|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
| Happy Special Day! |
| Special Days and Holidays to remember and celebrate. Who or what is being celebrated today. Interesting facts and information about events that happened today in history. Ideas and suggestions for gifts. |
| Language: English |
| RSS Feeds for this Blog |
|
Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 6 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 20870 |
| Visitors Out: 346 |
| Total Visitors Out: 346 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| 3 September - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-09-02 22:45:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthSapphireFlower of the Month: AsterNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Now how would you feel if when you woke up this morning and discovered that it wasn’t the 3rd September but in fact it was 14th September? I know your first thoughts would be that you’ve somehow missed 11 of Nomanda’s great blogs! But apart from that would you feel as if you’d slept through the last 11 days? It’s all very confusing, where did the days go? Well in fact this is exactly what happened on this day in 1752 when England adopted the Gregorian Calendar. The whole country was 11 days out of kilter so they ...
|
| |
|
| 2 September - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-09-01 22:48:00 |
Flower of the MonthAsterGemstone of the Month: SapphireNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Nomanda has had a bit of experience of flying. The airplane sort, not the “Mary Poppins” performance! And in my time I’ve spent hours on planes. Not as long in one stretch as the first non stop flight from Europe to the US that took place on this day in 1930 and took an incredible 37 hours! My congratulations go to the whole crew for keeping it up in the air for so long. It must have been really scary!Norman Manley must be an impressive golfer. Not only has he made a total of 59 holes in one in his golfing life he ac...
|
| |
|
| 1 September - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-31 22:46:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthSapphireFlower of the Month: AsterNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!I guess that 1st September is the end of the summer holiday and the return to work and school for most people. This would account for the fact that there doesn’t seem to have been a great deal of interest happening on this day in history. Thankfully, one of our favourite countries, Belgium, has had a couple of events that are worthy of mention. It was on this day in 1963 that the Belgian language laws came into effect causing a riot! For such a small country, both in geographic size and population, having to deal with 3 ...
|
| |
|
| 31 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-30 22:43:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Nomanda has a nice garden; in fact you can see a picture of it at the top left hand corner of the blog. However most of our gardening activities are restricted to flowers and shrubs. We’ve tried our hand at growing vegetables but with limited success. The problem with growing your own vegetables is that even if you are successful they all come up at once and there’s just no way you can eat you way through kilos of runner beans, tomatoes, lettuce or even cabbages! You end up giving them to your friends and neighbours, ...
|
| |
|
| 30 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-30 01:37:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!As soon as someone invents something there’s always another person around the corner who is going to improve it or even invent something better! So it is and so it was. This fact of life applies just as much to household gadgets as it does to weapons of war. The European leaders of their countries understood this way back in 1146 when on this day they got together and outlawed the crossbow in an attempt to live in peace with their neighbours. They believed that by outlawing the crossbow war would be ended for all time. ...
|
| |
|
| 29 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-29 00:42:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Nomanda is quite partial to Chinese food. I like the wide variety of dishes to choose from and it used to a part of my staple diet during my bachelor days. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of my favourite dishes, Chop Suey, isn’t a Chinese dish at all but it was invented by the chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador when he visited New York. The chef came up with the dish on this day in 1896 to serve at a banquet to satisfy the palates of both the Chinese and American guest...
|
| |
|
| 28 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-28 00:37:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!The one, the only “Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce” was first manufactured on this day in 1837. It was produced by a couple of Pharmacists Messrs John Lea and William Perrins. The tangy not quite hot sauce is still made in Worcester to this day and where would the world be without it? Used by chefs and cocktail mixers all over the world it’s probably as famous as the pottery from the same city! You couldn’t make a “Bloody Mary” without it!The famous black activist Martin ...
|
| |
|
| 27 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-27 00:39:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!The British protectorate of Zanzibar didn’t follow the wishes of the British government in the appointment of their new sultan. This difference of opinion on who should be the next sultan led to the shortest recorded war in history on this day in 1896. The “war” lasted a full 40 minutes and guess what, the Brits got their way! Those were the good old days of gunboat democracy and it seemed to work at the time!The first publication of the “Guinness Book of Records” took place on ...
