4 July

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 4 July:

Lewis Carroll

1. On this date in 1776 the US Declaration of Independence was approved by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In England, King George III wrote in his diary, “Nothing of importance happened today.”
2. Two US Presidents died on Independence Day 1826: John Adams, second President, and Thomas Jefferson, third President. They'd both wanted to live to see the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. Jefferson died at one p.m., Adams a few hours later. Jefferson’s last words were "This is the Fourth?" And Adams: "Thomas Jefferson still survives." In 1872, the future 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, was born.
3. In 1796, the first Independence Day celebration was held in the Western Reserve (Conneaut) by Moses Cleaveland and his survey party.
4. In 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was on a picnic with Alice Liddell, 10, and he told her a story about a girl named Alice who fell down a rabbit hole. Alice insisted that he write it down. He did so, and adopted the pen name Lewis Carroll to publish Alice's Adventures in Wonderland exactly 3 years later in 1865.
5. The first McDonalds in Kuwait opened on this date in 1994. On the opening day the queue at the drive-through was 7 miles long.
6. In 1829, Britain's first regular scheduled Bus service began running, between Marylebone Road and the Bank of England, in London. The service was started by a Mr Shillibeer, so the vehicles were known as Shillibeers.
7. In 1853, Suffragette Amelia Bloomer shocked an audience in Connecticut by wearing loose trousers as a protest at the requirements of women’s dress. This garment later became known as "Bloomers".
8. In 1879, the Taughannock Giant was unearthed on the shores of Lake Cayuga in Ithaca. It was pronounced authentic by scientists, but turned out to a carving by Ira Dean who'd spent months carving, just to fool people.
9. In 1928, ‘Smiling Jean’ Lussier went over Niagara Falls in a large rubber ball, and survived.
10. In 2004, the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York. This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website