On This Day

28/04
Benito Mussolini executed by Italian partisans: The day after his failed escape and subsequent capture, Bentio Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, was shot dead by partisans. Their bodies were then transported to Milan, and was hung upside down for the public to see. In revenge, the Nazis displayed bodies of 14 shot partisans as a warning.

National day: National Blueberry Pie Day

Important Birth: Saddam Hussein, former dictator of Iraq, in 1937
Important Death: Arthur Leonard Schawlow, pioneering work with lasers, died in 1999 aged 77

30/04:
On this day: German dictator Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin. The Germans ultimately surrendered 8 days later after he committed suicide. There are conspiracy theories that Adolf Hitler survived and escaped from Berlin however Adolf’s personal dentist confirmed that the dental remains belonged to Adolf Hitler.
National day: Walpurgis Night is a day widely celebrated in Europe where people light bonfires to scare away witches and other evil spirits. In the Nordic countries it’s also a way to welcome spring.
Today is also International Jazz Day.
Important Birth: Carl XVI Gustaf, (1946) king of Sweden. He’s been the Swedish head of state since 1973.
Important Death: Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter b. 1929 and died 1989. Famous for creating the movie genre Spaghetti Western.

01/04
Abolishment of Slavery: On this day in 1807, The Slave Trade Act 1807 took effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it did encourage British action to press other nation states to abolish their own slave trades.Many of the supporters thought the Act would lead to the end of slavery. Slavery on English soil was unsupported in English law and that position was confirmed in Somerset's case in 1772, but it remained legal in most of the British Empire until the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.
National Day: International Workers Day: A celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on May Day.
Important Birth: Benjamin Henry Latrobe English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (b. 1764, d. 1820)
Important Death: David Livingstone A Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era. He led the search for the source of the Nile and his actions in Africa caused he the European "Scramble for Africa".

02/05
The Arrest of Anne Boleyn: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, was arrested on 2 May 1536 on Henry VIII's order. Seventeen days later, she would be executed.
National Day: National Lemonade Day
Important Birth: Dwayne Johnson (born 1972) - Actor
Important Death: King Boris I of Bulgaria - King of Bulgaria, converted Bulgaria to Christianity, died in 907

04/05
Margret Thatcher is Elected (1979): Margret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom was elected. Nicknamed as the "Iron Lady", she made sweeping changes to the government, privitizing many companies and she was the catylst in the Falklands war.
Canadian Navy is Created (1910)
Al Capone Enters Prison (1932)
Important Birth: Hosni Mubarak (1928) The dictator ruled Eygypt foriver 25 years, and he stepped down in 2011 after the Arab Spring uprising. He died in Febuary of 2020.
Important Death: Josip Broz Tito (1980) Tito ruled Yugoslavia for over 40 years, and after his death, Yugoslavia was thrown into a civil war, creating the mulitple states we know today. He died of Gangerene.
Planes' Fun Fact: Toilets flush in E-Flat.

05/05
Mahatma Gandhi Freed from Prison (1944): Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the pacifist Indian independence movement is released from prison. He died in 1948 of an assaination.
Kublai Khan Assumes Power in the Mogolian Empire (1260)
Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica on his second voyage to the Americas (1494)
National Day: Cinco the Mayo: The celebration of the Mexican Army's victory against the French Army in the Battle of Puebla
Karl Marx is Born (1818): Famous for writing the communist manifesto, a integral part of the Soviet union
Napolen Bonparte dies of Cancer (1821)
Plane's Fun Fact: Jimmy Carter is the first president of the United States to be born in a hospital

A bit late...
07/05
On this day:
A German delegation that included General Alfred Joel went to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France, and signed the surrender documents that ended the European phase of World War II. The German’s officially surrendered the next day.
National Day: National Space Day
Famous Birth: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840), famous composer. He for instance composed the ballet Swan Lake.
Important Death: Willard S. Boyle, Canadian physicist

08/05
Thames Barrier Opening: On this day in 1984, the Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances. Work began on the barrier in 1974, and took 10 years to complete and cost £24-£41 million. The barrier protects central London against a storm surge, caused when a deep depression forms to the north of Scotland and progresses across the North Sea and south-easterly towards southern Scandinavia.
National Day: VE Day Victory in Europe Day falls every year on the 8th of May, to celebrate the end of World War 2 in Europe.
Important Birth: Jack Charlton (b. 1935, d. 2020) An English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 1996 achieving two World Cup and one European Championship appearances. He spent his entire club career with Leeds United from 1950 to 1973, helping the club to the Second Division title (1963–64), First Division title (1968–69), FA Cup (1972), League Cup (1968), Charity Shield (1969), Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1968 and 1971), as well as one other promotion from the Second Division (1955–56) and five second-place finishes in the First Division, two FA Cup final defeats and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final defeat. His 629 league and 762 total competitive appearances are club records.
Important Death: Roger Lee Easton Sr. (b. 1921, d. 2014) An American physicist who was the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System (GPS), along with Ivan A. Getting and Bradford Parkinson

09/05
Hermann Goering Is Captured By The Americans: On May 9, 1945, Hermann Goering (who had been commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe during WWII) is captured by the American 7th Army in Bavaria. After being captured by the American forces, he would be tried at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity. He would be sentenced to death by hanging, though he would instead commit suicide via swallowing a cyanide tablet.
National Day: National Shrimp Day
Important Birth: Emperor Fushimi of Japan (1317)
Important Death: Comte de Rochambeau (aged 81 at death) - French military commander, leader of French expeditionary force sent to help the Thirteen Colonies against the British during the American Revolutionary War/American War for Independence.

