fast accumulating the comforts and luxuries of life. … It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change for progress and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess and glory. – Millard Fillmore
The public is never wrong. – Adolph Zukor
I am learning to forgive my inner geek, and even value him as a free man. – Kenny Loggins
Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. – Charles Addams
A boat is always safe in the harbour, but that’s not what boats are built for. – Katie Couric
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.