Welcome to day 305 of the year! Known as World Vegan Day, National Jealousy Day and Author’s Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of February 8th 2023. Your star sign is “Scorpio” and your birthstone is Topaz.
1611 – William Shakespeare had his first known performance of “The Tempest.” The performance was at the Whitehall Palace and performed for James I and his English Royal Court.
Todays birthdays
1948 – Mike Mendoza (75), British radio presenter and former politician best known for the overnight radio shows he presented on Talksport between 2004 and 2008.
1962 – Sharron Davies (61), English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships and competed for England in the Commonwealth Games, born in Plymouth.
1963 – Rick Allen (60), British one-armed rock drummer (Def Leppard – “Hysteria”; “Pour Some Sugar On Me”), born in Dronfield, Derbyshire.
1966 – Jeremy Hunt (57), Conservative MP (for South West Surrey in 2005) and Secretary of State for Health between September 2012 and July 2018, the longest-serving Health Secretary in history, born in Kennington, London.
1973 – Geoff Horsfield (50), English former professional footballer (Lincoln City F.C., Port Vale F.C.) and football coach, born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The day today
1993 – The Maastricht Treaty came into effect, and with it, the European Union was formed.
The original twelve nations that signed the treaty were Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Irish Republic, France, Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Greece.
1996 – The original cartoon series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aired its final episode. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird invented the TMNT in 1984 in comic book form.
1998 – The European Court of Human Rights is instituted. On the same day, McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen wins the season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to claim his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
2001 – Australia, Canada, and Turkey announced they would send armed forces to Afghanistan.
The three nations joined the US in its war on Afghanistan after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The war ended nearly twenty years later, on August 30, 2021.
2007 – Martina Hingis admits testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon, maintains her innocence but retires from tennis.
Today in music
1970 – Matthews Southern Comfort were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Joni Mitchell song ‘Woodstock’. The group’s only UK No.1 hit.
1997 – Scandinavian dance-pop act Aqua started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Barbie Girl.’ A massive world-wide hit, the single sold more than 8 million copies.
2000 – All Saints came top of a poll to find the sexiest female act. 12,000 UK television viewers voted for the group, The Spice Girls came second and Atomic Kitten third. The 50s group The Beverley Sisters were voted into 11th place beating TLC…. Also on this day, Robbie Williams offered to donate his bone marrow to save a fan’s life after meeting leukaemia suffer Johanna MacVicar. Williams asked his fans to sign up as potential donors after being told of the desperate shortage of male donors.
2007 – Winners at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards held in Munich, Germany included Avril Lavigne who was named best solo artist, and her song Girlfriend was voted most addictive track. Muse won two awards for best UK and Ireland act and best headline act, Linkin Park won the award for best band of 2007, and German band Tokio Hotel took the prize for best international act. Amy Winehouse won the Artist Choice prize, an award chosen by her fellow musicians and The ultimate urban prize went to R&B star Rihanna.
2015 – Taylor Swift was being sued for $42m (£27m) for allegedly stealing the lyrics to her hit 2014 song ‘Shake It Off’, which topped music charts around the world. R&B singer Jesse Braham claimed in legal papers Swift stole the words from a song he wrote in 2013 called ‘Haters Gone Hate’.
Today in history
1210 – King John of England taxed all of England’s Jews for 66,000 Francs and imprisoned those who couldn’t pay.
1512 – Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling mural was presented to the public. Prior to Michelangelo’s contribution, the walls were painted by several leading artists of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino.
1520 – Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan became the first European to discover the Strait of Magellan.
The Strait of Magellan is the passage located south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.
1765 – The British Parliament enacted The Stamp Act in the American colonies. The act was repealed in March of 1766 on the same day that the Parliament passed the Declaratory Acts which asserted that the British government had free and total legislative power of the colonies.
1848 – The first WHSmith railway bookstore opened at London Euston Railway Station, London, UK.
Fact of the day
Our planet is overrun with chickens. Domesticated poultry has a total biomass of about three times greater than all wild bird species combined.