View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1878 – Formation of the St. John Ambulance – originally called the St. John Ambulance Association.
1902 – King Edward VII developed appendicitis, delaying his coronation until 9th August.
1916 – The launch of ‘Wolf Cubs’ by Robert Baden-Powell, for boys aged 8 – 10. It was themed on Jungle Book, by Baden-Powell’s friend and neighbour, Rudyard Kipling. In 1966 the name was changed from ‘Wolf Cubs’ to ‘Cub Scouts’.
1921 – The world’s largest airship, the R-38, built in the U.K. for the U.S. Navy, made its maiden flight at Bedford.
1968 – The country’s rail network was thrown into disarray as the National Union of Railwaymen began its work-to-rule and ban on overtime.
1968 – Start of the first Open Wimbledon lawn tennis championships – open to both professional and amateur players.
1974 – The Labour Government admitted that Britain had exploded a nuclear device in the United States a few weeks previously. The announcement sparked a row amongst senior ministers about Britain’s involvement in the arms race.
1981 – The Humber Bridge was opened to traffic. It connected Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and would be the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge for the next 17 years.
1986 – Hard-line unionist leader the Reverend Ian Paisley warned that Northern Ireland was on the verge of civil war.
1993 – Northern Ireland Minister Michael Mates resigned over his links with fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir, Chief Executive Officer of the Polly Peck company.
1999 – Eric Clapton puts 100 of his guitars up for auction at Christie’s in New York to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua.
2004 – England lose a penalty shoot-out against Portugal at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004.
2005 – The Glastonbury Festival eventually got under way after suffering serious disruption when storms tore across its site at Pilton, Somerset. Heavy rain flooded parts of the site, with dozens of tents lost under water, while lightning strikes affected the stages and knocked out power lines.
2010 – In the longest match in tennis history, American John Isner defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon after 11 hours, 5 minutes of play over three days.
The U.S. pizza industry serves up to 100 acres of pizza every day.
“Danger Will Robinson!” – Robot B-9 (Lost in Space)
The collective term for nieces and nephews is “niblings”
Nothing is worse than the people who say, “I wish they taught us meaningful things in school like taxes or saving for retirement” Really? Do you think you were going to pay attention in tax class?
The Capital of Saudi Arabia is Riyadh
?.? = the new emoticon for rolling your eyes at somebody #eyeroll
Einstein’s theory of relativity is just over 100 years old, but according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is relative so we don’t really know how old the theory is.
Deodorant companies should stop advertising “last 48 hrs”. Some people do believe that and then they get on a crowded bus.
Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues #3 – Order.
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Don’t ever look your symptoms up online because you’ll end up having a deadly disease that isn’t curable.
“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” – Ambrose Bierce
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey
“If you were to ask me, ‘What the hell does a musician have in common with a restaurant?’I would say a huge amount. It’s showtime every day, it’s a team of people, like, running a circus, which is running a rock-and-roll band.” – Mick Fleetwood
“Things turn out better by accident sometimes. But you can’t organize accidents.” – Jeff Beck
“No economy can continue to function when the vast middle class and everybody else don’t have enough purchasing power to buy what the economy is capable of producing without going deeper and deeper into debt.” – Robert Reich
“Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” – Ambrose Bierce
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.