About Me

Birthday Post!

giftedandchilling83 Comments

Today is my birthday! 🥳

I would personally like to thank each and every one of my readers who have visited GiftedandChilling and continues to support me through this blogging journey ♡ It means the world and seeing your views, likes, comments and follows never fail to make me smile.

In this post, I have decided to share some interesting trivia and moments in history which fell on the 23rd of April. Enjoy reading! ❤

St. George’s Day

Today is the death anniversary of Saint George’s and is seen as the UK’s national day. He died in Bithynia, Roman Empire in the year 303. Also known as George of Lydda, he was sentenced to death for refusing to deny his Christian faith and has been accepted as a saint and martyr in Christianity.

According to traditional rumours, he was a soldier in the Roman army and a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian.

Several nations and cities including England, Ethiopia, Catalonia, and Moscow in Russia (as well as universities, professions and organisations) all hail him as their patron. Saint George’s bones are buried in his sarcophagus in the Church of Saint George, Lod, Israel.

The most recognised representation of this day is the St. George’s Cross which is a red cross on a white background. The symbol is used as England’s national flag and forms part of the Union Flag, the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Shakespeare’s Birthday + Death

William Shakespeare is a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor, born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was a prolific writer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre and is widely regarded as the greatest in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist.

The exact date of his birth is not recorded, but it is most often celebrated on 23 April. Shakespeare’s baptism is documented in the Parish Register at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday 26 April 1564. During this time, baptisms would take place within three days of the new arrival and parents were instructed by the Prayer Book to ensure that their children were baptised by the first Sunday after birth.

Therefore, it is unlikely that Shakespeare was born earlier than the previous Sunday, 23 April, and given that three days is the reasonable break between birth and baptism, 23 April has been selected as the celebration of his birthday.

At aged 52, Shakespeare passed away on his birthday in 1616 and has been buried in the parish church, Holy Trinity. The cause of his death is known, however, it is believed that he fell ill after a night of heavy drinking.

World Book Day

Also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, World Book Day is an annual event celebrated in several countries. The first World Book Day took place on 23 April 1995. This date was chosen because it coincides with many birth and death anniversaries of well-known writers including William Shakespeare, Josep Pla, and Miguel de Cervantes.

World Book Day aims to change lives through the love of books and shared reading, and across the country, books are given out to individuals and organisations with a focus of reaching those that do not regularly read such as hospitals, prisons, care homes, and homeless shelters.

In the UK and Ireland, World Book Day is celebrated on the first Thursday of March to avoid clashing with St. George’s Day.

First Video on YouTube

On 23 April 2005, the first video was uploaded onto YouTube by the site’s co-founder Jawed Karim.

Titled “Me at the zoo” this 19-second video is the oldest video available on the site, it was recorded by Karim’s high school friend, Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo. It focuses on Karim in front of the elephants in their old exhibit in Elephant Mesa, describing their long trunks.

Now 15 years later, YouTube has become the world’s most popular online video community.

The video has racked over 156M views worldwide and as of February 2021, the description box hints at a follow-up with an exciting “Maybe it’s time to return to the zoo?”

Thank you for reading this post and for your huge support for this blog. I love you all! 💕 What significant event in history does your birthday fall on? 😄

Feel free to share in the comment section below! Have a lovely day and take care 🤗

83 thoughts on “Birthday Post!”

  7. Happy Birthday! Treat yourself to a socially distanced celebration! Look at pictures of your favorite foods online. Zoom with some friends. Then next year, when hopefully the world will be back to normal, have a big party to celebrate both years.

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    • Thank you for your thoughtful birthday wish and message, Lorne 💗 I couldn’t help but smile. It was definitely a socially distanced celebration with lots of reminiscing. I’m hoping that this time next year, it’ll be better to have a party with family and friends 🤞 but until then, we are abiding by the rules and being as safe as possible. Hope you are well and having a lovely weekend! ✨

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  12. Aww 🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🥳

    I love the post. You know, I live in the UK but must be living under a rock lately because I’d totally forgotten St George’s Day today, oops! It’s interesting how Shakespeare’s birthday wasn’t known and neither was his cause of death for sure. I went to Shakespeare’s house and some of the other places of interest in Stratford-Upon-Avon. So cool to see where he would have lived and gained inspiration. And wow, 2005 for YouTube? Yikes, I feel old!

    My birthday is August 9th, but I’ve no idea what historical coolness happened on that day. Probably not a lot 😆

    Hope you had a lovely birthday and that you can take the weekend to celebrate, treat yourself and spend your time however you wish 💚
    Caz xx

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    • Hi Caz!

      Aww, thank you for your birthday wishes and message! I really appreciate it 🤗

      I live in the UK and have visited Stratford-Upon-Avon too on a couple of occasions and found it a friendly area with so much history. You are right that it is an inspirational visit! I loved Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the garden is stunning 💗

      I’ve had a look and you share a lot of historical coolness on your birthday too (so many that I cannot name all at once 😂), here are a few:
      – International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples (United Nations)
      – 220 million trees planted in one day in Uttar Pradesh, India (2019)
      – Usain Bolt won the 200m at the London Olympics in 19.32, making him the first to win 100/200m double back-to-back (2012)

      Thank you again for your kind comment – it was a great day and I was generously spoiled by loved ones.

      Hope you are well and enjoy the rest of your weekend ✨

      Genevieve x

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    • Hi Ell! 😊 Thank you so much for your generous words and birthday greeting 💕 It is incredibly kind of you – I feel honoured. I like the layout of your blog, it’s very vibrant and warm 🤩 Keep up the great work too! 💐💪

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