View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1941 – Winston Churchill introduced his ‘V for Victory” campaign which rapidly spread through Europe. The BBC took the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which matched the dot-dot-dot-dash Morse code for the letter V, and played it before news bulletins.
1969 – British rower John Fairfax arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after becoming the first person to row across the Atlantic alone. He had left the Canary Islands on January 20th in a 24’ rowing boat and after 180 days and 4000 miles he had finished his journey.
1972 – The Battle of Mirbat, arguably the finest moment in SAS history. The battle was fought in the Gulf state of Oman, with British troops supporting the Sultan of Oman. Just nine Special Forces soldiers overcame 300 Communist guerrillas, known as the Adoo.
1976 – British fishermen urged the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Crosland, to secure a 50-mile fishing zone around the UK.
1986 – English boxer Frank Bruno was beaten in a heavyweight world championship contender fight by American Tim Witherspoon.
1990 – MPs voted in favour of permanent televising of the House of Commons.
1997 – The Irish Republican Army (IRA) restored its cease-fire (broken on 9 February 1996) in order to participate in talks on the future of Northern Ireland.
1999 – An academic study revealed that four million children in Britain were living in poverty.
2001 – Former Tory MP, Jeffrey Archer, was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years in prison.
2009 – A black spot the size of Earth is discovered on Jupiter after an unknown object crashed onto the planet.
2013 – Comic actor and writer Mel Smith died of a heart attack, aged 60. He was known for the sketch shows ‘Alas Smith and Jones’ and ‘Not The Nine O’Clock News’. Smith formed a lasting partnership with co-performer Griff Rhys Jones with whom he set up the independent television company, Talkback Productions.
2019 – Crowds dancing at a festival in Sheffield trigger minor earthquakes. On the same day, the UK oil tanker Stena Impero is seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz. Also, actor Rutger Hauer dies aged 75.
2021 – The Meteorological Office issued its first ever extreme heat warning under its new service (launched in June), with temperatures possibly reaching 33C in western areas and likely to remain high for another five days.
Did you know that on this day in 1941, Tom and Jerry made their first named appearance in “The Midnight Snack”? They were previously called Jasper and Jinx.
Tony Curtis – Real Name: Bernard Schwartz
“My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you.” – George M. Cohan (James Cagney) #moviequotes
The Capital of Mozambique is Maputo
If reality really is an advanced computer simulation, I wonder what the difficulty level is set at.
The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place – no one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building undetected. #thingsIlearnedatthemovies
Bruno Mars is not the recording artist of Uptown Funk, only a featured singer on the song. Mark Ronson recorded the song.
The Seven Deadly Sins #1- Pride is an excessive belief in one’s own abilities.
Mario’s name was finally confirmed by Nintendo to actually be Mario Mario in 2015.
I think from now on, I’m going to sing about my problems. Whenever I talk about them, people are like, “Shut up Joe, everyone has problems.” Nobody ever says that to Adele.
“Some may say that I couldn’t sing, but no one can say that I didn’t sing.” – Florence Foster Jenkins
“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.” – Edgar Degas
“The biggest emotion in creation is the bridge to optimism.” – Brian May
“There’s always gonna be someone better looking, there’s always gonna be someone smarter, there’s always gonna be someone who works harder. What you have to offer is yourself, so don’t lose it, focus on it and try to bring it out.” – Jared Padalecki
“Every new fad or fashion at once has its denouncers from the pulpit, platform, professor’s chair.” – Alice Dunbar Nelson
“I really thought I was pretty good before I saw Hendrix, and then I thought: Yeah, not so good.” – Brian May
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.