World Events Today
- The Parliament of Australia was formed today in 1901
- Parliament House in Canberra, the capital of Australia, was inaugurated today in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II
- Sadiq Khan officially took over from Boris Johnson as Mayor of London today in 2016
Entertainment Events Today
- Queen Victoria attended Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, a circus-like performance of life in the Old West, which opened today in 1887 in London
- Friday the 13th, the original movie of the American horror franchise, was released today in 1980 in the United States
- The final episode of the American sitcom television series The Golden Girls, aired today in 1992 on the NBC network
Family Events Today
- The American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, also known as “The Piano Man“, was born today in 1949 in New York
- The hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, hairdresser of the stars, died today in 2012 aged 84
- Frederick Leslie Fowell, better known as the English stand-up comedian Freddie Starr, star of many Royal Variety Performance shows, died today in 2019 aged 76
Main Event Today
- The American Civil War, which had been running for just over 4 years, officially ended today in 1865 when President Johnson declared the insurrection was over, a month after Lee surrendered to Grant
National Day Today
- Today, it’s National Lost Sock Memorial Day