View todays celebrity birthdays and find out what happened in history today.
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1886 – The Severn Tunnel, (railway tunnel) between England and Wales, was opened for goods traffic.
1931 – The birth in Carnforth, Lancashire of Cecil Parkinson, Conservative politician and former Cabinet Minister. Parkinson was forced to resign in October 1983 after it was revealed that his former secretary, Sara Keays, was carrying his child.
1939 – At dawn on 1st September, Germany made a massive invasion of Poland and bombed Warsaw at 6am, beginning World War II in Europe. The service to 2,000 televisions also ceased in Britain. There would be no more TV for seven years.
1951 – The Premier supermarket opened in Earl’s Court, London; the first supermarket in Britain.
1958 – Iceland expanded its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom and the beginning the Cod Wars.
1960 – The Government announced that Britain’s first betting shops would be allowed to open for business from May 1961.
1971 – The British penny and the threepenny piece coins ceased to be legal tender as decimalization continued.
1976 – The first of 11,500 standpipes were connected in Yorkshire as local reservoirs reached their lowest levels in years.
1981 – Garages in Britain began selling petrol in litres.
1982 – Former Ipswich manager Bobby Robson was appointed England football manager. Bobby Robson’s statue is outside Newcastle United’s football stadium where he became manager in 1999, at the age of 66.
1985 – After 73 years, the wreck of the liner ‘Titanic’ was found, by Dr Robert Ballard.
1989 – In Britain, the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher began the controversial privatisation of the public water authorities.
2000 – Channel services were disrupted after two separate groups of stowaways jumped from freight trains as they arrived in Kent.
2001 – England beat bitter rivals Germany 5-1 in the World Cup qualifying tie, with Michael Owen scoring a hat-trick.
2001 – The death of Brian Moore, sports commentator and television presenter who covered nine World Cups, six European Championships and every FA Cup Final on ITV from 1969 to 1988 and again in 1998.
2011 – The introduction of an EU-wide ban on the manufacturing and importing of 60W incandescent clear light bulbs, in favour of energy-saving fluorescent and halogen bulbs and LED lights.
2013 – Real Madrid broke the world transfer record to sign Tottenham forward Gareth Bale for £85.3m. It eclipsed the £80m Real paid Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Did you know that on this day in 1992, Super Mario Kart was released in North America on the SNES console? It would become the 4th best-selling SNES game of all time.
A group of Zebras is called a Zeal or Crossing or Dazzle or Cohorts or Herd.
Accordion to a recent survey, replacing words with the names of musical instruments often goes unnoticed.
Marvel’s Death’s Head who has made appearances in Transformers and Doctor Who, connecting all three universes.
“They call me ”Mister” Tibbs!” – Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) #moviequotes
George Lucas’ dog was named Indiana.
Pablo Escobar was regarded as the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated net worth of $30 billion by the early 1990s.
If you don’t think history is important, you don’t think what you are doing is important.
Judy Garland – Real Name: Frances Gumm
25 sheets of copy paper are called a quire and 20 quires make up a ream.
Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.
Actor Wilford Brimley was once Howard Hughes’ bodyguard.
“So that’s that story of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow? You spent three days here, lying on a beach… drinking rum?”
“To win takes a complete commitment of mind and body. When you can’t make that commitment, they don’t call you a champion anymore.” – Rocky Marciano
“There isn’t anything I have to be afraid of, love is the answer.” – Gene Colan
“If I had followed my better judgment always, my life would have been a very dull one.” – Edgar Rice Burroughs
“Being offended by freedom of speech should never be regarded as a justification for violence.” – Alan Dershowitz
“I’m the kind of girl who thinks about what she’s gonna cook for dinner when she’s finishing her lunch.” – Padma Lakshmi
“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.” – Phil McGraw
“Listen to advice, but follow your heart.” – Conway Twitty
“I don’t mind if people look at me like I’m crazy. I’m just being me.” – Zendaya
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.