Anniversaries

[rynner2]

Every year will contain anniversaries of various sorts, but I get the impression that 2009 has produced a richer crop than most.

Off the top of my head there's:

Darwin's birth 200 (years ago)
On the Origin of Species 150
Girl Guides turned up at Boy Scout rally 100 (GGs became 'official' in 1910)
Start of WWII (and numerous associated events) 70
Moon Landings 40
Beatles break-up 40


And those are only the ones which are multiples of ten. If we include 'fives' we have

Death of Alan Turing 55
Libyan Embassy siege 25

There must be many more, and most of them spawn radio and TV progs.
A chap on R4 this morning (sorry, can't find a link) argued that mathematically, anniversaries are increasing, and soon there will be no room for any other news at all! 8)

 

[rynner2]

Oh, and

Mini production 50

(The car, not the skirt! )

 

[JamesWhitehead]

It's Samuel Johnson's 300th Birthday. Radio 4 is dramatizing Boswell's Life and Any Questions was from Lichfield this week.

 

[Mythopoeika]

A chap on R4 this morning (sorry, can't find a link) argued that mathematically, anniversaries are increasing, and soon there will be no room for any other news at all! 8)

Well, why do we still celebrate birthdays of people who are dead? If we stopped doing that, there'd be room for the other anniversaries.

 

[Timble2]

It's Alfred Lord Tennyson's 200 th birthday as well and Edgar Allen Poe's....

 

[rynner2]

I knew there'd be more...!

 

[rynner2]

It's also 40 years since Gaddafi seized control of Libya!

 

[Cavynaut]

250 years since Guinness was first brewed.

Well worth celebrating!

 

[PeniG]

It's Buddy Holly's birthday. Don't forget to call your radio station and demand a tribute set. If they don't have Buddy, they'll have multiple people covering him.

Damn. I posted this way late for most of you.

 

[ramonmercado]

It's also 40 years since Gaddafi seized control of Libya!

It is 40 years since Gaddafi overthrew the Corrupt King who was a Running Dog of British Imperialism.

(Hiya Colonel, I'm in the Import/Export business)

 

[rynner2]

It will be 25 years on Thursday since British scientist Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys discovered the DNA fingerprint. Claire Marshall joined him in his laboratory to talk about his breakthrough and the changes it has wrought over the last 25 years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys still works in the same laboratory at Leicester University where, a quarter of a century ago, he discovered, by chance, the genetic fingerprint.

His "eureka" moment came on the morning of Monday 10 September 1984 when he pulled an x-ray film out of the developing tank in the laboratory.

He could see patterns in the genetic material which completely discriminated between the three people who had been involved in the analysis: a technician, and a mother and a father.

"Within seconds," said Prof Jeffreys, "it was obvious that we had stumbled upon a DNA-based method not only for biological identification, but also for sorting out family relationships. It really was an extraordinary moment."

The new technique quickly attracted publicity when it helped to settle a difficult immigration case.

etc...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/n ... 245312.stm

 

[rynner2]

It's Samuel Johnson's 300th Birthday. Radio 4 is dramatizing Boswell's Life and Any Questions was from Lichfield this week.

Article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/book ... -life.html

 

[rynner2]

Porthleven service for hero Guy Gibson
1:00pm Tuesday 15th September 2009

An open air service is being held this Saturday to remember Porthleven hero Guy Gibson.

Guy, who spent his childhood days in Cornwall and lived for a time in Porthleven, his mother’s home, was wing commander with the Dambusters in the Second World War and received the Victoria Cross for his daring.

The squadron’s courageous low-level night bombing attacks on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams during World War II remain legendary.

September 19 marks the [65th] anniversary of Guy’s death, in the latter days of the war during a Mosquito Pathfinder mission.

Guy spent his childhood days in Cornwall and lived for a time in Porthleven, his mother’s home.

Members of the Helston branch of the Royal Air Force Association gather each year to commemorate the anniversary of his death and at 2pm on Saturday they will be at Porthleven cemetery for a service mirroring the one that takes place at his graveside in Steenburgen, Holland.

This year is particularly poignant, as it marks 70 years since the outbreak of the conflict.

Flowers will be placed on the memorial tablet in memory of the sacrifice made by Guy and many of his squadron colleagues all those years ago.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/46 ... on/?ref=mr

 

[rynner2]

I'm surprised the Scots here missed this one:

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796)

Another 250th anniversary!

 

[rynner2]

Audio slideshow: Blake's 'Informal Panorama'
The artist Quentin Blake - best known for his illustrations in Roald Dahl's children's books - has unveiled a 70-foot-long work celebrating the 800th anniversary of Cambridge University.

On display at Addenbrooke's Hospital - and in his own distinctive style - Quentin Blake's mural depicts famous alumni from centuries past. Take a guided tour with the artist himself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8281204.stm

 

[rynner2]

China marks Communist anniversary

China is staging mass celebrations to mark 60 years since the Communist Party came to power.

Vast lines of tanks, soldiers and missile launchers are being paraded through the capital Beijing.

President Hu Jintao has appeared on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square in a black Mao-style tunic, seen by analysts as a symbol of his control of the military.

He was joined by his predecessor Jiang Zemin, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders.

After a 60-gun salute, the Chinese flag was formally raised in the centre of the historic square - where revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 284087.stm

 

[feen5]

Monty Python's 40 years old this year and theres loads of stuff on this weekend on Paramount and BBC 2. Thats my television viewing sorted out this weekend.

