Today is King Charles’ Birthday. Now those of you who pay attention will know that King Charles was actually born on 14 November, 1948. However, now that he has taken the throne he receives the privilege of celebrating his birthday not once, but twice every year.
It was the same with Queen Elizabeth. Queen’s Birthday was celebrated in June each year, even though the Queen’s birthday was on April 21st.
The idea behind the double birthday is that having a summer birthday means a higher chance of good weather during the Trooping the Color parade, which marks the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday in the UK. Trooping the Color is held outside Buckingham Palace on a Saturday in early June and has marked the celebration for over 270 years.
The King is the monarch of 15 countries, the United Kingdom and 14 commonwealth realms.
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Today is the birthday, in 1961, of George O’Dowd, (Boy George), English singer, songwriter, DJ, fashion designer and photographer. As lead singer of the Grammy and Brit Award winning Culture Club, he scored the 1983 UK No.1 & 1984 US No.1 single ‘Karma Chameleon’ and global hits ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’, and ‘Time’ (Clock of the Heart). As a solo artists George had the 1987 UK No.1 single ‘Everything I Own’. He became a coach on The Voice UK in 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw
Today is Croatian Statehood Day. In Croatian, Statehood Day is known as ‘Dan državnosti’ and is Croatia’s national day marking the day in 1990 when the first post-Communist multi-party Parliament was constituted.
Historically part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire until its collapse at the end of World War I, Croatia was one of the six republics that formed Yugoslavia.
Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the first post-Communist multi-party Parliament was constituted in Croatia on May 30th 1990.
In May 1991, the Croatian independence referendum had resulted in a 94% vote in favour of establishing an independent Croatia. Following the result, the Croatian Parliament formally proclaimed independence with the Constitutional decision on sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Croatia on June 25th.
At that time, many ethnic Serbs who lived in Croatia declared autonomy of the unrecognised Republic of Serbian Krajina, intent on achieving independence from Croatia. By the end of 1991, a high-intensity conflict fought along a wide front reduced Croatia’s control to about two-thirds of its territory. Serb paramilitary groups then began a campaign of killing, terror, and expulsion of the Croats in the rebel territories, killing thousands of Croat civilians and expelling or displacing as many as 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs from their homes.
The war effectively ended in August 1995 with a decisive victory by Croatia. Following the Croatian victory, about 200,000 Serbs from the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina fled the region and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath of the military operation. Their lands were subsequently settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Don’t tell anyone!
Today is the birthday, in 1958, of Swedish pop singer-songwriter and pianist Marie Fredriksson, with Swedish group Roxette, who had the 1990 US No.1 & UK No.3 single ‘It Must Have Been Love’. Roxette have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide. Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019, aged 61 following a 17-year long battle with cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2C5TjS2sh4
Today is Republic Day in Armenia. It marks the anniversary of the First Armenian Republic in 1918. It is also known as Day of Restoration of sovereignty and is considered to be Armenia’s National Day.
From the 15th century, Armenia had been part of the Ottoman Empire. By the 19th century, most of modern-day Armenia had come under the control of the Russian Empire.
With the Russian revolution ending the empire and the collapse of the Democratic Republic of Transcaucasia, the Armenian National Council Declared its sovereignty on May 28th 1918 and the First Armenian Republic was proclaimed, restoring Armenian statehood after six centuries of foreign control.
The republic proved to be short-lived. On December 2nd 1920, the Armenian government headed by Prime Minister Simon Vratsyan signed a treaty with the Bolsheviks and the Red Army entered Armenia and proclaimed it a Soviet Republic. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922.
Armenia regained its independence as the current Republic of Armenia on September 21st 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Armenia was the first non-Baltic republic to secede from the Soviet Union. This event is celebrated on Independence Day.
Google now puts ‘AI Overviews’ (AI generated answers) above search results for many queries. AI is NOT always right and can be wrong in spectacular ways…
Today is the birthday, in 1945, of American musician, singer, and songwriter John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival who had the 1969 UK No.1 and US No.2 single ‘Bad Moon Rising’, plus ten other US Top 30 hits and the 1970 US & UK No.1 album Cosmo’s Factory. After CCR parted ways in 1972 Fogerty had a successful solo career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq3hEMUeBGQ
Today is Cameroon’s National Day. Also known as Unity Day, this holiday marks the adoption of a unitary state on this day in 1972.
Cameroon National holiday holds immense cultural and historical significance for the people of the nation. It serves as a symbol of national unity, bringing together individuals from diverse linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
Cameroon became a German colony in 1884, known as Kamerun. After Germany’s defeat in the first world war, the administration of the colony was divided between Britain and France, becoming UN Trust Territories after the end of the second world war and the creation of the United Nations.
The United Nations Trust Territory known as French Cameroun achieved independence from France on January 1st 1960, and British Southern Cameroons became a federated state within Cameroon on October 1st 1961.
On May 20th 1972, in a national referendum, Cameroonians voted for a unitary state as opposed to the existing federal state. President Ahmadou Ahidjo then abolished the federal system of government in favor of a unitary state, the Republic of Cameroon.
A mystery…
Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Cherilyn Sarkasian, (Cher), American singer and actress, one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher who had the 1965 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Got You Babe’. She became a television personality in the 1970s with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run. Solo hits include the 1991 UK No.1 single ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’, 1998 UK No.1 & 1999 US No.1 single ‘Believe’, plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSZwEwl_1Q
Today is Girmit Day in Fiji. It is a public holiday celebrated on the Monday nearest May 14. This holiday was established to honor the settlers from India who began arriving in Fiji on May 14th 1897. In announcing this new holiday, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said: “They were starting a new life in an unknown land and stayed to become an integral part of our country. I reconfirm my promise to inaugurate a new national holiday in 2023.”
The word girmit represented an Indian pronunciation of the English language word “agreement” – from the indenture “agreement” of the British Government with Indian labourers. The agreements specified the workers’ length of stay in foreign parts and the conditions attached to their return to the British Raj.
The colonial authorities promoted the sugar cane industry, recognizing the need to establish a stable economic base for the colony, but were unwilling to exploit indigenous labor and threaten the Fijian way of life. The use of imported labor from the Solomon Islands and what is now Vanuatu generated protests in the United Kingdom, and the Governor Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon decided to implement the indentured labor scheme, which had existed in the British Empire since 1837.
The Leonidas, a labor transport vessel, disembarked at Levuka from Calcutta on May 14th 1879. The 498 indentured workers who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from South and East Asia in the following 37 years. The majority were from the districts of eastern and southern provinces, followed by laborers from northern and western regions, then later south eastern countries, they originated from different regions, villages, backgrounds and castes that later mingled or intermarried hence the “Fijian Indian” identity was created. The indentured workers originated mostly from rural village backgrounds.
After five years of work in the cane fields, the British freed the girmits from bonded labor but did not offer them a passage back. So, most of them stayed back and by the mid-1980s their descendants through hard work and education have made a mark in Fiji dominating business and professional fields.
Lily’s surprise…
Mother’s Day??
Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Stevie Wonder. A child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Wonder who has been blind from shortly after birth, signed with Motown’s Tamla label at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. Wonder has scored over 40 US & UK Top 40 singles. Albums include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxoBaEQGMPo
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