1719 - Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies For Children"

1737 - Antonio Stradivari, renowned violin-maker, dies in Cremona Italy at 93

1892 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Nutcracker Suite" premieres

1893 - Robert Machray elected first Anglican Primate of all Canada

1912 - After three years of digging in the Piltdown gravel pit in Sussex, England, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson announces the discovery of two skulls that appear to belong to a primitive hominid and ancestor of man; the majority of the scientific community hailed the so-called Piltdown Man as the missing evolutionary link between ape and man; later proved to be a fraud

1919 - John Alcock, pilot, first to fly non-stop over Atlantic, dies in crash at 27

1932 - Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in first NFL playoff game

1936 - Su-Lin, first giant panda to come to US from China, arrives in San Francisco

1954 �?Montreal Canadiens star Maurice Richard gets his 400th career NHL goal in his 690th game

1956 - "To Tell the Truth" debuts on CBS-TV

1957 - Scarborough approved a Land Use Plan for guiding development, the first of its kind in Ontario

1958 - Project Score, the world's first experimental communications satellite, is launched

1961 - Britain's EMI Records originally rejects the Beatles (though later on they sign them)

1964 - "The Pink Panther" cartoon series premieres

1968 - Quebec government founds the multi-campus Université du Québec; Quebec's first public university and its fourth French language institution

1976 - "Wonder Woman" debuts on ABC

1980 - Alexei N Kosygin Soviet Prime Minister, 1964-80, suffers a fatal heart attack at 76

 

 

Birthdays

1707 - Charles Wesley - co-founder of the Methodist movement
1849 - Henrietta Edwards [Muir] Montreal - women's rights activist; helped found the National Council of Women and the Victorian Order of Nurses
1879 - Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland - abstract painter: Twittering Machine, Pastoral
1886 - Ty [Tyrus] Cobb, Narrows, Georgia - baseball player: batted .367, stole 892 bases - Detroit Tigers; one of the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936
1888 - Gladys Cooper, Lewisham England - actress: My Fair Lady
1904 - Wilf Carter, Port Hilford, NS - country singer: My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby, The Capture of Albert Johnson
1913 - Willy Brandt [Herbert Frahm] - German chancellor: 1969-74
1916 - Betty Grable, St Louis Missouri - actress: Gay Divorcee, Million Dollar Legs
1922 - Larry D Mann, Toronto Ontario - actor: Marty - Accidental Family
1927 - Roméo LeBlanc, L'Anse-aux-Cormiers, Memramcook NB - journalist, politician, Governor General of Canada; first Maritimer and first Canadian of Acadian descent to hold the office
1932 - Roger Smith, South Gate California - actor: 77 Sunset Strip
1939 - Michael J Moorcock, England - sci-fi author: Alien Heat, Bull & Spear
1943 - Keith Richards, England - guitarist: Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
1946 - Stephen (Steve) Biko - South African anti-apartheid activist
1946 - Steven Spielberg, Cincinnati Ohio - director: ET, Close Encounters, Jaws
1950 - Martha Johnson, Toronto - singer, songwriter: Martha and the Muffins
1955 - Ray Liotta, Newark NJ - actor: Goodfellas, Casablanca
1961 - Brian Orser, Belleville, Ontario - figure skater: Olympics-silver-88
1963 - Brad Pitt, Shawnee Oklahoma - actor: Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, Legends of the Fall
1963 - Charles Oakley - NBA forward: New York Knicks
1964 - Don Beebe - NFL wide receiver: Green Bay Packers
1964 - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin [Steve Anderson] Victoria, Texas - professional wrestler
1966 - Kiefer Sutherland - actor: Young Guns, Stand by Me, Lost Boys
1967 - Dan McGwire - NFL quarterback: Miami Dolphins
1971 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Barcelona - tennis star
1972 - Jeff Nielsen, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan - NHL centre: Anaheim Mighty Ducks
1975 - Kiran van Rijn, Vancouver BC - rower: won 4 goldmedals at the Central Ontario Rowing Championships in 1998; rowed for Canada at the Princeton World Cup in 2001
1978 - Daniel Cleary, Carbonear, Nfld - NHL player: Chicago Blackhawks
1979 - Jeff Finger, Houghton Mich - NHL player: Toronto Maple Leafs
1980 - Christina Aguilera, Staten Island, NY - singer: Genie in a Bottle, What A Girl Wants

 

 

Puns

 

Hangover: The wrath of grapes.
 
Income Tax: Capital punishment.
 
A used car is not always what it's jacked up to be.
 
Two silkworms were in a race. They ended up in a tie.
 
To my sweetheart: My cooking's gotten better since I fondue.
 
A robber broke into the police station and stole all the toilet seats, and the police didn't have anything to go on.
 
Middle Age: When actions creak louder than words.
 
Egotist: One who is me-deep in conversation.
 
Did you hear about the woman who started dating rakes and fell on hard tines?
 
Why won't melons elope to Las Vegas? They cantaloupe.

 

Archeologist: A man whose career lies in ruins.
 
Kleptomaniac: One who can't help himself from helping himself.
 
Did you hear about the snake who gave birth to a bouncing baby boa?
 
Once I got angry at the chef of an Italian restaurant, so I gave him a pizza my mind.
 
California smog test: Can UCLA?
 
The competition at a local dog show was quite "Ruff"

 

Q: How did the pig with laryngitis feel? A: Dis-gruntled.