Did you know that it was on this day in 1616 Nicolaus Copernicus‘s book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church? Or that it was on this day in 1868 Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito receives its première performance at La Scala?
And on this day in 1931 the British Viceroy of India, Governor-General Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) sign an agreement envisaging the release of political prisoners and allowing salt to be freely used by the poorest members of the population, in 1933 Adolf Hitler‘s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections. This later allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship, in 1940 members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre, in 1960 Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took his iconic photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara and in 1984 6,000 miners in the United Kingdom begin their strike at Cortonwood Colliery.
Some birthdays you may want to remember on this day are Rosa Luxemburg, Socialist revolutionary (1871-1919), Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer and film director (1922-1975), Murray Head, British actor and singer (1946), Elaine Paige, English singer and actress (1948), Andy Gibb, English-born Australian singer and teen idol (1958-1988) as well as Matt Lucas, English comedian and Eva Mendes, American actress (both born 1974).
Need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day? Why not look into the celebration of Custom Chief’s Day (Vanuatu), National Tree Planting Day (Iran) or Learn from Lei Feng Day (China)?
For more information about historic events on this day, please go here.
A Glass of Bubbly 