1st August: First Mars Bar sold

The first Mars bar went on sale on 1 August 1932. Here are 10 things you may not know about Mars Bars:

1. The first Mars Bars were made in a factory in Slough, Berkshire which employed just 12 people. Most Mars Bars are still manufactured on the same trading estate today.
2. Production was started by Forrest Mars, the son of the American chocolate maker Frank C. Mars, and was based on the American Milky Way bar.
3. The basic recipe is much the same as it was then, with only minor variations. The size of the bars has changed though. They got smaller but cost more. Mars' excuse? Trying to combat the obesity crisis and promote healthier eating.
4. The logo on the packet has changed, except in Australia where they still have the old logo.
5. Mars bars are available worldwide, but not in the USA where they were discontinued, re-introduced and then discontinued again in 2011.
6. A standard 58g Mars Bar contains 260 calories, 35g sugar and 10g fat.
7. The Mars Bar can be used as a measure of the change in the value of the pound sterling since World War II - its price reflects this quite accurately.
8. In 1998, Martin Keys, a shift manager at a warehouse, tried to steal eight lorry loads of Mars Bars worth around £70,000 per lorry, and weighing more than 300 tons. He tried to cover up his nefarious deeds by manipulating the warehouse computer system but the law caught up with him and he went to prison for five years.
9. No list of Mars Bar facts would be complete without a mention of deep fried ones. Deep fried Mars Bars were created by the Haven Chip Bar (now the Carron) in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen in Scotland. They make them by chilling the chocolate so it doesn’t melt so much, covering them in fish and chip batter and deep frying. It was intended as a novelty dish, but its fame spread and other chip shops in Scotland jumped on the bandwagon. According to a survey, many shops sold about 23 a week, although the Carron sells 100 or more of the bars to tourists. The Mars company does not support this practice.
10. In 2000, Scottish chef Ross Kendall included deep fried Mars Bars on the menu of Le Chipper restaurant in Paris.

31st July: JFK Airport

On this date in 1948, President Harry Truman dedicated a recently opened airport in New York. We know it today as John F Kennedy Airport. !0 things you may not know about JFK:

1. It went through several name changes. Before it was built it was going to be called Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport after a National Guard Commander. By 1948, New York City Council had re-named it New York International Airport, Anderson Field but it was more commonly known as Idlewild Airport until it was re-named in memory of John F. Kennedy in 1963.
2. It was built on the site of the Idlewild Golf Course. Idlewild means "peaceful but savage".
3. The first plane to land at the new airport was a Peruvian International Airways DC-4, piloted by Captain Douglas Larsen, while the first scheduled flight to land was a Peruvian International Airlines DC-4 from Santiago Chile. Try as I might, I can find no information about the first plane to take off. You'd think somebody somewhere would have made a note of that, but it doesn't seem to have reached the Internet.
4. The airport has had to undergo significant modifications as planes get bigger. JFK was designed to accommodate aircraft no larger than a Douglas DC-6, so Boeing 747s presented a challenge which needed to be solved in the late 1960s.
5. In March 2007, JFK became the first airport in the United States to receive the Airbus A380 with passengers aboard.
6. Today it is the 17th busiest airport in the world (50,423,765 passengers in 2013).
7. JFK covers 4,930 acres, of which 880 acres are in the Central Terminal Area. It has about 30 miles of roadway.
8. It has the second-longest commercial runway in North America (the longest is a 16,000 feet (4,900 m) runway at Denver International Airport).
9. Roughly 35,000 people are employed at the airport.
10. It is operated by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, under a lease with the City of New York, and has been since it first opened. The lease is set to last until 2050.

