View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
June 22nd celebrates World Rainforest Day and Chocolate Eclair Day.
1910 – The birth of John Hunt, English mountaineer and explorer. He led the 1953 expedition on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain (29,035 feet). He described the venture in his book The Ascent of Everest.
1911 – The Coronation of George V and Mary of Teck, the queen consort.
1921 – The first Northern Ireland Parliament was opened by King George V in Belfast. Sir James Craig was the first Prime Minister in a parliament that nobody wanted. Southern Irish leaders wanted a united Ireland.
1959 – Directors of Harrods urged shareholders to vote for a £34m merger with the Debenhams department chain.
1984 – The first Virgin Atlantic flight left Gatwick for New York, with a planeload of passengers who had paid just £99 for their tickets.
1986 – The ‘Hand of God’ football match. England were beaten 2-1 by Argentina in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Mexico. Both Argentine goals were scored by Diego Maradona – the first with the deliberate use of his hand which went unseen by the referee. It was the first match between the two countries since the Falklands War in 1982.
1995 – John Major resigned as head of Britain’s Conservative Party, but said that he would stay on as prime minister while he fought for re-election. He said he had been under attack for three years and told his critics to ‘put up or shut up’.
2001 – The Parole Board decided that Venables and Thompson, the two schoolboy murderers of 2 year old James Bulger should be released, and their identities protected, after serving just 8 years for a crime that shocked the nation.
2010 – In his budget, Chancellor George Osborne increased VAT from 17.5% to 20% (to take effect from January 4th 2011) and cut welfare spending as he moved ‘decisively’ to tackle Britain’s record debts.
2012 – The funerals of the six Philpott children who died in a house fire at their home in Allenton (Derby) in May. Their parents, Mick and Mairead Philpott were charged with their murder and were tried and convicted in 2013.
2012 – Torrential downpours brought more flooding to swathes of the country. Music fans at the Isle of Wight Festival spent the night in their cars after traffic became gridlocked when heavy rain turned the festival site into a mudbath. The Environment Agency issued around 140 flood warnings throughout Britain.
Falling coconuts are more lethal and kill more people every year than sharks.
Those kids must have been pretty disappointed when they moved up a grade from Ms. Frizzle’s class.
The guitar solo in Michael Jackson’s Beat It was performed by Eddie Van Halen.
Did you know that Star Trek was NOT filmed in space? This is why there is gravity and no one or anything ever floats.
If you love retail but wish you could yell at the customers, high school lunch lady is the perfect job.
The ZIP in “ZIP code” is an acronym for “Zone Improvement Plan”
Mr. Potato Head was introduced by the Hasbro company in 1952.
If a rabbi, a priest, and a minister walk into a bar, does everyone stare at them waiting for something funny to happen? #jokes
A group of Baby Chicks is called a Clutch or Chattering.
Actors are referred to as Thespians out of respect for Thespis, the first known actor in written plays.
“If you’re not satisfied with the way the world is, or if you think the world can be better, you have to figure out a way to know yourself and better yourself. Then you have the assurance that something in the world has improved.” – Todd Rundgren
“You can get more with a simple prayer and a Thompson sub-machinegun than you can with a simple prayer alone.” – John Dillinger
“When something’s got to give, family always wins. I couldn’t live with myself if it was the other way.” – Tracy Pollan
“All men think they’re fascinating. In my case, it’s justified.” – Bruce Campbell
“You always have to remember – no matter what you’re told – that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway.” – Cyndi Lauper
“Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. ‘Cause, that’s all that matters in the end.” – Kris Kristofferson
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.