Interesting Facts

27th September 1998 - Google officially came into the world. They formally incorporated the company, Google Inc., on September 7, 1998 at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California. But according to Google, they are 10 years old today, so who am I to argue. Official Google Blog

31st July 1498 - On his third voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus "discovered" the island of Trinidad. 1703 - Daniel Defoe was placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel. He had ruthlessly satirised the High Church Tories in a pamphlet, but allegedly, instead of throwing rotten veg and fruit at him, the crowd threw flowers. 1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invaded Upper Austria and Bohemia. 1790 – The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process. 1792 - Director David Rittenhouse laid the cornerstone in Philadelphia for the U.S. Mint, the first building of the federal government. 1895 – The Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco) was founded by Basque nationalist leader Sabino Arana. 1913 – The Balkan States signed an armistice at Bucharest. 1919 – The German national assembly adopted the Weimar constitution. 1938 – Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Greece an...

12th July 55 - Julius Caesar was born. 1543 – King Henry VIII of England married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr at Hampton Court Palace. 1812 – The United States invaded Canada at Windsor, Ontario. 1961 – The Panshet and Khadakvasala dams in India burst destroying most of the older sections of the city of Pune. Half of the city was submerged. More than 100,000 families dislocated and the death tally exceeded 2,000. 1962 – The Rolling Stones performed their first ever concert, at the Marquee Club in London. 1998 - Three young brothers, Richard Quinn, 11, Mark Quinn, 9, and Jason Quinn, 7, were murdered in a loyalist arson attack as the stand-off between Orangemen and police at Drumcree in Ireland. 2006 - Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid; Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon in response.

10th June 1184 BC – The city of Troy was sacked and burned. 1509 – Henry VIII of England married Catherine of Aragon. 1692 - Salem Village. Bridget Bishop, the first colonist tried in the Salem witch trials, was hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft. (In 1956 the Massachusetts General Court passed an act exonerating her. Well that's alright then.) 1776 - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were appointed to the Committee of Five to draft the American declaration of independence. 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reached Alaska. 1955 – Eighty-three people were killed and at least 100 injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collided at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 1959 - The Hovercraft, invented by Christopher Cockerell, was officially launched in Southampton. 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin became the only prisoners to successfully escape from Alcatraz I...

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...

10th April 837 – Halley's Comet made its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles). 1512 – James V of Scotland was born. 1606 – The Virginia Company of London was established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America. 1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, came into force in Great Britain. 1829 – William Booth, the English minister who founded The Salvation Army was born. 1858 – The original Big Ben, a 14.5 ton bell for the Palace of Westminster cracked during testing and was recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry. 1912 – RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage. 1925 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published. 1932 – Omar Sharif was born. 1953 – Warner Bros. premiered the first 3D film from a major American studio...

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.

26th January 1950 - The independent republic of India was officially born, after nearly 100 years of British rule. 1998 - In response to allegations that he had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton declared: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

15th August 1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1914 – The Panama Canal opened to traffic. 1945 - Allied nations celebrated VJ Day marking the end of World War II. 1947 – India gained Independence from British rule after almost 190 years. 1952 – A flash flood in the town of Lynmouth, England, killed 34 people. 1963 – The last man was hanged in Scotland. 1971 – Bahrain gained independence from the United Kingdom. 1971 - horse rider Harvey Smith was stripped of £2,000 winnings and a major show jumping title for allegedly making a rude gesture, although he swore it was a V for victory sign. 1998 – 27 people were killed following a massive car bomb in the town of Omagh in Northern Ireland.

Clay Puett was the inventor of the closed electrical starting gate, which premiered on July 1st, 1939. (To mark the Cheltenham Festival, I tried to find an interesting "racing" fact. A starting gate (aka called a starting barrier or starting stalls) is a machine used to ensure a fair start to a race in horse and dog racing. Mr Puett died in 1998, but his company still builds them. The idiom, "First out of the [starting] gate", means someone is the first to do something that others are trying to do. So, I guess he was first out of the gate.)

Art Garfunkel is a long distance walker. (Seemingly the famous singer of Simon and Garfunkel fame has undertaken several long walks in his lifetime: In the early 1980s, he walked across Japan in a matter of weeks. From 1984 to 1996, Garfunkel walked across America, taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Washington. In May 1998, Garfunkel began an incremented walk across Europe. In late August 2012, during the 26th leg of his Eurowalk, Art reached Thessaloniki, Greece. He will be continuing his walk towards Istanbul.)