30th July: Cheesecake day

National Cheesecake Day. Celebrates a popular dessert. 10 facts about cheesecake:

1. Archaeologists have found evidence that he first cheesecakes were probably made in Ancient Greece 4,000 years ago.
2. The first person to record the recipe was Athenaeus in 230 A.D.
3. In Ancient Greece, cheesecake was consumed for religious reasons and went by the rather unappetising name of "placenta".
4. In 776 B.C., the Greeks believed cheesecake to be a good source of energy, and so it was served to athletes at the first Olympic games.
5. The cheesecake as we know it originated in New York in 1872 when dairyman William Lawrence discovered how to make cream cheese. In 1912, James Kraft invented pasteurised cream cheese, which is the main ingredient of today's cheesecakes.
6. Cheesecake used to be made with yeast until the 18th century when Europeans discovered that beaten eggs could be used to make things rise.
7. In  Italy cheesecakes are made from ricotta; in Germany, Netherlands and Poland they use quark.
8. Because cheesecakes are dense, they keep on cooking for some time after they are taken out of the oven.
9. There are savoury cheesecakes as well as sweet ones.
10. The largest cheesecake ever made weighed 4,703lb. It was made by Philadelphia Kraft Foods in Mexico in 2009.

29th July: Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish diplomat, was born on 29 July 1905.

1. Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.
2. Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.
3. What makes loneliness an anguish is not that I have no one to share my burden, but this: I have only my own burden to bear.
4. The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.
5. Life only demands from you the strength that you possess. Only one feat is possible; not to run away.
6. Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.
7. The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
8. Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the horizon will find the right road.
9. The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
10. It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity.

28th July: Anniversary of the first hamburger

In 1900, on this date, Louis Lassing of New Haven, Connecticut created the first hamburger. 10 notable hamburger variations:

1. The traditional: The Lassing family still make burgers exactly as they did in 1900 - on vertical cast-iron gas stoves served on plain bread. You can garnish it with Cheese spread, Tomatoes and Onions. No ketchup, mayonnaise or Mustard is even allowed in the restaurant. Anyone bringing their own is asked to leave.
2. The very expensive: the most expensive burger ever cost $10,000 and was sold for charity. It was made from Wagyu beef, truffles, 24-karat gold leaf and sliced Spanish jamón ibérico, made from black Iberian Pigs fed a diet composed almost entirely of acorns. There are elite restaurants which regularly serve very pricey burgers made from such ingredients as lobster tails, foie gras, and even barbecue sauce made with Kopi Luwak coffee beans (where the beans have first been eaten and then excreted by a civet).
3. The largest: In 2007, Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, set a record for the world’s largest hamburger offered for sale. It weighed 123lb. A 3,591 pound burger was made in 1982, and shared between 10,000 people.
4. The burger with no beef in it: In India, you cannot buy beef burgers, even in McDonalds, because Cows are sacred.
5. The burger with artificial meat: Maastrict University in the Netherlands has created a burger from laboratory cultivated beef, which contains no fat, but still tastes good, according to the head of the project, Dr Mark Post. The cow-friendly burger doesn't come cheap, though. A five ounce burger cost $325,000 to make.
6. The world's most fattening burger: a restaurant in Las Vegas known as the Heart Attack Grill has on its menu a burger known as The Quadruple Bypass. It consists of four half-pound hamburgers, three tablespoons of lard, 20 slices of bacon, eight slices of American cheese, 20 slices of caramelized onion baked in lard, eight tomato slices, one tablespoon of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of ketchup, one tablespoon of mustard, and a bun. It contains a staggering 9,982 calories. The fries it comes with are cooked in pure lard and you can wash it down with a butterfat milkshake.
7. A jerky burger: Just buy any McDonald's burger and leave it a while, because they don't rot, they simply dry out. This isn't down to them being full of chemicals, just low in moisture.
8. The secret burger: McDonalds has a secret menu. You can get Land, Sea and Air Burger: a chicken patty, a beef patty, and a Filet O' Fish patty on a single bun, but only if you're in the know.
9. The $100 hamburger: you need to know an amateur pilot in the US for this. It's a slang term for going on a short flight just for the fun of it, which usually involves eating a burger in an airport restaurant. The burger doesn't cost $100 - the fuel to get you there does.
10. The exotic burger: There is a restaurant in America called Twisted Root Burger Co that serves Kangaroo burgers, Beaver burgers, ostrich/emu burgers, and more.