|
| |
|
| 26 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-26 01:41:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Our favourite escape artist, Harry Houdini, was doing what he did best on this day in 1907 at San Francisco’s Aquatic Park. He was tied in chains, submerged in a tank of water and 57 seconds later surfaced unharmed. It’s all a matter of how long you can hold your breath and of course the ability to get out of a bundle of chains!George Orwell’s anti Stalinist “Animal Farm” was published on this day in 1946. The farm animals get rid of the human owners and draw up their own set of...
|
| |
|
| 25 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-25 00:39:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!This day in 1485 was to mark the beginning of the Tudor dynasty when Henry Tudor beat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Fields. It heralded the end of the War of the Roses with the Lancastrian red rose coming out on top. The battle has been immortalised in Shakespeare’s play “Richard III” and of the many quotable quotes from the play my favourite is,“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”It’s all about priorities and seeing the best way forward!Not being blessed with t...
|
| |
|
| 24 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-24 01:41:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!If you’re feeling peckish there’s nothing better than gobbling down a packet of crisps! To say that these were “invented” by the chef George Crum (good name that for a chef!) on this day in 1853 is not quite correct as he made them in an attempt to shut up a difficult customer at his restaurant. The story goes that the customer complained that the “French fries” he was served were too thick and sent the order back to the kitchen. The chef then made a thinner version of the fries to satisfy the customer. These ...
|
| |
|
| 23 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-23 01:47:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Have you ever been driving in a strange place and have got a “feel” for the direction you should be going and just as you think you’ve almost sorted it all out you come across a “no-entry” sign and a one way street system? I think we’ve all been there and if you thought the one way street is a modern invention by city planners who either walk or cycle to work, you would be wrong! Apparently the first one way street was introduced in London on this day as early as 1617. So, I...
|
| |
|
| 21 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-21 00:48:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Now you would think that the guy who patented the venetian blind may have had some association with Venice or at least Italy. Well you would be wrong because John Hampton who patented the venetian blind on this day in 1841 came from New Orleans! For those of us who have had these dust collecting devices in our time we would have loved him to have patented an easy way to clean them as well! They look great for the first couple of weeks and after that they look disgraceful unless you spend ...
|
| |
|
| 20 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-20 01:40:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!The Danish sea captain Vitus Bering employed by the Russian Navy discovered Alaska and the Straits that bear his name on this day in 1741. I wonder if he realised that he was on the far Eastern coast of his employers when he found them. Peter Tchaikovsky’s ouverture 1812 was first performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on this day in 1882. The work was written to commemorate the defence of Napoleon’s French invading army at Borodino in 1812. Stirring stuff!For thos...
|
| |
|
| 19 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-19 00:39:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: Gladiolus Nomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Nomanda has a confession to make! I’ve already shared that I’m not up to speed with quantum physics and that the theory of relativity leaves me relatively cold but following watching “SG1 The Continuum” last night I have to confess that I haven’t yet grasped the parallel universe and parallel time concepts either! I’m comforted by the fact that I’m in good company because General Jack O’Neill couldn’t understand how he was his own grandfather either! If it’s good enou...
|
| |
|
| 18 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-18 00:40:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!It’s difficult to believe that in a world where virtually everything you could possibly want is available on-line that it was just over 100 years ago that the first mail order catalogue was issued on this day in 1872. There are still hundreds of catalogues out there and there’s still a market for them, but I wonder for how much longer.This day over the years seems to have been a good day for the music and record business with Elvis’ “Hound Dog” reaching #1 on this day in 1956. P...
|
| |
|
| 17 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations |
| 2008-08-17 01:46:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Cesare Borgia, having been made a cardinal at the tender age of 18 (the fact that his father was the pope may have helped the appointment!), proved that love conquers all and gave up his vows and office to marry a French Princess on this day in 1498. Given his family’s reputation, Nomanda suspects there was more to it than that! Indeed there was. Following his marriage he went on to conquer Romagna with the aid of the French army and continued his success by conquering Urbino and Cameri...
