Today in 1992, British racing driver Nigel Mansell won the F1 World Championship with a record NINE Grand Prix victories; this record has since been equalled three times, and surpassed once, by (a certain) Michael Schumacher!


Clara Bow signed a five-year contract with Paramount in 1926; she was the first starlet to avoid the then traditional 'Morality Clause', which let the studio cancel in case of a scandal.


In 2001, police charged Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, with the theft of her property.... without first checking with the Queen whether or not she knew where the items had gone. The case has since been thrown out of court.

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

Communist East Germany completes the Berlin Wall today in 1961. Over the next 28 years, 75,000 people are jailed for trying to cross it, and 189 (admitted to) killed.


Today in 1996, at Selhurst Park in England, a young David Beckham (complete with lank blond hair and a hint of acne!) gives an early glimpse of his talents by scoring from the half-way line.


In 1666, Samuel Pepys took delivery from 'Simpson the joiner' of the first known glass-fronted bookcase.


"The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown" had a U.K. No.1 hit in 1968 with their second release 'Fire'. Their first single flopped when record company, Polydor, ran out of vinyl during production!!

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

AUGUST 18TH



1~~Beatles' double A side Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby topped the charts, becoming the group's 11th consecutive No1~~~~a feat never rivalled'


2~~The first Morris Mini Minor was unveilled this day in 1959~~a total of 5,387,862 were sold before production ceased on October 4th 2000


3~~NEW zealand inventor PERCY DANDO took a patent on this day 1902, for a 'silent chamber pot' ,designed so sleeping partners wouldn't be woken up!

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Don't pet the sweaty things!!!!

Twenty-five year Postal Service veteran Perry Smith, having resigned from the service in Johnson, South Carolina, returns today in 1983 and kills the Postmaster.


Today in 1953, at the Oval, London, England's cricketers won back the Ashes from Australia for the first time since 1933. They won the last Test by two wickets, after drawing the other four matches.


In 1905, Japanese scientist 'Ikeda' laid the foundations for a junk-food future, when he isolated the flavour enhancer..... Monosodium glutamate!!


Carpaccio, a dish of thin, uncooked strips of beef invented in Harry's Bar, Venice (Italy) today in 1955, was named after renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, who used lots of red in his paintings.

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

Oklahoma postman Patrick "Crazy Pat" Sherill conceals two .45-calibers in his bag and 'caps' 14 fellow employees before shooting himself, today in 1986.


In 1987 treasure hunters salvaging objects from the doomed luxury liner 'Titanic', on the bottom of the Atlantic, scooped up a bag containing a fortune in jewels.


Her Majesty the Queen opened up her Sandringham Estate, in Norfolk, in 1988 to let people come and pick their own blackberries. She charged them....... 40 pence per pound!!!


In 1911 Vincenzo Perugia, a cleaner at the Louvre in Paris, stole the Mona Lisa by simply taking it of the wall and walking out with it under his coat!! The painting was not recovered for TWO years!



Dunno about you guys, but it looks like the BIGGEST crook of the lot is our own dear Queen!! (Money-grabbing old ........ person!!)

DM

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

OK, how many of you are getting fed-up with all this? (Just thought I'd ask!! )


In 1986, toxic gas erupted from a volcanic lake in Caneroon, Africa, killing over 1,700 people.


A slave revolt in Virginia began today in 1831, after Nat Turner heard a voice in a dream telling him " the last shall be first". It was harshly repressed within 48 hours.


In Battle, East Sussex in 1976, 25-year old Mary Langdon became the first British woman to join the Fire Brigade!






Remember, if you're fed-up with this, let me know!!

DM

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

From yesterdays post, I'm not sure whether to keep going, or not!! NO answers...... does that mean you all like this thread, or that no-one looks any more?????? Speak UP, folks!!!


King Charles the First calls Parliament and it's soldiers "Traitors" in 1642, starting the English Civil War!!


Today in 1953 the infamous French prison on Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana, which was featured in the Stve McQueen film 'Papillon', released it's last prisoner.


In 1840, pupils & staff from Gateshead Fell school went on the first-ever school outing by train..... to Tynemouth! (About 5{?} miles!!)


Scores of angry smokers blocked a street near Moscow's Red Square for hours in 1990, in protest at a summer-long cigarette shortage!

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

Today in 1962, at the Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool, John Lennon married Cynthia Powell, whom he'd met at Liverpool College of Art. Brian Epstein was Best Man.


