July 11th

Feast Day of Saint Benedict of Nursia. Father of Western Monasticism in around 480AD. He founded  twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, near Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the southern mountains of Italy. His main achievement is his 'Rule of St Benedict' containing  precepts for monks, which has become one of the most influential religious rules of Western Christendom.



1274 Robert the Bruce is born in Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire. He was King of Scotland from 1306 until his death in 1329.



1767 The sixth President of the USA John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay. He served as President from 1825-29. In 1843 Adams sat for the earliest, verified photograph still in existence of an American President.



1892 American actor Thomas Mitchell is born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Among his most famous roles are Gerald O'Hara, Scarlett O'Hara's alcoholic father in Gone With The Wind, the drunken Doc No one in John Ford's Stagecoach and perhaps most memorably as Uncle Billie in Frank Capra's classic It's A Wonderful Life.





1914 Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball. He would play his last competitive match in May 1935.



1916 English comedic actor Reg Varney is born in Canning Town, Essex. He is forever remembered as 
Stan Butler in ITV's sitcom "On The Buses". Varney also starred in " The Rag Trade", "Beggar Thy Neighbour" and on the 1966 film "The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery".



1920 Russian born American actor Yul Brynner is born in Vladivostok as Yuliy Borisovich Briner. Known for his distinctive voice and shaven head he is best Rene for his roles as the King Of Siam opposite Deborah Kerr in " The King And I", as Ramases II in Cecil B. De Mille's 1955 epic "The Ten Commandments" and Chris Adams in "The Magnificent Seven". For his portrayal of the King in " The King and I" Brynner won two Tony awards and the Academy Award for Best Actor in the film version. In total he played the King 4,625 times before his death in 1985.







1930 Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman sets a world record of  309 runs in one day on his way to the Highest Individual Test Innings of 334 runs against England at Headingley, Leeds.





1937 American composer George Gershwin died from a brain tumour in Los Angeles aged 38yo. Best known for his orchestral compositions such as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and the opera Porgy and Bess.



1953 American heavyweight boxer Leon Spinks was born in St Louis, Missouri. On 15th February, 1978 he shocked the world when defeating Muhammad Ali on points to win the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World.



1959 American songstress Suzanne Vega was born in New York City. Best known for her hits Luka and Tom's Diner.





1960 Harper Lee's book " To Kill A Mockingbird" is published. Immediately successful it won a Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of American literature.





1964 English writer, poet and actor Craig Charles is born in Liverpool. Firstly appearing on TV as a performance poet he found stardom playing Dave Lister in the comedy series Red Dwarf and later as Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street.





1989 English actor, director and producer Lord Olivier died from renal failure in Ashurst, West Sussex aged 82yo. As Laurence Olivier he is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of the twentieth century. His films consist of such as the three Shakespearean classics Henry V, (1944), Hamlet, (1948) and Richard III, (1955), The Entertainer, in which he played Archie Rice, Wuthering Heights, (1939) and Rebecca,(1940).







2000 English former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie died from cancer aged 71yo in St Albans. He was Archbishop from March 1980 until his resignation in January 1991.



2006 Three time World Snooker Champion John Spencer died from stomach cancer in a Radcliffe hospice aged 70yo. Spencer had won the World Championship at his first attempt, became the first ever winner at The Crucible and the first player to complete a 147 break during competition.




Strike News: The war of words on official figures for the number of people out on strike yesterday continues. The million plus figure claimed by the TUC was denounced by ministers as untrue. " I do not recognise those figures" said I.D.S. unsurprisingly, whilst Michael Give declared striking teachers were,"The spawn of the Devil,unfit to speak to our valuable children, they must be cast out and never allowed back!" Even Gideon Osborne broke off from his Masochistic Sex Session to announce that,  " The feckless strikers were endangering the economy for the hard working people of this country, they must not be allowed to break the economy, that's my job!"
Esther McVey stated, " Nasty Bolshies we will ban strikes, if necessary we will shoot strikers, we will jackboot them into the dirt where they belong at the feet of my Lord Duncan Smith!" David Camoron added, " If elected next year we shall imprison all union leaders and force strikers to have a 100% strike ballot before any Industrial action can take place, it's only fair I mean I had to have 90% of the electorate vote for me in 2010 so why shouldn't these splitters? What do you mean I didn't win! I am Prime Minister and I am the boss! Now feck off as Rebekah is coming round with a new mount for me!"