8 July

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 8 July:

1. Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley died on this date in 1822 at the age of 29. He drowned in a squall while on a boat with his friend Captain Williams on the Bay of Spezzia, Italy. Byron, Leigh Hunt and Trelawny burned his body as required by quarantine law, but his heart didn’t burn. His wife Mary kept it in her desk until she died.
2. In 1880, Claude Debussy was hired as a summer piano tutor by Nadezhda von Meck, the rich Russian woman who had for many years provided covert financial support to Tchaikovsky. To get the job, Debussy lied about his age, telling her he was 20 when he was really only 17.
3. The Monkees began a 29-date tour on this date in 1967 with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as their support act. Hendrix was dropped after six shows as his act was not deemed suitable for a teenybopper audience.
4. In 1685, Sir Samuel Morland opened the first drinking water fountain, at Hammersmith.
5. In 1881, Edward Berner of Two Rivers, Wisconsin served the first Ice cream sundae. He offered his "sundae" concoction only on Sundays.
6. In 1629, the King of Spain sent Charles I of England an Elephant and five Camels.
7. In 2006, Queen guitarist Brian May made a "substantial" donation to save Hedgehogs from slaughter in the Outer Hebrides. Scottish Natural Heritage had been culling the animals there for four years.
8. In 1965, Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, escaped over the wall of Wandsworth Prison with a rope ladder.
9. In 1835, The Liberty Bell cracked as it was rung at the funeral of US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in Philadelphia.
10. In 1977 Sabra Starr belly danced into the record books with the world’s longest belly dance of 100 hrs.

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