It's always a red letter day!

[Discordant Resonance]

As well as the death of Franco (1975), we mark International Day of the Rights of the Child, International Day of Trans Remembrance, the beginning of the Mexican Revolution (1910), and the final day of Brumaire in the French republican calendar. Diocletian became Roman emperor in 284, Fidelio premiered in 1805, Ukraine declared independence in 1917, the Nuremberg trials began in 1945, Elizabeth married Philip in 1947, and Norodom Sihanouk regained power in Cambodia in 1991. Tipu Sultan was born in 1750, followed by Thomas Chatterton (1752), Wilfrid Laurier (1841), Edwin Hubble (1889), Chester Gould (1900), Alistair Cooke (1908), Otto von Habsburg (1912), Nadine Gordimer (1923), Benôit Mandelbrot (1924), Bobby Kennedy (1925), Dom de Lillo (1936), Joe Biden (1942) and Bo Derek (1956). Arrhenius (1824), Leo Tolstoy (1910), Durruti and Primo de Rivera (both 1936), Lysenko (1976), Robert Palmer (1997), Robert Altman (2006) and Ian Smith (2007) died today.

[Discordant Resonance]

Frimaire begins in the French revolutionary calendar, it's World Television Day, the national day of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Presentation of the BVM. Tamerlane conquers Tbilisi in 1386, North Carolina becomes the 12th state in 1789, the Continental System is instituted in 1806, Bloody Sunday occurs in Croke Park in 1920, as do the Birmingham bombings in 1974, Thatcher resigns in 1990, as does Mugabe in 2017. Voltaire is born in 1694, as is Cunard (1787), Magritte (1898), Goldie Hawn (1945), Nicolette Sheridan (1963), Björk (1965) and Carly Rae Jepsen (1985). St Columbanus (615), Henry Purcell (1695), Emperor Franz-Josef (1916), Max Baer (1959), Bill Bixby (1993) and David Cassidy (2017) passed away.

[Discordant Resonance]

With the Beatles was released as JFK was assassinated, Lebanese Independence Day occurred in 1943, and Argentina celebrates the ceibo tree. The Knights Templar were arrested in 1307, Juan Fernandez Island was discovered in 1574, Juan Carlos officially became King of Spain in 1975, the first commercial Concorde flight took off in 1977 and Angela Merkel became German Chancellor 30 years later. Thomas Cook was born in 1808, followed by George Eliot (1819), André Gide (1869), Charles de Gaulle (1890), Hoagy Carmichael (1899), Dora Maar (1907), Benjamin Britten (1913), Peter Townsend (1914), Terry Gilliam (1940), Billie Jean King (1943), Mads Mikklesen (1965), Boris Becker and Mark Ruffalo (both 1967) and Sidse Babette Knudsen (1968). Blackbeard (1718), Arthur Sullivan (1900), Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis (both 1963), Mae West (1980), Michael Hutchence (1997), and Emil Zatopek (2000) left us today.

[Discordant Resonance]

It's Labour Day in Mexico and the feast of St Columbanus (615). Seville was captured from the Moors in 1248, Poland suffered a Second Partition in 1793, the Manchester Martyrs were executed in 1867, Romania joined the Axis in 1940, Doctor Who premiered in 1963, and Freddy Mercury announced he had AIDS shortly before his 1991 death. Otto I was born in 912, followed by Franklin Pierce (1804), Billy the Kid (1859), Manuel de Falla (1876), Boris Karloff (1887), Harpo Marx (1888), Bruce Hornsby (1954), Nicolas Maduro (1963), and Asafa Powell (1982). Claude Lorrain (1682), Seán T O'Kelly (1966), Cornelius Ryan (1974 proved A Bridge Too Far), André Malraux (1976), Roald Dahl (1990), Larry Hagman (2012), Nicolas Roeg (2018) and David Dinkins (2020) died today.

[Discordant Resonance]

Happy Hanukkah everyone! It's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Surinamese Independence Day (1975), and Evacuation Day in the US (1783). Duncan I became King of Scotland in 1034, the last British troops left New York on the Evacuation Day above, the last King of Poland abdicated in 1795, the theory of general relativity was presented in 1915, the fez was outlawed in Turkey in 1925, and Mulan was released in 1998. Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835, as were Carl Benz (1844), Eco de Quieroz (1845), John XXIII (1881), Joe DiMaggio (1914), Pinochet (1915), Percy Sledge (1940), Johnny Rep (1951), and Dougray Scott (1965). Passing on were Robert Godwin-Austen (of the Himalayan mountain - 1884), Upton Sinclair (1968), Yukio Mishima (1970), U Thant (1974), Anthony Burgess (1993), Hastings Banda (1997), George Best (2005), Bill Foulkes (2013), Fidel Castro (2016) and Diego Maradona (2020).