27th July: Ketchup and beanz

This date in 1900, the H.J. Heinz Company was incorporated. 10 things you may not know about Heinz products:

1. The company hasn't always been as successful as it is today. In 1875, it actually went bankrupt. Henry Heinz could only start up again by joining a company formed by his brother and his cousin and work as a manager, and after a few years he was able to take over again.
2. The first Heinz product ever was Horseradish sauce, made from Henry Heinz's mother's own recipe. Unlike other brands of the time, Heinz sold it in a clear bottle so customers could see the product before buying.
3. Tomato ketchup comes out of the bottle at 0.28 miles an hour. Any quicker than this and it's not thick enough and will be rejected for sale. If you can't wait that long, Heinz advises giving the bottle a firm tap on the neck, where the bottle narrows and this will make it flow more easily. Only 11% of people are aware of this fact.
4. That's a lot more than the number of people who know the recipe for the stuff - only 8-10 people know that.
5. When Heinz first adopted the "Heinz 57" slogan in 1896, he was already producing more than 60. He just liked the number 57. Today, it produces more than 100 times that number.
6. A million housewives everyday pick up a tin of beans and say: 'Beanz Meanz Heinz.' This slogan, created in 1967, was voted the top advertising slogan of all time by Creative Review magazine in 2012.
7. In the UK, 1.5 million tins of Heinz Baked Beans are sold every year. This is probably thanks to an unnamed Heinz executive who, in 1927, came up with a great idea to sell more beans - eat them on toast!
8. A serving of Heinz baked beans, or a can of cream of tomato soup, counts as one of your five a day.
9. You will find around 465 beans in a standard 415g can.
10. In the 1930s, Heinz salesmen were carefully selected. They had to be over 6 feet tall and impeccably dressed as well as being good at selling. They also had to be quite strong as their selling kit included vacuum flasks, pickle forks and olive spears and weighed about 30lbs.

26th July: George Bernard Shaw's birthday

On this date in 1856 George Bernard Shaw, was born. He wrote over 60 plays, including Candida, Pygmalion and Saint Joan. He won the 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature. 10 Shaw quotes:

1. If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion.
2. Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
3. We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
4. People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
5. There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.
6. Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?
7. Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.
8. You use a glass mirror to see your face: you use works of art to see your soul.
9. A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
10. Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.

25th July: Tunisia Republic Day

Tunisia Republic Day Commemorates the proclamation of the Republic in 1957.

10 things you may not know about Tunisia:

1. The country is named for its capital city, Tunis. Tunis probably derives from a Berber word meaning "encampment", In Arabic, the word for the city and the country are the same and it is only by context that it is possible to tell the difference.
2. The Berbers were the first known inhabitants of Tunisia. Phoenician and Cypriot settlers arrived in the 10th century BC and founded the ancient city of Carthage, which was conquered by Rome in 149 BC. The area was known as the "Granary of the Empire" because a lot of cereal crops were produced there.
3. In the 7th century AD, Arab Muslims conquered the land. They founded the city of Kairouan, the first Islamic city in North Africa. In 670 AD, the Great Mosque of Kairouan was built; it is famous for having the oldest standing minaret in the world.
4. France invaded in 1881 and the country became a French protectorate, until it became independent in 1956.
5. In 2013 the population was approximately 10.8 million.
6. Tunisia has two distinct Mediterranean coasts, due to a sharp southward turn in its northern coastline.
7. The highest point is Jebel ech Chambi, a 1544m high mountain above the city of Kasserine in western central Tunisia, which is covered by a pine forest. The lowest point is Chott el Djerid, a large salt lake in the south.
8. The longest river is the Medjerda River, at 450 km.
9. The national football team is known as "The Eagles of Carthage."
10. The southernmost administrative division in the Tunisia is called Tataouine. If that sounds familiar, it may be because George Lucas named Luke Skywalker's home world of Tatooine after it.

