Happy Special Day!: Picasso

Flower of the Month

Rose

Gemstone of the Month: Pearl

First of all Nomanda would like to thank all our new readers! We have been getting more and more of you every day and we really appreciate you! If you are enjoying Nomanda’s blog please pass it on to your friends. And if you would like to make a comment or get your own special mention on your own special day just send us the details through the comments section and we’ll make sure we don’t forget you!

Nomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!

Today is a very special day for Nomanda as it is the birthday of our best and oldest friend, Peter. We have known each other since the early ‘70’s when we worked together in Wembley. Sadly it was not in the Stadium, but in an office near by. You could however just about see the famous towers from the office window! Those were the days of large Italian lunches and visits to the “Greene Man” after work, having a couple of pints to avoid the traffic jams on the way home! Peter, our very best wishes to you on this special day and your card is in the post complete with fire extinguisher!

It’s difficult to keep Henry VIII out of the limelight for long, after all he did so much, and it was on this day in 1509 that he was crowned King of England having married his brother’s widow, Catherine, just a couple of weeks earlier. The marriage like many others would not last, and on the same day a few years later in 1540 Henry divorced his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. More to follow!

The young painter, Pablo Picasso, was to show the first exhibition of his work on this day in 1901 at a prestigious gallery in Paris. He never looked back and despite his socialist and political persuasions lived a very long, indulgent and comfortable life.

This day seems to have been a good day for the English Cricket Team at Lord’s as in 1968 they managed to get the Australians all out for just 78 runs, and in 1974 did the same thing with the Indian team for just 42 runs. Those were the days!

My friend Peter will be pleased to know that sharing his birthday with him is one of the heavyweight boxing champions of all time, Jack Dempsey (1895 – 1983). He held the World Heavyweight Title from 1919 – 1926 and I’m sure this clip will bring a smile to Peter’s face!

Another boxer, this time at performing at light middle heavyweight, Boris Lagutin, one of the USSR’s most celebrated boxers was born on this day in 1938. His record is 241 wins and just 11 losses throughout his career. He also has a couple of Olympic Gold medals to his name and fame!

Rocking on the stage as opposed to his heels born on this day in 1947 was the inspirational leader of the group that carries part of his name, Mick Fleetwood. The group have been around for ever and are still performing. Let’s have one of their best!

Our final birthday tribute goes to Terrance Wilson (1957), the vocalist of UB40. I’m sure they will join Peter in a glass of “Red Red Wine” to celebrate their special day!

Happy Special Day to one and all!!

If you know someone who is celebrating their birthday, anniversary or a special day today or sometime soon why not send them a nice e-card so they get it as soon as they log on! Even better, why not send this page to your friend!
Don’t know what to get for a present? Think about what your special person enjoys doing and the things they like.

For Girls, I know that flowers and chocolates are a bit cliché but nevertheless they always seem to work! Of course, if your budget stretches that far, jewellery, watches, perfume and fashion items are always appreciated!

For Boys, all boys like toys! It’s just as they get older the toys get more expensive. So gadgets and gimmicky things work. Again, if you have the budget then car accessories, sporting equipment and clothes, and man type jewellery like watches and gold chains will go down very well!

And, if all else fails, you could always send them a gift voucher and they can choose whatever they want!

If you are celebrating a birthday, anniversary or other special event today I hope you got lots of cards and presents and that there is someone special in your life who will make this day a very happy and special day for you.

Happy celebrations to you from the Happy Special Day Blog!!

Gemstone of the Month

Opal

Flower of the Month: Calendula

Nomanda’s Happy Special Day blog is a celebration of events and anniversaries that have touched our lives. If today is your special day join us in looking at a few other events that have occurred on your day. Enjoy!

In the long running wars between the English and the French this day in 1415 was to mark a famous English victory at Agincourt when Henry V defeated a much larger French force. The battle was won largely through the skills and deployment of the English archers armed with their longbows. The battle has been immortalised by Shakespeare in his play Henry V and the pre-battle motivating speech made by Henry V to his troops has become one of Shakespeare’s most remembered and quoted lines. Here are the final words from that speech:

“And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day"

Stirring stuff!

However the English didn’t always have it their way because in the Crimean War against the Russians this day in 1854 marked one of the classic command cock ups in British military history. The English commander, Raglan, wanted the “Light Brigade” to stop the Russians removing naval guns overlooking the sea appraoches. Captain Nolan carried the oral instructions to Lucan who asked Nolan which guns were the intended target. The story goes that Nolan gave a wide sweep of his arm directing the attack into a heavily defended valley with a total of 50 gun emplacements on both sides and at the end of the valley as well as around 20 battalion of troops (approximately 20,00 men!). The luckless commander of the “Light Brigade”, Cardigan, set off with his force of 673 cavalry and charged into the “valley of death”.

The unhappy event has been immortazlised in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem and I cannot describe it better. You can hear the pounding of the galloping charge and the blasting of the cannons in the rhythm of the poem, here it is:

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Memorializing Events in the Battle of Balaclava, October 25, 1854
Written 1854

Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:

'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack & Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
Shatter'd & sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse & hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

On a happier note it was on this day in 1965 that the Rolling Stones released “Get Off of My Cloud”. That’s more like it!

Our first birthday celebrity is the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881 – He is an artist who pleases some of the people some of the time but not necessarily all of the people all of the time. Frankly I think he got worse as he got older, but what do I know! Here is one of Nomanda’s favourites.

Anxious to prove her talents and sex Helen Reddy (1941) gained fame with her “I Am Woman”. Nomanda agrees that she is a woman and is happy that she is still going strong!

Just because she appeared on the soap “Days of our Lives” and ended up marrying one of her co-stars (how soapy is that!) the actress Lisa Trusel (1968) gets Nomanda’s birthday wishes today!

Happy Special Day to one and all!!

If you know someone who is celebrating their birthday, anniversary or a special day today or sometime soon why not send them a nice e-card so they get it as soon as they log on! Even better, why not send this page to your friend!
Don’t know what to get for a present? Think about what your special person enjoys doing and the things they like.

For Girls, I know that flowers and chocolates are a bit cliché but nevertheless they always seem to work! Of course, if your budget stretches that far, jewellery, watches, perfume and fashion items are always appreciated!

For Boys, all boys like toys! It’s just as they get older the toys get more expensive. So gadgets and gimmicky things work. Again, if you have the budget then car accessories, sporting equipment and clothes, and man type jewellery like watches and gold chains will go down very well!

And, if all else fails, you could always send them a gift voucher and they can choose whatever they want!

If you are celebrating a birthday, anniversary or other special event today I hope you got lots of cards and presents and that there is someone special in your life who will make this day a very happy and special day for you.

Happy celebrations to you from the Happy Special Day Blog!!