View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
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1953 – John Christie was sentenced to hang for murdering his wife and then hiding her body under the floorboards of their Notting Hill home in London. Christie, 54, had admitted murder but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. It took the jury an hour and 22 minutes to reject his defence and declare him guilty.
1967 – An estimated worldwide audience of 350 million in 26 nations watched the world’s first, live, televised satellite hook up; the Beatles’ recording of ‘All You Need Is Love’ at Abbey Road. The event, which lasted just over two hours, had the largest television audience to date and around 10,000 technicians, producers and translators were involved.
1969 – Wimbledon saw the longest men’s singles match ever when Charlie Passarell was beaten by Pancho Gonzalez 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9.
2001 – Race violence erupted in Burnley, Lancashire. White and Asian youths were involved in a series of overnight attacks on pubs, shops and restaurants. Many vehicles were also damaged or destroyed.
2011 – The Pirates of Penzance – 8,734 people in fancy dress assembled on Penzance promenade at 13:00 BST. The Guinness World Records later confirmed that Penzance now held the title for the largest gathering of pirates in one place, officially breaking the previous record set by 6,166 pirates in Hastings in 2010.
2013 – A Lola B12 69/EV, developed by Drayson Racing Technologies broke the world land speed record for a lightweight electric car when it hit a top speed of 204.2mph at a racetrack at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. The previous 175mph record had been set by Battery Box General Electric in 1974.
2014 – Royal aides said that the refurbishment of the Kensington Palace apartment for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a renovation boosted by £4.5m of taxpayers’ money, had made the space neither ‘lavish’ nor ‘opulent’, but just like ‘an ordinary family home’.
2014 – Britain’s best-known payday lender, ‘Wonga’, was ordered to pay more than £2.6m compensation after it was found to have sent threatening letters to customers from non-existent law firms.
2018 – The House of Commons votes for a controversial third runway at Heathrow Airport.
2019 – A fan goes into labour at a Pink concert in Liverpool and gives birth at the venue.
2020 – Liverpool clinch the Premier League title with seven games to spare.
“I got laid off when they closed that asbestos factory, and wouldn’t you know it, the army cuts my disability pension because they said that the plate in my head wasn’t big enough.” – Eddie
“Why not? Life is short. Life is dull. Life is full of pain. And this is a chance for something special.” – Juan Antonio in Vicky Cristina Barcelona #moviequotes
Michael Bay directed the music video for I Touch Myself by The Divinyls.
“Until you stalk and overrun, you cannot devour anyone.” – Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!” – Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) #moviequotes
The Chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are named after their voice types: Alto, Soprano, and Tenor.
Useless Pronunciation: E as in exceed
I wonder if a few hundred years from now, people will analyze songs from today like we analyze Bach or Beethoven. #UptownFunk
The Moon is roughly 27% the size of Earth But that the Moon’s Mass is only about 1.2% of Earth’s Mass
William Bonney (Billy the Kid) – Real Name: Henry McCarty (according to some records)
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” – George Orwell
“We need role models who are going to break the mold.” – Carly Simon
“I spent the first half of my career learning what to put into my work, and the second half learning what to leave out.” – Alex Toth
“Just because someone isn’t working at an office doesn’t mean they’re not working hard at something.” – Linda Cardellini
“When you take the elevator to the top, please remember to send it back down so someone else might use it.” – Dikembe Mutombo
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” – George Orwell
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.