[Benjm]

Hanukkah doesn't start until Sunday, other calendars tell me.

I had never given much credence to persistent rumours that the Red Letter Day thread is in the pocket of Big Candle, but promoting an Infantino-esque expansion plan like this does raise some awkward questions.

[Discordant Resonance]

Turns out I'm a day ahead of myself, hence why the obits didn't mention Freddy Mercury, will update either this evening or tomorrow, depending on what mood I'm in.

[Discordant Resonance]

Before today becomes yesterday, Evolution Day celebrates the 1859 publication of Origin of Species, it's Portuguese Day of Scientific Culture and Turkish Teachers Day. The Battle of Solway Moss occurred in 1542, exactly a century before European awareness of Tasmania, Black Beauty was published in 1877, Jack Ruby was assassinated in 1963, Lucy was discovered in 1974, Mobutu seized power two years later in the Congo, and communist rule effectively ended in Czechoslovakia in 1989 with the resignation of Milos Jakes. Spinoza was born in 1632, as were Laurence Sterne (1713), Zachary Taylor (1794), William Webb Ellis (1806), Carlo Collodi (1826), Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849), Toulouse-Latrec (1864), Scott Joplin (1868), Dale Carnegie (1888), Lucky Luciano (1897), Ted Bundy (1946), and Katherine Heigl (1978). Leaving us were John Knox (1572), Lord Melbourne (1848), Hiram Maxim (1916), Diego Rivera (1957), Freddy Mercury (1991) and Pat Morita (2005).

[Discordant Resonance]

The International Day of Street Children, Indian Constitution Day and the Day of the Bah'ai Covenant occur. Montpellier was founded in 985, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland was published in 1865, Nicholas II married Alexandra in 1894, the Manchester Guardian published the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1917, Azerbaijan abolished Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991, sparking a war, and Kill Bill Vol I was released in 2003. John Harvard was born in 1607, followed by William Cowper (1731), Eugene Ionescu (1909), Cyril Cusack (1910), Charles Schulz (1932), Tina Turner (1939), Hilary Benn (1953), Des Walker (1965), Natasha Bedingfield (1981) and Rita Ora (1990). Isabella of Castile (1504), Henry Ireton (1651), Adam Mickiewicz (1855), Sojourner Truth (1883), Tommy Dorsey (1956), Cyril Connolly (1974), Michael Bentine (1996) and Bernardo Bertolucci (2018) passed on today.

[Discordant Resonance]

It's Lancashire Day and Independence Day for the micro-nation of Atlantium. Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade in 1095, while Saladin entered Damascus in 1174, John Walker invented the safety match in 1826, Also sprach Zarathustra premiered in 1896, and John Major became UK PM in 1990. Anders Celsius was born in 1701, followed by Johann Euler (1734), Franz Gruber (1787), Chaim Weizmann (1874), Alexander Dubcek (1921), Ernie Wise (1925), Benigno Aquino (1932), Bruce Lee (1940), Jimi Hendrix (1942), Katheryn Bigelow (1951), Caroline Kennedy (1957), Roberto Mancini (1964) and Professor Green (1983). Horace died in 8 BC, along with Clovis (511), Ada Lovelace (1852), Baby Face Nelson (1934), Eugene O'Neill (1953), Harvey Milk (1978), Carlos Arias Navarro (1989), Malcolm Bradbury (2000), Ken Russell and Gary Speed (both 2011) and PD James (2014).

[Discordant Resonance]

And Stephen Sondheim has just passed away, aged 91.