|
| |
|
| 16 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-16 00:48:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Religion is a very personal thing, you either have it or you don’t, and usually no matter what side of the fence you are most people defend their position with vigour. The Indian Chiefs of both the Sioux and Onondaga tribes felt pretty strongly about their old Indian faiths. They met their people on this day in 1894 to try and persuade them to renounce Christianity and return to the “old ways”. It reminds me of the SG1 episode where an Indian tribe (on another planet of course!) wer...
|
| |
|
| 15 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-15 01:45:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!As usual Nomanda is always impressed with great feats of endurance and it was on this day in 1931 that Ernest Lassy completed his canoe journey of a staggering 6,102 miles without portage. Of course there’s always someone else who will go the extra mile and Don Starkell and his son Dana completed a canoe journey of 12,181 miles in 1982. Actually that’s an extra 6,000 miles! Absolutely amazing!Two bizarre altitude feats were performed on this day in 1957. The first was USAF Captain Joe...
|
| |
|
| 14 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-14 00:38:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Great Cathedrals are impressive works of architecture and take many years to complete but the completion of Cologne Cathedral took quite an inordinate amount of time. The works started on this day in 1248 were completed on its anniversary in 1880. That’s over 600 years! It seems to have been a lucky building as it was one of the few buildings untouched by the bombing raids on Cologne during WWII.Most of us tend to think that “continental” drivers are not as good as we are so it may ...
|
| |
|
| 13 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-13 00:45:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!August 13th is International Left Hander’s Day so all “lefties” go out and celebrate your very own special day! Apparently around 7% - 10% of us are left handed and today is the day to celebrate your left handedness. There are those lefties who use this day to demonstrate how difficult it is to be left handed in a right handed world, but it’s never really troubled Nomanda. Yes I’m one! In fact Nomanda has to say that in most of my life my left handedness has been an advantage ra...
|
| |
|
| 12 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-12 01:41:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!If you like a bit of busking whilst you’re quietly going about your own business then join with Nomanda today and celebrate the patenting of the buskers’ favourite instrument, the accordion, that was patented by Anthony Fass on this day in 1865. There is a gypsy/ punk group called the Gogol Bordello who uses this instrument a lot. Have a look at this, they are really quite awful! On a relatively “slow day” historically speaking the opening of ...
|
| |
|
| 11 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-11 01:40:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!It’s the middle of summer, at least where Nomanda lives, so gardeners of the world unite and celebrate this day in 1874 when Harry S Parmeloe patented the common garden sprinkler head. Just think if Harry hadn’t had this great idea we’d all still be running around the garden with buckets of water watering our precious plants and lawns. Now we just connect up the hose pipe, turn on the water and sit back and relax whilst Harry’s sprinkler does the rest! Marvellous!Nowadays we can e...
|
| |
|
| 10 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-10 01:46:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Depending on what time of the day you visit Nomanda’s blog you may want to come back in the evening to join us in celebrating Mozart completing his “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” on this day in 1787. We don’t do a lot of classical music but this is nice and light!The completion of the laying of the telephone transatlantic cable was celebrated on this day in 1866 by President Buchanan speaking to Queen Victoria. I just don’t think it would happen today. Can you imagine the conversation...
|
| |
|
| 9 August - Historical Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-09 01:43:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Almost 50 years before the 4 gold medals won by Carl Lewis at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 another top American athlete was on his way to making history at the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin. It was on this day in 1936 that Jesse Owens picked up his 4th gold medal winning the same 4 events as his illustrious successor; 100 metres, 200 metres, the long jump and the 4 x 100 metre relay race. Despite the snub the world press attributed to Hitler in not presenting him with his medals J...
