16 July

 10 weird and wonderful things that happened on 16 July:

1. This date in 1911 saw the birth of Virginia Katherine McNath, better known as Ginger Rogers the actress-dancer best known as the partner of Fred Astaire. Her films include 42nd Street, The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Shall We Dance and Stage Door. It was said of her, “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels.”
2. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker was announced as Peter Capaldi’s replacement, and the thirteenth incarnation of Doctor Who, becoming the first woman to take the role.
3. In 1993, motorcyclist Kelly Cordry was killed when a large black dog fell on him from a railway bridge in Commerce City, Colorado. The motorcycle slammed into the crash barrier and Cordry was thrown into the path of oncoming traffic.
4. In 1966, three musicians in London, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker formed the band Cream. They would go on to become one of the most popular and influential bands of the 1960's.
5. In 1994, the first of 21 major fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had broken up 2 years earlier, hit Jupiter, creating a fireball which was 1,200 miles wide and 600 miles high. The collision began a series of spectacular explosions, each unleashing more energy than all the Earth's nuclear arsenal put together.
6. In 1950, 205,000 people formed the largest crowd ever to attend a football match in Rio de Janiero. It was a world cup match between Brazil and Uruguay. Brazil lost 1-2. This was the first time that Uruguay had won a World Cup.
7. In 1827, prisoners at King’s Bench Prison, London attempted to hold elections for a prisoner to represent them as a Member of Parliament. While it was only a game to relieve boredom, the governor decided the prisoners were enjoying themselves too much, and attempted to stop it. A riot ensued.
8. Dolly Parton's Dollywood Amusement Park opened in Tennessee on this date in 1986.
9. In 1439, Kissing was banned in England in an attempt to stop the spread of pestilence and disease.
10. In 1973, Roger English of La Jolla, California, broke the record for dancing the Twist after twisting for 102 hours, 29 minutes.

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