[Discordant Resonance]

A number of independence days for Panama (from Spain, rather than Colombia, in 1821), Albania (1912), Mauritania (1960) and East Timor (1975). Magellan became the first European to reach the Pacific through his Straits in 1520, NZ women became the first to vote in a general election in 1893, Sinn Féin (original party) was formed in 1905, and Lee Kuan Yew resigned in 1990. John Bunyan was born in 1628, along with William Blake (1757), Friederich Engels (1820), Stefan Zweig (1881), Alberto Moravia (1907), Claude Levi-Strauss (1908), Berry Gordy (1929), Gary Hart (1936), Randy Newman (1943), Stephen Roche (1959), Alfonso Cuarón (1961), and Anna Nicole Smith (1967). Bernini (1680), Basho (1694), Washington Irving (1859), James Naismith (1939), Fermi (1954), Richard Wright (1960), Enid Blyton (1968), Lotte Lenya (1981), Leslie Nielsen (2010) and David Prowse (2020) all passed on.

[Discordant Resonance]

International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians, International Jaguar Day, Albanian "Liberation Day" (1944), and the feast of Pamplona's patron saint Saturnino (note, not San Fermín) all occur. The Portuguese royal family decamped to Rio in 1807, the Warsaw uprising occurred in 1830, Howard Carter unearthed Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, the communist Republic of Yugoslavia was founded in 1945, and Rwanda joined the Commonwealth in 2009. Donizetti was born in 1797, along with Christian Doppler (1803), Busby Berkeley (1895), Jacques Chirac (1932), Diane Ladd (1935), Joel Coen (1954), Ryan Giggs (1973) and Anna Faris (1976). Leaving us were Bellini (1515), Hans Holbein (1543), Monteverdi (1643), Maria Theresa of Austria (1780), Puccini (1924), Natalie Wood (1981), Cary Grant (1986) and George Harrison (2001).

[Discordant Resonance]

Happy St Andrew's Day to our Scottish posters, even if there's no holiday. Amnesty has Cities for Life Day to mark the abolition of capital punishment, Barbados celebrates Independence Day (1966, and now today's Republic Day), and Yemen notes the PDR's independence in 1967. England first played Scotland in 1872, the Soviet-Finnish Winter War began in 1939, U Thant became UN Secretary General in 1961, Dahomey became Benin in 1975, while The Wall and Thriller were released in 1979 and 1982 respectively. Palladio was born in 1508, followed by Jonathan Swift (1667), Mark Twain (1835), Winston Churchill and LM Montgomery (both 1874), Shirley Chisholm (1924), Ridley Scott (1937), Terence Malick (1943), Billy Idol (1955), Lorraine Kelly (1959), Gary Lineker (1960), Ben Stiller (1965), Des'ree (1968), Kaley Cuoco (1985) and Magnus Carlsen (1990). Edmund Ironside (1016), Oscar Wilde (1900), Gigli (1957), Terence Rattigan (1977), Zeppo Marx (1979), Tiny Tim (1996), Gertrude Ederle (2003), Evel Knievel (2007) and George Bush Snr (2018) died today.

[ad hoc]

Happy St Andrew's Day to our Scottish posters, even if there's no holiday.

It's an actual holiday in Romania

[ad hoc]

Also, Tiny Tim was a fictional character in a Victorian novella How did he manage to die in 1996?

[Discordant Resonance]

The falsetto-toned singer who sang Tip-Toe Through The Tulips, among other songs, in the Fifties and Sixties.

[ad hoc]

Genuinely never heard of him

[Benjm]

I've only come across Tiny Tim second hand, so to speak, because Danny Baker was a fan. What I've heard of his music is grating and creepy by turns.

[Capybara]

Must be an age thing. Used to be seen quite often on TV in the late 60s and early 70s, usually on US shows such as (probably) The Andy Williams Show.

[Discordant Resonance]

December

The Irish Mí na Nollag literally means "Christmas month", while the Welsh Rhagfyr translates as "foreshortening, or before the shortest day".

Today is World AIDS Day, the Independence Days of Portugal (1640), Iceland (1918) and Papua New Guinea (1975) and the National Day of Romania (marking the 1918 annexation of Transylvania). Henry V conquered Paris in 1420, Pedro I was crowned as Brazilian emperor in 1822, Crete was annexed by Greece in 1913, Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 (as the Kingdom of Srrbs, Croats and Slovenes), Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in 1955, and Felipe Gonzalez became Spanish PM in 1982. Anna Komnene was born in 1083, as were Madame Tussaud (1761), Henry Williamson (1895), Mary Martin (1913), Matt Monro (1930), Woody Allen (1935), Lee Trevino (1939), Bette Midler (1945), Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946), Colin Warnock (1948), Pat Spillane (1955), Candace Bushnell (1958), Toto Schillaci (1964) and Janelle Monae (1985). Henry I (1135), Balboa (1519), Johann Christian Bach (1782), Alexander I (1825), George Everest (1866), Sergei Kirov (1934), Alister Crowley (1947), David Ben-Gurion (1973), James Baldwin (1987) and Pat O'Callaghan (1991) all died today.

