June 2nd is

Fish and Chip Day *

Hug Your Cat Day

Leave the Office Earlier Day *

National Donut Day *

Rocky Road Day *

Rotisserie Chicken Day

Gun Violence Awareness Day *

________________________________________________________________

MORE!  Thomas Hardy, Dorothy West and Bruce Springsteen, click

________________________________________________________________

WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Bahamas – Randol Fawkes Labour Day *

Bulgaria – Botev Remembrance Day *

Italy – Republic Day

Malaysia – Sarawak: Hari Gawai
(2^nd day – Iban/Biydayuh harvest festival)

Romania – Ziua muncii
(Labour day)

Sweden – Göteborg:
Summerburst Music Fest

___________________________________________________________

On This Day in HISTORY

455 – The second of three sacks of Rome: After knocking down all the aqueducts bringing water into Rome, Vandals under Genseric enter the city, taking many captives as slaves, looting great amounts of treasure, and damaging many significant buildings, for 14 days

1692 – Bridget Bishop goes on trial as the first person accused of witchcraft in the Salem
witch trials; she will also be the first person hanged

1740 – Marquis de Sade born, French aristocrat, revolutionary and writer, sexual fantasist obsessed with violence, criminality and blasphemy

1763 – Pontiac’s Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort

1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, requiting the colonies to pay for housing British troops in peacetime, and allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings, or people’s homes, if suitable quarters are not available

1793 – French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror

1816 – Grace Aguilar born, British novelist and author of Jewish history and religion: The Spirit of Judaism and The Women of Israel 

1840 – Thomas Hardy born, English novelist and poet, Victorian Realist; Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure

1851 – Maine becomes the first U.S. state pass a law prohibiting alcohol

1857 – Sir Edward Elgar born, English composer, appointed Master of the King’s Musick in 1924 ; The Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches 

1876 – Botev Remembrance Day * – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet, journalist and revolutionary, is killed during the April Uprising against the Ottoman Empire, leading two hundred rebels who fought to the last man; the brutality of the Turks, whose seasoned troops out-numbered the Bulgarians by ten to one, caused an outcry, and was followed by the Russo-Turkish War. Bulgaria finally achieved complete independence in 1908. On June 2^nd in Bulgaria, there are three minutes of silence at noon in remembrance of Hristo Botev, and of all those who have died for Bulgaria’s freedom

1896 – Guglielmo Marconi files a patent on his earliest wireless system with the British Patent Office

1899 – Lotte Reiniger born, German animator/director, silhouette animation pioneer; The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Cinderella and The Magic Flute 

1907 – John F. Lehmann born, English poet, book and periodical publisher

1907 – Dorothy West born, Harlem Renaissance author; The Living is Easy

1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane

1913 – Barbara Pym born, British author, Fellow of Royal Society of Literature, wrote social comedies; Excellent Women and A Glass of Blessings 

1919 – Eight large bombs are detonated nearly simultaneously in eight U.S. cities by followers of anarchist Luigi Galleani; 16 other bombs had previously been mailed in late April – the ongoing bombings led to the Red Scare of 1919-1920

1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge sings SIGNS the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native American born within U.S. territorial limits

1929 – In March, William Dreyer invents Rocky Road ice cream – there are conflicting reports of where his inspiration came from, but the result is undisputedly delicious. The name of the ice cream is believed to have inspired not only by its appearance, but also by ‘rocky road’ of the Great Depression. Couldn’t find a connection to June 2, but any day is a good day to celebrate Rocky Road Day *

1938 – The “Salvation Army Donut” served by S.A. women to American soldiers during WWI – donuts for doughboys – are the inspiration for National Donut Day * – created to honor these women, begun by the Salvation Army’s Chicago branch as a fund-raiser for the needy during the Great Depression

1944 – Marvin Hamlisch born, American composer, winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards and a Pulitzer prize

1953 – Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey

1961 – Sir Randol Fawkes pilots the bill though the House of Assembly to establish  a national Labour Day in the Bahamas; Fawkes, called ‘the father of the Free Trade Union Movement’ was also a civil rights activist, attorney and author, who cast the deciding vote to form the first black-majority coalition government in the island’s history

1978 – Yi So-yeon born, scientist, first Korean woman astronaut in space

1978 – Bruce Springsteen’s album, Darkness On The Edge of Town, is released 

1981 – Nintendo’s video game, Donkey Kong, makes its U.S. debut

1989 – Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens protecting student demonstrators for democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square

1997 – Timothy McVeigh is convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people

1998 – Voters in California passed Proposition 227, requiring that all schoolchildren be taught in English; it is repealed in 2016 by passage of Proposition 58

2003 – The New York Philharmonic announces that its return to Carnegie Hall, citing Carnegie’s acoustics as a key reason for moving back 

2005 – The first Leave the Office Earlier Day * is started by Laura Stack, an Employee Productivity Specialist. American workers are putting in longer hours and taking less time off – averaging over 49 hours a week, including time spent on cell phones responding to business calls and texts outside business hours – it adds up to an extra month of work each year 

2013 – Gun Violence Awareness Day * is inspired by the shooting death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton as she is standing with friends in a Chicago park – It is also called Wear Orange Day, because supporters wear orange, like hunters do in the woods, to make themselves more visible, and protect themselves and others from harm. 90 Americans are killed every day by gun violence

2016 – The first Fish and Chip Day * is launched in the UK by NEODA (National Edible Oil Distributors Association); there is a rival Fish and Chips Day founded by ITICA (Irish Traditional Italian Chippers Association) in Ireland at the end of May – here’s hoping they can join together!

________________________________________________________________