Did you know that on this day in 1492 Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration? Or that it was on this day in 1803 the Louisiana Purchase takes place and the United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation?
And on this day in 1927 Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, in 1945 in the last few days of World War II in Europe, in the Führerbunker Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building, in 1963 the Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company‘s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom, in 1993 CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free, in 2004 U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison and in 2008 two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and one of his sisters.
Some birthdays you may want to remember on this day are Franz Lehár, Austrian composer (1874-1948), Willie Nelson, American musician (1933), King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (1946), Jane Campion, New Zealand film director (1954), Lars von Trier, Danish film director (1956) and Kirsten Dunst, American actress (1982).
Need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day? Why not look into the celebration of International Jazz Day, organized by UNESCO, first observed in 2012, “is intended to raise awareness in the international community of the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.”, Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe) or Children’s Day (Mexico)?
For more information about historic events on this day, please go here.
A Glass of Bubbly 