|
| |
|
| 7 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-06 23:45:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Have you ever tried to step in to a revolving door and either got caught up in the thing or jumped back at the last minute, or tried to get out of one and not quite made it? Or, even worse before they became automatically powered got in one and then couldn’t push the cursed thing around! Well Nomanda has done all of the above and would like to share with you the inventor of these dreadful contraptions, Theophilus Van Kannel, who patented the revolving door on this day in 1888. Nomanda h...
|
| |
|
| 6 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-06 01:41:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Nomanda doesn’t want to put anyone off their meals but I have to report that the first case of motion sickness in space was reported on this day in 1961. I will leave it to the reader to imagine the consequences of throwing up in space in an atmosphere of zero gravity! Not very pleasant!The only motion sickness to trouble Carl Lewis was the speed at which he accomplished his athletic achievements. On this day in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics he picked up his second of four gold medal...
|
| |
|
| 5 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-05 00:43:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Getting ready for your holidays? Got your passport? Got your tickets? Got your driving licence? Don’t forget the traveller’s cheques that were first issued by American Express on this day in 1891. Of course these bits of paper that may or may not be cashed in were a great source of revenue for the poor old bankers who didn’t have to pay their customers any interest on them! These days the traveller’s cheque has been effectively replaced by credit cards. Good!Someone who I don’t ...
|
| |
|
| 4 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-04 00:44:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!For the benefit of our American cousins it was in this day in 1862 that the US government collected its first income tax. Sadly it was not to be its last!Seven year after the founding of the International Movement in Switzerland the British Red Cross was formed on this day in 1870 following the outbreak of war between Prussia and France. Wherever there is a war or other disaster the Red Cross is not far away. Thank Goodness.The “King” was to release “Hound Dog” on this day in 1956...
|
| |
|
| 3 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-03 01:37:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!In today’s society where everyone is encouraged to eat healthily and exercise frequently it’s comforting to learn that the current obsession with body weight and fat is not a new thing! It was on this day in 1108 that Louis VI of France, known as “The Fat One” and if you have a look at him you’ll see why, was crowned King of France. Of course things were a lot different in those days and he couldn’t make it to Reims where he was supposed to be crowned as his half brother stopp...
|
| |
|
| 2 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-02 01:46:00 |
Flower of the MonthGladiolusGemstone of the Month: AgateNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!The roller skate has come a long way from this day in 1875 when the world’s first roller skating rink was opened in London. I must admit that Nomanda’s first few skating experiences were a bit scary, I just couldn’t seem to get the right rhythm going and the harder I tried the slower I went! I am reminded of Chandler in a “Friends” episode when he was trying to become an advertising executive writing the copy for a hot new pair of inline skates that Joey loved so much he would p...
|
| |
|
| 1 August - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-08-01 01:44:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthAgateFlower of the Month: GladiolusNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!It was on this day in 1793 following the French Revolution that France became the first country to use the metric system. In fact the groundwork had been commissioned by the then late Louis XIV who charged a group of experts to develop “a unified, natural and universal system of measurement” to replace the current disparate systems. The basic idea had appealed to mathematicians centuries earlier and those who had studied it concluded that it would only be a matter of time before it wa...
|
| |
|
| 31 July - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-07-31 00:44:00 |
Flower of the MonthLarkspurGemstone of the Month: RubyNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Take a deep breath, enjoy the feeling of your lungs expanding and give thanks to Joseph Priestley who on this day in 1774 discovered oxygen. Although there are other contenders for the discovery of this life giving gas it is generally attributed to Priestley as he was the first to publish his findings. Goes to show you have to be on the ball! Whilst researching oxygen and air Nomanda discovered that air is composed of (the figures have been rounded) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and ju...
