23 APRIL St George’s Day, the national day of England. Wear your Rose with Pride St George slayed the dragon in Libya in the third century, and became the patron saint of England when he appeared as an apparition in the sky while the Crusaders were fighting their Muslim enemy. 1564: William Shakespeare Born - playwright 1661: Charles II was crowned king of England. 1702: Queen Anne was crowned. 1791: Birth of James Buchanan, US Democrat statesman who became the 15th President during the run-up to the Civil War. 1861: Birth of Henry Hyman, Viscount Allenby, British Field Marshal during the First World War, who crushed the Turks at Megiddo in Palestine in 1918. 1879: The first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon, and in 1932 the New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened by the Prince of Wales. The opening performances were Henry VI Parts 1 and 2, Shakespeare’s first plays. 1898: Crosby Lightship sunk when hit by S.S. Mediana. 1897: Birth of Lester Bowles Pearson, Canadian Prime Minister (1963-8), and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work in establishing the United Nations Emergency Force. He was also the designer of the Maple Leaf flag. 1924: King George V and Queen Mary opened the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium. 1935: The official opening by Stalin of the Moscow Underground railway took place. 1941: Greece surrenders to Italy and Germany during WWII. 1945: End of 'Dim-Out' Lighting restrictions. Liverpool's City centre shop windows lit up again. 1962: Stirling Moss crashed at the Goodwood circuit at 110 mph. He was rushed to hospital with a broken rib and leg, and serious head injuries. 1968: The first decimal coins appeared in Britain. They were the five-and ten-pence pieces which replaced the old 1/- (one shilling) and 2/- (two shilling) coins. 1969: In the US, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was found guilty of the assassination of Robert F Kennedy and was sentenced to die in the gas chamber. 1980: Saudi Arabia threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Britain following the screening on television of the documentary Death of a Princess, which described the events leading to the death of a Saudi princess for infidelity. 1984: The US announced the discovery of the AIDS virus. 1985: After 99 years of success, Coca-Cola executives announce they are changing the formula, calling it New Coke. (It failed to win the hearts of consumers, so the old formula was brought back.) 1988: A Greek myth relates that on this day Daedalus flew from the island of Crete across the Aegean Sea to the island of Santorini, a distance of 74 miles. This day, a Greek cycling champion, Kanellos Kanellopoulos, pedalled an extra-lightweight flying machine called Daedalus through the air over the same route, setting a record for man-powered flight. He crashed into the sea, just yards from the shore, and swam safely to land. 1990: The ‘silent man of the Great Train Robbery’ (8 August 1963), Charlie Wilson, was shot dead at his home near Marbella, Spain. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.351 / Virus Database: 197 - Release Date: 19/04/02