IES Sos Baynat 2011-12 English Department

.This is April Fools Day,or All Fools Day, which is celebrated in many countries. The day is marked by practical jokes on friends and neighbours, such as pinning a paper fish to the back of someones clothing, but in England you can only play the jokes before midday. 1 .English physicisian and discoverer of the circulation of the blood, William Harvey, was born in 1578. In Canada, the creation of the autonomus territory of Nunavut for the Inuit people was implemented in 1999. 2 . Frankish king and Christian Emperor of the West Charlemagne was born in 742.

. On this day in 1513, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Len discovered Florida. .Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen was born in 1805. He is most famous for his fairy tales, which include The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Ducklin and The Princess and the Pea. 3 .US actor Marlon Brando was born in 1924.Best known for his film The Godfather.

.Two British planes made aviation history by being the first to fly over the peak of Mt Everest in the Himalayas, in 1933. .English writer Graham Greene died in 1991.He wrote The Quiet American and The Human Factor. 4 .In 1932, vitamin C was first isolated.

.The US Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King , Jr was assassinated on this day in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to have led a sanitation workersprotest. .The premire of the film 2001:A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, was held in 1968. 5 .US actor Gregoy Peck was born in 1916. His best-known film is To Kill a Mockingbird.

. In 1955, Sir Winston Churchill, who was then 81 and in failing health, resigned as Prime Minister. This had been his second premiership of the UK., beginning in 1951; his first had covered the war years, from 1940 to 1945. 6 .The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, in 1896. .The film Ben Hur won a record-breaking eleven Oscars, in 1960. World Health Day is celebrated on this day every year under the sponsorship of the World Health Organisation. The day is celebrated to create awareness of a specific health theme and the activitiesrelated to that particular theme-continue for the following year. World Health Day themes in recent years were: Road safety (2004), Make every mother and child count (2005), Working together for health (2006), Invest in health, build a safer future(2007). For 2011 is To Antibiotic resistance: No action today, no cure tomorrow. Balanced use is the best medicine. The topic of World Health Day in 2012 is Ageing and health with the theme "Good health adds life to years". The focus is how good health throughout life can help older men and women lead full and productive lives and be a resource for their families and communities. Ageing concerns each and every one of us whether young or old, male or female, rich or poor no matter where we live. 7 .Spanish Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier was born in 1506.He was the founder of the Company of Jesus. .The first matches were sold by English inventor and chemist John Walker, from his shop on Stockton-on Tees, to a local solicitor who paid him one shilling for 100, in 1827. .This day is considered by many Buddhist as Buddhas birthday, although the exact date is uncertain. The founder of Buddhism was born in what now is Nepal probably around 563 BC. 8 .US inventor of the elevator Elisha Graves Otis died in 1861. 9 .Don Vicente Sos Baynat (1895-1992) was appointed vice-president of the 1st Spanish Congress of Geology. The Congress was held in Segovia from th th 9 to 14 of April, 1984.

The US Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed, allowing black people the rights and privileges of US citizenship Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros was born in 1957.

10 .On this day in 1633 the herbalist Thomas Johnson put a bunch of bananas in his shop window in Snow Hill, London. This was the first time that the fruit had been so displayed in England, but it was not until the late 19th century that bananas were regularly imported into the UK. .US mechanic Walter Hunt patented the safety pin in the US, in 1849. .The first book of crossword puzzles was published in New York City by the firm Simon and Schuster, in 1924. 11 .The Treaty of Utrech ended hostilities in the War of the Spanish Succession and left Gibraltar and parts of Canada ceded to Great Britatin. . In 1814 Napoleon I abdicated as emperor of France and was exiled to the Island of Elba. 12 Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caball was born in 1933.

.The polio vaccine developed by US virologist Jonas E Salk was confirmed as safe and effective, in1954. .The race between the USA and the USRR to send the first human being into space was won this day in 1961, when the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth for 108 minutes in the spacecraft Vostok. 13 .George Frideric Handels oratorio Messiah had its first performance in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. .US actor Sidney Poitier became the first black person to win the .Best Actor Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field in 1964. . Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win golfs Master Tournament, in 1997. 14 .At 11.40pm on this day in 1912, the worlds largest and most luxurious liner, the Titanic, on her maiden voyage struck an iceberg that made a huge hole in her side. Two and a half hours later, on the 15th of April, the Titanic went down , with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. .Noah Webster published Websters American Dictionay of the English Language, the first dictionary of US English, in 1828.