|
| |
|
| 30 July - Notable Events and Celebrations |
| 2008-07-30 01:39:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthRubyFlower of the Month: LarkspurNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Great feats of endurance have always been a popular topic for Nomanda and few can have been as amazing as the end of the first, and last, round the world motor car race that finished in Paris on this day in 1908, six months after setting off from New York. The route for the six starting teams went from New York – Chicago – San Francisco – by boat to Japan then driving through Japan – by boat to Vladivostok - Siberia – Manchuria – Russia – Germany – Paris. It makes me breathl...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 29th July Day! |
| 2008-07-29 00:30:00 |
Flower of the MonthLarkspurGemstone of the Month: RubyNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Dib dib dib, neckerchiefs and woggles are all part of a Boy Scout’s armoury, so stand up and salute Sir Robert Baden-Powell who founded the English Boy Scout Movement on this day in 1907. His motivations, which were to improve the fitness of young men and to encourage them to do good deeds to others, are laudable. Sadly I am sure he will be turning in his grave if he can see the sort of yobs, hooligans and knife carriers that populate the streets of Britain today. The age of innocence is long gone!Desperate to be the firs...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 28th July Day! |
| 2008-07-28 00:45:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthRubyFlower of the Month: LarkspurNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Not to be outdone by his boss, Sir Walter Raleigh who introduced the evil weed to Britain yesterday in 1586, Sir Thomas Harriot is supposed to have introduced the humble potato to Europe on this day in 1586. Nomanda always thought that Raleigh brought the spud back with his tobacco, but as they were both on the same expedition I don’t suppose it really matters! Nomanda is a great fan of potatoes, particularly sautéed and dauphinoise so thanks, Thomas!The French balloonist and photographer, Nadar, took the first airborne ...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 27th July Day! |
| 2008-07-27 01:45:00 |
Flower of the MonthLarkspurGemstone of the Month: RubyNomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!Returning to England from Virginia on this day in 1586 was Sir Walter Raleigh complete with a pouch of tobacco. He was someone who seemed to be in and out of the court’s and Queen’s favour but I’m sure when he showed them the tobacco he’d brought back from his latest escapade they were all very impressed. The moment has been best portrayed by Bob Newhart and is probably bang on mark. Even though “Walt” may have had a few problems marketing his newly found leaves it was nothing to the difficulties the tobacco ma...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 26th July Day! |
| 2008-07-26 00:43:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthRubyFlower of the Month: LarkspurApparently no matter how much cash you have it seems to be easier to spend more than you’ve got than to save a bit for a rainy day. If you happen to live in a country where it rains nearly every day then the chances of keeping your head above water are even more remote. So it was on this day in 1656 (it seems that time is no respecter of financial problems) that the famous painter Rembrandt just managed to avoid bankruptcy by selling off his art collection, his antiques collection and his house! In an exercise of complete and utter futility and stupidity L L Zamenhof chose this day in 1887 to publish his first book on Esperanto. It is such a noble idea that a new language can be “designed” that everyone can speak it and therefore ...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 25th July Day! |
| 2008-07-24 23:46:00 |
Flower of the MonthLarkspurGemstone of the Month: RubyIt’s always a good story when despite all the odds being stacked against someone they show their mettle and come through just the same. That is the story of the great railway engineer of the early 1800’s George Stephenson. The pumping engine had failed at a colliery where he worked and despite his limited engineering experience George offered to fix it. He did and his repairs were so successful that he was soon promoted to the position of enginewright for the local collieries. He began to learn about steam driven machinery and it was on this day in 1814 that he introduced his first steam engine. This was not the railway engine that was to become the standard for the world but a relatively simple engine designed to pull coal wagons a...
|
| |
|
| Happy Special 24th July Day! |
| 2008-07-24 00:47:00 |
Gemstone of the MonthRubyFlower of the Month: LarkspurAs all taxpayers know governments can be imaginative when conjuring up new ways to raise taxes. However in 1696 William III and his tax advisors take first prize for imagination when they introduced the “window tax”. I guess it was designed to fall on the better off tax paying members of the population as it only came in on houses with more than 6 windows. The tax was 2 shillings for houses with 7 – 9 windows and a massive 4 shillings for houses with 10 – 19 windows. Of course as soon as a tax is introduced there are a bunch of accountants and lawyers trying to find a way to avoid paying it! They had the great idea of “blocking in” the excess windows to fall below the levy minimum! There are still houses to be seen today in ...
|
| |
|
| |
 |
