The day started as a beautiful summer morning ...

July 7, 2005 -
11 years ago on this date, four bomb explosions struck London's transport system during the morning rush. Three Underground trains were hit within half an hour, and a double-decker bus joined the toll, thirty minutes later.



A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over fifty people were killed and more than 700 injured.


On a much lighter note - Today is:

Bonza Bottler Day, an excuse to celebrate. This happens every month when the day and the date are the same number. (May 5, June 6, July 7, etc.).

The holiday was invented by Elaine Fremont in 1985 (who died in a car accident in 1995.) Her friends and family have been keeping her holiday alive by posting announcements of the holiday every year (I didn't know Ms. Fremont but I like the idea,)

Father-Daughter take a walk together day,

(two different sets of lawyers have confirmed that this is the picture I can use.  I have been legally estopped from saying if I am related to the people in this photograph. Such is life with teenagers.)

Chocolate Day (If you're a chocoholic, then you have two more chocolate days to celebrate! World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28.)

Remember kids, chocolate is actually the seed pod of the fruit of the cocoa tree - so it must be healthy for you, eat up.

And National Strawberry Sundae Day -

Remember it's Richard Starkey birthday today. And all he has to show for it is a photograph.



And I believe he still won't sign it for you.


July 7, 1944 -
Universal Pictures releases the sequel to The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine, in U.S. theaters on this date.



This is the only Universal Mummy movie that utilizes no flashback footage. It is one of a very few Universal Horror Classics where the female lead doesn't survive the film.


July 7, 1960 -
Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Brides of Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, in the UK on this date.



The film underwent rewriting by others including director Terence Fisher who made changes to the script on the set just prior to shooting scenes.


July 7 , 1977 -
The 10th film in the James Bond oeuvre, The Spy Who Loved Me, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore in his third outing as James Bond, (Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel co-starred), was released in the UK on this date.



A representative from the Egyptian government was on-set throughout the shoot in Cairo and Giza to make sure that the country was not revealed in an unflattering light. For that reason when the scaffolding collapses on Jaws and Bond quips "Egyptian builders", Roger Moore merely mouthed the line, dubbing it in later. It went unnoticed by the official Egyptian minder, and ironically, got a great laugh from Egyptian audiences.


July 7, 1984 -
The single Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood became Britain's all-time best-selling single (at the time) on this date.



Written by the group's lead singer Holly Johnson, bassist Mark O'Toole and drummer Peter Gill, Relax was the first Frankie Goes to Hollywood single, and by far their biggest American hit (they had two other chart-toppers in their native UK: Two Tribes and The Power Of Love).


Today in History:
July 7, 1456 -
Pope Calixtus III retried Joan of Arc on this date; the trial acquitted her of heresy 25 years after her death.



The pile of ashes that was Joan was unsurprisingly silent upon hearing the news.


July 7, 1865 -
Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt, convicted co-conspirators of the Lincoln assassination were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on this date.

Unfortunately, the conspirators dropped about five or six feet, which proved insufficient to break their necks. They were allowed to hang for 25 minutes to ensue the job, if not done well, was at least completed. Mary Surratt became the first woman executed by the United States.


July 7, 1928 –
Wonder no more where the expression came from -



Sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, on this date.



It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".


July 7. 1946 -
Our favorite, germophobe, bisexual billionaire Howard Hughes was pulled out, barely alive, from the fiery wreckage of an XF-11 reconnaissance plane that Hughes was testing over Beverly Hills, by, William Durkin, a US Master Sergeant, who happened to be in the area, on this date.



Hughes' injuries were extensive;including a crushed collar bone, 24 broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns. Miraculously, he survives, although he is never quite the same. It's believed that Hughes' long-term addiction to codeine was a result of his convalescence from this near fatal accident.


On July 7, 1947, the US Army sends a team of men to a reported crash site near Roswell, New Mexico. This 'recovery' has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was recovered was a top-secret research balloon that had crashed.



Many UFO proponents believe the wreckage was of a crashed alien craft and that the military covered up the craft's recovery. The incident has turned into a widely-recognized and referred to pop culture phenomenon, and for some, Roswell is synonymous with UFOs. It likely ranks as the most famous alleged UFO incident.

Remember, the Truth is out there.


July 7, 1952 -
During her first Atlantic crossing, the SS United States crossed the finish line in the great race for the fastest Atlantic crossing ever.



To this day, no other liner has ever come close to her speed record in that maiden crossing - in a record 82 hours, 40 minutes.


On July 5, 1954, Elvis Presley recorded That's All Right, at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, as a gift for his mother (Hear his words, let them be a comfort to you.)



On July 7, 1954 WHBQ Radio in Memphis became the first station to play this song when their disc jockey Dewey Phillips aired it on his Red, Hot and Blue show .


July 7, 2006 -
The Western Black Rhinocero, one of the rarest of the Black Rhinoceros species, was hunted to extinction, on this date. Its extinction can be attributed to the illegal poaching of the animal.

One group, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), continues to list it as "Critically Endangered" in the hopes that someone will discover a small isolated population somewhere.



And so it goes.


Before you go - in case you thought our current election has escaped the notice of the world, here is Australian comic, Jim Jefferies explaining the campaign of Donald Trump -



I believe he has it down cold.