23 July

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 23 July:

1. This date in 1892 saw the birth of Ras Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie, (Lion of Judah) Emperor of Ethiopia. He went into exile when the Italians invaded his country in 1936. Ethiopia was liberated by British and Ethiopian forces in 1941, whereupon he returned and resumed his position, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000 year old monarchy until he was overthrown in a military coup. He died in Addis Ababa at the age of 83, almost a year later. To the Rastafari movement, he is considered to be the religious symbol of God incarnate.
2. On this date in 1913, Michael Foot, politician, Labour Party leader from 1980-83 was born. A passionate supporter of Plymouth Argyle Football Club, for his 90th birthday, the club registered him as a player and gave him the shirt number, 90. This made him the oldest registered player in the history of Football.
3. In 1884, cabin boy Richard Parker was killed and eaten by the three other survivors of the yacht Mignonette, who’d been forced to abandon ship when the pump failed during a storm. The cabin boy was dying, anyway, so it solved the problem of dwindling food. The survivors were eventually rescued, and confessed what they’d done. They were tried and sentenced to death, but thanks to public sympathy their sentence was reduced to six months in prison.
4. In 1993, Stephen Cawthorne, 43, an engineer from York, died from head injuries when his Yamaha 600cc motorcycle was jumped on by an emu in a narrow cutting near Mount Surprise, Queensland.
5. In 2012, the Olympic torch featured in a special live section of EastEnders. Actor Perry Fenwick, in character as Billy Mitchell, carried it through the fictional London borough of Walford as part of the 2012 Olympic torch relay.
6. Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record on Ullswater on this date in 1955 when he reached 202.32mph in Bluebird.
7. In 1962, the American Communications satellite, Telstar, made its first trans-Atlantic transmission which included excerpts of a Baseball game at Wrigley field, a live press conference by president Kennedy, and a performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The event inspired British record producer Joe Meek to write the tune Telstar. The instrumental tune was recorded later in the week by the Tornadoes.
8. In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games opened in Olympia. The foot race was won by Coroibos, a cook.
9. In 1855, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning attended a seance conducted by medium Daniel Dunglas Home, at the residence of London solicitor John Rymer. The Brownings claimed to have witnessed a number of strange occurrences during the meeting, including the manifestations of several disembodied hands, one of which placed a wreath on Mrs Browning’s head. (“Thank you, Thing.”)
10. In 1995, Russian scientists protesting against poor wages occupied a cage at Moscow Zoo, with the label: “Rational man: Homo sapiens, Subspecies: scientific workers”.

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