24th July: Women Aviators' Day

It's Women Aviators' Day. Amelia Earhart, the American aviation pioneer was born on this date in 1897. 10 facts about Amelia Earhart:

1. It could be said her first "flight" was at the age of about seven or eight when her uncle helped her build a ramp for a makeshift sled in the family garden. Despite a torn dress and bruised lip, she reportedly loved the sensation and exclaimed to her sister, "It's just like flying!"
2. The first time she saw an actual plane, though, a few years later at the Iowa State Fair, she wasn't that interested in it and couldn't wait to get back to the fairground. Her interest was piqued a bit more when, later still she visited a flying exhibition with a friend and one of the pilots, seeing two young women watching in a clearing, thought he'd scare them by diving at them. Amelia didn't run, however. She stood her ground as the aircraft passed close by and later said, "I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by."
3. In 1920 she visited an airfield with her father and he bought her a $10 ride in a plane that lasted just 10 minutes, but Amelia was hooked and immediately started saving up for flying lessons. Her teacher was another female aviation pioneer, Anita Snook. To get to her first lesson, Amelia had to take a bus and then walk four miles. She said to Anita on arrival, "I want to fly. Will you teach me?"
4. Amelia had a variety of careers - she was a nurse's aide in World War I, a nurse during the Spanish flu epidemic, and even started to train as a doctor but dropped out after a year. She worked as a photographer, truck driver, and stenographer to finance her flying lessons; later she became a sales representative for Kinner aircraft and wrote a column about flying for a local paper. She was also associate editor for Cosmopolitan magazine for a time. Earhart joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and as a technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics.
5. She may not have known as a child exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up, except that it had to be something hitherto male dominated. She kept a scrapbook of cuttings about women who were successful in male-oriented fields, and chose her high school on the basis of which one had the best science program. She was described in her high school yearbook as "A.E. – the girl in brown who walks alone."
6. Her attitude to marriage was ahead of its time. She broke off one engagement, but eventually married a divorced man called George Putnam, who had to propose to her six times before she finally agreed. Earhart referred to her marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control." She refused to take her husband's name, believed them both to be breadwinners, and made it clear she was not going to be bound by any code of faithfulness; neither did she insist that he remain faithful to her.
7. After Charles Lindburgh flew solo across the Atlantic, a woman named Amy Phipps Guest decided she wanted to be the first woman to fly in a plane across the Atlantic. However, when Amy looked into it, she decided it was too dangerous for her, but was still convinced that some woman somewhere needed to do it. So she sponsored the project and suggested the team find "another girl with the right image." Already known as a journalist promoting women in aviation, and bearing some physical resemblance to Lindburgh (to the extent of being dubbed "Lady Lindy" by the press) Amelia Earhart was the obvious choice. On this first trip, she was a passenger. "I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes," she said, although she was more than just a passenger - she was writing the flight log. It took the team 20 hours and 40 minutes to fly from Newfoundland to Wales. "Maybe someday I'll try it alone," Earhart said.
8. And, of course, she did exactly that, flying from Newfoundland to Ireland in the faster time of 14 hours and 56 minutes. A local farm hand who'd seen the landing, asked her, "Have you flown far?" He probably wasn't expecting her answer - "From America."
9. While most famous for flying the Atlantic, Earhart had other aviation achievements to her name: first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back; a world altitude record of 18,415 feet (5,613 m); the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. She came third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby. She would have won if she had not stopped to help a friend. At the final stop of the race, Earhart was in joint first place with Ruth Nicholls, but as Nicholls was taking off for the final leg, her plane hit a tractor and flipped over. Earhart ran over to the crash site to make sure her friend was not hurt before taking off herself.
10. After Earhart and her plane vanished during an attempt to fly around the world, the search operation to try and find her was the most intensive and costly ever undertaken in the US up to that point. After the official search, her husband continued to direct and finance further searches - but nothing was ever found.

23rd July: Michael Foot's birthday

On this date in 1913 Michael Foot, politician, Labour Party leader from 1980 83, was born. He would have been 101 today. 10 things you might not know about him.

