19 August

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 19 August:

1. Born this date in 1921 was Gene Roddenberry, a decorated WWII bomber pilot; but better known as a TV producer and creator of Star Trek.
2. 1977 Groucho Marx died on this date in 1977 at the age of 86. His last words: "Die, my dear? Why that's the last thing I'll do!"
3. In 1775, a rain of earwigs fell over Stroud, England.
4. In 1995, a newly discovered pterodactyl fossil was named Arthurdactylus conan-doylei in honour of Arthur Conan Doyle, who had popularised dinosaurs.
5. In 1839, Louis Daguerre announced the invention of the daguerreotype photographic process, the first process to allow an image to be chemically fixed as a permanent picture.
6. The first taxi service in Britain began operating on this date in 1897. 12 battery operated cabs plied for trade around the City and West End of London. They had a range of 30 miles and travelled at a cruising speed of 9mph. They were Black and Yellow and nicknamed “hummingbirds”. However, they proved too expensive to run and only lasted till 1900.
7. In 1965, a teenage boy in New York state was milking Cows when his Radio reception was interrupted by static, the milking machine stopped working and the bull outside bellowed. The boy ran to the window and saw an unidentified object land about a quarter of a mile away. The boy said it gave off a strange Red vapour and made a beeping noise before taking off again. Four other people also said they had seen it.
8. In 1960, the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 5 was launched into Earth's orbit carrying two Dogs named "Belka" (Squirrel) and "Strelka" (Little Arrow). The following day the landing capsule was recovered and Belka and Strelka became the first living organisms to be recovered alive from space.
9. At Seville Airport, on this date in 1999, a French pickpocket stole the wallet of Larry Wade, a champion 110 meter hurdler. He and Maurice Green, a sprinter who could run 100 meters in 9.79 seconds, took off after the thief and needless to say, soon caught him. The thief protested his innocence, not realising that Green was being interviewed by a Spanish TV crew at the time, so the whole incident had been captured on film.
10. In 1996, the Thai parliament had a debate about whether today was their prime minister’s birthday. Opposition members were accusing him of changing it to 19 August on the advice of a fortune teller.

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