View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
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1854 – Birth of Oscar Wilde (Fingal O’Flahertie Wills) in Dublin.
1869 – Girton College, Cambridge was founded and became England’s first residential college for women.
1881 – The first edition of The People’ – later renamed ‘The Sunday People’.
1902 – Britain opened its first ‘Borstal’ detention centre, at the village of Borstal in Kent. The institution was designed to keep boys, especially first offenders, away from adult criminals in prisons; to teach them a trade and to reward good behaviour.
1920 – Gordon Richards, 26 times a champion jockey, had his first ride, at Lingfield Park.
1958 – Britain’s most popular children’s television programme ‘Blue Peter’ was first broadcast on BBC TV. The first presenters were Leila Williams and Christopher Trace.
1964 – Harold Wilson became Prime Minister of a Labour Government. He was the first Labour PM in 13 years.
1965 – The Beatles record Day Tripper at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, in just three takes, adding vocals and overdubs before the end of the session.
1974 – Three prison staff were taken to hospital and dozens of prisoners were injured after rioting and fires at the Long Kesh Maze prison, Belfast.
1979 – Comedy sketch show “Not the Nine o’Clock News” debuts on BBC2, starring Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Gryff Rhys Jones and Pamela Stephenson.
1987 – Southern Britain began a massive clear-up operation after the worst night of storms in living memory. BBC Weatherman Michael Fish faced criticism, as he had reassured viewers that the worst of the stormy weather would be across Spain and France.
1996 – British Home Secretary Michael Howard announced stringent new gun controls following the mass shooting in March 1996 of children at a school in Dunblane, Scotland.
1998 – Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and the SDLP leader John Hume were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their part in forging the Northern Ireland Agreement which was signed in April of the same year.
2001 – Government special adviser Jo Moore apologised for sending an e-mail in which she suggested 11th September (the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York) was a good day to ‘bury bad news’.
Did you know that on this day in 1923, the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was founded by Walt and his brother Roy O. Disney? It would change its name 63 years later to The Walt Disney Company.
In movies, why are spies still taking black and white pictures?
Besides being President of the United States and a prolific actor, Ronald Reagan is also credited with saving 77 lives from drowning during his time as a lifeguard.
The Capital of Jordan is Amman
A group of Peacocks is called a Muster or Ostentation or Pride.
In Back to the Future, Chuck Berry completely rips off Johnny B. Goode, note-for-note from Marty McFly, and uses it to become a famous musician.
The director of ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ had to prove in court that the actors were still alive and didn’t get killed during the movie.
Thailand has more 7-Elevens than the United States.
MySpace Tom is probably the most unfriended person ever. #lonelyguytom
A group of Barracudas is called a Battery.
“A pure democracy is generally a very bad government, It is often the most tyrannical government on earth; for a multitude is often rash, and will not hear reason.” – Noah Webster
“Everyone may not be good, but there’s always something good in everyone. Never judge anyone shortly because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” – Oscar Wilde
“Notice what no one else notices and you’ll know what no one else knows.” – Tim Robbins
“Better to be busy than to be busy worrying.” – Angela Lansbury
“I have a habit of leaving places at the wrong time, just when something big may have happened for me.” – Nico
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.