This is an image from the Nationaal Archief,
the Dutch National Archives, and Spaarnestad.
 Photo donated in the context of a partnership program.

1. His middle name was Mackintosh.
2. His first job after graduation was as a shipping clerk in Birkenhead. The poverty and unemployment that he witnessed there influenced a change in his political views from liberal to socialist.
3. He first stood for Parliament at the age of 22, contesting Monmouth in 1935, but it was ten years later that he first won a seat, a first time Labour victory for Plymouth Devonport.
4. Foot was a journalist as well as a politician. Aneurin Bevan recommended him to Lord Beaverbrook as a writer for the Evening Standard, after Foot had resigned in principle from another publication because they'd sacked his boss. At the age of 28, Michael Foot was the editor of the Evening Standard.
5. Although he was a staunch republican, the Royal Family actually rather liked him and kept trying to give him honours, including a knighthood and a peerage, but he kept turning them down.
6. He was a chain smoker until 1963 when he was involved in a serious car accident, after which he gave up.
7. Foot was likened to Worzel Gummidge in the series of letters purported to have been written by Denis Thatcher to his fictional friend Bill in Private Eye.
8. From 1987 to 1992, he was the oldest sitting British MP.
9. He was the oldest registered player in the history of football at the age of 90. He was a passionate supporter of Plymouth Argyle Football Club, and for his 90th birthday, the club registered him as an honorary player and gave him the shirt number 90.
10. On his 93rd birthday, Michael Foot became the longest lived leader of a British political party, beating Lord Callaghan's record of 92 years, 364 days.

22nd July: Spoonerisms

Today is Reverend William Archibald Spooner's birthday. He was born in 1844. His tendency to get words mixed up gave us the word "Spoonerism" to describe a sentence where the words have been jumbled, often to comic effect. Most of the amusing gaffes Spooner allegedly came out with in his lifetime cannot be proved to have been said by him. Only two are properly documented: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer" (rate of wages) and "Kinkering Kongs Their Titles Take." (Conquering Kings Their Titles Take), a hymn title. Here are 10 of the non proven ones - can you work out what he was supposed to be saying?

1. Is the bean dizzy?
2. The Lord is a shoving leopard.
3. Someone is occupewing my pie. Please sew me to another sheet.
4. A half-warmed fish.
5. A well-boiled icicle.
6. A blushing crow.
7. Three cheers for our queer old dean!
8. Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?
9. A nosey little cook.
10. You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain.

21st July: Ernest Hemingway's birthday

The writer Ernest Hemingway was born on this date in 1899. 10 Hemingway quotes:

1. The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
2. The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
3. Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
4. Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.
5. There is no friend as loyal as a book.
6. There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
7. Never mistake motion for action.
8. We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
9. Courage is grace under pressure.
10. I never had to choose a subject - my subject rather chose me.

20th July: First Moon landing

45 years ago today, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module landed on the surface of the Moon. Here are 10 things you may not know about the Apollo 11 mission.

Buzz Aldrin and the American flag on the Moon
(NASA photo)

