View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
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1890 – The death of Sir Richard Francis Burton, English explorer, writer, soldier and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa and the discovery of Lake Tanganyika. Burton was one of the first non Muslims to enter the secret cities of Mecca and Medina.
1904 The birth of Dame Anna Neagle, British actress and former chorus dancer.
1946 – ‘Muffin the Mule’, a wooden puppet operated by Annette Mills (sister of actor Sir John Mills) first appeared in a children’s television programme on BBC TV.
1955 – The Return of the King, the third installment in The Lord of the Rings book series by J. R. R Tolkein, was published.
1959 – Women’s colleges at Oxford University were given equal rights to those of the men’s.
1960 – D.H Lawrence’s controversial novel ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ put Penguin Books in the dock at the Old Bailey, London. They were accused of publishing obscene material but were eventually found not guilty.
1973 – Queen Elizabeth II opened the new Sydney Opera House in Australia, designed by Danish architect John Utzon.
1988 – The British Government announced plans to change the law so that remaining silent could incriminate rather than protect a suspect.
1996 – Oscar winners ‘Wallace and Gromit’ disappeared after being left in a taxi in New York. Both the life-size plastic models from Britain’s award winning animation film were later found safe and well!
1997 – ‘Brown Monday’ on the London Stock Exchange with £10 billion being wiped off the value of shares after British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown failed to clarify his Government’s stance on the European single currency.
2003: A jury finds Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy guilty of assaulting a nightclub worker. The singer is sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid community service and ordered to pay her victim £500 compensation, plus £3,000 prosecution costs.
2010 – Chancellor George Osborne unveiled the biggest UK spending cuts for decades, with welfare, councils and police budgets all hit.
2012 – Two people were taken to intensive care after hit-and-runs in Cardiff left a woman dead and 13 people injured.
Did you know that on this day in 1975, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 went into Venus’ orbit? It was the first time in history that a human spacecraft had done so.
The difference between robbery and burglary is robbery is done with a victim present while burglary is performed when no victim is around.
“Short, sweet, and to the point” is a pretty roundabout way of saying “concise”.
Alfred Hitchcock’s, Psycho (1960) was the first mainstream American film ever to show a flushing toilet.
It’s okay to have voices inside of your head until they all start disagreeing with each other.
It’s not a “(grilled cheese) sandwich,” it’s a “grilled (cheese sandwich)”.
Every time I give my dogs a treat I’m always a little disappointed in them for not taking more time to thoroughly savour it.
Lucille Le Sueur was better known as Joan Crawford.
Beautiful people are shallow, nerds are ugly and the two are never friends. #moviecliches
It is a factoid that Sherlock Holmes hates Factoids.
Desi Arnez might be the most famous ex-husband of the 20th century.
Dezi Arnez- Real Name: Desiderio Albert Arnaz y De Acha III
“In making theories, always keep a window open so that you can throw one out if necessary.” – Bela Lugosi
“I’m a straight lady, the best in Hollywood. There is an art to playing the straight role. You must build up your man, but never top him, never steal the laughs.” – Margaret Dumont
“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” – Art Buchwald
“It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of Jazz and I, myself, happened to be the creator in the year 1902.” – Jelly Roll Morton
“I have never met a vampire personally, but I don’t know what might happen tomorrow.”
– Bela Lugosi
“The banjo am the instrument for me.” – Grandpa Jones
“U don’t know where u goin’ unless u know where u come from.” – Snoop Dogg
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.