 

[rynner2]

Brunel's Tamar bridge (The Royal Albert Bridge) is 150 years old...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8287758.stm

 

[rynner2]

Modern postcodes are 50 years old

The UK's country-wide postcode system, introduced to speed up mail deliveries but now used for a range of applications, is half a century old.

The whole of the UK was divided into postal districts for the first time after a trial run in Norwich in 1959.

Royal Mail says the UK has more than 1.7 million postcodes, covering about 28 million addresses.

Everything from insurance premiums to satellite navigation systems now rely on them.

Their power over property prices has even led to some residents campaigning to have their postcode changed.

In 2003, the residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead fought unsuccessfully to lose their SL postcode because it links them with nearby Slough - made famous by comedy series The Office.

Royal Mail started to use the alphanumeric codes when electronic sorting machines were introduced to speed up the service in the 1950s.

By the mid-1980s new technology meant the codes could be read automatically by sorting machines with no human intervention.

In Norwich, the first three characters of the code ('NOR') represented the name of the city, and the last three characters a particular street.

POSTCODE FACTS
The UK has 1.7 million postcodes
The Royal Mail online postcode checker receives about 4.5 million hits a month
Each postcode covers an average of 15 addresses
The first postal districts were introduced in London in 1857
Father Christmas has his own postcode - SAN TA1
The postcode now starts with the outward code, to distinguish one postal district from another, and the inward code which sorts between roads and buildings within the district.

Some large organisations have personalised postcodes, such as the Scottish Parliament's EH99 1SP and the ExCeL centre in London, E16 1XL.

The man who invented the postage stamp, Sir Rowland Hill, introduced Britain's first postal districts in London in 1857. Other major towns and cities were introduced in the 1860s.

The capital was divided into 10 separate postal districts - N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, EC and WC. The S and NE codes have since been reassigned to the Sheffield and Newcastle areas.

Royal Mail is using the anniversary to urge the public to use postcodes.

Almost a fifth of non-business letters, cards and packets are sent without a full or accurate postcode, it says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8288148.stm

 

[KarlD]

Father Christmas has his own postcode - SAN TA1
It must get very confusing when Satan gets all these christmas present lists.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

33 years of me (as of yesterday).

I'm older than Viz!

 

[ramonmercado]

33 years of me (as of yesterday).

I'm older than Viz!

Happy Birthday! 33? OK, we'll be around to crucify you ASAP.

 

[Cavynaut]

50 years since seat belts were first fitted in cars. Volvos I think.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

33 years of me (as of yesterday).

I'm older than Viz!

Happy Birthday! 33? OK, we'll be around to crucify you ASAP.

Cheers mate.

I've reached my first RPM milestone! 33! 45 and 78 to go.

(I know, I know, it's officially 33 and a third so it's not actually for another four months but I....don't...care)

 

[ramonmercado]

Ah! Thats right, the crucifixion will be at 33 1/3 as well.

 

[rynner2]

In pictures: A century of MI5

The first official history of MI5 has been published to mark the British intelligence agency's 100th anniversary. Among the photographs released is this 1970 observation post used to track Soviet Bloc intelligence officers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8290504.stm

 

[James_H]

I understand there's some sort of Hitchhiker's guide anniversary on at the moment, too.

 

[rynner2]

'Funeral' honours Edgar Allan Poe
By Lawrence Pollard
BBC arts correspondent

After 160 years, the great American writer Edgar Allan Poe is finally to be honoured with a decent funeral service.

As part of events marking the anniversary, and 200 years since his birth, Baltimore, where Poe died and is buried, will host a double celebration.

So many Poe fans are expected to attend that the service will be repeated, after an all-night vigil at his graveside in the eastern US port city.

Virtually no-one turned up for his original funeral in 1849.

Edgar Alan Poe - the inventor of the detective story and creator of horror writing - is one of the most influential American writers ever.

But he died an impoverished lunatic at the age of 40.

His tombstone was destroyed. An enemy wrote his obituary and damaged his reputation for decades.

As if to make up for all these disasters, Poe is being royally treated this year.

Events from an academic conference in Philadelphia to a recreation of his death in Virginia have marked his demise.

Poe attracts devotion. For decades his birthday has been marked by the so-called Poe Toaster, a mysterious visitor who leaves three roses and some cognac on his tombstone.

And now Poe gets not one funeral service, but two - as befits the master of the macabre.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8301128.stm

 

[PeniG]

Lunatic? That's cruel! He might have been rabid, or drunk, or delerious when he died, but nothing in his biography justifies the use of that term.

On October 11, 1975, the first episode of Saturday Night Live aired. That may not matter to Brits, but it matters over here.

Tomorrow will be Columbus Day, and also the second anniversary of my quitting the soul-sucking day job. I like knowing that a lot of people will get vacation on my Freedom Day. 8)

 

[GNC]

On October 11, 1975, the first episode of Saturday Night Live aired. That may not matter to Brits, but it matters over here.

I've been slowly making my way through the SNL box sets, and am now at the start of Season 3. Steve Martin as guest host is always great value (check him out on YouTube interviewing Burt Reynolds when sitting in for Johnny Carson: a brilliant example of the chat show art for both of them).

Knowing that most of the regular cast were off their heads on cocaine does tend to add a slight air of tragedy to the episodes, though. What a talent we lost in John Belushi.