July 9th

Feast Day of Our Lady of Peace, a title of the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. She is represented in art holding a dove and an olive branch.





Also Feast Day of Saint Veronica Giuliana, an Italian Capuchin nun and mystic. In 1694 Veronica showed signs of 'Christ crucified' on her body. The marks of the crown of thorns upon her head, along with the other five wound marks. Following her death in 1727 a figure of the cross was found upon her heart and it was reported that her body was noted as being incorrupt.




1797 Irish English philosopher and politician Edmund Burke , died at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Author, orator, political theorist and philosopher, who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party.



1916 Future British Prime Minister Edward Heath is born at Broadstairs, Kent. He was   Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from June 1970 to February 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975.





1922 Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100m freestyle in 58.6 seconds, setting a New World Record and breaking the One Minute barrier.





1932 Ex US Secretary of Defense between 1975-77 under Gerald Ford and controversially under George W. Bush 2001-06. Donald Rumsfeld is born in Evanston, Illinois, Rumsfeld's use of double speak and confusing statements littered his time in office such as:-
" Reports that say there's - that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things that we know we know. We also know that there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things that we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns , the ones we don't know we don't know."



1936 Scottish actor and director Richard Wilson is born in Greenock, Renfrewshire as Iain Carmichael Wilson. Wilson is best known as Victor Meldrew in BBC TV's "One Foot In The Grave".





1937 English painter and photographer David Hockney is born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Considered to be one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century. Openly gay, Hockney has never shied away from the nature of gay love in his work such as " We Two Boys Together Clinging".Many of Hocney's paintings can be found at 'Salts Mill' in Saltaire near his home town of Bradford. 





1942 American actor and former model Richard Roundtree is born in New Rochelle, New York. Best known for playing the eponymous hero in 1971's "Shaft" and its two sequels.





1945 Renowned American horror writer Dean Koontz was born in Everett, Pennsylvania. His novels are gathered under the mystic umbrella title of 'Suspense Thrillers' and his website claims he has sold over 450 million copies of his work.



1955 American actor Jimmy Smits is born in Brooklyn, New York. Probably best remembered for his roles as lawyer Victor Sifuentes in L.A. Law, Detective Bobby Simone in NYPD Blue and as Matt Santos on the West Wing.





1956 Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is born at Concord, California. Winning the Best Actor Oscar two years running, for Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Bump a year later, Hanks became only the second actor ever to win consecutive Oscars, the other being Spencer Tracy.






1957 English comedian and writer Paul Merton is born as Paul James Martin in Parsons Green, London. Known for his improvisation, deadpan , surreal and sometimes dark humour, Merton has appeared on Have I Got News For You since 1990.





1959 Wrestling star Kevin Nash was born in Detroit Michigan. Nash has featured under many names throughout his career, Chet Lemon, Vinnie Vegas, (Master Blaster) Steel, Oz and of course Diesel.  He has won a total of twenty one Championships, six individual World Championships and a twelve time tag-team Champion. Nash is recognised as holding the WWF belt for the longest time in the 1990s, namely 358 days.






1960 Retired amateur boxer and wrestler Marc Mero was born in Buffalo, New York. Mero used the ring name of Johnny B. Badd as he made his way in WCW, reverting to his own name of Marc Nero in the WWF.





1975 American singer/songwriter and musician Jack White was born in Detroit, Michigan as John Anthony Gillis. Best known for his collaborations with Meg White in The White Stripes, " Seven Nation Army" being their best remembered hit.






1981 Nintendo releases the video game "Donkey Kong" starring for the first time their future mascot Mario.







2002 American actor Rod Steiger died of pneumonia and complications from gall bladder surgery, he was 77yo. actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the television programs Marty and Jesus of Nazareth.





McCanns to sue their son over his question," Did you hide Maddie mummy?", Gerry McCann explained why," We cannot have anybody suggesting that Kate and I had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance" . The couple were speaking from Portugal before leaving for a much deserved holiday, would they be leaving the twins alone whilst they partied the night away, " Never!" added Kate indignantly, " they will be left safe at home with the nanny, we certainly don't want crying sprogs spoiling our holiday!" 



Yes our main aim is to sue everybody!



Holiday! With no damn kids!