Quote of the day :
Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.
~ Jack Lemmon
Picture of the day :
Just to be different, here’s an old-fashioned chimney pot.
Youtube video of the day :
Stuck for choice today as it’s the birthday of composer and film score legend John Williams, whose works include the title themes to movies like:
Star Wars, Minority Report, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., Dracula [1979], Superman, CE3K and many more.
(Not be to confused with John Williams the guitarist)
I think, given just one to pick, it might be ‘Duel of the Fates’ from Star Wars. Interestingly, according to the entry on wikipedia the lyrics are based on a fragment of an archaic Welsh poem Cad Goddeu (Battle of the Trees), and sung in Sanskrit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qzVBqBosf5w]
Born on this day…
Born today :
- Author, Jules Vernes (b.1828)
Whatever one man is capable of conceiving, other men will be able to achieve
- Author, John Grisham
- Author, art critic and philanthropist, John Ruskin (b.1819)
- Actor, Jack Lemmon
- Actor, James Dean
- Actor, Nick Nolte
- Actor, Seth Green
- Actor, Ethan Phillips
- Actor, Roger Lloyd-Pack
Trigger, Owen Newitt (The Vicar of Dibley) - Actor, Gary Coleman
- Composer, John Williams
- Musician and vocalist, Vince Neil
Motley Crue - General,William Sherman (b.1820)
‘War is hell’ - Chemist, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (b.1834)
Developed the periodic table of elements. - Mathematician, Daniel Bernoulli
- Physicist, Chester Carlson
Invented the photocopier
Also on this day in history
1740 : London saw the end of the Great Frost which started on Christmas Eve, 1739.
1861 : Confederate States of America was formed.
1910 : The Boy Scouts of America organisation was inaugurated.
A friend of mine was a scout, tried to get me to join. Wear a uniform and salute? I don’t think so. Needless to say my first attendance was also my last, though clearly many others get a lot out of being scouts, rangers, guides and brownies.
1936 : The first National Football League draft was held.
1952 : Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the British throne.
1965 : Supremes released their hit song, ‘Stop In the Name of Love’
1965 : British health minister Kenneth Robinson announced the ban on cigarette adverts on British television.
1969 : A meteorite weighing over a tonne fell on Chihuahua, Mexico
1971 : The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
1985 : The final episode of ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ air after a six and a half-year run on CBS.
1996 For the times, a massive Internet collaboration took place : 24 Hours in Cyberspace. The site and most if not all it’s mirrors have since gone, but you can still find copies of the associated book and CD-ROM:
24 Hours in Cyberspace (Day in the Life), Hardback, by T. Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt.
2005 : Dame Ellen Macarthur set a world record for her solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. She sailed the 27,000 miles (43,452 km) in 72 days, 22 hours plus change, shaving a chunky 20 days off the previous female record. She was also rewarded by being the youngest person in English history to receive a dame-hood, given to her on 27th April 2005.
2005 : Google Maps was launched to the public.
