(didn't know that about poor Che's hands!)

Just heard on the way home from work that on this date in 1955, David Lee Roth was born :)

Britain~ 10 October 1903

Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Woman's Social and Political Union.

October 10th
 

After being fired, postman Joseph M Harris kills four mail handlers in Wayne, New Jersey in 1991


Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave her memorably defiant speech at the Tory party conference in Brighton in 1980... "U-turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning".


The first performance of George Gershwin's Porgy And Bess, featuring the songs "Summertime" and "I've Got Plenty Of Nothin'" was in New York in 1935.


The Marquis de Montreval, who brutally put down peasants who rebelled against a heavy tax on salt, died of fright in 1716......... when a salt-cellar was accidentally spilled on him!!








Finally....... today is International Mental Health Awareness Day.

Wow, I don't remember that Thatcher quote. I'll have to look it up.

On Oct. 11, 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

Here's the news story from then, if anyone's interested:

The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has made a defiant speech to Conservatives at the party conference in Brighton.

In it she stressed her determination to stick to tough economic policies despite doubts expressed within Tory ranks.

Responding to recent expectations of an about-turn on counter-inflationary policies, Mrs Thatcher declared to widespread cheers:

""To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning!"

Outside in the rain, 'Right to Work' protesters demonstrated, two of whom managed to breach security and make their voices heard in the hall.

But her speech did acknowledge the plight of the country's two million unemployed.

"Let me make it clear beyond doubt. I am profoundly concerned about unemployment," she said.

She added: "Human dignity and self-respect are undermined when men and women are condemned to idleness."

The Prime Minister expressed her commitment to reducing inflation which she said was beginning to fall, reminding delegates it was the "parent of unemployment".

She also claimed a number of measures imposed by her government in its first 17 months in office as successes.

This included the "first crucial changes" in trade union law, the breaking down of monopoly powers and allowing council tenants the chance to buy their homes.

Mrs Thatcher condemned Soviet foreign policy and in particular its present occupation of Afghanistan.

In response to the recent demonstrations by Polish ship-workers, she praised their resolve to "participate in the shaping of their destiny", and their actions as testament to a crisis in Communism.

Her closing words were reserved for criticism of Labour and votes cast at its party conference in favour of withdrawal from NATO and the EEC.

"Let Labour's Orwellian nightmare of the Left be a spur for us to dedicate with a new urgency our every ounce of energy and moral strength to rebuild the fortunes of this free nation," she said.

October 11th
 

A 64-yr old man died in Japan in 1996 during a tug-of-war to celebrate ..... National Fitness Day!!!


In 1987, a huge search of Loch Ness for the famous monster, using high-tech sonar devices, was called off, having failed to find any trace of Nessie. What they failed to realise, of course, is that Nessie KNEW they were there, and simply hid from them in her secret cave at the bottom of the Loch!! :)


The first ever chart entry by a new group called The Beatles entered the Top 50 at number 49 today in 1962. The single was called "Love Me Do"


William Saville was such an ardent Royalist, that when he lost the Battle of Winceby to Cromwell in 1643, he ordered his home to be burned down rather than see it used by Roundheads!!

October 12th
 

Forty-foot waves generated by the Great Bengal Cyclone of 1737 swamped 20,000 boats and drowned 300,000 people


On this day in 1967 zoologist Desmond Morris stunned the world with the publication of his book The Naked Ape which likened human behaviour to that of the apes


In 1492, Christopher Columbus first set eyes onthe New World, calling it San Salvador. Later that day, he and his crew landed on Watling Island.


The earliest known printed secular song is "Three Blind Mice", published in London today in 1609.

On Oct. 12, 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63.

Brazil- 12 Oct 1822
Dom Pedro, 24-year-old son and heir to King John VI, today declaired himself constitutional emperor of Brazil.
Once seen as a dissolute young man, Pedro has come to symbolize the nation’s hope for independence in the face of Lisbon’s efforts to reduce Brazil once again to the status of a dependent colony.
Last month Portugal annulled all his acts. His response was simple: “The hour has come! Independence or death!”

On Oct. 13, 1943, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.

October 13th
 

A British holidaymaker was killed in Spain in 1996 when he fell from a second-floor (3rd floor in the U.S.)balcony while showing off his skill at throwing a melon into a municipal bin.


In 1992 the government announced plans to close one-third of Britain's deep coal mines, putting 31,000 miners out of work.


Labour party leader Ramsey MacDonald made the first ever election broadcast on behalf of his party on BBC radio in 1924.


Mary Allen, of Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, was allowed to divorce her husband of 29 years in 1983, on the grounds that he kept ignoring her and forgetting her birthday!!

(Damn, if I'd known it was THAT easy................:))

October 14th
 

King Harold gets an arrow in his eye at the Battle f Hastings in 1066, and Brits all start learning French!! :)


Today in 1947, pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time, in the Bell X-1 rocket plane 'Glamorous Glennis', over what is now Edwards Air Force base in California. (What I wanna know is, did they take it out of his pay-check?)


A total of 127 babies were presented for judging at the world's first baby show, which took place at Springfield, Illinois, in 1854


A parliament convened by King Henry VII in 1495 passed a statute regulating the content of bed-stuffing, requiring that it be good, clean feathers, NOT dirty old horse-hair!

The 1908 Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers 4 games to 1 in the World Series.

*Why is it called the World Series, when it's only played in North America?


Just a thought!! :D

DM