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I could never see any part [of the bunyip] except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky-grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full-grown calf … When alone, I several times attempted to spear a Bun-yip; but had the natives seen me do so it would have caused great displeasure. And again, had I succeeded in killing, or even wounding one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit; they considering the animal … something supernatural.
William Buckley (Australian convict escapee who surrendered on July 7, 1835), in John Morgan, Life and Adventures of William Buckley, 1852

I had nearly forgotten to give the reader a short personal description of our famous adventurer. Buckley must have been a splendid young man, being nearly seven feet high; even at the present moment there is something original, but quite sedate about him. His features have been rather darkened by 32 years exposure to the sun of Australia, and there is certainly something stern and 'savage' in them, however thoroughly softened by a moral and intelligent composure, if I shall call it so. He told me that amongst the 'savages' also, men of superior mind and understanding are to be found. Well then, Buckley was one of such.
Dr J Lohtsky, Polish explorer in Australia, describing William Buckley in an interview in the Tasmanian and Australia-Asiatic Review, January 26, 1838   Source  

... a tall, ungainly man, about six feet four inches in height, and altogether his looks were not in his favour; he had a shaggy head of black hair, a low forehead with overhanging eyebrows nearly concealing his small eyes, a short snub nose, a face very much marked by smallpox, and was just such a man as one would suppose fit to commit burglary or murder.
Description of William Buckley by George Russell, who met the Australian bushman in 1836

Bunyip

Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

The Encyclopedia of Eastern Mythology

Myths and Legends of Japan

Asian Mythology

Myths and Legends of Japan

The Spiral Dance
By Starhawk
20th Anniversary Edition

The Rule of Four

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Fasti
Roman calendar lore, by Ovid

Holiday Symbols

Life in a Medieval Village

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Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft

The Survival of the Pagan Gods

Consualia, Roman Empire (Jul 7; Aug 21; Dec 15)

Onto our horses and into our chariots today! Today commemorates Consus, Roman mythology's god of harvests, sign of a good harvest later in the month. Consus was also god of secret deliberations (perhaps due to a common misinterpretation of his name). According to Livy (i.9), Neptunus Equestris or Equester (Neptune) was the god so honoured, while Plutarch and others say that Neptunus Equestris and Consus were only different names for one and the same deity.

Perhaps because of Consus's association with secrecy it's appropriate that little is known about him, but we do know, or assume from his cellar-like altar, that he was the god of fertility and underground grain stores.

There was an altar (Ara Consus) to Consus underground at the first turn in the Circus; sacrifice was made there in the month of Quinctilis (Quintilis) by the sacerdotibus publicis, and in Sextilis by the flamen Quirinalis and the Vestal Virgins, the attendants of the goddess Vesta.

Consus was associated with Ops, the Roman goddess of harvests, the wife of Saturn and mother of Jupiter and Juno, from whom the word 'opulent' derives. Her feast day is December 19.

The commemoration was solemnised annually in the Circus Maximus at Rome, where there was a symbolical ceremony of uncovering an altar that had been dedicated to the god and buried in the earth. This ritual came about because Romulus (who was suckled by a wolf, and founded Rome, with his twin brother, Remus) was said to have discovered an altar in the earth on that very spot.

Today the Romans held horse and chariot races, and libations were poured into the flames that consumed the sacrifices. During the period of the festivities, horses and mules were adorned with garlands of flowers and their owners were forbidden to work them.

Consus was eventually identified with Neptunus Equester, the alias and counterpart of Poseidon Hippios (Neptune), who was the founder of Atlantis, where, according to Plato, horses (hippos, equus) originated. Hence the connection with the animal.

His altar was also placed near the Circus Maximus, beneath the ground. The altar was unearthed only during the Consualia, his festival which, according to William Smith (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1875), took place on July 7, August 21 and December 15. Mule races were the main event of the festival because the mule was his sacred animal. As well, the rex sacrorum (sacred king) would appear in full garb riding his horse-drawn chariot once around the Circus Maximus.

