July 2nd

Today is the midpoint in the year, at 1pm there are 182 days 12 hours gone in the year and 182 days 12 hours to go.





Feast Day of Saint Otto of Bamberg. Otto was a mediaeval German Bishop and missionary who, as a papal legate, converted much of Pomerania to Christianity. Otto was sent on his mission by the Duke of Poland Bolesław III Wrymouth.As the official papal legate, he converted a large number of Pomeranians, notably in the towns of Pyrzyce, Kamień, Szczecin, and Wolin, and established eleven churches, and became known as the "Apostle of Pomerania."


1489 Thomas Cranmer, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury is born at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of Royal Supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm.



1566 French astrologer and writer Michel de Nostradamus died from the effects of gout that had turned into dropsy,(edema), he allegedly told his secretary on the evening of July 1st, "You will not find me alive at sunrise". The next morning he was reportedly found dead on the floor by his bed.Nostradamus has been credited, for the most part in hindsight, with predicting numerous events in world history, from the Great Fire of London, and the rise of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.In 1992 one commentator who claimed to be able to contact Nostradamus under hypnosis even had him 'interpreting' his own verse X.6 (a prediction specifically about floods in southern France around the city of Nîmes and people taking refuge in its collosse, or Colosseum, a Roman amphitheatre now known as the Arènes) as a prediction of an undated attack on the Pentagon, despite the historical seer's clear statement in his dedicatory letter to King Henri II that his prophecies were about Europe, North Africa and part of Asia Minor.Sceptics such as James Randi suggest that his reputation as a prophet is largely manufactured by modern-day supporters who fit his words to events that have either already occurred or are so imminent as to be inevitable, a process sometimes known as "retroactive clairvoyance" .





1644 In the English Civil War the Battle of Marston Moor took place. The Parliamentarian New Model Army under Lord Fairfax and The Earl of Manchester defeated the Royalists under Prince Rupert of the Rhine.





1850 British politician Sir Robert Peel died aged 62yo three days after being thrown from his horse causing a claviculae fracture that ruptured his subclavian vessels.  served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and also from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846. While home secretary, Peel helped create the modern concept of the police force, leading to a new type of officer known as "bobbies" (in England) and "peelers" (in Ireland), his personal namesakes. As prime minister, Peel issued the Tamworth Manifesto (1834) during his brief first period in office, leading to the formation of the Conservative Party out of the shattered Tory Party; in his second administration he repealed the Corn Laws.





1903  Future Conservative Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home was born in Mayfair, London. He  served as Prime Minister from October 1963 to October 1964. He is notable for being the last Prime Minister to hold office while being a member of the House of Lords, prior to renouncing his peerage and taking up a seat in the House of Commons for the remainder of his premiership. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as the UK's foreign minister than on his brief premiership.




1937 Aviator Emelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the central Pacific Ocean whilst on a circumnavigational flight of the globe. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.



1940 Conservative politician Kenneth Clarke was born at West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970, and appointed as a minister in Edward Heath's Government in 1972. One of Britain's best-known politicians, he has served in the Cabinet as Education Secretary, Health Secretary, Justice Secretary, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has contested the Conservative Party leadership three times – in 1997, 2001 and 2005 – being defeated each time. Although opinion polls have shown him to be popular with the general public, his pro-European views conflict with the Conservative Party's Euro-sceptic stance.





1956 Model and actress Jerry Hall is born as Jerry Faye Hall in Gonzalez, Texas. Also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger. The couple have four children. On 10 September 2012, Hall was announced as a contestant for the tenth series of the British dance show, Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional partner was Anton du Beke. She was the second celebrity to be eliminated from the competition.

 



1957 Canadian wrestler Bret Hart was born at Calgary, Alberta. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College. Along with his nickname "The Hitman", Hart was known by the monikers "The Excellence of Execution", "The Best There Is, The Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be" and "The Pink and Black Attack". In a publication that year, WCW described Hart as "universally respected by other wrestlers", and "perhaps the greatest pure wrestler ever to lace up a pair of boots."




1970 American wrestler and firefighter Scott Ronald Garland is born at Westbrook, Maine. He wrestled under the ring name of Scotty 2 Hotty and his signature finishing move "The Worm", teaming up with Brian Christopher to form 'Too Cool'. They aligned themselves with Rikishi Fatu and after victories the three would "dance" in the centre of the ring. In February 2013 Garland began training as a firefighter. In June of that year he graduated from the Lake Tech Fire Academy in Tavares, Florida. He subsequently began training as an EMT. He did apply to join The Trumpton Fire Brigade but Barney McGrew thought his dance moves were not down enough, so they rejected him.








