View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
1891 – Four days of storms began off England’s south coast, sinking 14 ships.
1925 – The start of Pink’s War, an air to ground bombardment carried out by the Royal Air Force, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Charles Montagu Pink, against the tribesmen in north west Pakistan. It was the first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army and Royal Navy.
1946 – fans were killed and hundreds injured when a barrier collapsed at the Bolton Wanderers’ football ground. The dead and injured were taken from the stand, with those who had perished lain along the touchline and covered in coats. Incredibly, a little under half an hour after leaving the pitch, the game was restarted, with a new sawdust lined touchline separating the players from the bodies. It was the deadliest football stadium-related disaster in British history until the Ibrox Park disaster in 1971.
1950 – Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his wife. Three years later John Christie admitted killing her and several other women.
1952 – Bill Beaumont, former British Lions and England international rugby captain was born.
1956 – British authorities deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus in an attempt to restore law and order to the island. He was accused of supporting terrorists.
1973 – Northern Ireland voted in favour (90:1) of staying in the United Kingdom.
1981 – John Lambe who became known as the M5 Rapist was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was given a life sentence on each of 12 counts of rape and a six year sentence (concurrent) on four charges of attempted rape.
1994 – IRA terrorists launched a mortar attack on Heathrow Airport. All the missiles failed to explode.
1995 – The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited Northern Ireland, their first visit since the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires of 1994.
2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery completed its last-ever mission and made its final landing onto Kennedy’s runway at 11:57 am EST. NASA’s Discovery is now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
2015 – Dr Tim Stowe, the RSPB’s international director, called on the Ministry of Defence to do more to stop local poachers, after almost a million birds were illegally killed in just two months on a British military base (British Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area) in Cyprus the previous year.
2015 – Archaeologists began excavating up to 3,000 skeletons from a burial ground under London’s Liverpool Street station. The Bedlam burial ground was used from 1569 to at least 1738 and included bodies belonging to victims of the Black Death. The site is to serve the cross-London Crossrail line, due to open in 2018.
Did you know that on this day in 1959, Barbie was presented to the public for the first time? The doll was made in Japan and came with either blonde or brunette hair.
It’s only just dawned on me that no one says dusk anymore.
A group of Bears is called a Sloth or Sleuth. A group of Bear Cubs is called a Litter.
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” – Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) #moviequotes
We make fun of the spell check generation for not being able to spell, but we don’t make fun of people who can’t make a fire just because the world is full of lighters and ovens.
Pepperoni is America’s favourite topping, with 36 percent of all pizza orders!
“Life became more aligned when I started taking some of the advice I’d been dishing out to my friends.” – Paula Heller Garland
That dramatic misunderstanding in romantic comedies. #moviecliches
It has been two decades and we still do not have an answer to the Baha Men’s question of ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’
Ginkgo trees are an ancient species, effectively identical to the ones that grew 270 million years ago.
A group of Mules is called a Pack or Span or Barren or Rake.
“Allow me to introduce myself: the Blue Raja, Master of Silverware. Forks a specialty.” – The Blue Raja #moviequotes
Fast food restaurants use yellow, red, and orange because those are the colours that stimulate hunger.
“Welcome to the O.C. bitch” – Luke (The O.C.)
The best advice I ever got was to take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt
“You know everything is not an anecdote. You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. You’re a miracle! Your stories have NONE of that. They’re not even amusing accidentally!” – Neal Page in Planes, Trains & Automobiles #moviequotes
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.
2015 – Archaeologists began excavating up to 3,000 skeletons from a burial ground under London’s Liverpool Street station.