According to legend, it was at the first celebration of the Consualian Games that the Sabine women were carried off. The legend says that the Romans raped (ie, abducted) the Sabine women to populate the new-built town, but modern studies have found many relationships between the two peoples, especially regarding religion and mythology.

See Ovid, Fasti  iii.199 and Roman calendar    More on Consus    More

See also the Circensian Games in the Book of Days

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

[If you know of a good picture of Consus, I'd be pleased to know about it.]

The nones of July, ancient Rome

In the Roman calendar, the nones of a month were the fifth day of the months January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, and the seventh day of March, May, July, and October; traditionally the day of the Half Moon. The nones were nine days before the ides (depending on the month, these could be the 13^th and 15^th day; traditionally the day of the Full Moon), reckoning inclusively, according to the Roman method.

The term none came into Christian liturgical use, meaning 'the fifth of the seven canonical hours' (no longer used) or 'the time of day appointed for this service, usually the ninth hour after sunrise'.

"While the Lares and Di Penates are honored every day in the pious Roman household, the Nones (celebrated on either the 5th or 7th day of the month; see the Calendar) are days when a more elaborate ceremony should be observed. The Nones are sacred to Iuno Covella (Iuno of the Hollow Moon).

"The Nones ritual is usually celebrated early in the morning at sunrise by the head of the household (usually the eldest male). If circumstances (or family tradition) dictate, it may be performed at noon or before sunset. No sexual activity is permitted prior to the rite. The performer of the rite does not break his fast prior to performing the rite (if celebrated at sunrise); only a little tea or coffee is permitted.

"Before the rite the Paterfamilias washes his hands (having also previously bathed or showered beforehand) while saying the prayer for ablution …"
Nones Ritual

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Almanacs calendars time links

Links to calendar history    Early Roman Calendar - History    Roman festivals    Roman calendar

Roman Dates (Chris Bennett's site)    Seyffert's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities   

LacusCurtius    Smith's Dictionary calendar article    More from Smith

Nonae Caprotinae (the Caprotine Nones, or Caprotinia), Latium, Roman Empire (Jul 7- 8)

This was the Fig Festival, and Festival of Handmaids – the maids' day off. Wild fig trees (caprificus) were venerated today, with feasting beneath them in honour of Caprotina, an aspect of Juno (warrior goddess), to whom they made offerings. Maids had a sham fight with stones and abused each other. The festival might have earlier been a fertility rite. The next day a thanksgiving, celebrated by the pontifices, or priests.

Ancillarum Feriae

The festival is also known by this name. Whichever state crisis it was that caused the Poplifugia (Flight of the People, July 5) resulted in the enemies of Rome demanding that the Romans hand over their free-born virgins (ancillae or handmaids). Bravely, the ancillae came up with a plan that worked: when the enemy troops were sleeping, the handmaids would hide their swords and light signal fires.

Another name for today is 'Nones of the Goats'.

"Feriae, holidays, were, generally speaking, days or seasons during which free-born Romans suspended their political transactions and their law-suits, and during which slaves enjoyed a cessation from labour ... The feriae included all days consecrated to any deity; consequently all days on which public festivals were celebrated were feriae or dies feriati."
William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1874, 177

"A Roman epithet of Juno. A special feast, called the Nona Caprotinae, was celebrated in her honour on the Nones of Quintilis, or 7th of July. In this celebration female slaves took a consider­able part. The festival was connected with another, called Poplifugium, or the " Flight of the People," held on the 5th of July. Thus a historical basis was given to it, though the true origin of both festivals had been probably forgotten. After their defeat by the Gauls, the Romans were conquered and put to flight by a sudden attack of their neighbours, the Latins, who demanded the surrender of a large number of girls and widows. Thereupon, at the suggestion of a girl called Tutula (or Philotis), the female slaves disguised themselves as Roman ladies, went into the enemy's camp, and contrived to make the enemy drunk, while Tutula, climbing a wild fig-tree, gave the signal for the Romans to attack by holding up a torch. The Poplifugia were celebrated by a mimic flight. On the 7th July, the female slaves went in procession to the fig-tree, where they carried on all kinds of sports with the assembled multitude. Besides this, there was a sacrifice and a festal meal at the tree, and on the next day a thanksgiving, celebrated by the pontifices."
Oskar Seyffert, Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature & Art, Gramercy, 1995

