Harry Relph (21 July 1867 – 10 February 1928), professionally
known as Little Tich, was a 4-foot-6-inch (137 cm) English music hall
comedian and dancer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He
was best known for his acrobatic and comedic Big-Boot Dance, for which
he wore boots with soles 28 inches (71 cm) long. He was also a popular
performer in theatrical Christmas pantomimes. During a tour of the
United States between 1887 and 1889 he impressed audiences with his
ability to stand on the tips of his shoes and to lean at extraordinary
angles. He had a major success with Babes in the Wood in Manchester
during the 1889–90 season, and in the 1890s he developed the
Serpentine Dance. The impresario Augustus Harris hired him to appear
alongside Dan Leno and Marie Lloyd at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in
its spectacular Christmas pantomimes Humpty Dumpty in 1891, Little Bo
Peep in 1892 and Robinson Crusoe in 1893.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Tich>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1831:
Following the Belgian Revolution, Leopold I was inaugurated as
the first king of the Belgians at the Place Royale in Brussels.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I_of_Belgium>
1918:
World War I: An Imperial German U-boat opened fire on a small
convoy of barges and defending aircraft near the American town of
Orleans, Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Orleans>
1960:
Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected the prime minister of Ceylon,
becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of
government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike>
1990:
Taiwanese military police ordered the deportation of 76 illegal
immigrants from mainland China in sealed boat holds, causing 25 deaths
due to suffocation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Ping_Yu_No._5540_incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
aventurine:
1. A kind of brownish glass containing gold-coloured spangles.
2. (mineralogy, by extension) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled
throughout with scales of yellow mica.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aventurine>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We believe that the civilised world is a multicultural, multi-
religious world. That is the type of message we want to get across. …
I think there are many who are Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not
warmongers but peace makers and want this world to be a better place.
We believed the unison of the voices of so many people standing together
against international terrorism is something to be valued and something
to be built upon.
--Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens>