Shergar (1978–1983) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In 1981 Shergar ran in six races, winning five of them. In June that year he won the 202nd Epsom Derby by ten lengths—the longest winning margin in the race's history. Three weeks later he won the Irish Sweeps Derby by four lengths; a month after that he won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes by four lengths. He was retired to the Ballymany Stud in County Kildare, Ireland, but was stolen by an armed gang in February 1983. In 1999 Sean O'Callaghan, a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, published details of the theft and said it was an operation to raise money for arms. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph concluded that the horse was shot four days after the theft. No arrests were made for the theft, and Shergar's body was never recovered. In his honour the Shergar Cup was inaugurated in 1999.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shergar
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée under Napoleon crossed the Neman river, marking the start of their invasion of Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
1880:
"O Canada" (audio featured), today the national anthem of Canada, was first performed in Quebec City, during a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day banquet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada
1939:
The first of the Thai cultural mandates was issued, officially changing the country's name from Siam to Thailand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_cultural_mandates
1994:
A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane County, Washington, killing all four crew members, and later providing a case study on the importance of compliance with safety regulations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
adynaton: (rhetoric) A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adynaton
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot's activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but "pervades and regulates the whole." He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line. --Ambrose Bierce https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce
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