Holidays 2021-01-18

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, the Peking duck menu item, the armed forces of Thailand, elementary school teachers, thesauruses, melancholia, cartoon bear Winnie the Pooh, and gourmet coffee each attract celebratory attention today:

Royal Thai Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the anniversary of a conflict won by the king of Thailand who defeated the crown prince of Burma in what is described as an elephant duel.

Blue Monday has been pseudo-scientifically proven to be the saddest day of the year. (It does have a formula, but that's probably as close to science as it gets.)

Peter Mark Roget, famous for the thesaurus he wrote, was born on this date in 1779.

A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, was born on this date in 1882.

Martin Luther King Jr was born on this date in 1929.
Image by John Hain from Pixabay


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