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The Last Burma Star

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Pac-man first released in Japan

One Small Step For Pac-Man, One Giant Leap For Pac-Man-KindHappy birthday to Pac-Man, who was first released in Japan on this day in 1980. Or should I say ‘Puck Man’ which was the character’s original name. It was only when the game was released in North America that marketers realised that ‘Puck’ could be easily changed to a very rude word indeed and didn’t fancy all of their games consoles getting vandalised by eager teenagers.

So Puck became Pac. Though initially met with indifference at home, where Space Invaders still ruled the arcade, Pac-Man became a huge hit in the States. By the 1990’s it was thought a billion dollars in quarters had passed through the machines.Though designed to never end, a bug means the game basically breaks down when the 256th screen is reached. The current world record holder is David Race who attained the maximum possible score of 3,333,360 points in 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 49 seconds. Imagine the state of his wrists afterwards.

The Garden of Remembrance for Pan Am Flight 103, that was brought down by a bomb in December 1988, at the Dryfesdale Cemetery in Scotland.

Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland

On this day in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Second lock of the Panama Canal

Panama Canal handed over to Panama

Interest in finding a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Pacific originated with explorers in Central America in the early 1500s.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Parliament session first broadcast live

Fans of men in suits talking and going ‘here, here’, rejoice! Today, in 1975 was the first time ever in the very, very, very long history of the British parliament that proceedings were broadcast live. Microphones had been installed in the chamber since the 1950’s, but MPs had resisted their little chats being inflicted on the nation, as their passion and excitement might have stirred up the emotions of the general public to uncontainable levels.

But, in the mid 1970’s, due to the distractions of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and punk rock, the atmosphere was considered tranquil enough to attempt a live broadcast. For a month, the BBC and Independent Radio News featured debates and speeches, kicking off with Secretary of State for Industry Tony Benn, who was the first minister to be questioned on air. This trial only lasted a month, then it took several more years before radio, and eventually television, continually showcased the wild happenings in Westminster.

Patty Hearst

Patty Hearst kidnapped

Patty Hearst, the daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearts, is kidnapped by three people from her California home.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Paul McCartney's dog Martha is born

The Fifth Beatle? Today we celebrate the birthday of the most famous Old English Sheepdog that was never used to advertise paint. As it was on this day in 1966 that Paul McCartney’s beloved pooch Martha was born. In High Wycombe, apparently. Paul had just moved into a house in London with girlfriend Jane Asher and decided he needed some canine companionship and so purchased Martha as a puppy. As well as appearing in various photo shoots and videos, a couple of years later the piano-led ditty ‘Martha My Dear’ appeared on The Beatles White Album.

Man's best friend has played a significant role in history

Most Beatles’ freaks decided the song must have been a cry for help aimed at Jane, after the couple’s relationship deteriorated. But Paul later revealed it was just about the dog. Come on, give hime a break, by 1968 Paul had written about 10 million songs, so he obviously needed to dig quite deep for inspiration. A song about a dog is superior to a song about an octopuses garden, after all. Martha lived to the ripe old age of 15, passing away at Paul’s Scottish farm in 1981. But her legacy lives on. One of Martha’s offspring, Arrow, appeared on the cover of a Paul McCartney live album a few years ago.

Another strange piece of Beatles history can be seen below. John Lennon's spoon was once seen on an episode of Pawn Stars UK.

this day

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years War

The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe. The Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought by various European nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Catholicism throughout his domains. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war.

As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Sweden gained control of the Baltic, independence of the Netherlands from Spain was fully recognised, and France was acknowledged as the pre-eminent Western power. The war had devastated Europe, particularly Germany, where unpaid armies of mercenaries plundered and ravaged cities, towns and farms.

US battleships severely damaged at Pearl Harbour

Pearl Harbor is bombed

The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Peking relived by multinational force

On this day in 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, an international force featuring British, Russian, American, Japanese, French and German troops enter the Chinese capital of Peking after fighting its way 80 miles from the port of Tientsin. The Chinese nationalists besieging Peking's diplomatic quarter are crushed and the Boxer Rebellion effectively comes to an end.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Peking’s Summer Palace destroyed

British troops occupying Peking, China loot and burn the Yuanmingyuan, the summer residence of the Manchu emperors, originally built in the 18th century.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Phoning It In

If you are currently glued to your smartphone, simultaneously reading this while playing a rousing game of Crushed Candy or whatever its called, you can thank Alexander Graham Bell. On this day in 1876, Bell conducted the first successful telephone conversation, telling his assistant, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” It is not known, though I’m happy to assume, that Bell then hid when his assistant entered the room, giggling quietly to himself, thus making the first ever phone call and the first ever crank phone call simultaneously.

Sky HISTORY - This Day in HISTORY

Phrase 'Pencil Necked Geek' is devised

Leadly Insult

There are some insults that are easy to shrug off. And then there are insults that wound so deeply they tear at the very fabric of your soul and stay with you to the grave. Which is the way I feel about the term ‘pencil necked geek’. Once you’ve been taunted with this phrase, at a bus stop or in a shopping centre, it’s an experience that you will never forget or recover from.The author and inventor of this hurtful collection of words is American wrestling legend ‘Classy’ Freddie Blassie, who is said to have devised it on this day in 1953.

He enjoyed firing this unusual expression at adversaries in the ring and it soon became his catchphrase. Blassie was so identified with the insult, that he released a single, unsurprisingly called ‘Pencil Neck Geek’ in 1975. This has also been sung at me, in a wounding way, on several damaging occasions.

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