Coronation Street is Britain's longest-running television soap opera. It was created by Tony Warren and first broadcast on December 9, 1960. The working title of the show was Florizel Street, but Agnes, a tea lady at Granada Television (where Coronation Street was produced) remarked that "Florizel" sounded too much like a disinfectant. Coronation Street is set in a fictional street in the fictional industrial town of Weatherfield which is based on Salford, now part of Greater Manchester. It is the central television programme on the ITV network. Its principal rival soap opera is the BBC's EastEnders.
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1571 Battle of Lepanto: The Ottoman Empire was decisively defeated by the Christian West for the first time, as a multinational fleet led by Don John of Austria crushed the Turkish navy near the Gulf of Corinth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_%281571%29)
1985 The Mediterranean ocean liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro)
2001 The Invasion of Afghanistan began at 16:30 UTC with an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban and Al-Qaida forces. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._invasion_of_Afghanistan)
2003 California recall: Californians voted to recall Governor Gray Davis from office, electing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new governor from a long list of 135 candidates. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_California_recall)
Wikiquote of the day:
"I don't get no respect!" ~ Rodney Dangerfield (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield)