Interesting Facts

6th April 1199 – King Richard I of England died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder. 1320 - The Declaration of Arbroath was signed to declare Scottish independence. 1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town. 1772 - The beard tax was lifted in Russia. 1814 – Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to Elba. 1869 – Celluloid was patented. 1917 – The United States declared war on Germany. 1919 – Gandhi ordered a General Strike. 1930 – Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire," and he was right. 1994 – The aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down, beginning one of the most shameful moments in history. 1998 – Tammy Wynette, American country singer died.

5th April 456 - St. Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop. 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe. 1621 - The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to Great Britain. 1722 - The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovered Easter Island. 1904 - The first international rugby league match was played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England. 1923 - Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company began production of balloon-tyres. 1930 - In an act of civil disobedience, Gandhi broke British law by marching to the sea and making salt. 1955 - Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health. 1956 - Fidel Castro declared himself at war with the President of Cuba. 2008 - Charlton Heston died.

28th March 1854 - Britain and France joined the Ottoman empire in the Crimean War against Russia, to halt Russian expansion. 1930 - Constantinople was renamed Istanbul as part of Kemal Atatürk's campaign to create a secular Turkey.

12th March 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi began a campaign of civil disobedience against British rule in India.

Richard G. Drew (1899-1980) invented masking tape and clear adhesive tape (also called cellophane tape, Sellotape or Scotch tape). Drew was an engineer for the 3M company (the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing). Drew's first tape invention was a masking tape made for painters in 1923 (this tape was designed to help painters paint a straight border between two colors). This early masking tape was a wide paper tape with adhesive on only the edges of the tape - not in the middle. Drew made an improved tape called Scotch (TM) Brand Cellulose Tape in 1930. This tape was a clear, all-purpose adhesive tape that was soon adopted worldwide. The first tape dispenser with a built-in cutting edge was invented in 1932 by John A. Borden, another 3M employee.