View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1909 – Selfridges store (named after its owner Harry Gordon Selfridge) was opened in London’s Oxford Street. In September 1997 they opened their first store outside London when the Trafford Centre (Manchester) opened.
1949 – Clothes rationing, which had been introduced during the 2nd World War, was ended.
1962 – The Liberals won the seat of Orpington from the Conservatives in their first by-election victory for four years.
1964 – Film stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor married in Montreal. They later divorced then remarried.
1974 – The architect John Poulson was jailed for five years for corruption. He was found guilty of bribing public figures to win contracts.
1976 – The driver of a London Underground train was shot dead as he chased a gunman after a bomb exploded on the train.
1983 – A letter bomb sent to the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was defused by explosives experts.
1990 – Iraq hanged British journalist Farzad Bazoft, a freelance reporter for The Observer, for alleged spying for Israel while working in Iraq. Immediately after the execution, Britain recalled her ambassador to Iraq and all ministerial visits were cancelled. Bazoft’s story contributed to international isolation of Saddam’s Hussein’s regime and just months after the incident, on 2nd August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, sparking the first Gulf War.
2002 – Yoko Ono unveils a seven foot bronze statue of John Lennon overlooking the check-in hall of Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
2003 – The death of Dame Thora Hird, British actress. She is best remembered for her role of almost two decades in Last of the Summer Wine but played many other roles in her long career. She won a BAFTA Best Actress award for her roles in two of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues and a BAFTA for Best Actress in Lost for Words.
2014 – The death of TV Cook Clarissa Dickson Wright, at the age of 66. Christened Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright, she became famous as one half of ‘The Two Fat Ladies’. Wright and the late Jennifer Paterson travelled the country on a Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle and sidecar and would prepare meals for members of the public. A former barrister, Clarissa Dickson Wright was, until 2013 the youngest woman ever to be called to the Bar, passing her exams aged 21.
2019 – George Michael’s art collection sells at auction raising more than £11 million for charity.
Useless Pronunciation: I as in if.
The Dad From Gremlins, Hoyt Axton, Wrote the Song “Joy to the World (Jeremiah was a bullfrog)” covered by 3 Dog Night.
Goldilocks is real fussy for someone who wanders into stranger’s houses and eats their breakfast.
“Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape.” – George Taylor (Charlton Heston) #moviequotes
Whether you say the word “vegetables” with 3 or 4 syllables is greatly dependent on whether you happen to be Cookie Monster.
When writing an angry email, save it as a draft then get up to clear your head and cool off before hitting send. #advice
“Jane, you ignorant slut” – Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin (Saturday Night Live)
A group of Nightingales is called a Watch.
The only difference between intuition and paranoia is whether you’re right or wrong.
The United States officially adopted the metric system in 1975.
“Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose” – Queen Marie Antoinette (as she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner) #LastWords
A group of Chickens is called a Brood or Peep. I think it should be called a “cluck”.
“There are no problems that can’t be solved. The world is too full of options. If you can’t solve the #problem, it’s because you haven’t found the right option … But the answer is always there.” – will.i.am
“You can make it if you try, push a little harder, think a little deeper.” – Sly Stone
“Every now and then it helps to be a little deaf…That advice has stood me in good stead. Not simply in dealing with my marriage, but in dealing with my colleagues.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.” – Andrew Jackson
“I learned that when you do the best job that you can do, some people will idolize you, others won’t care, and some will vilify you.” – Mike Love
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.