Thirty-six years ago today, at 9:20am, I showed up in the hospital as a brand new, bouncing baby boy crying my eyes out because the lights in the delivery room were too bright and people were holding me by my ankles while I dripped with birthing stuff and my mother cried with joy that I was there, and that the pain was over.
I thought I’d commemorate that day (and today) with a few fun facts about the Sixth of July thanks to Wikipedia and other “fun history” sites around the web. Enjoy!
MAJOR EVENTS
- 1189 – Richard I “the Lionheart” is crowned King of England.
- 1483 – Richard III is crowned King of England.
- 1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion.
- 1785 – The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
- 1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
- 1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
- 1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
- 1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
- 1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial.
- 1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles are introduced to each other when Lennon’s band the Quarrymen performs at the St. Peter’s Church Hall fête in Woolton.
BIRTHS
- 1796 – Tsar Nicholas I of Russia (d. 1855)
- 1907 – Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (d. 1954)
- 1918 – Sebastian Cabot, English actor (d. 1977)
- 1921 – Nancy Reagan, First Lady of the United States
- 1925 – Merv Griffin, American television show host (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Bill Haley, American singer (Bill Haley & His Comets) (d. 1981)
- 1927 – Janet Leigh, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian (d. 1997)
- 1931 – Della Reese, American singer and actress
- 1935 – 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
- 1935 – Candy Barr, American stripper and actress (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Ned Beatty, American actor
- 1945 – Burt Ward, American actor
- 1951 – Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor
- 1954 – Allyce Beasley, American actress
- 1958 – Jennifer Saunders, English actress, comedienne and screenwriter
Tommy Karr 