18 January: Did you know?

Did you know that on this day in 1520 King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden (I will admit that I didn’t know this)? Or that on this day in 1535 Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, the capital of Peru?

And on this day in 1591 King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed marked as Royal Thai Armed Forces day (why can’t all wars be settled this way?), in 1778 James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands”, in 1871 Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed the first German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The empire is known as the Second Reich to Germans, in 1884 Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom and in 1944 the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw,Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden (I would have given just about anything to be there!).

It was also on this day in 1974 a Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War, in 1977 scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease, in 1997 Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided, in 2000 the Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth and in 2009 during the (seemingly never ending) Gaza War, Hamas announces they will accept Israeli Defense Forces‘s offer of a ceasefire, ending the assault.

Some birthdays to remember on this day are Montesquieu, French satirist and philosopher (1689-1755), A. A. Milne, English author (1882-1956), Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (1892-1957), Cary Grant, English actor (1904-1986), Danny Kaye, American actor (1913-1987), Kevin Costner, American actor (1955), Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player (1961) and Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver (1971).

Need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day? Perhaps you can look into the celebration of Royal Thai Armed Forces Day (Thailand) or if you are more religiously inclined the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Christianity)? Me, I’ll be raising my glass in support of Wikipedia’s blackout on this day (even though I do not know all the ins and outs of SOPA).

For more information about historic events on this day, please go here (but not today, since English-speaking Wikipedia is out for the day).

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14 October: Did you know?

Did you know that on this day in 1066, during the Norman Conquest, the Battle of Hastings took place? In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England. Or that on this day in 1773, just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, several of the British East India Company‘s tea ships are set ablaze at the old seaport of Annapolis, Maryland?

On this day in 1867 the 15th and last military Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate resigns in Japan, returning his power to the Emperor of Japan and thence to the re-established civil government of Japan, in 1888  Louis Le Prince films first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene, in 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech, in 1913 Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, the United Kingdom’s worst coal mining accident, occurs, and it claims the lives of 439 miners and in 1926 the children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published.

It was also on this day in 1940 Balham subway station disaster, in London, England, occurs during the Nazi Luftwaffe air raids on Great Britain, in 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis begins as a U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot fly over the island of Cuba and take photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba, in 1969 the United Kingdom introduces the British fifty-pence coin, which replaces, over the following years, the British ten-shilling note, in anticipation of the decimalization of the British currency in 1971, and the abolition of the shilling as a unit of currency anywhere in the world and in 2006 a College football brawl between University of Miami and Florida International University leads to suspensions of 31 players of both teams.

Some birthdays you may want to remember on this day are E. E. Cummings, American poet (1894-1962), Roger Moore, English actor (1927), Empress Farah Diba of Iran (1938), Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer (1939), Cliff Richard, English singer (1940),  Art Shamsky, American baseball player (1941), Floyd Landis, American cyclist (1975) and Usher, American singer and actor (1978).

If you need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day, perhaps you should look into the celebration of World Standards Day (International), Day of the Cathedral of Living Pillar (Georgian Orthodox Church) or National Education Day, formerly Teachers’ Day (Poland)?

For more information about historic events on this day, please go here.

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