1. 
   Since the crew of Apollo 10 had named their spacecraft Charlie Brown and Snoopy, the crew of Apollo 11 were under strict instructions from NASA to choose more serious names for theirs. Snowcone and Haystack were the names used in the planning stages, but for the actual mission, the Command Module was named Columbia after the Columbiad, the giant cannon shell "spacecraft" fired by a giant cannon in Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon; and the Lunar Module was named Eagle for the national bird of the United States, the Bald eagle.
2. On board the spacecraft was a piece of wood from the plane in which the Wright brothers made the first flight, and a piece of fabric from the wing, which Neil Armstrong chose to take as part of his personal kit.
3. Buzz Aldrin's personal kit included a Holy Communion kit prepared by the pastor of the Webster Presbyterian Church, where Aldrin was an elder. Buzz Aldrin is the only person to have taken Holy Communion on the moon. He did so privately because atheists had strongly objected to crews of previous missions quoting from the Bible in space and had even brought lawsuits against NASA. It was reported that Neil Armstrong watched respectfully but did not partake. Aldrin brought the communion chalice back with him and gave it to the church, which commemorates the event annually on the Sunday nearest to July 20th.
4. The first words spoken by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the surface of the moon are well known. However, the Eagle had been sitting on the moon surface for several hours before this with the astronauts inside. Nobody is really sure what the first words uttered after the landing actually were. It could have been Aldrin pointing out that the contact light had turned on by saying, “Contact light.” Armstrong then instructed Aldrin to turn off the descent engine by saying, “Shut down.” Aldrin followed by turning off the engine and saying, “Okay. Engine stop.” For the sake of a good story, though, people tend to go with “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
5. The moon smells. The astronauts who have been there reported that it smelled of spent gunpowder or wet ashes in a fireplace. Scientists have not yet worked out why this is.
6. Three new minerals were discovered in the rock samples collected by the astronauts: armalcolite, tranquillityite, and pyroxferroite. Armalcolite was named after Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins.
7. The computers on board the Apollo 11 spacecraft were not very powerful. There is more processing power in the average family car, and even in a mobile phone than there was in the rocket that went to the moon.
8. The US flag that was so carefully placed by the astronauts was knocked over by the exhaust when the Eagle took off. Subsequent missions learned from this and planted their flags at least 30 meters (100 feet) away from the lunar modules.
9. As well as the flag, the mission also left behind some scientific instruments to measure moonquakes, an Apollo 1 mission patch (Apollo 1 had ended in disaster with all its astronauts killed) and a plaque containing pictures of earth, the signatures of the astronauts and of Richard Nixon, who was President at the time. The plaque is inscribed with the words "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
10. The last words to be transmitted from Columbia at the end of the mission were "Everything's okay. Our checklist is complete. Awaiting swimmers," spoken by Neil Armstrong.

19th July: National Daiquiri Day

Daiquiris are a family of cocktails made from Rum, Lime juice, sugar and ice. There are variations such as the strawberry daiquiri. 10 things you may not know about daiquiris:

Photo: Aaron Gustafson from Hamden, CT, USA

1. Daiquiri is the name of a beach and an iron mining village in Cuba. While we would more readily associate a drink like this with the beach, the inventor, Stockton Cox, was in fact working in the iron mine when he came up with the idea. The very first daiquiris were called “Ron Bacardi a la Daiquiri.”
2. When William A. Chanler, a US congressman, bought the Santiago Iron Mines in 1902, he discovered the new local drink and introduced it to clubs in New York.
3. Early daiquiris were served in a tall glass, and mixed in the glass. Nowadays it all goes into a cocktail shaker and from there into a chilled flute glass.
4. The recipe for a daiquiri is very similar to the "grog" that British sailors used to drink at sea in the 18th century to ward off scurvy.
5. A standard sized daiquiri contains 112 calories and is 2% Vitamin C.
6. The drink took off even more in the 1940s, possibly because rationing in the US made most spirits hard to get, but Roosevelt's policy of encouraging trade with near neighbours, including Cuba and the Caribbean, meant that rum was easily available.
7. Ernest Hemingway was famously fond of daiquiris. He liked them without the sugar, and legend has it that he once drank 13 doubles in one sitting.
8. In a Havana, Cuba, bar called El Floridita, there is a statue of Hemingway and the bartenders put a daiquiri next to the statue each day.
9. President John F Kennedy was also a fan.
10. El Floridita celebrated its 195th anniversary in 2012 and to celebrate, bartenders created a 71 gallon daiquiri in a 6 and a half foot tall glass (or 270 litres in a 2 meter glass, if you prefer).

18th July: Nelson Mandela's birthday

Today I honour Nelson Mandela, who would have been 96 today, with 10 quotations from the great man.

1. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
2. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
3. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.
4. It always seems impossible until its done.
5. After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
6. There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
7. There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
8. Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.
9. It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.
10. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves.

