View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1926 – The Trade Union Congress called off the General Strike that had brought the nation to a standstill for nine days. Workers across the country had downed tools in support of miners, protesting at a wage cut.
1937 – The Coronation of George VI. The BBC televised the procession in its first ever outside broadcast. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became queen consort and was later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
1945 – The publication of the first of the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ series by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. It was entitled ‘The Three Railway Engines’ and featured Edward, Gordon and Henry. The book quickly sold the initial print run of 22,500 copies and there were a further two print runs by the end of the year.
1967 – The Government gave the go-ahead to proposals to convert Stansted into an international airport.
1969 – The minimum voting age in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.
1994 – The Labour leader John Smith (aged 55) died in a London hospital after two serious heart attacks.
1997 – Guinness and Grand Metropolitan, two of Britain’s leading drinks companies, agreed to a £23 billion mega-merger that would create the world’s largest spirits group, GMG Brands.
2000 – Ford workers at its Dagenham plant reacted with shock and anger at the news that car production was to be transferred to Germany and Spain, with the loss of 3,000 jobs.
2001 – For the first time ever the FA Cup Final was held outside England when it took place at the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
2010 – Conservative David Cameron’s arrival in Downing Street as Prime Minister of a coalition government, marked the end of 13 years of Labour rule, with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister.
2014 – Gary Barlow from the pop group ‘Take That’ was facing calls to give back his OBE. It was claimed that, along with members Howard Donald, Mark Owen and their manager Jonathan Wild, Barlow had invested £66m in two partnerships that were styled as tax avoidance schemes. HM Revenue and Customs was expected to demand repayment of tens of millions of pounds.
The only Americans with their own personal zip code are the President (20500) and Smokey Bear (20252).
“Aiming at the enemy, I only smash the mirror.” #songlyrics
Day 13,763 and still no need for my algebra skills.
A group of Reindeer is called a Herd.
Useless Pronunciation: T as in tzar
“Don’t start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don’t. They’ll make you look like chopped liver.” – Harlan Ellison
A group of Butterflies is called a Flight or Flutter.
“Hasta la vista, baby.” – The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) #moviequotes
There is an “i” in the center of the word “hurricane.”
“Excuse me while I kiss this guy” #misunderstoodlyrics
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” – Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects #moviequotes
If they were really Decepticons, why didn’t they just wear Autobot badges?
Edward Lear : limericks
There was an Old Man with a beard
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
There was a Young Lady of Dorking,
Who bought a large bonnet for walking;
But its colour and size,
So bedazzled her eyes,
That she very soon went back to Dorking.
There was a Young Person of Crete,
Whose toilette was far from complete;
She dressed in a sack,
Spickle-speckled with black,
That ombliferous person of Crete.
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.