"During this solemnity they ran about, beating themselves with their fists and with rods. None but women assisted in the sacrifices offered at this feast. Kennet says, the origin of this feast, or the famous Nonae Caprotinae, or Poplifugium, is doubly related by Plutarch, according to the two common opinions. First, because Romulus disappeared on that day, when an assembly being held in the Palus Capreae, or Goats'-Marsh, on a sudden happened a most wonderful tempest, accompanied with terrible thunder, and other unusual disorders in the air. The common people fled all away to secure themselves; but, after the tempest was over, could never find their king. Or, else, from Caprificus, a wild fig-tree, because, in the Gallic war, a Roman virgin, who was prisoner in the enemy's camp, got up into a wild fig-tree, and holding out a lighted torch toward the city, gave the Romans a signal to fall on; which they did with such good success, as to obtain a considerable victory."
Source: Wikipedia (which has this at July 9)

 

Second Festival of Parilia, or Palilia, Roman Empire
A feast day honouring Pales, the Roman god (later a goddess) of shepherds and their flocks, whose name might be related to phallus, or penis. In the Fasti, Ovid describes this festival in detail, and invokes Pales as a singular female deity, but is unknown whether the deity was male or female, of even if it was intended to be a single deity or pair of deities.

The festival was held on the anniversary of the day on which Romulus, the boy suckled (with his brother Remus) by a she-wolf, drew the first furrow at the foot of the hill, thus laying the foundations of Rome.

The Parilia is believed to have evolved from very early pagan celebrations of Spring and fertility. Sheepfolds were decorated with green branches on this day. Fires were kindled and animals driven through the smoke; milk and cakes were offered to the deity today.

Each year there were two Parilia. The first Parilia was celebrated on April 21 (qv).

More

Festival of the Ludi Apollinares, ancient Rome (Jul 6 - 13)

Celtic tree month of Duir (Oak)  Jun 10 - Jul 7 ends

Gion Matsuri, Kyoto, Japan (all of July)

Dog Days, ancient Rome (Jul 3 - Aug 11)

Hakata Yamagasa, Japan (Jul 1 - 15)

Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain (Jul 6 - 14)

Chih Nu, China (Feast of the Milky Way) 

Birthday of John the Baptist, Ein Karem, Israel 

Feast day of St Ampelius

Feast day of St Angelelmus

Feast day of St Apollonius

Feast day of St Astius

Feast day of St Benedict XI, pope and confessor
Niccolo Boccasini (his birth name) is believed to have been poisoned by the agents of William of Nogaret.

Feast day of St Bonitus

Feast day of St Cronaprava
Apocryphal patron saint of dwarves.

Feast day of St Ethelburga (Edelburga of Kent)
Seventh-Century daughter of the king of East Angles. Not to be confused with St Æthelburg of Kent (Ethelburga of Lyminge) or St Ethelburga (Æthelburg; Aethelburh; Ethelburge; Edilburge) of Barking.

Feast day of St Felix, Bishop of Nantes
(Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Feast day of St Firminus of Amiens
St Farmin's Well: there is a mysterious well of an otherwise unknown 'Saint Farmin' at Bowes, Yorkshire, England.

Feast day of St Hedda, Bishop of the West Saxons

Feast day of St Hesychius

Feast day of St Illidius

Feast day of St Lawrence Humphrey

Feast day of St Maelruan

Feast day of St Maolruain

Feast day of St Maria Romero Meneses

Feast day of St Medran

Feast day of St Odo of Urgell

Feast day of St Odran

Feast day of St Palladius

Feast day of St Pantaenus, father of the Church

Feast day of St Ralph Milner

Feast day of St Syrus of Genoa

Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints

Saba Saba Day (or Peasants' Day, founding of the TANU party, 1954), Tanzania
Saba Saba means 'seven seven' in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania (and of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two countries whose union created the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964).

