View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
What : day is it
1904 – English engineer John Ambrose Fleming received a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube). It drove the expansion and commercialisation of radio broadcasting, television, radar, sound recording, large telephone networks, and analogue and digital computers until the invention of the transistor.
1907 – Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania, sister ship of RMS Lusitania, set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City.
1928 – In London, obscenity charges were brought against Radclyffe Hall for her crusading lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness.
1934 – The death of Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell) who inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
1938 – Willie Hall of Tottenham Hotspurs scored five goals for England against Ireland with his three goals in 3 minutes, setting a record for the fastest ever in an international match.
1940 – World War II: In response to the heavy bombing of Coventry two days previously, the Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg. Much of Coventry was destroyed, including the Cathedral.
1942 – The jockey Willie Carson was born, in Stirling. He was British Champion Jockey five times (in 1972, 1973, 1978, 1980 and 1983) and had a total of 3,828 wins, making him the fourth most successful jockey in Great Britain.
1960 – The TV personality with a reputation for outspokenness, Gilbert Harding, died as he left the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London.
1961 – Frank Bruno, British boxer, was born.
1976 – Seven men who took part in an £8m bank robbery raid at the Bank of America in Mayfair, London, received jail terms totalling nearly 100 years. Only £1/2m was recovered. The judge said the sentence ensured that the thieves would not enjoy the fruits of their haul.
1983 – More than 20 English football supporters were arrested in Luxembourg after a night of violence.
1995 – The Queen Mother, aged 95, had her right hip replaced in an operation in London.
2010 – Clarence House announced that Prince William (second in line to the throne) would marry long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton in 2011.
2014 – A couple who had been married for 65 years died moments apart. Harry Stevenson (88) died just minutes after care home staff informed him of the death of wife, Mavis (89), at the Derby care home.
2015 – The Largest diamond discovered in more than a century, a 1,111 carat stone, is found in the Karowe mine, Botswana. The gem is only second in size to the Cullinan diamond, which was unearthed in South Africa in 1905.
2019 – The city of Havana, Cuba, celebrated its 500th birthday. The celebration included a massive restoration and infrastructure initiative that restored public monuments and many of the city’s shops & businesses.
Did you know that on this day in 2012, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 earned a staggering $500 million within 24 hours of release? The previous game in the franchise, Modern Warfare 3, earned $100 million less within its first 24 hours of release.
When leaving an important voicemail give your name and number at the beginning and end of the message. They then won’t have to go through the whole voicemail to get your number again. They’ll appreciate you saving them time.
The Capital of Djibouti is Djibouti.
Tina Fey – Real Name: Elizabeth Stamatina Fey
Everything the human race has learned about the universe is heavily dependent on the limitations of our ability to perceive our surroundings. We could be 100% wrong about everything but simply not be intelligent enough to realize it. #truedat
Anne Bancroft – Real Name: Anna Maria Italiano
The Diary of Merer is the oldest papyri ever discovered. It details the daily life of workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Salmon have small particles of iron in their brain, which act as the magnetic needle in a compass to help them navigate to the place where they were spawned. The process is called magnetoception.
A Movie Called Zyzzyx Road starring Katherine Heigle made a total of $30.00 on its grand opening weekend, $10.00 of which was refunded. Making it the lowest-grossing movie of all time.
The Capital of Denmark is Copenhagen.
Birthday : quotes
“We must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient, that we are only six percent of the world’s population, that we cannot impose our will upon the other ninety-four percent of mankind, that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity, and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.” – John F. Kennedy, 1961 speech
KIRBY: A man can’t give up his business.
GRANDPA: Why not? You’ve got all the money you need. You can’t take it with you. – George S. Kaufman, You Can’t Take it With You
“Like the seasons of the year, life changes frequently and drastically. You enjoy it or endure it as it comes and goes, as it ebbs and flows.” – Burgess Meredith
“I find more of an authenticity in people who are a little strange – so I really like characters who are just the tiniest bit weird. I find enormous comfort in that – someone who’s kind of normal just doesn’t feel as true.” – Missi Pyle
2018 – Xi’an, China, introduced a pedestrian lane for people who walk while looking at their phones.
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.