28/06

Ok, so nobody has tagged me but there is this meme thing going around where you have to investigate people who share your birthday, blah blah blah, etc etc etc

Anyway, for no other reason I’ve decided this was a good starting point for a blog post because my birth date has a few interesting connections along the way. I was actually quite amazed when I started investigating.

I have possibly mentioned before that Henry VIII and I share the honour of being born on the 28^th June, however, apart from people with a passion for executing their wives, there are quite a few others worth mentioning. In fact, there is also a serial killer lurking around there too. A man called Carl Panzram who apparently murdered 22 people amongst other very bad naughtiness.

For some obscure reason, there is quite a thread of artistic type people born on this day. Various composers, poets, musicians, painters, writers and actor people of merit share my birthday. Kathy Bates of Misery fame is one, (actually she also liked chopping things off people, albeit as a character in the film)

John Cusak’s stature as an actor (and blogger) of note speaks for itself, and Aileen Quinn who played Annie in the 1982 film were also born on this fine day. Okay, so was Adam Woodyatt who plays Ian Beale in Eastenders, so perhaps the mark of quality is being over-egged by me at this moment, but there are many others. Look on wikipedia if you don’t believe me!

Of course, I also have other interesting people on the list like the director Mel Brooks, or the founder of Methodism John Wesley, there is even a Pope and a French prime minister in there, although Laval was a very bad egg who was subsequently executed for treason and shamefully involved with the deportation of jews to Germany.

I can even lay claim to being the astral twin of DJ Quicksilver of “Belissima” fame !

What I didn’t know and something that also surprised me was that the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on the 28^th June in 1914, which actually led to the start of the First World War. Even more intriguingly, the Treaty of Versailles that ended the War was signed on the 28^th June! (Twilight zone music kicking in)

I am now becoming quite obsessed with this and will probably spend the next three weeks going back through all of the people who were born on June 28^th, even though as pointless exercises go – this is right up there with the best of them.