NAIDOC Week, Australia (c. Jul 4 - 11)

Ivan Kupala, Russia and Ukraine

Independence Day, Solomon Islands (1978)

Smashing Pumpkins Day, Chicago, Illinois, USA

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

1119 Emperor Sutoku of Japan (d. 1164)

1592 Thomas Howard, 21^st Earl of Arundel, collector of classical sculptures (known as the Arundel Marbles)

1746 Giuseppe Piazzi (d. 1826), Italian astronomer

1752 Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French silk manufacturer, inventor of the loom that bears his name, which used punched cards to create patterns

1753 Jean-Pierre Blanchard (Jean Pierre François Blanchard; d. March 7, 1809), French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning

1846 Livingston Hopkins ('Hop'; d. August 21, 1927), American-born (Bellefontaine, Ohio) Australian cartoonist and caricaturist of The Bulletin. 'Hop', the thirteenth of 14 children, did more than 19,000 drawings and was one of the best-known Australian magazine artists of his day.

After a successful career in the USA on such publications as Harper's Bazaar and Harper's Magazine, and a number of books, he arrived in Australia in February, 1883 at the invitation of WH Traill of The Bulletin, intending to work for that magazine for a couple of years, and stayed 30, ending up a part-proprietor.

"After the war he went to Toledo where some sketches he had made were shown to the proprietor of the Toledo Blade. As a result he was engaged as an illustrator, which led to an appointment on Scribner's Weekly. During this engagement he had a few months training in drawing. Going to New York, some of his drawings were accepted by Judge and the New York Daily Graphic, and he also wrote and illustrated A Comic History of United States. This was published in good time for the centennial celebrations in 1876, but the United States were taking themselves very seriously then, the book was unfavourably reviewed, and it was a failure. Hopkins continued his free-lance work for a period of 13 years and did a large amount of work for St Nicholas and for the Harper publications, the Weekly, the Magazine, the Bazaar and Young People. He was also commissioned to illustrate editions of Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, Baron Munchausen, and Knickerbocker's History of New York. Towards the end of 1882 W. H. Traill (q.v.) called on him and offered him an appointment as cartoonist on The Bulletin. The offer was accepted and he arrived at Sydney on 9 February 1883.

"Hopkins was engaged for three years, but he continued to work for the Bulletin for over 30 years. He was scarcely in the same rank as such men as Phil May, David Low, or Will Dyson, but a constant stream of clever illustrations came from his pen, and he contributed not a little to the power wielded by the Bulletin in its most vigorous days. A selection of his drawings was published in 1904 under the title of On the Hop. Among his best known creations were the "Little Boy from Manly", "I thought1 had a stamp", and the many George Reid drawings. Reproductions of three of his etchings show that he had an excellent sense of the capabilities of that medium. He also occasionally painted in oil or water-colours. After 1913 the volume of his work for the Bulletin gradually diminished, but he kept his interest in the journal of which he was now part-proprietor. He busied himself with making violins, gardening, music and playing bowls. He died on 21 August 1927 at Mosman, Sydney, and was survived by a son and four daughters.

"Hopkins was a tall, courteous, slightly austere man with something of the look of Don Quixote. A man of strong principles with more than a touch of the puritan, he was yet a good host who liked to see his friends about him. He never used models, and his work had often to be done in a hurry, but he did an enormous amount of it, always characteristic and with its own peculiar humour."   Source

Comic creator: Livingston Hopkins    Cartoonists of the early Sydney Bulletin

Comix, comics and cartoons in the Book of Days

Lawson & Co: People, etc, with associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

1852 Dr John H Watson, Sherlock Holmes's  faithful companion. Ironically on  this day in 1930, his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, 71, died in Crowborough, Sussex.

