By Cassie Lee
Victoria Day commemorates the May 24, 1819, birthday of Britain’s Queen Victoria (who since has had a whole era named for her—the Victorian era). The British have always celebrated the birthday of the ruling monarch. After Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, the people of Canada continued to mark her birthday to show loyalty to the British Empire. In the early 1890s, this day was known as Empire’s Day. In 1947, the name was changed to Commonwealth Day. Today it is again known as Victoria Day, and it is a legal holiday in all Canadian provinces except Quebec.
Traditional weather lore has it that St. Dunstan was a great brewer who sold himself to the devil on the condition that the devil would blight the apple trees to stop the production of cider, Dunstan’s rival drink. This is said to be the cause of the wintry blast that usually comes about this time.
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FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Jenny Cecilia Petrén (née Berggren; born 19 May 1972), professionally known as Jenny Berggren and Jenny from Ace of Base is a Swedish mezzo-soprano singer and former lead singer in the Swedish pop band Ace of Base. Since 1995, she has also been writing songs and performing solo. In 2010, she released her debut album My Story.
Berggren was born in Gothenburg, the youngest of three children born to Göran Berggren, an X-ray technician, and Birgitta Berggren. She was raised in a Christian family in the Gothenburg suburbs.
All three children took music lessons, and Berggren, along with her older sister Malin, practiced violin. Educated to become a teacher, Berggren studied classical music and sang for her church choir with her sister.
During the late 1980s, the Berggren siblings, along with close friend, Ulf Ekberg, formed the techno band Tech Noir. The group eventually became Ace of Base. Berggren also attended university, with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, she still pursued a musical career, performing background vocals for symphonic rock band Masque while simultaneously preparing vocals to Ace of Base material, which had yet to be released. Berggren put her plans to become a teacher on hold when Ace of Base was signed to Danish label Mega Records, with the band’s debut album eventually selling more than 30 million copies worldwide.
Berggren’s original role in the band was equal with her sister, Linn Berggren, although the first singles chosen by the record company had Linn singing most of the lead vocals. In the early years, she and Linn only had a minor role in the production or writing of any of the band’s songs. Berggren later composed several songs for the band’s The Bridge album, including “Ravine”, a song about an attack that occurred the night of 27 April 1994. On that evening, Berggren and her mother were attacked in their home by a woman who had followed Berggren home. Berggren’s mother was stabbed in the hands, and the woman, a 21-year-old German named Manuela Behrendt, was banned from returning to Sweden. Jenny also composed “Wave Wet Sand” and “Experience Pearls”. She then continued to compose songs for the band’s albums, and her compositions have been included on each successive album. Later, with sister Linn’s sudden withdrawal from the spotlight and beginning with the single “Life Is a Flower” in 1998, Berggren was forced into a more prominent vocal role.
musician Pete Townshend (Who) in 1945 (age 80)
actor/model/musician Grace Jones in 1948 (age 77)
College Football Hall of Fame member Archie Manning in 1949 (age 76)
musician Phil Rudd (AC/DC) in 1954 (age 71)
actor/former first son Steven Ford in 1956 (age 69)
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in 1964 (age 61)
actress Polly Walker in 1966 (age 59)
actor Jason Gray-Stanford in 1970 (age 55)
musician Israel Houghton in 1971 (age 54)
musician Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) in 1972 (age 53)
Basketball Hall of Fame member Kevin Garnett in 1976 (age 49)
actress Rebecca Hall in 1982 (age 43)
musician James Richardson (MGMT) in 1983 (age 42)
comedian Michael Che in 1983 (age 42)
actor Eric Lloyd in 1986 (age 39)
actress Lily Cole in 1987 (age 37)
disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern in 1987
musician/actor Lainey Wilson in 1992 (age 33)
actor Eleanor Tomlinson in 1992 (age 33)
DJ Marshmello in 1992 (age 33)
musician Sam Smith in 1992 (age 33)
TV personality/musician/dancer JoJo Siwa in 2003 (22)
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second of King Henry VIII’s six wives and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded.
In 1588, the Spanish Armada, assembled to invade England, set sail from Lisbon.
In 1935, Pope Pius XI canonized Sir Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher as Saints of the Catholic Church. English King Henry VIII ordered the two men executed in 1535 for refusing to accept him as head of the Church of England.
In 1964, it was revealed that U.S. diplomats had found at least 40 microphones secretly hidden in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
In 1994, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died at age 64.
In 2018, Britain’s Prince Harry married American actor Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II granted the famous couple, the titles of duke and duchess of Sussex.
COURTESY www.almanac.com
