How to celebrate your birthday in a blog
March is my birthday month and while not everyone wants to put their exact birthday date ‘out there’, I thought I’d give you some ideas to celebrate your birthday in a blog. Remember the best tone of voice is one of ‘service’ or ‘fun’ rather than one of ‘look at me’.
Blog ideas:
Look for people who share the same birthday as you. Link them to your interests or focus on those you admire for whatever reason – it could even be a friend rather than a celebrity or a well-known person in history.
I have a wide range of interests, as a journalist, but I love reading, and watching films, and of course I’m interested in politics.
I share my birthday with John Fowles (b 1926. – 2005) – the author of ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, also made into a very successful film. He also wrote ‘The Collector’ ( an extremely creepy story), ‘The Magus’ and ‘The Ebony Tower’.
I also share my day with actors Christopher Walken (1943) and Ewan McGregor (1971).
I could talk about the films starring these actors that I enjoyed.
And with politicians, David Steel, Scottish politician (1938) and Al Gore American politician (1948).
Equally I share my birthday with another journalist I know really well and admire who does what I do – we were born on the same day though I take great delight in reminding her that she’s older than me – by about five hours!
The number one hit record the year I was born, was ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine anymore – The Walker Brothers.
Other people born on the same day as me in history:
1596 – René Descartes, the French philosopher (“I think, therefore I am”).
1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, composer.
1732 – Franz Joseph Haydn, composer.
1871 – Arthur Griffith, Irish writer and politician who founded Sinn Fein.
12 Historical events taking place on 31st March:
1657 The English Parliament made the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, offering him the crown, which he declined.
1855 The author of ‘Jane Eyre’, Charlotte Bronte, died during childbirth. Many women died from childbirth at this time, often through extreme blood loss. I experienced this blood loss suddenly when our son was born – thank goodness for our NHS who literally saved my life that day.
1889 The Eiffel Tower opened, built for the ‘Exposition Universelle’ – it retained the record of 300m for the tallest man-made structure for 41 years. I’ve seen it many times and was meant to dine in its restaurant for my 50th. We set out to go there and it was closed by a workers’ strike that day – we got a message asking if we could re-arrange for the following week!
1920 British Parliament accepted Irish Home Rule law.
1930 The Motion Pictures Production Code was instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, for the next 38 years.
1966 Labour Party won the election with a majority, making Harold Wilson Prime Minister. My mum constantly reminds me of this as she voted on the way to the hospital to have me. Literally, she said, I was born to vote Labour. I have no comment to make on that!
1973 The racehorse, Red Rum won the Grand National Steeple chase in record time. A record unbroken for 16 years. He is also the only horse to have won the Grand National three times.
1983 Monty Pythons’ film’ The Meaning of Life’ was released in US.
- Hampton Court palace was badly damaged by fire.
1988 Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer prize for her novel ‘Beloved’
1990 Major riot in London and other British towns in protest against the new Community Charge or poll tax laws.
2011 Edward Stobart, who built the Eddie Stobart truck empire died at the age of 56. His company has continued to grow, and its green trucks are a regular sight all over the country. He began the tradition of naming his trucks with female names, however it is now opened up to members of the Stobart Club, which anyone can join.
If I were to write a blog linked to my birthday, I’ve got a lot of different things I could write about. I could choose personal memories to write about to share.
I might decide to write a memory linked to something political, or a business link, such as the one about Eddie Stobart.
By just researching the date you were born, plus looking for particular interests for you – you could write several blogs.
Next week’s blog looks at the subject of Spring!