17th July: Disneyland opened

This date in 1955 saw the opening day of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the most famous theme park in the world. 10 things you may not know about Disneyland:

1. The opening day was not the greatest success. It was supposed to be invitation only, but about half the people who turned up had bought counterfeit tickets. Celebrities who were taking part were delayed by traffic jams; there was a local plumbers' strike and so Disney had to choose between working drinking fountains and working toilets. He chose toilets, but many guests believed that the drinking fountains didn't work in order to force people to buy Pepsi (as Pepsi was one of the sponsors). It was so hot that the newly laid asphalt paths didn't set so ladies in high heels kept getting stuck; there wasn't enough food and a gas leak closed several of the rides. It was so bad that Disney executives dubbed it "Black Sunday". Disappointed guests were invited back for a private day so they could get the proper experience and hopefully dispel the negative publicity.
2. The first person to enter the park on a purchased ticket was David MacPherson with ticket number 2. Ticket number 1 had been purposefully given to Roy Disney, Walt's brother.
3. Aside from Micky and his cohorts, mice are not welcome in Disneyland. There are about 200 feral Cats living on the site, and rather than get rid of them, Disneyland actually looks after them - feeds them, neuters them and puts kittens in shelters - and the cats in turn keep the rodent population down. The cats are largely nocturnal so are not usually seen by guests, but even if they were, the Disney authorities believe it's better for them to see a wild cat than a Rat, or a mouse (which isn't called Micky or Minnie).
4. The staff use theatrical terms to underline the idea that guests are witnessing a performance. Employees are "cast members" and their job is a "role". Private, staff only areas are called "backstage" while any area of the park that can be seen by guests, including any part of the "backstage" area visible when the door is open, is "on stage". If a guest has to sign when using a credit card, they are asked for their "autograph" and the terminology and code of conduct that staff must use at work is the "script". A less magical term in the lexicon is "Code V" which means somebody has vomited in the park. Staff, many of whom are expected to work six day weeks for little more than minimum wage, have been known to refer to the park as "Mousewitz". Management forbade them from doing so, so the disgruntled staff started calling it "Duckau" instead.
5. The only place in Disneyland where it is possible to buy alcohol is Club 33, which is only open to a very exclusive membership (which is thought to include Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson).
6. Among the "props" of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, there is a real human skull.
7. Many of the buildings, including Cinderella's Castle and Main Street USA, are designed and built to appear taller than they actually are.
8. Since 9/11, Disneyland has been a no fly zone. No flights are allowed within a three-mile radius around the parks or below 3,000 feet.
9. Disneyland is occasionally asked for permission to scatter the ashes of their cremated loved ones somewhere in the park - the most popular such request being the Haunted Mansion ride. Disney will always say "no", which led one guest to take matters into her own hands in 2007. She was caught on security camera dumping an unknown substance onto the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The police were called and confirmed the substance to be somebody's ashes! The ride was closed for an hour while the mess was cleaned up, and Grandad presumably ended up in a Disneyland drain rather than on the ride.
10. Doritos were invented at Disneyland, as a use for left over tortillas.

16th July: Ethiopian Constitution Day

Ethiopian Constitution Day Celebrates the day in 1931 when Emperor Haile Selassie I implemented Ethiopia’s first constitution. Today, 10 facts about Ethiopia.

