View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
Harrison Ford, actor, 80; Roger (James) McGuinn, guitarist/singer (The Byrds) 80; Ernő Rubik, inventor, 78; Cheech Marin, comedian/actor, 76; Didi (Edith) Conn, actress, 71; Cameron Crowe, director/writer, 65; Ian Hislop, magazine editor/TV personality, 62; Ken (Kendrick Kang-Joh) Jeong, comedian/actor, 53; Craig Bellamy, footballer, 43; Roberto Martinez, football manager, 49; Tulisa (Tula) Contostavlos, singer, 34; Daniel Bentley, goalkeeper, 29.
What : day is it
1943 – The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft, ended in defeat for Germany.
1955 – Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain – executed at Holloway Prison for the murder of her lover David Blakely.
1965 – Paul McCartney is presented with five Ivor Novello Awards at The Savoy, London. John Lennon refuses to attend and Paul himself was 40 minutes late as he had forgotten about it.
1967 – In the heat of the mountain stage of the Tour de France, British cyclist Tony Simpson, 29, collapsed and died.
1972 – A series of gun-battles and shootings erupt across Belfast between the Provisional IRA and the British Army.
1978 – The BBC bans the Sex Pistols’ latest single No One Is Innocent, which features vocals by Ronnie Biggs, the criminal notorious for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963. At the time, Biggs was living in Brazil, still wanted by British authorities, but immune from extradition.
1983 – The House of Commons voted 361-245 against the restoration of the death penalty.
1985 – Two simultaneous ‘Live Aid’ concerts, one in London (Wembley Stadium) and one in Philadelphia, raised over £50 million for famine victims in Africa. Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially opened Live Aid. The 16-hour ‘super concert’ was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations.
1991 – Bryan Adams went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with Everything I Do I Do It For You from the film Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves. It stayed at No.1 for a record breaking 16 weeks, and was also a No.1 in the US and 16 other countries.
1993 – Officials in Manchester bidding to hold the 2000 Olympic Games were told that their chances were ‘very, very high’. Their bid was not successful.
1995 – The first man in Britain to be prosecuted under the War Crimes Act appeared at Epsom Magistrates, when Szymon Serafimowicz, aged 84, was charged with murdering 4 million Jews in 1941 and 1942.
2002 – One man died and at least 100 people were injured in Brighton after more than 200,000 people attended a free concert on the beach, overwhelming emergency services.
2016 – Theresa May is elected leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister by Tory MPs following the resignation of David Cameron.
2018 – Chelsea sack manager Antonio Conte.
Did you know that on this day in 1923, the iconic Hollywood sign was placed in Los Angeles, California? It originally said “Hollywoodland” but the “land” was later removed to reflect the wider area it was in.
Harry’s father, James Potter is the villain from every teen comedy.
Clarke’s First Law: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Every activity will lead to weight loss if you add “instead of eating” at the end of the sentence.
Legally Blonde was originally a novel based on author Amanda Brown’s experiences at Stanford Law School.
The Capital of Nauru is no official capital; government offices in Yaren District
Vincent Van Gogh sold only one work of art during his lifetime.
There are a total of 3,863,484 unique Lego bricks in The Lego Movie.
A group of Guinea Fowl is called a Confusion.
Quotes from Spongebob are like inside jokes; you’ll get weird stares if you say them around people who don’t know them. “I never thought those Pirates would beat all those Robots!”
I bought the world’s worst thesaurus earlier. Not only was it terrible, but it was also terrible.
“You can have all the tools in the world but if you don’t genuinely believe in yourself, it’s useless.” – Ken Jeong
“If you wish a thing done, get someone to do it for you; but if you wish it done well, do it yourself.” – John Jacob Astor
“People are always saying that I must have been the class clown, with all these voices. No, I was way too shy to be the class clown; I was a class clown’s writer.” – Tom Kenny
“If there’s anyone in space, what they’ll learn about the human race will be listening to us talking on the car phone.” – Roger McGuinn
“If someone says ‘Give me one word of advice,’ I say ‘be fearless.’ And knowing without any shadow of a doubt that what they have to give – who they are – is totally unique and not shared by anybody else. And to believe in that uniqueness. It took me decades before I developed courage as an actor.” – Patrick Stewart
“When people lack jobs, opportunity, and ownership of property they have little or no stake in their communities.” – Jack Kemp
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.