"Pilot" Bryan Allen made the world's first man-powered flight of more than a mile in the ultra-light Gossamer Condor in 1977, winning the £50,000 Kremer prize. (He went on to cross the English Channel in the same craft)


When Hitler signed the Ribbentrop Pact with Soviet Russia in 1939, it went largely unremarked in France....... despite giving the Nazis the chance of a "one-front" war in Europe! {Not for the FIRST time, it has to be said! }

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

In 1992 Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing record damage of $25 Billion.....and killing 55 people.

My ex and I went on holiday there in October that year...... you would never have known, from what WE saw, that it had ever happened.



Today in 1972, Henry McCullough and Denny Siewell of Wings told Paul McCartney they were leaving the band; just before it recorded stand-out album "Band On The Run". DOH!!!


In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb, Cunard Line Master-turned-professional endurance swimmer, set off from Dover on his 22-hour feat to become the first person ever to swim the English Channel - a distance of just over 22 miles!


In 1967, two penguins from Chessington Zoo, in England, were taken on a day-trip to Streatham ice-rink in South London - to let them cool off during a sweltering summer!!
Betcha it didn't happen THIS year!!!

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

In AD79, Mt Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii & Herculaneum

In AD410 Rome was overrun by Visigoths which bascially ended the Western Roman Empire

In 1572 King Charles IX ordered the massacre of thousands of French Protestants

What a fun day 8/24 has been

In 2001, singer Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash


Liverpool F.C.'s famous "Kop" stand was opened at their Anfield ground today in 1928. It was named after Spion Kop in South Africa, site of a famous battle in the Boer War.


The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the British Army, was first chartered by Henry VIII in 1537; at a time when 'Artillery' meant 'Small Arms'.


In 1830, opera-goers in Brussels were inspired by a new work by George Auber, about an anti-Spanish uprising n Naples, to start a revolution against the Dutch authorities.

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

More for Aug 25th:

1718 - The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was founded and named in honor of the Duke of Orleans of France.

1814 - British forces destroyed the United States Library of Congress along with the 3,000 books it contained.

1875 - British swimmer Matthew Webb was the first documented person to swim across the English Channel. The day before, smeared in porpoise oil for insulation, he departed Dover (England) and twenty-one hours and 45 minutes later waded ashore at Cape Gris Nez, near Calais (France).

1944 - Paris was liberated when the local German commander, General Choltitz, surrendered to the allies.

1930 - The original (and best) James Bond, Sean Connery was born

In 1346, British soldiers used the Longbow to defeat the French at the Battle of Crecy. The finger arrangement used to fire the arrows later gives birth to the "V" sign! (Allegedly!!)


Today in 1970, up to 600,000 people descended on Afton Farm on the Isle of Wight to hear The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Joan Baez and MANY more, in a vast, anarchic pop festival!!! Doncha just wish you coulda BEEN there?!!


Felix Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of his great oratorio Elijah at the Birmingham Festival, in 1846.


On this day in 1946, long before a dog said "sausages" on Esther Rantzens 'That's Life' programme, BBC engineers recorded Ben, a dog in Royston, Hertfordshire, saying "I Want One" in a gruff voice. Sounds like a bit of a 'shaggy dog' story to me!!

btw, th^t last one, probably only Brits of a 'certain age' will remember that programme!!!

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

Smallpox was first used as a biological weapon in 1763, when British forces distributed blankets used by smallpox patients among Native americans collaborating with the French Makes a person proud to be British!


Today in 79AD burning lava from Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that had erupted with terrible force three days earlier, engulfed & totally buried the Roman city of Pompeii


Edwin Drake developed the technique of drilling inside a tube to bore the world's first Oil Well at Titusville, Pennsylvania, finding oil today in 1859 just 69 feet below the surface!


In 1941, German soldiers on the Eastern Front in WW2 were issued with a Russian phrase book containing more than 3000 expressions - though NOT including "sorry"

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

In 1997, lightning killed a Camel at Knowlsey Safari Park on Merseyside, England.


Today in 1987 the last of the mailbags traditionally hand-sewn by convicts for the Royal Mail, were produced by inmates of Dartmoor Prison.


St. Andrews university (Scotland), set up by Bishop Henry Wardlaw, had it's foundation ratified by a Papal Bull of Pope Benedict XIII today in 1413.


5000 bricks from Liverpool's famous 'Cavern Club', sold for charity at £5 each in 1983, NOW fetch up to £700 apiece. Others were used to re-create the club on an overlapping site.

__________________
The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind