This Day in History

We spoke about drinks and foods (once and twice) and tea... And now what?

I’m afraid you fellas will think that all I have on my mind is something to stuff down my throat (which is not altogether untrue, by the way)... But hey, I’m going to talk about something different this time.

“This Day in History” - in other words, the significance of Feb 18.

While the unrivaled Wiki forms the crux of this research, I’ve also googled various other sites to bring you these statistics, facts and figures. Enjoy!

February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (that’s the internationally accepted civil calendar). This indicates there’s 316 days to go until the end of the year (317 in a leap year).

While today is a Wednesday, Feb 18 last year was a Monday, and a Sunday before that.

Cool so far, eh? Look below to know the important events, birthdays and death anniversaries that coincide with this date. There’s a hundred things in this category, but to save time and space, I’ve chosen those that we shall find familiar or interesting. For a complete list, you can look here.

Important Events:
3102 BC - Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga. (Whatta coincidence that I’m reading the same period in Mahabharata at the same time!)
1797 - Trinidad surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby. (I dunno much about this, but I have an Abercrombie top.)
1814 - The Battle of Montereau (which resulted in the victory of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Austrians).
1885 – (Now this is something I know!) Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published for the first time. (We 1985-borns are exactly a century younger to darling Huck.)
1901 - Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the British House of Commons.
1911 – (Finally something about India...) The first official flight with air mail in Allahabad, British India; Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivered 6,500 letters to Naini, 10 km away. (Yippee!!!)
1913 - Raymond Poincaré (don’t ask me to pronounce that!) became President of France.
1929 - The first Academy (Oscar) Awards announced.
1930 - Clyde Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet Pluto. (Smart man; he also discovered several asteroids and studied UFOs). The same day, Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow, both, to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft, and to be milked in an aircraft. (Check out an entire page on this!)
1932 - The Empire of Japan declared Manzhouguo (better known as Manchuria) (slurp –I love manchurian!) independent from the Republic of China.
1969 - The Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disaster, all aboard killed.
1979 - Snowfall in the Sahara Desert (southern Algeria) for the only recorded time in history. (!!!)
1983 - The Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington (said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history).
1991 – (No list is complete without bomb blasts) The IRA exploded bombs at London stations.
2000 - Stjepan Mesić becomes the second president of Croatia.
2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison. (!!)

Birthday Bumps!!
Horoscope for Feb 18 – These Aquarians are dedicated to the art of perfection. They can transcend the mundane trivia of everyday life to become something special. They not only attract controversy - they thrive on it! Quiet and introspective, they have what it takes to become emotionally self-sufficient. When challenges come their way, they bear up stoically.

Happy birthday to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486), Queen Mary I of England (1516), French writer Saint-Pierre (1658), Sri Ramakrishna - Bengali saint and guru of Vivekananda (1836), George Kennedy (1925) and John Travolta (1954).

Deaths
Peace be on the souls that died this day...
1546 - Martin Luther, German religious reformer (born 1483)
1564 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian artist (b. 1475)
1851 - Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician
1895 - Karl Abs, German professional wrestler (I’m wondering if he gave the body part it’s name...)
1995 : McAfee (Is this something related to computers?)
2008 - Sir Richard Knowles, British politician

And of course... Holidays and Observances
Gambian Independence Day (They became independent from the UK. Cheers, folks!)

So, well, quite a few things learnt there!

Amazing how much more there is to every single thing that we take for granted!

Until then...
Anuja