Memeology - My Birthday Meme - 14th July

Last time I did a meme I got more visitors to my blog in a day than I ever had before.  It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like an inverted teddy bear which had been microwaved for a bit.  So, when I saw that I had been tagged in another one by Mr @SAHDandproud my heart fair jumped for joy at the prospect.  It’s quite obvious I’m still new to this blogging lark isn’t it?

So here’s the basis of this meme:  Kate, of The Five Fs Blog, is compiling a list of birthday related information for each day of the year.  This is dead good, because not only do I not have to think of a topic for a proper post but I also get to learn stuff about what happened on days.

I’ve known of one event that had the audacity to be on the same day as my birth for some time.  But now, thanks to my in depth and time consuming research* I have learnt that the day of my birth has, historically, been quite eventful.  Without further ado then, I present to you “The My Birthday Meme”:

When is your birthday?

I made my earthly debut on the 14^th of July 1982. 

Pick three people who share your birthday and share what you know about them.

Former US President Gerald Ford (1913) – The only US president to achieve his place in office without being elected, he replaced Richard Nixon (who was ahead of the phone hacking curve, should have been a NOTW reporter) and subsequently didn’t do anything all that noteworthy.

Billy McCool (1944) – I have included Billy McCool because of his name.  He definitely has the best name of anyone born on the same day as me.  Had he been a good example of nominative determinism he could have been as awesome as James Dean (or a refrigerator salesman).  But actually, he was a fairly mediocre baseball player.  What a wasted opportunity.

David Mitchell (1974) – English comedian and writer of funny columns in the Observer.  Star of popular sitcom Peep Show, as well as numerous other lol-worthy productions.  David is half Welsh, has a hairstyle disconcertingly close to Hitler’s and currently sports a beard which is a little bit dodgier than mine.

Is anyone listed as being born on the same day as you (ie the same year). If so, what do you know about them?

Outrageously, yes.  Dmitry Chaplin, a Russian born American dancer.  He was a finalist in “So You Think You Can Dance”.  Does this explain why I can’t dance?  Did Dmitry get all the dance skills that day?  Perhaps.

List three people who died on your birthday and tell us what you know about them?

Billy the Kid (1881) – A frontier outlaw in America’s “Old West”.  He killed people, somewhere between four and twenty-six depending on who you believe, and was killed himself after a bounty of $500 was placed on his head. 

Richard McDonald (1998) – Co-founder of the McDonald’s fast food empire, purveyors of dirty cardboard burgers which aren’t very nice but do a good job of dissipating a raging hangover.  Didn’t die sat on a toilet eating a Big Mac.

Octave Lapize (1917) – French cyclist from the days when cyclists were proper hardcore, not espresso sipping, leg shaving, EPO doping prima donnas.  Won the Tour de France in 1910, on a bike with one gear and racing on unsealed roads.  Accused some of the tour officials of being murderers while doing battle with the Col du Tourmalet, though in fact he actually died seven years later after being shot down while he was a fighter pilot in WW1.

List three notable events that took place on your birthday.

1789 – The rising of the French proletariat!  Storming of the Bastille in Paris is the flashpoint for the French Revolution.  They were mostly after gunpowder to put in their muskets, but I expect the seven prisoners held there were pretty pleased.  France is now well known for making tasty cheese and wine, and for that we should all be glad.

1933 – The Nazi Party passes a law which makes all other political parties illegal.  No flippant remarks on this one, as we all know what this (and other things) led to.

1965 – Mariner 4, an American space probe, takes the first close up photographs of another planet in the solar system.  Largely dispelling the idea of life on Mars, which probably made a lot of people sad.  Still, pretty cool.

Tell us about a holiday that falls on your birthday.

It’s a flag day in Sweden, what with it being the birthday of  Victoria, the Crown Princess of that fair nation.  How nice.  Maybe I’ll move there so I can have the day off.

There we go, meme memed.  It just remains for me to tag five fortunates to further the fun.  Here they are:

@_firsttimedaddy – because revenge is a dish best served via the medium of meme ;-)

@mycuntrymanor – because I have no doubt she will just tell me to fuck off and I respect her candour.

@thecrumbymummy – because she put the theme song to the Poddington Peas in my head yesterday with this blog post and…oh, dear, this is revenge again isn’t it?  Seriously though, lovely bloggage over there, you should read it.

@bodfortea – because I didn’t tag her in the other meme and then felt bad about it.  Which is probably the direct opposite of how she felt about it. 

@OneDad3Girls – he took a picture of a tiger which made me smile.  Also I think he’s just tagged me in something…

*Looking on Wikipedia for a bit.