24 September

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 24 September:

1. This date in 1896 saw the birth of F Scott Fitzgerald, American writer best known for The Great Gatsby. He said: "An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterwards."
2. In 1967, the first Aardvark was born in captivity, in Miami.
3. In 1999 Najib Khoury, from Syria, had stashed his life savings of ££15,000 in a box, and placed it in a hole in the wall. On this night, he dreamed that he'd given all his money to charity. He got up to check his money was still there, and found a family of Mice nesting in the box, which was comfortably lined with chewed-up banknotes. Mr Khoury had a fatal heart attack on the spot.
4. In 1962, Elvis Presley received an invitation to appear at the Royal Variety Performance in the UK. Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker declined the invitation, citing motion picture commitments. The real reason was that Parker was an illegal Dutch immigrant living in the United States who feared if he left the country he'd not be allowed back in.
5. In 1966, Jimi Hendrix arrived in London with his manager Chas chandler on a flight from New York. With only the clothes he was wearing, as Hendrix had sold his belongings to pay a hotel bill in New York. One of the first things he did after arriving in England was to legally change his name from James to Jimi.
6. On this date in 2000, a penny-farthing cycle race took place in Knutsford Cheshire. This event happens every ten years.
7. In 1997, a Belfast man handed himself in to police after seeing pictures of himself robbing a garage on TV. He'd been drunk at the time and didn't remember committing the crime.
8. In 1493, Christopher Columbus set sail on his second voyage to the New World, on which he brought cattle and discovered the Virgin Islands.
9. A Roman temple to the god Mithras was found near Mansion House in London on this date in 1954.
10. In 1997, Bangladesh came up with a novel way to solve their Rat infestation problem. The government offered rewards of radios and televisions to those who could produce the most rats' tails.

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