.The Second Republic, Spains first democratic regime in nearly 60 years, was established in 1931. .The Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci was born on this day in 1452, the son of a Florentine notary and a peasant woman.He studied art in Florence before settling in Milan, where he painted one of his most famous works the Last Supper. His best known painting is the Mona Lisa, which now hungs in the Louvre, Paris. He also had a wide knowledge of most of the science including biology, anatomy, physiology, hidrodynamics, mechanics and aeronautics. 15 .The first commercial screening of a sound-on-film production took place at N. York Citys Rialto Theater in 1923. . 16 .English comedy actor Charles Chaplin was born in 1889. He became the most famous performer of the early cinema era and also a noted director. He is considered to be one of the finest mimes and clowns of all time and his influence on performers in both fields is great. Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities in the silent-film era. His principal character was The Little Tramp, a vagabond with the refined manners and dignity of a gentleman who wears a tight coat, big trousers, oversized shoes and a bowler hat, and carries a bamboo cane. 17 .Genovese explorer Chistopher Columbus was given a comission to explore the western ocean by Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile, the King and Queen of Spain, in 1492. 18 .English actress Hayley Mills was born in 1946. She is best known for her film The Parent Trap. 19 .English naturalist Charles Darwin died in 1882. His work On the Origin of Species establishes the theory of evolution in nature. .The first Miss World contest was held in London in 1951, and won by Miss Sweden. . On this day in 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI. 20 .Austrian-born Geman dictator Adolf Hitler was born in 1889. .Spanish artist Joan Mir was born in 1893. .1999. Columbine High School Massacre: Two gunmen shoot dead 13 people and injure 24 others

before commiting suicide at Columbine High School (Jefferson County, Colorado). 21 .This is the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, born on this day in 1926. Her Official Bithday is now celebrated on the first, second or third Suturday in June. It is marked in London by the ceremony of Trooping of the Colour, which is also known as the Queens Birthday Parade. .According to the Roman historian Varro, Rome was founded by Romulus on this day in 753 BC. 22 .This day is widely celebrated as The Earth Day, on which communities around the world organize and participate in events intended to raise awareness on environmental issues, such as tree-planting or having a car-free day. .Brazil was discovered and claimed for Portugal by Pedro lvarez Cabral in 1500. On 26 January the same year Spanish explorer Vicente Yez Pinzn had discovered the country, but he failed to claim it for Spain. 23 .St Georges Day is celebrated by several nations where Saint George is the patron saint including Bulgaria, Portugal and England. In Catalonia the holiday is celebrated as well. In England, St Georges Day is celebrated as its National Day. 23 rd April is traditionally accepted as the date of St Georges death in 303. .English poet and playwright William Shakespeare was born in Stratfordupon-Avon in 1564. He is regarded as the greatest English-language writer and the worlds most important dramatist. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets as well as a variety of other poems. In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in English literature and in the history of the English-speaking world. .23rd April was chosen as International Book Day after a Catalan tradition. On this day in Catalonia, there are many book fairs and people give books with a rose as presents.This day is a symbolic date in world literature,marking the birth and death of William Shakespeare and the death of Miguel de Cervantes. 24 .English writer and adventurer Daniel Defoe died in 1731. He wrote Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

25 .US biologist James D Watson and English molecular biologist Francis Crick were the first to describe the structure of DNA in an article in Nature magazine in 1953. They subsequently received the Nobel Prize. 26 .On this day in 1986 four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Ukraine) went out of control, resulting in massive explosions. Many people died as a result of the radioactivity that was discharged, and 130,000 pepole were evacuated from the area. 27 .Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan died in 1521. He was the first European explorer to enter the Pacific from the Strait of Magellan, which he discovered, as well as the Philippines. .Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City, in 2006. 28 .Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five set out on the Kon-Tiki expedition to travel 6,900 kilometres from South America to Polynesia on a rope and balsa craft, in 1947. 29 .Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback patented the zip or separable fastener. 30 .George Washington was inagurated as the first President of the USA, in 1789.