1971 English actress Samantha Elizabeth Giles was born at Maidstone in Kent. She is best,(only!), known for her role as vicar's wife Bernice Blackstock in Emmerdale.





1973 American actress, singer and dancer Betty Grable died from lung cancer at Santa Monica aged just 56yo. Throughout her career, Grable was celebrated for having the most beautiful legs in Hollywood and studio publicity often photographed her featuring them. Her iconic bathing suit poster made her the number one pin-up girl of World War II, surpassing Rita Hayworth. It was later included in the Life magazine project "100 Photographs that Changed the World". Hosiery specialists of the era often noted the ideal proportions of her legs as thigh (18.5"), calf (12"), and ankle (7.5"). Grable's legs were famously insured by her studio for $1 million with Lloyds of London.  In 1943, she was the number one box office draw in the world and, in 1947, she was the highest-paid entertainer in the United States. Two of her biggest film successes were the musical Mother Wore Tights (1947) and the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), one of her last films. Grable retired from screen acting in 1955 after she withdrew from her Fox contract, although she continued to perform on the stage and on television.







1975 Popular British character actor James Robertson Justice died following a series of strokes at Romsey, Hampshire. His first leading role was as headmaster in the film Vice Versa, written and directed by Peter Ustinov, who cast him partly because he'd been "a collaborator of my father's at Reuters." Justice was the demanding surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt in the "Doctor" series of films of the 1950s and 1960s, beginning with Doctor in the House in 1954, playing a role for which he is possibly best remembered.




1986 Actress, model and recording star Lindsay Lohan was born in New York City. Lohan sprang to fame with her role of Allie  Fowler in the Soap Opera "Another World", following that at 11yo with the lead role in Disney's remake of " The Parent Trap". Between 2010-2013 Lohan entered rehabilitation three times, and spent most of her time entangled in legal problems stemming from misdemeanours and probation violations. 





1991 American actress Lee Remick died at her home in Los Angeles from kidney cancer. Best known for her films "Anatomy of a Murder" in 1959. 1962's "Days of Wine and Roses" and "The Omen" in 1976. Remick later appeared in several made-for-TV movies and miniseries, for which she earned a total of seven Emmy nominations. Several were of a historical nature, including two noted miniseries: Ike, in which she portrayed Kay Summersby, alongside Robert Duvall (her co-star in Wait Until Dark) as General Dwight Eisenhower, and Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill where she portrayed Winston Churchill's mother, the American debutante Lady Randolph Churchill who married Lord Randolph Churchill.







1993 Fred Gwynne died aged 66yo in Taneytown, Maryland from pancreatic cancer. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and as Frankenstein type character Herman Munster in The Munsters, for both television and film. As well as his later roles in Pet Sematary, The Cotton Club and My Cousin Vinny. He was recognized for his distinctive baritone voice.





1997 Hollywood Great James Stewart died from a pulmonary embolism that had formed following a thrombosis in his right leg, he was 89yo. Known for his distinctive drawl voice and down-to-earth persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics. He was known for portraying the average American Middle Class man, with everyday life struggles.





Stewart was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. Stewart was named the third greatest male screen legend in cinema history by the American Film Institute. He was a major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.






2000 Irish motor cycle racer Joey Dunlop died instantly after losing control of his bike whilst leading a race in Tallin, Estonia and colliding with trees.


2008 Character actress Elizabeth Spriggs died from undisclosed causes in Oxford aged 78yo. Sprigg's roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company included Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Gertrude in Hamlet and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1978, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for Arnold Wesker's Love Letters on Blue Paper. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. Her other films included Richard's Things (1980), Impromptu (1991), Paradise Road (1997) and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001).



2010 English writer Beryl Bainbridge died aged 77yo at a London hospital following a recurrence of lung cancer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often set among the English working classes. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996; she was nominated five times for the Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 as "a national treasure".



Benefits' News:  Lord Duncan Smith today announced the creation of  the " kitchen tax", " Look if I want a decent hot meal I have to book a table somewhere like 'The Ivy' and pay good money for it!" he continued, " Look at the hard, working, striving people who rely upon McDonalds, K.F.C., even Subway! They'd love a free kitchen to cook some meals in! Yet the feckless unemployed and the idle disabled all seem to think they can have a kitchen for free! Well I'm telling them now enough is enough! So from this October...2014, we shall fine them £20 a week from their luxurious Housing Benefit claims if their property has a kitchen. We have to be fair to our hard working striving people as we are with these stay at home benefit leeches. We are all in this together and everyone must pay their way. See you plebs at 'The Ivy'!"

So Do You Actually Have A Kitchen?



Fucking Scroungers!