26 February - Historical Events and Special Celebrations

Flower of the Month

Violet

Gemstone of the Month: Amethyst

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!




Nomanda has a pretty liberal attitude to most things but I do agree with many others that as a result of the internet there is a lot of undesirable rubbish available out there. So I can agree with the opinion expressed by the representative for Michigan, Ruth Thompson, on this day in 1954 when she introduced a bill to ban “mailing obscene lewd, lascivious or filthy” materiel. Sadly I cannot agree with the target of her bill that was directed to the mailing out of rock and roll records! Come on, Ruth, it’s only rock and roll! What would you think of the stuff available today?



What would Ruth think of Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller” than went to the #1 spot on this day in 1983 and stayed there for a further 37 weeks? She probably wouldn’t have even liked the title! Never mind, this is Nomanda’s favourite track from the album!




Nomanda confesses to being a bit of a Francophile so it’s not surprising that the trial run of the TGV (the French high speed train) on this day in 1981 gets a mention. It achieved a very respectable average speed of 380 kph and having travelled on these trains occasionally I have to say that they are as smooth as silk and always whiz on time in my experience. The fastest speed recorded by a TGV is 574.8 kph or 357 mph for those of your still dealing in old money! If you want to see how fast that is have a look at this clip!



Continuing the French theme for a moment one of France’s best loved sons, the poet, author and playwright Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885), is our first birthday celebrity today. His best known works outside France are the “Lunch pack at Notre Dame” and “Les Miserables”. He is commemorated in virtually every city, town and village throughout France by having one of the most important streets in the town named him!



The inspiration of nearly everybody’s breakfast cereal, John Harvey Kellogg (1852 – 1943) is our next birthday guest. He stumbled upon corn flakes by accident whilst running his care home. He was crazy about nuts as part of a healthy diet!




The R& B and rock and roll pianist Antoine “Fats” Domino (1928) is our next birthday boy. I’m not sure whether he shared our last celebrity’s enthusiasm for corn flakes for breakfast but he loved a bit of “Blueberry Hill” pie! Great voice and great tinkler of the old ivories!



If you like your blue berry pie hot then stick it on Johnny Cash’s (1932 – 2003) “Ring of Fire” and get your taste buds going! Magic!






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!!

1 December - Historical Events and Special Celebrations

Gemstone of the Month

Turquoise

Flower of the Month: Paper White

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!



“BINGO” shouts the fat lady furiously waving her card to be checked and to be paid her winnings. Well we all have the toy salesman Edwin s Lowe to thank for the invention of this stupid game on this day in 1929. The game occupies bored people and seduces them with the chance of winning money. Mind-blowingly dull and profitable only for the organisers! That’s why so many churches run bingo nights!


Much more interesting is the first coloured photograph of the earth from space that was taken on this day in 1959. It is a beautiful sight to behold and although only the odd astronaut and the few wealthy “space tourists” will witness it for real, thanks to the camera we can all enjoy it.



The colour of skin was the topic of the moment on this day in 1965 when the South African government declared that all children of white fathers are white. Now I do know that governments can be a bit stupid sometimes but I can imagine the case where a child of a white father and a black mother will have skin a darker tone than a similar child of a black father and a white mother. Yet according to this fantastic piece of administrative stupidity the darker one is “white” and the lighter one is “black”! It must be true, check it out on your ID card!


Almost at the end of the professional golfing calendar for the year it was on this day in 1973 that the great Jack Nicklaus became the first golfer to win $2 million dollars in a year. Well done, Jack! Nowadays the top player in a big competition can earn that amount in one event. Doesn’t seem right to me!




One of Michael Jackson’s best selling records “Thriller” was released on this day in 1982. Despite his enormous success and sponsorship deals he seems to have lost most of the money he’s earned and I understand that “Never Never Land” is now shortly to go under the hammer.



With a Frenchman at one end and an Englishman at the other, both armed with a shovel and a bit of earthmoving equipment, they started digging the channel tunnel on this day in 1987. And just 3 years later they met on this day in 1990. Neat work and great timing!


Not one of Nomanda’s favourites but it would be churlish to let Woody Allen’s birthday (1935) pass without a mention.




The rocking drummer of the ‘60’s Sandy Nelson (1938) will be beating his way to the bar at his birthday bash today. “Teen Beat” is probably his best known record and it makes you want to get up and go strictly come jiving!



