Wednesday, 18 June 2014


June 19th
Today is World Sauntering Day, a day when we are all invited to slow down, take time out to smell the roses and enjoy the view and love life. It was begun in 1979 as an alternative to the then fad of jogging.
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1896 American wife of Edward VIII ,Wallis Simpson was born at Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania. Two years after his accession to the throne Edward announced his intention to marry Wallis, this threatened a huge constitutional crisis in the UK and its Dominions as she was a twice married divorcee, so as to avoid this crisis Edward VIII abdicated his throne in December 1936 to “marry the woman I love”.
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Later she would star in a series of films ” Wallis and Gromit”.
1903 American baseball star Lou Gehrig was born in Yorkville, New York City. A native of New York City and attendee of Columbia University, Gehrig signed with the Yankees in 1923. He set several major league records during his career, including the most career grand slams (23) (since broken)and most consecutive games played (2,130), a record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995.Gehrig’s streak ended in 1939 after he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disorder now commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease in North America, which forced him to retire at age 36 and claimed his life two years later. The pathos of his farewell from baseball was capped off by his iconic “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech at the original Yankee Stadium.
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1923 English comedian, actor and singer Charlie Drake was born at the Elephant and Castle, London. With his small stature (5’ 1” tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his “Hello, my darlings!” catchphrase.
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1938 Australian actor Ian Smith was born in Melbourne, Australia. Best known for his role as bemused coffee shop owner Harold Bishop.


1947 Author Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay, British India.


1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as spies for passing on secrets about the Atomic Bomb to the Soviet Union. In 1995, the U.S. government released a series of decoded Soviet cables, codenamed VENONA, which confirmed that Julius acted as a courier and recruiter for the Soviets, but which were ambiguous about Ethel’s involvement.
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1954 American actress Kathleen Turner was born in Springfield, Missouri.  Turner has also done considerable work as a voice actor, famously as Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

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1964 Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is born in New York City. So if he’s a Yank why can’t we send him back to them?
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1978 Garfield makes his debut as a newspaper cartoon strip.Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield (named after the grandfather of Davis); his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Jon’s dog, Odie. Thirty five years later he became the worlds’ most widely syndicated comic strip.
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1982 Roberto Calvi, “God’s Banker”, is found hanging beneath Blackfriar’s Bridge in London. A source of enduring controversy, his death in London in June 1982 was ruled a murder after two coroner’s inquests and an independent investigation. In Rome, in June 2007, five people were acquitted of the murder.Claims have been made that factors in Calvi’s death were the Vatican Bank, Banco Ambrosiano’s main shareholder; the Mafia, which may have used Banco Ambrosiano for money laundering; and the Propaganda Due or P2 clandestine Masonic Lodge.
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1993 English author William Golding, famous for his ” Lord of the Flies”, died aged 81yo at Perranarworthal, Cornwall from heart failure. He was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth.
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1997 Bobby Helms, American country music singer, died from emphysema and asthma aged 63yo. Best known for the seasonal hit ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.


Political News: Following Boris Johnson’s stated desire to be a target of a police water cannon has led to 245,987 offers/requests to be the person who shoots the cannon at him, also some 450,000 people have shown a desire to ignore the cannon and just urinate over the fop haired toff. Upon hearing the latter Gideon Osborne has offered to take the London Mayor’s place!
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