TODAY - December 19

 NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS

ON: DECEMBER 19

New edition

TODAY’s LENGTH:

This day is here in Belgium 8 hours and 32 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 7 hours and 58 minutes – from 08.41 to 16.39.

See more – also in English – about where you are on:  www.dagenslaengde.dk

TODAY’s NAME:

This day’s name is NEMESIUS DAY. He was a man who lived in Alexandria during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius.  One day he was accused of being a robber. When he could prove that it was a false accusation he was instead accused of being a Christian – and executed. At the same time the judge asked the false accusations to be burned on the fire together with him.

The day’s name in Belgium is SAINT URBAIN V.  He lived in the years 1310-70 and was pope from 1362-70.  He was one of the popes, who stayed in Avignon in the south of France and not in Rome.

 

TODAY’s EVENT:

1986: The Soviet nuclear scientist and critic of the Soviet system Andrei Sakharov is rehabilitated and can freely move back to Moscow from his forced exile in Gorkij ( now Nizhny Novgorod ).  It is Gorbatjov himself who calls him to give him the news.

 

TODAY’s QUESTION:

Gordian knot  -  what is that? And what is the legend behind it?

This expression comes from Apollon’s Oracle in Delphi – the centre of the world in ancient Greece.  The Oracle had predicted that the person who could undo a knot on the harness on a pole of a wagon in the temple of Zeus in Gordion would become the ruler of the world.

 

Then came Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) and solved the problem by cutting the knot with his sword. And he actually became the ruler of the known world at the time.

 

Today, the expression to untie the Gordian knot means that you solve a problem, which seems unsolvable.

QUESTION FOR TOMORROW:

Christmas in Denmark  -  what are the traditions?

45 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT EUROPE:

EUROPE AT WORK     www.europe-at-work.be

 

TODAY’s QUOTE & FAMOUS PEOPLE :

1.  Yesterday’s quote:

Let things which belong together grow together!

            This was said by former federal chancellor Willy Brandt at the occasion of the

             reunification of West Germany and East Germany in 1990.

2.  Today’s quote:

Morals are when you live in a way, which is not pleasant and entertaining.

Who among today’s persons has said that?

3.  Famous people born on this day:

1833:  Peter Ludvig Panum  ( died 1885 )

1906:  Leonid Brezhnev  ( died 1982 )

1915:  Edith Piaf  ( died 1963 )

 

4.  Famous people died on this day:

1741:  Vitus Bering  ( 60 years )

1848:  Emily Brontë  ( 30 years )

1851:  J.M.W. Turner  ( 76 years )

1915:  Alois Alzheimer  ( 51 years )

1996:  Marcello Mastroianni  ( 72 years )


Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

niels4europe@gmail.com  

www.simplesite.com/kimbrer   +  EUROPE-AT-WORK    www.europe-at-work.be

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TODAY - November 29

  NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS ON: NOVEMBER 29 New edition TODAY’s LENGTH: This day is here in Belgium 8 hours and 7 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 8 hours and 22 minutes – from 08.20 to 16.42. Se more – also in English – about where you are on:   www.dagenslaengde.dk TODAY’s NAME: Today’s name is SATURNINUS’ DAY .   He was a missionary in Toulouse in the southwest of France. And later he became a bishop there.   In the year 250 AC the non-Christians decided to kill him. He was tied to the legs of a bull. And the bull was then pursued down the stairs from the local capitol.   Later a church named Notre-Dame-du-Tours was built on that spot. The day’s name in Belgium is SAINT RADBOD – after a Frisian king, who was also bishop in Utrecht in the Netherlands.   He was fighting with the Franconeans and defeated Karel Martel near Cologne.   He died in 719.   TODAY’s EVENT: 1814: The newspaper The Times in London star...
Read more

TODAY - FEBRUARY 8

Image
  NIELS’ MORNING GREETINGS ON: FEBRUARY 8 New 2021 edition TODAY’s PERSON: I have chosen the French author JULES VERNE .   He was born on this day in 1828 and died 77 years old in 1905.   He was and still is very well know for his many book about adventurous travels to many places.   His point of departure was the many new scientific discoveries in his lifetime.   Based upon them he tried to imagine how their use would develop in the future – what they could be used for.    For many he   considered to be the father of science fiction.   In his special way. Among his many famous books are the following: Five Weeks in a Balloon   ( in Africa ) Journey to the Centre of the Earth   ( taking place in Denmark and Iceland ) From the Earth to the Moon In Search of the Castaways / The Children of Captain Grant Twenty-Thousand Under the Sea: A Tour of the Underwater World Around the World in Eighty Days His books were ...
Read more

TODAY - July 12

NIELS’ SUMMER GREETINGS ON: JULY 12 New edition TODAY’s LENGTH: This day is here in Denmark 28 minutes shorter than June 21. Its length is 17 hours and 7 minutes – from 04.47 to 21.54. See more – also in English – about where you are on:   www.dagenslaengde.dk TODAY’s NAME: This day is called HEINRICH’s DAY .    It has its name after Holy Heinrich , who was German-Roman emperor in the years 1002-24. He created the diocese Bamberg and initiated the building of many churches and monasteries. In Belgium the day’s name is SAINT JEAN GUALBERT – after an Italian abbot, who lived in the years 985-1073.   He started the Vallumbrosa order. TODAY’s EVENT: 1920:   The Panama Canal is opened by US president Woodrow Wilson . TODAY’s QUESTION: Sandwich - what's the history of that word? And what is it? We all know what a sandwich is: two pieces of bread put on top of one another and with some nice stuff like meat, ...
Read more