[Discordant Resonance]

The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, UAE Independence Day (1971) and the National Day of Laos occur. Napoleon was crowned Emperor in 1804, the Battle of Austerlitz occurred one year later, the Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed in 1823, Franz-Josef became Austrian emperor in 1848, Napoleon III became Emperor in 1852, Henry Pu Yi became the last monarch of China in 1908, Benazir Bhutto became Pakistani PM in 1988, and Stormont was restored in 1999. Pedro II was born in 1825, followed by Georges Seurat (1859), John Barbirolli (1899), Maria Callas (1923), Lucy Liu (1968), Monica Seles (1973) and Nelly Furtado (1978). Cortes (1547), Mercator (1594), John Brown (1859), Philip Larkin (1985), Desi Arnaz (1986), Aaron Copland (1990), Pablo Escobar (1993) and Valery Giscard d'Estaing (2020) died today.

[Discordant Resonance]

Tomorrow is the International Day for People with Disabilities, and also the International Day of the Basque Language. Lorenzo the Magnificent became Florentine ruler in 1468, John Paul Jones first flew an American flag at sea in 1775, Jefferson became US President in 1800, and Mauritius fell to the British in 1810. Andrew Jackson was elected US President in 1828, the Eureka Stockade rebellion ended in 1854, Rubber Soul was released in 1965, Paddy Hillary became Irish President in 1976, the Cold War ended in 1989, and the PlayStation was unveiled in 1994. Charles VI of France was born in 1468, along with Rowland Hill (1795), Joseph Conrad (1857), Nino Rota (1911), Andy Williams (1927), Mike Gibson (1942), Daryl Hannah and Julianne Moore (both 1960), Brendan Fraser (1968), Amanda Seyfried (1985) and Christian Benteke (1990). Leaving us were Carl Zeiss (1888), Robert Louis Stevenson (1894), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1919), Oswald Mosley (1980), and Scatman John (1999).

[Discordant Resonance]

The International Day of Banks and the National Day of Andalusia occur. Ivan the Terrible becomes Czar in 1533, Cardinal Richelieu dies in 1642 and Napoleon enters Madrid in 1808. The only English pope (Nicholas Breakspear) is elected in 1154, The Observer is first published in 1791, as is Huckleberry Finn in 1884, while the Mary Celeste is found abandoned in 1872. Thomas Carlyle is born in 1795, followed by Samuel Butler (1835), Edith Cavell (1865), Kandinsky (1866), Rilke (1875) , Franco (1892), Deanna Durbin (1921), Horst Buchholz (1933), Sergei Bubka (1963), Marisa Tomei (1964) and Tyra Banks (1973). Passing on were Omar Khayyam (of Rubaiyat fame - 1131), Thomas Hobbes (1679), Fred Hampton (1969), Hannah Arendt (1975), Benjamin Britten (1976), Frank Zappa (1993), Socrates (2011) and Christine Keeler (2017).

[Discordant Resonance]

The National Day of Thailand is also International Day of Charities and World Soil Day. Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the Soviet Union counterattacked against Germany in the 1941 Battle of Moscow, New York became UN HQ in 1946, the Great London Smog began in 1952, the Montgomery bus boycott officially began in 1955, Ukraine elected its first president in 1991, and Ocean's Eleven (the remake) was released in 2001. Julius II (of Sistine Chapel fame) was born in 1443, along with Martin Van Buren (1782), Christina Rossetti (1830), George Custer (1839), Josef Pilsudski (1867), Fritz Lang (1890), Walt Disney and Werner Heisenberg (both 1901), Strom Thurmond (1902), Otto Preminger (1905) Rama IV (1927), Little Richard (1932), Jóse Carreras (1946), Ronnie O'Sullivan (1975) and Frankie Muniz (1985). Dying were Francis II of France (1560), Phyllis Wheatley (1784), Mozart (1791), Alexandre Dumas (1870), Pedro II (1891), Claude Monet (1926), Stockhausen (2007), Dave Brubeck (2012), Nelson Mandela (2013) and Johnny Hallyday and Michael of Romania (both 2017).