1855 Ludwig Ganghofer (d. 1920), writer

1860 Gustav Mahler (d. 1911), Austrian composer

1884 Lion Feuchtwanger (d. 1958), dramatist and narrator

1887 Marc Chagall (d. 1985), Russian painter and designer

1893 Miroslav Krleža (d. 1981), Croatian writer

1895 Julius Hoffman (d. July 1, 1983), native attorney and judge best known for his role in the Chicago Eight trial (aka Chicago Seven trial).

Related items at March 19, 1969; March 22, 1968;  August 23, 1968; September 17, 1968; September 17, 1969;  January 23, 1970; February 20, 1970.

1899 George Cukor (d. 1983), Hollywood director (The Philadelphia Story; My Fair Lady)

1901 Vittorio De Sica (d. 1974), director

1901 Gustav Knuth (d. 1978), German actor

1906 William Feller (d.1970), Croatian mathematician

1907 Robert Heinlein (d. 1988), science fiction writer

1911 Gian Carlo Menotti, composer

1915 Yul Brynner (d. 1985), actor

1919 William Kunstler (d. September 4, 1995), prominent US lawyer and civil rights activist. Some of his clients included Lenny Bruce, H Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, American Indian Movement (AIM) leaders, Jack Ruby, Abbie Hoffman, Angela Davis, Jerry Rubin, Martin Luther King, El Sayyid Nosair, Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali, Ibrahim A ElGabrowny, Qubilah Shabazz and her father Malcolm X.

1922 Pierre Cardin, fashion designer

1927 Doc Severinsen (Carl H. Severinsen), composer, musician

1940 Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), drummer and singer (The Beatles)

1945 Michael Ancram (Michael Kerr, Earl of Ancram), British politician

1949 Shelley Duvall, American actress/producer (3 Women; Popeye; Nashville; The Shining; McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Roxanne)

Altman's 3 Women (1977) gave Duvall her greatest role as a pathetic spa physiotherapist; the director encouraged her to invent much of her own dialogue, and the performance earned her a Best Actress Award at Cannes. Two more memorable roles followed-as the terrified wife in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and as Olive Oyl in Altman's Popeye (both 1980) – but since then, she has appeared only occasionally, in Time Bandits (1981), Roxanne (1987), and Suburban Commando (1991). She has concentrated instead on a producing career, committing herself to the creation of high-quality children's entertainment for cable TV and home video.  Source

2005 Miabella Wilson, my granddaughter

Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section

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Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Cute Hugs Birthdays Chocolate Day [ Jul 7 ] Tanabata [ Jul 7 ]

Varies Full Moon Day
Varies Friday the 13^th
Varies Hindu holidays
Varies Graduation

July

7 Chocolate Day
7 Macaroni Day
7 Tanabata
7 Father And Daughter Take A Walk Together
8 Ice Cream Sundae Day
8 Be A Kid Day
8 Milk Chocolate With Almonds Day
8 Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Omelette Day
9 Rock N' Roll Day
9 Sugar Cookie Day
9 Barn Day
9 Martyrdom Of The Báb
10 Teddy Bears' Picnic Day
10 Intern Appreciation Day
11 Cheer Up Day
11 Swimming Pool Day
11 Blueberry Muffin Day
12 Simplicity Day
13 International Puzzle Day
13 Beans And Franks Day
14 French Fries Day
14 Bastille Day
14 Pick Blueberries Day
14 Pandemonium Day
15 Cow Appreciation Day
15 I Love Horses Day
15 Respect Canada Day
15 Shark Awareness Day
15 No-Hitter Day
16 Ice Cream Cone Day
16 Talk To A Telemarketer Day
17 Peach Ice Cream Day
18 Chrysanthemum Day
18 Dental Awareness Day
18 Wiener Day
19 Bloomer Day
20 Moon Day
20 Lollipop Day
20 Fortune Cookie Day
20 Chess Day
21 Monkey Day
22 Spoonerism Day
22 Cleveland Day
23 Vanilla Ice Cream Day
23 Private Eye Day
24 Cousins Day
24 Public Opinion Day
24 Coffee Day
26 Groovy Chicken Day
26 Aunt And Uncles' Day
28 Hamburger Day
29 Rain Day
30 Cheesecake Day
31 Jump For Jellybeans Day

  ... More Events

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755 Japan: The first Tanabata (Japanese Star Festival; see above) was ordered by Empress-regent Koken (718 - 770). See July 3.

