20 July

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 20 July:

1. This date in 1919 saw the birth of Sir Edmund (Percival) Hillary. Mountaineer and Antarctic explorer, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to reach the summit of Everest. On his return from the summit, he commented, “Well, we knocked the bastard off!” He also said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
2. Also born on this date, in 356 BC, was Alexander the Great, also known as Alexander III of Macedon, ancient Greek king and one of the most successful military commanders in history, presumed to have been undefeated in battle. By the time of his death at 32, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.
3. 1984 Jim Fixx, 52, athlete and writer, died on this date in 1984. His book, Jim Fixx on Running, kick-started the 1970s jogging craze. He died of a massive coronary... while jogging.
4. In 1944, there was an attempt to assassinate Adolph Hitler by means of a bomb hidden under his conference table. An oak support shielded Hitler, however, so the bomb only succeeded in blowing his Trousers off. Not so lucky were the officers who were arrested, tortured, and executed for being part of the plot.
5. In 2014, Monty Python performed their last ever comedy show at the The O2 in London.
6. In 1801. a 1,235 pound Cheese ball was pressed at the farm of Elisha Brown, Jr. The huge ball of cheese was later presented to President Thomas Jefferson at the White House.
7. London's first railway station, Euston, opened on this date in 1837. Before, the area had been described as “a quiet scene of nursery gardens”. It now had a building described as “mightier than the Pyramids of Egypt.” However, the railway itself was less impressive. For two years, trains were hauled between Euston and Camden on a winding cable.
8. On this date in 1969, Apollo XI astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon, after landing on the Sea of Tranquillity on the lunar surface at 09:18 GMT. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin established Tranquillity Base while Michael Collins orbited above. Armstrong stepped on the lunar surface and proclaimed, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Nearly 700 million earthlings watched on TV. President Richard Nixon placed the world's most distant phone call to the astronauts at Tranquility Base, a distance of about 385,000 km.
9. In 1995, an armed robber in Groningen, the Netherlands, handed a note to a shopkeeper demanding money. The shopkeeper scribbled his reply: “Sod off”, and the robber fled.
10. In 1613, the King of France examined the remains of a prehistoric giant, 25ft tall, with 10ft wide shoulders and a head 5ft from crown to chin. A century later it was correctly identified as the skeleton of a mammoth.

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