Today in History.....

On this day: 18th July

In 1918, Nelson Mandela was born in a village named Mvezo of South Africa.



The United Nations officially declared 18 July as Nelson Mandela International Day in November 2009, recognising Mandela’s "values and his dedication to the service of humanity" and acknowledging his contribution "to the struggle for democracy internationally and the promotion of a culture of peace throughout the world".

On this day: 19th July

In 1947, Brian May was born in Twickenham, England. He's an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants to Live Forever", "I Want It All" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You".

On this day: 20th July

In 2013, Helen Thomas, the pioneering female journalist who questioned 10 U.S. presidents from her front-row seat at White House press conferences, died. She was 92.

Also at the 20th of July:

70 years ago the military-conservative resistance against Hitler tried to kill the dictator in his bunker in East-Prussia. It failed. Hitler survived. Over 100 people were arrested in the following and the most prominent ones were sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof and it's leader Roland Freisler.

The conservative resistance had alreday tried once or twice to kill Hitler before. Once they put a bomb into his plane but didn't let it go off because they wanted to kill the chief of the SS Himmler too.

The national-conservative resistance around the former Major of Leipzig Goerdeler and Stauffenberg weren't democrats in a modern way. But they wanted to restore the "Rechtsstaat" (basic human rights and law). For that - they claimed - it had to be tried at least.

They also wanted to prevent the worst:
50% of the "casulties" / deaths of WW2 died between July 1944 and May 1945, when the war finally ended.

On the other hand it turned out to be good that NS-Germany was defeated and the russian/allied tanks in the foregarden showed the people that there was no room for a "stab in the back" legend this time.

Many of the resistance fighters agreed to the NS-regime up to a certain point. The already mentioned Karl Goerdeler, was Major of Leipzig from 1930 to 1937. For four years he had the illusion to better the system of the inside.

In 1936 he finally stepped back out of protest, when a monument of "the jew" Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was tore down.

Therefore: Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Verleih' uns Frieden gnädiglich

Verleih' uns Frieden gnädiglich,
Herr Gott zu unsern Zeiten!
Es ist doch ja kein andrer nicht,
Der für uns könnte streiten,
Denn du, unser Gott, alleine.

O Lord Got grant us Thy peace and thy mercy
For these times in which we live!
For there is none other save Thou, Lord,
Who hath the power to fight for us.



May that come to the people of the East-Ukraine and Gaza and everywhere else too.

On this day: 21st July

In 1969, American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon. As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours on the Moon, two-and-a-half of them outside the landing module. After re-joining the Columbia mothership the astronauts - including Collins - left the Moon's orbit on 22 July and returned to Earth on 24 July.

On this day: 22nd July

In 1981, Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Agca was sentenced in Rome to life in prison for shooting Pope John Paul II. He served 19 years.

On this day: 23rd July

In 2011, an English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London house at the age of 27.

On this day: 24th July

In 1897, aviator Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas. In 1923, Earhart, fondly known as "Lady Lindy," became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license. She had several notable flights, becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1937, she mysteriously disappeared while trying to cirnavigate the globe from the equator. Since then, several theories have formed regarding Earhart's last days, many of which have been connected to various artifacts that have been found on Pacific islands—including clothing, tools and, more recently, freckle cream. Earhart was legally declared dead in 1939.

On this day: 26th July

In 1943, Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger, a founder member of the Rolling Stones, was born in Dartford, Kent, England. Happy Birthday Mick! :cheers:



Did you know...? In his autobiography, Who I Am, Pete Townshend wrote, “Mick is the only man I’ve ever seriously wanted to fuck,” and revealed his jealous suspicions that The Who’s manager, Kit Lambert, may have been “having a sexual dalliance with Mick.”

On this day: 29th July

In 1981, crowds of 600,000 people filled the streets of London to catch a glimpse of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on their wedding day.

On this day: 30th July

In 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian/American actor, politician and businessman who started his career out as a weight-lifter, was born in Thal, Styria, Austria.

On this day: 5th August

In 1914, the world's first electric traffic signal is put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio.

On this day: 6th August

In 1928, Andy Warhol, one of the most influential artists of the latter part of the 20th century, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

On this day: 9th August

In 1979, Brighton on the south coast becomes the first major resort in Britain to officially set aside a 200-yard stretch of its beach for nudists.

On this day: 10th August

In 1897, Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist, produced a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid, or more commonly known as aspirin.

And if you take to many aspirins, you'll get worse headache. I've tried it the hard way...

It depends from where your headache is from. I had problems with headaches from my scoliosis and only coffee helped. Pills didn't work, not aspirin or paracetamol.

On this day: 11th August

In 1934, the first group of prisoners labeled "most dangerous" arrived at Alcatraz, a newly-fortified island penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. Later that month, more shiploads arrived, featuring, among other convicts, infamous mobster Al Capone.

On this day: 12th August

In 1981, the IBM PC 5150 was unveiled at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. You would have had to shell out $1,565 to get your hands on one, but that wasn’t bad when you think that 20 years earlier, a computer would have cost you $9m.