May 25th

Today is National Tap Dancing Day in America!

615, 1085, 1261   A bad day to be Pope! Three of them died on this date, Boniface IV, Gregory VII and Alexander IV to put their demises in chronological order. So not a great day to be St Peter's successor...then again they would be meeting the man himself very soon, so possibly a no lose situation.

1878 Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, 'HMS Pinafore' opens at the 'Opera Comique'.

"We sail the Ocean blue, and our saucy ship's a beauty; 
We're sober men and true, And attentive to our duty."

1895 Playwright and author, Oscar Wilde, is convicted of  "committing acts of gross indecency with other males" and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Times certainly change, I mean look at William Hague? Nowadays Oscar could have been Foreign Secretary.


1934 Planets composer Gustav Holst died this day aged 59yo. Unable to support himself through his composing the young Holst had played the trombone professionally and become a teacher.

1967 Glasgow Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.

1913 TV Presenter and journalist Richard Dimbleby was born in Richmond, Surrey. He was the regular presenter of Panorama and famously showed his comedic skills combined with gravitas to present 'The Spaghetti Harvest" on April Fools Day in 1957. He is also the father of Richard and Jonathan Dimbleby, who carry on the Dimbleby dynasty.

1944 Miss Piggy herself, alias puppeteer Frank Oz is born.

1958 Jam and Style Council frontman Paul Weller is born in Woking.

1959 Comedian, actor, TV presenter and writer Julian Clary is born. He first came to fame as "The Joan Collins Fan Club" with his pet dog " Fanny the Wonder Dog" in the early 1980s.

1960 Heinrich Himmler is discovered in the house of a female hoarder, "I had no idea he was there!", wailed the woman, " I remember getting a large parcel from Berlin in late 1945 but I gave it no thought and my hoarding took over. The senior Nazi is believed to have been posted out of Berlin in Summer of 1945 and assisted by sleeper Third Reich agents in the Post Office was posted to the woman's home to be collected later. Something went wrong and the SS head had to escape from the brown paper himself and hid amongst the clutter of the hoarder's home, even finding work nearby as a Traffic Warden a role in which his SS training proved invaluable, it is alleged he paid a huge fine to remain in anonymity for the rest of his life, standing successfully as a Conservative councillor for six years.

1960 Ex Blue Peter presenter, journalist, TV presenter and serial OK magazine contributor, (remember the wedding photos? "Mr and Mrs Grant Bovey enjoy a New Cadburys Snowflake", the marriage just about outlived the chocolate!), Anthea Turner was born in Stoke-on-Trent.

1963 Sschwingg...Wayne's World star Mike Myers is born. Austin Powers' altered to arrived in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

2006 Desmond Dekker died from a heart attack in Thornton Heath, Greater London aged 64yo.

2009 Wayne Rooney's hair is born in a London Clinic. The botox using England 'striker' was said to be very happy with the new born and was looking forward to wearing it very soon!