Today is National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı), a national holiday in Turkey, always celebrated on April 23rd. Known as “23 Nisan”, the day commemorates the first opening of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey at Ankara in 1920.
On April 23rd 1920, during the War of Independence, the Grand National Assembly, the nation’s unicameral parliament, met in Ankara to begin to lay the foundations of the new Turkish republic after the end of the Ottoman Empire.
To mark the event, April 23rd was proclaimed a national holiday in 1921, making this the first public holiday in the new republic.
Since 1927 it has also become Children’s Day, when the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, dedicated April 23rd to the children of Turkey to recognise that children are the future of the nation. With this, Turkey became the first country in the world to celebrate an official Children’s Day, as a gift to the children in Turkey and around the world.
Shakespeare Day – born April 23 1564 – died April 23, 1616
Today is the birthday, in 1936, of American singer-songwriter Roy Orbison “the Big O” who had a 1964 UK & US No.1 single with ‘Pretty Woman’ plus over 20 US & 30 UK Top 40 singles including ‘Only the Lonely’ (1960), ‘Running Scared’ (1961) and ‘Crying’. With the Traveling Wilburys he had a 1988 UK hit single ‘Handle With Care’. Orbison died of a heart attack on 6 December 1988. This video was recorded in 1987 as the finale of the Black & White Night Concert. Backed by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, James Burton, Glen D. Hardin, Tom Waits, kd lang, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, JD Souther, T Bone Burnett, Steven Soles, and Jennifer Warnes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PLq0_7k1jk
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