Interesting Facts

15th April 1452 – Leonardo da Vinci was born. 1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London. 1802 – William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy saw a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud". 1892 – The General Electric Company was formed. 1912 – The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, after hitting an iceberg two and a half hours earlier, killing over 1,500 people. 1923 – Insulin became generally available for use by people with diabetes. 1941 – 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing over 1,000 people. 1942 – The George Cross was awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta – its people and defenders" by King George VI. 1945 - British troops liberated the German concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. 1984 – Tommy Cooper died. 1989 - 96 Liverpool fans died in a crush at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough Football Stadium at the FA Cup...

The Titanic, sank 100 years ago, in the early morning of April 15, 1912.  (Of the 1,496 people that perished with the Titanic, 73.3 percent of the women and 50.4 percent of the children survived compared to only 20.7 percent of the men. The statistics went against most other maritime disasters (see previous post)  because the captain, Edward Smith, threatened to shoot men unless they yielded their lifeboat seats to the women. Capt. Smith also went down with his ship.)