Interesting Facts

25th November 1960 - Three sisters, Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal, were brutally murdered for their political activism. The sisters, known as the "Unforgettable Butterflies," became a symbol of violence against women in Latin America. Women's activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981 and on December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 (the anniversary of the day of the murder of the Mirabal sisters) as the annual date for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in commemoration of the sisters. Due to their mark in history November 25, is observed each year as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in honor of the Mirabal sisters. It also marks the beginning of the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. The end of the 16 Days is December 10, International Human Rights Day. http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/

16th August 1819 – Seventeen people die and over 600 were injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England, which was held to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. This became known as The Peterloo Massacre. 1902 – Georgette Heyer, English author was born. 1906 – An estimated 8.2 MW earthquake hit Valparaíso, Chile, killing 3,886 people. 1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students. 1946 – Mass riots in Kolkata began, in which more than 4,000 people were murdered over the next 72 hours. 1960 – Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. 1974 – Punk Rock pioneers The Ramones played their first show in a local New York club called CBGB. 1977 - Elvis Presley died. 2012 – South African police fatally shot 34 miners and wounded 78 more during an industrial dispute near Rustenburg.

20th July 1712 – The Riot Act took effect in Great Britain. 1859 - American baseball fans were charged an admission fee for the first time. 1,500 spectators paid 50 cents each to see Brooklyn play New York. 1881 – Sioux Chief Sitting Bull led the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota. 1885 – The Football Association legalised professional football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – Ford Motor Company shipped its first car. 1924 – Tehran fell under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, was killed by a mob enraged by rumours he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people. 1926 – A convention of the Methodist Church voted to allow women to become priests. 1928 – The Hungarian government issued a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, and subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians. 1933 - Two-hun...

30th June 1860 – The 1860 Oxford evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History took place. 1908 – The Tunguska event occured in Siberia. 1936 - Gone with the Wind was published. 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, took place. 1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan, USA. (I wonder if it was a little red one.) 1960 – Congo gained independence from Belgium. 1963 – A car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, killed seven police and military officers near Palermo. 1969 – Nigeria banned Red Cross aid to Biafra, leaving over 4 million people to face starvation. 1971 - Three Russian cosmonauts were found dead in their Soyuz 11 space capsule after it made what looked like a perfect landing in Kazakhstan. 1985 - 39 Americans being held captive by the Shia Muslim Amal militia in Lebanon were released, after almost three weeks in ...

28th June 1922 - 18 year old Ralph Samuelson slapped a pair of sticks on his feet, grabbed hold of a rope behind a boat, and became the world's first waterskier. (His brother Ben operated the powerboat that pulled Ralph along. He broke the original skis in one landing, but his slightly-modified second pair still can be seen at the Water Ski Hall of Fame museum in Winter Haven, Florida.) 1960 - 45 men were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Monmouthshire, Wales. 2004 - The United States handed power back to the Iraqi people at a low-key ceremony in Baghdad.

26th June 1284 – The legendary Pied Piper led 130 children out of Hamelin, Germany. 1483 – Richard III was crowned king of England. 1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States. 1917 – The first U.S. troops arrived in France to fight alongside Britain, France, Italy, and Russia against Germany, and Austria-Hungary in World War I. 1945 – The United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco. 1948 – The Western allies began an airlift to Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin. 1960 – The former British Protectorate of Somaliland British Somaliland gained its independence. 1963 – John F. Kennedy spoke the famous words "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a doughnut), on a visit to West Berlin. 1974 - The bar code, allowing for the electronic scanning of prices, was used for the first time on a pack of gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio. 1977 – The Yorkshire Ripper killed 16 year old shop assistant Jayne...

16th May 1770 – 14-year old Marie Antoinette married 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later became king of France. 1836 – Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia. 1920 – Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc as a saint. 1960 - The first working laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories. (But we still don't have proper light sabers.) 1966 – The Communist Party of China issued the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. 1975 – Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 1990 – Jim Henson died.

21st April 753 B.C - Legend says Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, founded Rome. 1509 - Henry VIII became King of England. 1782 - Friedrich Froebel German educator and founder of the kindergarten, was born. 1789 - John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States. 1816 - Charlotte Bronte, author of "Jane Eyre, was born. 1838 - John Muir, the father of the environmental movement, died. 1910 - The author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died. 1918 - The German fighter ace Baron von Richthofen, "The Red Baron," was shot down. 1926 - Queen Elizabeth II was born. 1945 - The Red Army entered the outskirts of Berlin. 1959 - Robert Smith, musician from The Cure, was born. 1960 - Brazilia became the capital of Brazil, taking over from Rio de Janeiro.

21st March 1960 - More than 50 people were killed in the South African township of Sharpeville when police opened fire on a "peaceful" protest. The death toll rose to 69 and the number of injuries to 180.

Over the last 50 years short-sightedness amongst children in the UK has doubled. ( In the 1960s just 10% of British 12 and 13-year-olds had myopia, today that is 23%. Experts are blaming this increase on our increasingly indoor lifestyles and use of computers.   And it's not just happening in the UK, in the US in the 1970s 25% of children were diagnosed myopic, by the year 2000 this had risen to over 40%.  In China The journal Nature reported that around 90% of China's teenage and young adult population are short-sighted, up from 10 to 20% of the total population 60 years ago. One Chinese city is so worried, they are experimenting with transparent classrooms to expose children to more sunlight. How about giving them more time and space to play outside?)

The votes are in and Britain's favourite BBC children's character of all time is Shaun the Sheep. (Postman Pat came second and Sooty and Sweep third. The past winners were:- 1950s - Sooty and Sweep. 1960s - The Magic Roundabout 1970s - Paddington Bear (still my favourite, along with Winnie the Pooh) 1980s - Postman Pat (not forgetting his cat) 1990s - Bob the Builder (but he couldn't fix this vote) )

According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics) Britons in their late 60s are happier and more carefree than any other age group, including young people. (Incidence of anxiety and depression in the UK drops by almost a third between the early 50s and late 60s.  It must be the 1960s that did it.)

In 1960, Joanna Woodward was the first star to be honoured on the historic Walk of Fame in Hollywood. (When it was first constructed there were 1,558 blank stars, but new stars were added and Sophia Loren was honoured with the 2,000th star in 1994. As far as I know there is still room for a few new stars, so there's time for my acting career to take off.)