View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
July 24th is known as Drive-Thru Day, Amelia Earhart Day, National Tequila Day & Tell An Old Joke Day.
1908 – Fifty six runners began the London Marathon from Windsor Castle as part of the London Olympic Games.
1926 – The first greyhound racing track in the UK was opened, at Belle Vue, in Manchester.
1936 – The GPO (General Post Office) introduced TIM – the automated speaking clock using the voice of Miss Ethel Cain – a telephonist at the GPO’s Victoria telephone exchange in London.
1943 – World War II: The start of Operation Gomorrah saw British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and the Americans bombed by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives had killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1964 – The Rolling Stones are banned from playing in Blackpool (lasting for 44 years) after a riot breaks out at the Empress Ballroom when Keith Richards kicks a yob in the mouth for spitting at the group.
1966 – After a local and national campaign, the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles first performed, was re-opened. Prime Minister Harold Wilson performed the opening ceremony.
1980 – The death of Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor. He rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show and was the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series.
1986 – ‘Live Aid’ organiser Bob Geldof was made an honorary knight of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
1987 – Former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Jeffrey Archer, was awarded record libel damages at the High Court. The Daily Star newspaper was ordered to pay the MP £500,000 damages, along with up to £700,000 costs, for a front-page story in November 1986 alleging that Mr. Archer had paid to have sex with a prostitute. (Note:- in July 2001, Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the 1987 trial and was sentenced to four years in prison.)
1995 – Southampton goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, Wimbledon keeper Hans Segers and Aston Villa striker John Fashanu were charged with conspiracy to fix matches after an expose in The Sun newspaper. All three are cleared after two trials.
1996 – Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen’s Christmas broadcast would no longer be a BBC exclusive.
2000 – Loyalist paramilitary hit man Michael Stone was released from the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. He was given a 684 year sentence in 1989 for six murders and five attempted murders, but was set free as part of the Good Friday peace agreement.
2013 – It was announced that the Pride and Prejudice author Jane Austen would feature on the next £10 note avoiding a long-term absence of women represented on banknotes. The author replaced Charles Darwin when the new notes went into circulation on 14th September 2017.
Did you know that on this day in 1567, James VI became the King of England and Ireland? He was only thirteen months old but was given the throne when his mother abdicated.
The Aztec city of Tenochtitlán took conservation so seriously a person could be sentenced to death for cutting down a living tree without proper authorization.
There is no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said “let them eat cake”.
The Capital of Moldova is Chisinau
“There’s no place like home.” – Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) #moviequotes
In the movie, Babe, 48 real piglets were used since they grow very quickly and all the pigs were female because the male parts would’ve been too obvious on screen.
Ibuprofen is relatively a new drug, only gaining approval in the US in 1974 and for over-the-counter purchase in 1983.
TV Quotes… “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself” (Dr. McNamara and Dr. Troy) on Nip/Tuck.
If we were alone in this universe, that would be an awful waste of space.
“My other interviews have pinned you as a mass murderer, bloodsucker, pimp, profiteer and my personal favorite, yuppie Mephistopheles.” – Heather Holloway #moviequotes
The average American adult reads 5 books per year.
“What good is success if you’re not willing to share it? – Karl Malone
“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.” – Alexandre Dumas
“Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.” – Bella Abzug
“If your knees bent the other way, what would a chair look like?” – Gallagher
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” – Amelia Earhart
“Just because no one has been fortunate enough to realize how wonderful you are, doesn’t mean you shine any less.” – Summer Glau
“Experience teaches you how to do things you never want to do again.” – Zelda Fitzgerald
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.