1st July 2021
JASHN-E TIRGAN (TIR JASHAN) Zoroastrian (Iranian)
Jashn-e Tirgan is an ancient summer festival, celebrated some three months after the spring NoRuz. Tirgan is devoted to the divinity Tir and is associated with the dog-star Sirius, the coming of the rains in Iran and the fertility they bring. On this day it is customary to visit the Fire Temple to give thanks to Ahura Mazda, and to participate in a jashan or thanksgiving ceremony.
Joke Day
Joke Day is not just a day for you to prove to everyone how funny you are. It is the perfect day for you to share laughs and to put a smile on people’s faces, including your own. Whether you prefer to share jokes or you like to listen to them, this is a day that is all about smiling, laughing, and having fun, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of a day like this? They say that laughter is the best medicine, and a lot of people would agree with this! After all, there are actually a lot of health benefits that are associated with laughing. Laughter draws people together in a manner that triggers healthy emotional and physical changes in the body. Laughter can help to protect you from the damaging impact of stress, diminish pain, boost mood, and strengthen your immune system. Nothing workers more dependably or quicker to bring your body and mind back into balance than a good old laugh. Humour keeps you alert, focused, and grounded, as well as connecting you to others, inspiring hope, and lightening your burden. It also helps you to forgive sooner and release anger too. You may have also heard that laughter is a good way to burn calories, and this is true too! Of course, this does not mean that you should replace going to the gym with laying on the sofa and watching your favourite comedian. One study concluded that you can burn around 40 calories if you laugh for between 10 and 15 minutes each day. Over the year, this could be enough to lose around four pounds!
Gingersnap Day
Fancy a sweet and yet spicy snack? If you’re a fan of the humble biscuit, you’re probably already aware of the legendary gingersnap. A tough, crunchy and (obviously) ginger-y treat, the gingersnap has long been a popular teatime treat across the world. And today, it’s all about taking a moment to appreciate just how great these little biccies are. Depending on where you go, you might get a slightly different biccie from different regional variant recipes – but wherever you are, raise a cup of tea to the ginger biscuit today and be sure to join in by tucking into one…or three!
Creative Ice Cream Flavour Day
Have you ever spent days and days and days making up flavours of ice cream that no one’s ever eaten before? Like chicken and telephone ice cream? Green mouse ice cream was the worst. I didn’t like that at all.
Neil Gaiman, Brief Lives
International Reggae Day
Even those people who know very little else about Reggae, its music, and its influences, will know the name Bob Marley. He’s the 1980’s Reggae musician who brought his amazing works to the world and shared the idea that three little birds will tell a person that “every little thing is gonna be alright!” Bob Marley had such a distinctive sound that it reached out and touched almost every corner of the world in his day. Of course, he wasn’t the only Reggae artist by a long shot. But certainly, he became one of the most popular and well-known in this musical style that has deep spiritual roots and an august history in Ska and rocksteady music. International Reggae Day celebrates this Jamaican style of music and brings it to those unfortunate people in the world who may have yet to experience it. This is a time to listen up and get into the groove of freedom that Reggae is all about!
A Selection of Birthdays
1574 Joseph Hall, Bishop and writer (Virgidemiarum: Six Books), born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (d. 1656)
1646 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (differential and integral calculus), born in Leipzig, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1716)
1840 Robert Stawell Ball, Irish mathematician and astronomer (Ball Screw), born in Dublin (d. 1913)
1844 Verney Lovett Cameron, English explorer (Tanganyika), born in Radipole, Dorset (d. 1894)
1849 John Selby, England Test cricket batsman (6 Tests), born in Nottingham, England (d. 1894)
1863 William Grant Stairs, Canadian-British explorer and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
1883 Arthur Borton, English soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, born in Cheveney, Kent (d. 1933)
1899 Cavan O'Connor, British singer (I'm Only a Strolling Vagabond), born in Nottingham (d. 1997)
1899 Charles Laughton, English actor (Mutiny on Bounty, Spartacus), born in Scarborough (d. 1962)
1899 Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr, fictional character "Indiana Jones"
1901 Sylvia Mary Paget Chancellor, Philanthropist (Prisoners' Wives Service), born in London (d. 1996)
1902 William Wyler, American film director (Ben-Hur, Mrs Miniver), born in Mülhausen, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire (d. 1981)
1903 Amy Johnson, Pilot, first female to fly alone Britain to Australia, b. Kingston upon Hull,(d. 1941)
1903 Beatrix Lehmann, Actress (Candles at Nine/Staircase), b. Bourne End, Buckinghamshire (d. 1979)
1906 Estée Lauder [Josephine Esther Mentzer], American entrepreneur (Estée Lauder cosmetics), born in Corona, Queens, New York City (d. 2004)
1915 Joseph Ransohoff, Neurosurgeon & pioneer in modern neurosurgery, born Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 2001)
1916 Olivia de Havilland, American actress (All the King's Men, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Gone with the Wind), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 2020)
1925 Frank Lowson, England cricketer and batsman (7 Tests), born in Bradford (d. 1984)
1933 Peter Walwyn, Thoroughbred trainer (champion trainer 1974-75), born Lambourn (d.2017)
1934 Jean Marsh, English actress (Dark Places, Eagle has Landed), born in London
1935 Dave Prowse, English actor (Darth Vader), born in Bristol (d. 2020)
1940 Craig Brown, Scottish soccer wing half, coach and administrator (Scotland manager 1993-2001), born in Glasgow
1941 John Gould, British composer and musical comic
1943 Jeff Wayne, American-British musician and composer, born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York
1949 John Farnham, English-Australian singer (Age of Reason), born in Dagenham, Essex
1951 Trevor Eve, English actor (Shadow Chasers), born in Sutton Coldfield
1951 Dennis and Gnasher (previously titled Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, and originally titled Dennis the Menace) is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound Gnasher. The strip first appeared in issue 452, dated 17 March 1951, and is the longest-running strip in the comic.