09/11
Deep Blue beats Chess Grandmaster(1997): An IBM machine algorithm, Deep Blue beats Garry Kasprov, this was the first time a machine won against an grandmaster in chess
Monty Python is formed(1969)
Billionth person is born in India(2000)
Salvador Dali is born(1904) A surrealist artist, he went on to create many impressive works of art
Bob Marley Dies(1981) A legenday Jamacian reggae artist dies at the age of 36 of brain and lung cancer
National day: National Eat what you want Day
Plane's Fun Fact: The only two sports played on the moon were Javelin throwing and golf, both on Apollo 14

10/05
Nelson Mandela inaugurated as president of South Africa (1994)
Nelson Mandela, whose efforts to end apartheid led to his imprisonment (1962–90) and earned him a share (with F.W. de Klerk) of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, became president of South Africa this day in 1994.

National day: Golf Day

Important Birth: Fred Astaire, American dancer/singer (1899)
Important Death: Shel Silverstein, American cartoonist, children's author, poet, and playwright

15/05
Arsenal Go Unbeaten: Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C with the right to claim the title "The Invincibles".They won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match, an achievement which earned the side the nickname "The Invincibles". This latter feat came within a run of 49 league matches unbeaten from 7 May 2003 to 24 October 2004, a national record.
National Day: International Day of Families
Important Birth:Sir Andy Murray a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He has been ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. He has won three Grand Slam singles titles, including two at Wimbledon, and has reached eleven major finals.
Important Death: Pope Marinus I the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 882 until his death. Controversially at the time, he was already a bishop when he became pope, and had served as papal legate to Constantinople.

18/05
Tennesee Valley Act Signed (1933): This act broke the ground for many dams in America, signed as part of the New Deal by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Montreal founded by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal (1642)
Shrek Debuts (2001)
National Day: No Dirty Dishes Day
Important Birth: Nicholas II(1868): The last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas was executed by revolutionaries in 1918
Important Death: Jeannete Rankin(1973): The first woman to be elected to the US Congress, she was a pacifist and an advocate for human rights, died at 92
Plane's Fun Fact: New Zealand was the first country to adopt time zones

19/05
Anne Boyeyn Executed (1536): The second wife of King Henry VIII, she was executed after a 4 day show trial, which was because she didnt give birth to a boy.
First Car arrives in the Netherlands (1896)
Sophia Loren Arrested in Venice for Tax Evasion (1982)
National Day: Emergency Services for Children Day
Famous Birth: Ho Chi Minh (1890): A Vietnamese revolutionary, he was the rallying point for the communist north Vietnam
Famous Death: Thomas Edward Lawrence (1935): Famed Welsh soldier in WWI, he lead a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, which was immortalized in the film Lawrence of Arabia. He died in a Motorcycle accident
Plane's Fun Fact: There are over 6900 languages in the world

21/05
In 1932 American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to pilot an airplane solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She flew in a Lockheed Vega and landed in Northern Ireland after 15 hours and 18 minutes of flying. Amelia had intended to fly all the way to Paris from Newfoundland but was forced to land early due to bad weather, an altimeter that stopped working and fuel was leaking into the cockpit.
National Day: Bike to work day
Famous Birth: Mark Cavendish, 1975, famous British cyclist with second most Tour de France stage wins. (30)
Famous Death: Hernando de Soto, 1542, famous Spanish explorer that was the first European to find the Mississippi River and played an important role in the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

22/05
Pact of Steel signed (1939): The popularity and support for radical political parties (such as Nazis Adolf Hitler and Fascist Benito Mussolini) exploded after the Great Depression severely hampered the economies of Germany and Italy. Fascism and Nazism share the same principles and Hitler and Mussolini met at several state and private events in the 1930s. On 22 May 1939, the foreign ministers of Galeazzo Ciano from Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop from Germany signed the pact. The pact aimed the focus to the United Kingdom and France.


Yemeni unification (1990): In November 1989, Ali Abdullah Saleh of North Yemen and Ali Salim al-Beidh of South Yemen jointly accepted a draft unity constitution originally drawn up in 1981, which included a demilitarized border and border passage by Yemenis on the sole basis of a national identification card and a capital city in Sana'a. The Republic of Yemen was declared on 22 May 1990. Ali Abdullah Saleh of the north became Head of State, and Ali Salim al-Beidh of the south became Head of Government. A 30-month transitional period for completing the unification of the two political and economic systems was set.


National Day: Republic Day (Sri Lanka), in 1972 Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
Important Birth: (1316) Charles IV, the first King of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor.
Important Death: (337) Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.

10/18

In 1867, on October 18th, the Alaska Purchase was ratified; with the Russian Empire ceding Russian America; colloquially known as Alaska, to the United States of America.

10/19

In 1813; on October 19th, Napoleon Bonaparte is forced to retreat after loss at the Battle of Leipzig, also called the Battle of the Nations; to the Sixth Coalition.

55 years ago today............

A sad anniversary.

10/26

In 1919; on October 26, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, later Shah of Iran, was born.

12/1
The Antarctic Treaty System is signed - it entered into force in 1961.

Well let's have something today.

8/16
On 16/8/1977, American singer Elvis Presley, known as the “King of Rock and Roll,” died of a heart attack brought on largely by drug abuse.

8/17

Indonesia's declaration of independence
On this day in 1945, Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands, and, after the Dutch transferred sovereignty four years later, he served as the country's first president (1949–67).

9/04

Establishment of Los Angeles

On this day in 1781, Spanish settlers laid claim to what became Los Angeles, now the second most populous U.S. city and the home to Hollywood, whose name is synonymous with the American motion-picture industry.