Did you know that on this day in 1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace‘s same theory? Or that in 1866 it was on this day that President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over? And on this day in 1920 The National Football League, (NFL), is founded in the United States, in 1940 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line “Never was so much owed by so many to so few” and in 1975 NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars, during their Viking Program. Also on this day in 1986 In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide, in 1991 Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of her pre-World War II statehood and in 1998 the Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
Some birthdays to remember on this day are H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (1890-1937), Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish author and historian (1898-1973), Don King, American boxing promoter (1931), Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (1942-2008), Robert Plant, British Musician (Led Zeppelin) (1948), John Hiatt, American musician (1952), David Walliams, British comedian (1971) and Jamie Cullum, British musician (1979).
If you need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day, why not join in the celebration of Restoration of Independence Day, re-declaration of the independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union in 1991, Father’s Day (Nepal) or Revolution of the King and People (Morocco).
For more information on historic events taking place on this day, go here.
A Glass of Bubbly 