“Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and your family and friends”
~ from AntonK.com
DiD YOU KNOW: The very first SMS text message sent was “Merry Christmas” on the 3rd December 1992, when 22 year old Neil Papworth, a test engineer for Sema Group in the UK (now Airwide Solutions) sent the world’s first ever text message. Since mobile phones didn’t have keyboards at the time, he typed the “Merry Christmas” message out on a PC, and sent it to the phone of Richard Jarvis of Vodafone in the UK, who was enjoying his office Christmas party at the time. No-one on that day had any idea how gigantic the texting phenomenon would become, as this concept was for them to use essentially as a paging service.
See the Merry Christmas from A to Z & Xmas Checklist by Azoosh
One of my favourite contemporary Christmas songs is “Driving Home for Christmas“ written and performed by Chris Rea, and released in December 1988. Chris Rea said he wrote “Driving Home for Christmas” many years before he first recorded it. His wife had come down to London to drive him home to Middlesbrough in her Austin Mini, because it was cheaper to drive than travel by train. The inspiration for this car version of a Christmas carol song came as they were both stuck in heavy traffic, while heading out of London on their long drive to Middlesbrough.
FUNNY XMAS CARD / PHOTOS by Anton K:
TRACK SANTA’S FLiGHT PATH ONLiNE: Santa’s Flight Path Revealed:
- AiR SERViCES AUSTRALiA Official Website: www.AirServicesAustralia.com/Santa & see Air Services preparations for Santa’s visit on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AirServicesSanta & follow on Twitter
- NORAD TRACKS SANTA: www.NoradSanta.org/en & follow Norad traking Santa on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/NoradSanta & see on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NoradSanta plus see it on the YouTube Norad Tracks Santa channel:
www.youtube.com/NORADTracksSanta
EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON CHRiSTMAS DAY?:
- 1643 – Christmas Island was found and named by Captain William Mynors.
- 1968 – Apollo 8 performed the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
- 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia.
- 1990 – The first successful trial run of the World Wide Web was conducted.
- 2004 – Huygens probe was released by Cassini orbiter, which successfully landed on Saturn‘s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN ON CHRiSTMAS DAY:
- 7BC*~ Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born on the 25th December *7-2 BC.
- 1628 – Noël Coypel the French painter was born (d. 1707).
- 1642 – Isaac Newton the English scientist and mathematician was born (d. 1727).
- 1856 – Hans von Bartels the German painter was born on (d. 1913).
- 1870 – Helena Rubinstein the Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist was born (d. 1965).
- 1887 – Conrad Hilton the American hotelier was born (d. 1979).
- 1899 – Humphrey Bogart the American actor was born (d. 1957).
- 1908 – Quentin Crisp the English author was born (d. 1999).
- 1913 – Tony Martin the American singer and actor was born (d. 2012).
- 1928 – Dick Miller the American actor was born.
- 1937 – O’Kelly Isley, Jr. the American singer from The Isley Brothers was born (d. 1986).
- 1938 – Duane Armstrong the American painter was born.
- 1944 – Kenny Everett the British entertainer was born (d. 1995).
- 1949 – Sissy Spacek the American actress was born.
- 1954 – Annie Lennox the Scottish singer was born.
- 1955 – Alannah Myles the Canadian singer was born.
- 1959 – Michael P. Anderson the American astronaut was born. Michael died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on the 1st February 2003, aged 43.
- 1962 – Darren Wharton the British keyboardist from Thin Lizzy was born.
- 1968 – Helena Christensen the Danish model was born.
- 1971 – Dido the English singer was born.
- 1984 – The Veronicas, the Australian rock duo twin sisters Jessica & Lisa Origliasso were born in Albany Creek, Brisbane .
FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO DiED ON CHRiSTMAS DAY:
- 1946 – W. C. Fields the American comedian died (b. 1880).
- 1995 – Dean Martin the American singer died (b. 1917).
- 1977 – Charlie Chaplin the English actor and film director died (b. 1889).
- 2006 – James Brown the American singer died (b. 1933)
- 2008 – Eartha Kitt the American actress and singer died (b. 1927).
“All us living creatures all want the same thing, HAPPiNESS!!.. so let’s all spread some more happiness like sunshine around the world this year, among ALL people and animals of Earth, life is too short to not be happy.” ~ Anton K. (1st January 2013)