FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom’s most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and a burial site for English and, later, British monarchs.

The building itself was originally a Catholic Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral and seat of the catholic bishop. After 1560 the building was no longer an abbey or a cathedral, after the Catholics had been driven out by King Henry VIII, having instead been granted the status of a Church of England “Royal Peculiar“—a church responsible directly to the sovereign—by Queen Elizabeth I.

According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) in the seventh century at the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of King Henry III.

Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have occurred in Westminster Abbey. Sixteen royal weddings have occurred at the Abbey since 1100.

The Abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 persons, usually of prominence in British history: at least 16 monarchs, 8 Prime Ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior. As such, Westminster Abbey is sometimes described as “Britain’s Valhalla“, after the iconic hall of the chosen heroes in Norse mythology.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

With the holidays here and pounds gained, how many calories do you have to burn to lose a pound of fat?It takes about 3,500 calories to gain or lose a pound of fat. To give you an idea of how much energy it takes to “burn” a calorie, here are a few activities with the number of calories they burn per minute, per pound of body weight: fast ax chopping (or cross-country skiing uphill), 0.135; forking straw bales (or playing basketball), 0.063; window cleaning (or playing croquet), 0.026. So a 150-pound person forking straw bales burns 9.45 calories per minute, which means he or she must fork bales for six hours to lose one pound. (Though not listed, the one exercise guaranteed to burn calories is pushing one’s chair away from the table!)

Advice of the Day

A whispering grove tells of a storm to come.

Home Hint of the Day

Clean rust spots off a countertop by rubbing in toothpaste (not the gel type) with your finger. Rub until the stain is gone, then rinse and wipe dry.

Word of the Day

CryophobiaFear of extreme cold, frost, or ice

Puzzle of the Day

What is that which everyone likes to have but wants to get rid of as soon as possible after he gets it?A good appetite

Born

• Woodrow Wilson (28th U.S. president) – 1856
• Stan Lee (comic book writer) – 1922
• Maggie Smith (actress) – 1934
• Denzel Washington (actor) – 1954
• Sienna Miller (actress) – 1981
• Mackenzie Rosman (actress) – 1989

Died

• Theodore Dreiser (American writer) – 1945
• Sam Peckinpah (filmmaker) – 1984
• John D. MacDonald (writer) – 1986
• William L. Shirer (journalist) – 1993
• William X. Kienzle (author) – 2001
• Jerry Orbach (actor) – 2004
• Debbie Reynolds (actress) – 2016

Events

• Westminster Abbey in London was consecrated– 1065
• Benjamin Franklin’s paper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, ran an ad for the first issue of Franklin’s own Poor Richard’s Almanack– 1732
• Vice President John Calhoun, having serious disagreements with President Andrew Jackson, resigned from office. He was the first U.S. vice president to do so.– 1832
• Iowa admitted to the Union as the 29th state– 1846
• Second chewing gum patent went to William Semple, a dentist in Mt. Vernon, Ohio– 1869
• H. L. Mencken published A Neglected History bathtub hoax– 1917
• First sudden-death overtime game in NFL, Baltimore Colts vs. N.Y. Giants– 1958
• President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act of 1973 into law. It provided broad protection for threatened species of fish, wildlife, and plants.– 1973
• The Endangered Species Act was signed into law by President Nixon– 1973
• Endangered Species Act approved– 1973
• U.S. patent #4,000,000 was issued– 1976

Weather

• Temperatures throughout Iowa hovered near 24 degrees below zero F– 1924
• 83 inches of snow on the ground in Bathurst, New Brunswick– 1978
• A severe snowstorm with periods of near-zero visibility resulted in an incredible 1,000 traffic accidents in Michigan– 1987
• 31.5 inches of snow fell in 24 hours in Victoria, British Columbia– 1996

COURTESY www.almanac.com