Source: Robert Braunwart/The Daily Bleed

1129 Death of Emperor Shirakawa of Japan.

1304 Death of Pope Benedict XI, (possibly poisoned).

1307 King Edward I of England (b. 1239) died on his way to fight Scottish chieftain, Robert the Bruce.

1348 England: The Black Death arrived at Weymouth.

1456 Joan of Arc was acquitted of heresy 25 years after her execution.

1534 First known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St Lawrence, in New Brunswick, Canada.

1535 Sir Thomas More (Utopia) was beheaded for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the supreme authority of the Church.

1540 New World: The Spanish stormed Hawikuh (Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico). Francisco Vasquez de Coronado believed it one of the Seven Cities of Gold; it was the first skirmish between Indians and Europeans in western US.

Source: The Daily Bleed

1572 Death of Sigismund II August, king of Poland.

1791 The Mary Anne, first ship of the Third Fleet of convicts transported to Australia, arrived in Sydney.

1792 'Lamourette's Kiss'.

The French have a term, baiser Lamourette, ('to kiss Lamourette') meaning to make an insincere or ephemeral reconciliation. On this day in 1792, the Abbé Lamourette induced the different factions of the Legislative Assembly to put aside differences and give each other a kiss of peace. The reconciliation was short lived, and soon they were at each other's throats again.

1798 Quasi-War: The United States Congress rescinded treaties with France, sparking the 'war'.

1799 Ranjit Singh's men took their positions outside Lahore.

1807 Peace of Tilsit between France, Kingdom of Prussia and Russia.

1815 The allies march into Paris following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo on June 18.

1816 Richard Brinsley Sheridan (b. 1751), Irish dramatist (The School for Scandal; The Rivals), died in extreme poverty in London.

 

1835 Victoria, Australia: William Buckley (1780 - January 30, 1856), Cheshire, UK-born escaped convict in Australia, gave himself up to John Batman's landing party. 

Buckley had spent 32 years in the bush living among Aboriginal tribespeople, and for the duration was the only European living in what is today the state of Victoria.

Buckley and the Bunyip

Buckley might have been the first European to see, or believe he had seen, a bunyip, an Australian native animal, a being from Australian Aboriginal mythology, or else just a tale from the vaults of cryptozoology.

More in the Book of Days at December 27, 1803, the date of his escape from custody

More at Wikipedia, which, at time of writing, gives January 1 as his date of death  

Wild white man : a condensed account of the adventures of William Buckley who lived in exile for 32 years (1803-35) amongst the black people of the unexplored regions of Port Phillip by Kevin Hayden

Life and Adventures of William Buckley: 32 Years a Wanderer, by John Morgan

A bibliography of William Buckley    Timeline    More
 

 

1841 Explorer Edward John Eyre reached Albany, Western Australia, after an expedition from South Australia.

1846 Acting on instructions from Washington, DC, Commodore John Drake Sloat ordered his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the United States annexation of California.

1853 After 250 years of isolation from the rest of the world, Japan opened its doors just a little to Western influence. The change came about due to the persuasion by American naval officer Commodore Matthew Perry of the Japanese shogun.

1880 Death of Lydia Child (b. 1802), American novelist and abolitionist.

1896 The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde was published. Its main theme is the death penalty. According to Wilde, the greater the crime, the more necessary charity

1898 The United States annexed Hawaii.

1905 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or "Wobblies") was established.

1913 Suffragette Edith Rigby firebombed Lord Leverhulme's bungalow in Rivington, Lancashire, England; it burned to the ground.

Source: Calendar Riots

1914 Britain's House of Commons passed the Irish Home Rule Bill, but it was defeated by the House of Lords on July 15.

1917 Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov formed a Provisional Government in Russia after the deposing of the tsar.

