Interesting Facts

15th October 1901 - Walt Disney was born. 2013 - The Royal Mail was privatised.

22nd January 1521 – Emperor Charles V opened the Diet of Worms. (Not as disgusting as it sounds.) 1561 - Francis Bacon was born. 1879 – The Battle of Rorke's Drift: 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an onslaught by 3 to 4 thousand Zulu warriors. 1901 – Edward VII was proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria. 1905 – Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg began the 1905 revolution. 1924 – Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 1927 – The first live radio commentary of a football match was broadcast. 2002 – Kmart became the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Seemingly the word "twerk", which was made famous (notorious) by Miley Cyrus' antics on stage and has just made it into the Oxford English dictionary, is almost 200 years old. (It was first used as a noun in 1820, but was spelt “twirk”, and referred to a “twisting or jerking movement” or “twitch”. The verb is believed to have emerged later in 1848, and the “twerk” spelling was in popular use by 1901. So, Miley Cyrus, stick that in your e-cigarette and vape it.)

Greek sponge divers discovered the oldest computer in 1901. It is a 2,100 year old device and may have been used to calculate the dates for the Olympic Games. (It's called The Antikythera Mechanism. I'm very glad the name didn't catch on, otherwise PC World would have a very long name.)