1. The capital and largest city is Addis Ababa.
2. Ethiopia is thought to be the place where modern humans first appeared on Earth, and from where they set out to colonise the rest of the planet.
3. The Coffee bean also originated here, and Ethiopia is still the biggest coffee producer in Africa.
4. Most of Ethiopia's rivers flow to the North West, towards the Nile.
5. A remote settlement, Dallol, holds the record for the hottest inhabited place on Earth. The average temperature was recorded as 35°C (96°F) was recorded between the years 1960 and 1966. It has no transport links, not even a road. The only way to get there is by Camel.
6. During the 19th century, Ethiopia was unique in that it successfully resisted takeover by colonial powers. Other nations in Africa acknowledged this by adopting Ethiopia's colours for their flags when they became independent - so Ethiopia is the reason why so many African national flags include Green, Yellow and red.
7. Ethiopia is where the Rastafari movement began - Emperor Haile Selassie I was crowned in 1930. He had led the modernisation of the country since 1916. His regnal name means "Power of the Trinity". As well as the many titles given him by Rastafarians: "King of Kings", "Lord of Lords", "Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah", "Elect of God," He was also named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1935, following a powerful address to the League of Nations.
8. The Ethiopians have a different system for measuring time to western countries. Whereas we reckon a day to start at 12am, in Ethiopia, the day starts at 6am, which is the time that the sun rises throughout the year. This means there is a 6 hour difference between Ethiopian time and western time. They have a different calendar, too - the Ethiopian Calendar is about seven years behind the Gregorian Calendar.
9. The population is around 92,000,000, making it the most populous landlocked country in the world, and the second most populated nation in Africa (Nigeria being the first).
10. Ethiopians don't have family names. They have a given name, to which is added the given names of their father and grandfather. For administrative purposes, such as passports, the grandfather's given name is taken as a surname.

15th July: St Swithin's day

Today is St Swithin's Day. The old superstition says that If it rains today, the next 40 days will be wet; but if it is fine, we'll get 40 fine days. As I write, at 8.20am on St Swithin's Day, it's not raining where I am, so I'm cautiously hopeful about the next month or so. 10 quotes and jokes about rain.

1. In the Bible it rained for 40 days, they called it a disaster. In England we call it summer.
2. Life isn't about preventing the storms, but about learning to dance in the rain.
3. No rain - no rainbows.
4. We felt we needed an umbrella organisation to help flood victims. Sky News
5. During a drought the congregation met to pray for rain. "Brothers and Sisters," said the priest, "How can we ask the Lord for rain if we do not have faith? I see not one of you has brought an umbrella."
6. There is a word for a sunny day which follows two rainy ones. It's called Monday.
7. What is the most dangerous weather for rats and mice? When it's raining cats and dogs.
8. What do you get if it rains beer? An Ale storm
9. Where do stupid people do rain dances? In puddles
10. The weather service had to dispatch employees to read its Civic Center rain gauge after an automatic gauge failed because of the rain, said a weather service spokesman, Los Angeles Times

14th July: Bastille Day

Today is Bastille Day, the national day of France. It commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on the 14 July 1789. 10 facts about Bastille Day:

1. Bastille Day is not just a celebration of the events of 1789 but also of the Fête de la Fédération, which was a huge celebration to mark the first anniversary. This began very formally with a Mass and General Lafayette and King Louis XVI swearing an oath to the constitution; and then the party started. Feasting and Fireworks lasted for four days afterwards.
2. It has been an official celebration since 1880 when a politician called Benjamin Raspail proposed a law recognising 14 July as a national holiday. At the time, this date wasn't the only contender. France could have been celebrating on 4th August, marking the end of the feudal system on that date in 1789, but Senate chose 14 July.
3. The military parade, which has taken place in Paris almost every year since 1880, is the oldest regular military parade in the world.
4. During World War II, the German occupying troops held their own parade along the same route.
5. As well as the military parade, it's traditional for the President of France to give a press interview about recent events, future projects and the state of the nation. Nicolas Sarkozy chose not to do it, but François Hollande reinstated it in 2012.
6. There are celebrations in many other countries besides France on this day, in particular, places with large numbers of French ex-pats and former colonies. These include Pondicherry in India, New Orleans, The Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Remuera, and in Battersea Park in London.
7. Jean Michel Jarre has performed special concerts three times, in 1979, 1990 and 1995. The 1979 concert set a Guinness record for the largest outdoor concert audience.
8. In 1998, there was an extra cause for celebration as, two days earlier, France had won the World Cup.
9. Other nations are often invited to take part in the parade. In 2004, to commemorate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, the British led the military parade with the Red Arrows flying overhead, and in 2007, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the military parade was led by troops from the 26 other EU member states, all marching at the French time.
10. The 100th and 200th anniversaries of the storming of the Bastille have been celebrated with iconic buildings - the Eiffel Tower and La Pyramide du Louvre respectively.