1952 Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, American pop, funk and jazz session and touring drummer, (Michael Jackson "Billie Jean" George Duke; Herbie Hancock), composer & producer, born Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2018)
1953 Henry Percy, 11th duke of Northumberland and godchild of Elizabeth II (d. 1995)
1957 Sean O'Driscoll, Irish soccer midfielder and manager (Rep Ireland 3 caps, Bournemouth FC), born in Wolverhampton
1961 Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, born in Sandringham (d. 1997)
1961 Malcolm Elliott, British road cyclist (Tour of Britain 1988), born in Sheffield
1964 Pol Burton, British rock drummer (Transvision Vamp - "baby I Don't CAre"; "I Want Your Love")
1965 Gary Schofield, British Rugby League five-eighth (Great Britain 46, England 3 caps), born in Leeds
1965 Carl Fogarty, English motorbike racer (4x World Superbike champion), born in Blackburn
1967 Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American actress (Baywatch) and Playboy playmate (Feb 1990), born in Ladysmith, British Columbia
1981 Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-born Australian Rules footballer, (County Kerry 2009, Sydney Swans 2005 championships), born in Listowel, Ireland
1982 Romola Garai, English actress (I Capture the Castle), born in Hong Kong
1989 Mitch Hewer, English actor (Skins), born in Bristol
1989 Hannah Murray, English actress (Game of Thrones), born in Bristol
1998 Pa Salieu, Gambian British rapper (Frontline), born in Slough
On This day in British History
1535 Sir Thomas More goes on trial in England charged with treason
1745 Warship Elisabeth joins Bonnie Prince Charlie's frigate Doutelle [OS]
1747 Battle at Lafeld: France force beats British and Dutch army in Belgium during the Austrian War of Succession
1776 1st vote on Declaration of Independence for Britain's North American colonies
1858 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society
1881 General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, comes into effect
1890 Great Britain and Germany sign Zanzibar-Helgoland Treaty
1907 The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by British
1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)
1920 Sir Herbert Samuel takes over as high commissioner over Palestine, where Arab resistance to the British mandate continues
1930 Great Britain signs accord for Independence of Iraq
1944 2,500+ killed in London/SE England by German flying bombs
1944 Bretton Woods Conference starts, dominated by Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes and leads to establishment of the IMF and the World Bank
1946 The last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke cedes Sarawak to the British Crown
1960 The independent Somali Democratic Republic, commonly known as Somalia, is formed out of former British and Italian territories
1967 Canada celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 1867 British North America Act which served as Canada's constitution for over 100 years
1968 US, Britain, USSR & 58 nations sign Nuclear Non proliferation Treaty
1971 Britain and Argentina sign accord about Falkland Islands
1972 The first Gay Pride march in England takes place.
1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People's Republic of China
2007 Smoking is banned from English public places and all the UK after earlier bans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
1681 Oliver Plunkett, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and last Catholic martyr (later beatified) to die in England, hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at Tyburn at 55
1690 Army of Protestant King William III defeats deposed Roman Catholic King James II in Battle of Boyne in Ireland
1916 British court martial for the Easter uprising
1970 British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling visits N. Ireland and is reported as saying: "For God's sake bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country!"
Scotland
1543 England & Scotland sign peace treaty of Greenwich
1999 The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day powers are transferred from the Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh
Wales
1969 Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales is watched by large crowds in Caernarfon, Wales and by millions on television
1974 Monmouthshire renamed Gwent and becomes part of Wales
Wedding of Interest
1902 British admiral John Jellicoe (42) weds Gwendoline Cayzer at Holy Trinity in London
Deaths in History
1622 William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English peer and politician who helped stop the Gunpowder Plot, dies at around 47
1627 Nathaniel Bacon, English painter, dies at 41
1774 Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English corrupt politician (Chiswick), dies at 68
1782 Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1765-66, 1782), dies in an influenza epidemic at 52
1966 Pauline Boty, English artist, dies of cancer at 29
1980 Charles P. Snow, English novelist (Death Under Sail, Strangers and Brothers) and physical chemist, dies at 74
1997 Joshua Hassan, first Chief Minister of Gibraltar (1964-69, 72-87), dies at 81
2000 Sarah Payne, British murder victim (b. 1992)
2004 Peter Barnes, English writer (b. 1931)
2015 Sir Nicholas Winton, English Humanitarian ('British Schindler' - saved 600 children from Nazis), dies at 106