1930 Building of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam) commenced.

1937 Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge – Japanese troops on manoeuvres near Peking (Beijing) clashed with the Chinese.

1941 World War II: American forces landed in Iceland in order to free British forces, who themselves had been occupying the country, to deter any attack by the Nazis.

1946 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini became the first American to be canonised.

1950 The first air show was held at Farnborough, Surrey, UK.

1954 In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ became the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record.

1958 President Dwight D Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.

1960 Graeme Thorne kidnapping: Graeme Thorne was kidnapped, the first kidnapping for ransom ever in Australia.

1961 Australia: Melbourne's King Street Bridge collapsed.

1968 Abbie Hoffman's 'The Yippies are Going to Chicago' was published in The Realist.

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list    CounterCulture Wiki

1969 French was made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government.

1975 Rolling Stone Keith Richards was charged with possession of an offensive weapon and reckless driving in Arkansas, USA. Hundreds of teenage girls stormed the jail where he was being held.

1975 "Murile Melkis and her family were watching a film about the sinking of the Titanic on their TV in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, in 1975. Recalled Mrs Melkis: 'Just as the Titanic was about to hit the iceberg we heard a terrific crash. We rushed outside and found tiles from our roof scattered everywhere.' A big lump of ice had chosen that moment to fall from the sky and smash a two-foot-square hole in their roof."   Source

1978 Solomon Islands became independent from the United Kingdom.

1982 London: Michael Fagin awakened Queen Elizabeth II by sitting on her bed in Buckingham Palace.

1983 Propaganda: Samantha Smith, a US schoolgirl, flew to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Premier Yuri Andropov in order to boost world opinion about the Communist dictatorship at the height of the Cold War.

1986 Australian drug traffickers Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers were hanged in Malaysia.

1991 The Brioni Agreement ended a ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1993 Hurricane Calvin left a trail of destruction in Mexico. In the port of Lazaro Cardenas, it sank the Norwegian ship, Betula, which ended up beached with 5,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid aboard.

Hurricane Tracking

1994 Aden was occupied by troops from North Yemen.

2001 Amnesty International reported that China had executed 1,781 people in the previous three months.

Source: Robert Braunwart/The Daily Bleed    China and Tibet human rights

2004 The last patent on the LZW compression algorithm (in Canada) expired.

2005 Terrorist explosions occurred on the London Underground network and on a London Bus, killing 52 innocent people plus all four suicide bombers. This site challenges the train timetable info given by the police.

"CCTV gets maintained at least 2 or 3 times a week and can digitally store upto 2 whole weeks worth of footage. this is done by a private contractor....So when I heard that the CCTV wasn't working on a vehicle that's no more than 2 years old since last June.....I'm sorry that's rubbish, I work for the company I know different."

"Also a point of interest....last saturday a contractor came to inspect the CCTV on the buses at the depot, According to my supervisor the person spent more than 20 hours over that weekend, 20 hours to see if the CCTV is working? Also that person who came was not a regular contractor, for security reasons the same few people always come to the depot to carry out work, this time it was different.

"Drivers in the depot already think the so called bombers had inside help because it was to organised. Some even think it had help from the company."
London Stagecoach Employee Says Bus Bombing Suspicious

Casualty list    More

2005 Influenced by Live 8, the G8 leaders pledged to double 2004 levels of aid to Africa from US$25 to US$50 billion by the year 2010.

 

Tomorrow: Shelley's heart would not burn

 

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Beatles trivia quiz

Who was the youngest Beatle?

Who was the oldest Beatle?

Everyone remembers the song, "She Loves You" released in 1963, but what was on the flip side of the record?

Which Beatle was barefoot on the Abbey Road album?

In "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da", what kind of ring did Desmond gave to Molly?

Who came up with the name, "A Hard Day's Night?"

Paul wrote the song, "Hey Jude" for whom?

What was the inspiration for "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds?"

What colours were Lucy's sky and the trees?

Where was the Beatle's first live concert in the United States?

Answers

Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.

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