One of Nomanda’s favourite golfers Lee Trevino (1939) is our next birthday boy today. With 6 majors to his name Nomanda reckons he can give himself a day off from the practice range and have a great birthday party!




The evergreen Bette Midler (1945) is our last birthday guest. She’s done lots of stuff and is currently appearing at Caesar’s Palace with a couple of other evergreens, Cher and Elton John. I wonder who does the wake up calls!




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!!

19 September - Historical Events and Special Celebrations

Gemstone of the Month

Sapphire

Flower of the Month: Aster

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!



Although New Zealand currently advertises itself as the youngest country in the world it was in fact well ahead of the times when on this day in 1893 it passed a bill allowing women the right to vote. Later in 1893, Elizabeth Yates also became Mayor of Onehunga, the first time such a post had been held by a female anywhere in the British Empire. From all the tourist pictures I’ve seen it seems a great country and one that Nomanda would like to visit at some time in the future. Of course watching the “All Blacks” doing what they do best on the trip would be a wonderful bonus!

The leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, was one very unhappy bunny when on this day in 1959 he was told that he couldn’t visit Disneyland. There are different accounts of the story but the one I like best is that during his visit to Los Angeles one of his lunch guests, Bob Hope, suggested to Mrs K that she should take her children to Disneyland. Mrs K passed a note to the old man requesting the visit and Mr K asked if he could go. The official response from the American security services was that it would be too dangerous and that they couldn’t guarantee his safety. Not one to upset the Mrs, Khrushchev delivered a tirade of abuse and disgust accusing the US not only of not treating their guests properly, but also suggesting that they may be hiding missiles in Disneyland!


On a happier note Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel got together for a reunion concert in Central Park on this day in 1981. Here’s one of Nomanda’s favourites.




Fighting all sorts of mechanical aliens with the assistance of a blue elephant, Captain EO (aka Michael Jackson) was “Here to Change the World” in the film named after the skipper that premiered on this day in 1986.



The chocolate maker whose chocolate bears his name, George Cadbury (1839 – 1922) was born on this day. Together with his brother Richard they bought some land south of Birmingham, England, and built not just their new factory but also a town of cheap housing for their employees. They named the development “Bourneville” and it is still there today, although now it’s been swept into the Birmingham suberbs. The factory is still going strong.


The British multi millionaire, Timothy Colman (1929) also has given his name to the simple condiment, mustard. Most of the family fortune has been made not by the mustard that people eat, but by the amount they leave on their plate and throw away! Nice work if you can get it!



The “Man from UNCLE”, David McCallum (1933) will be up to more daring feats of derry doo at his birthday bash today. I wonder if he’ll invite his Auntie to the party!




The evergreen model Leslie Hornby, better known as “Twiggy” (1949) will be strutting her M & S stuff at her birthday bash today! Still in the modeling business approaching 60, not at all bad!




Our final birthday wishes go to the actor Matthew L Perry (1969) who will no doubt invite the rest of his “Friends” to his birthday bash 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!!

29 August - Historical Events and Special Celebrations

Gemstone of the Month

Agate

Flower of the Month: Gladiolus

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!



Nomanda is quite partial to Chinese food. I like the wide variety of dishes to choose from and it used to a part of my staple diet during my bachelor days. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of my favourite dishes, Chop Suey, isn’t a Chinese dish at all but it was invented by the chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador when he visited New York. The chef came up with the dish on this day in 1896 to serve at a banquet to satisfy the palates of both the Chinese and American guests! Well I never!


The brolly flying Julie Andrews was in fine form on this day in 1964 when “Mary Poppins” was released. The film has been a great hit with children big and small and everyone will want to sing along with this! Lovely innocent stuff, why don’t they make films like this any more? Oh, I know, nobody would watch them!


And if you can cope with “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius” Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra” that went to the #1 spot on this day in 1982 will be easy-peasy for you!


Our first birthday celebrity is the talented actor, director and producer Richard Attenborough (1923). To choose a couple of his outstanding achievements in a career spanning over 60 years is a bit of an ask. He was launched onto the Hollywood scene following his performance in the blockbuster “The Great Escape” in 1963. Another film based on events in WWII “A Bridge Too Far” showed his talents as a director.
A great man and still going strong!


The next birthday celebrity, Michael Jackson (1958), is also a multi talented performer. He’s had a roller coaster ride of fame and infamy throughout his life. His performance in “Thriller” is one of his best!




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!!