AS you probably know, 2014 is the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War as well as being the year of the World Cup, but here are some things you may not know about the new year.
1. The United Nations has designated 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming and the International Year of Crystallography.
2. This year is the centenary of Charlie Chaplin’s film debut in February, 1914.
3. It is also the centenary of the only victory by the Luxembourg football team over France.
4. In 1814, Norway became independent.
5. It is also the bicentenary of the London Beer Flood, when the rupture of a beer vat in London caused a wave of 323,000 gallons of beer which demolished several streets and killed nine people.
6. Chocolate magnate Henri Nestlé and saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax were both born in 1814.
7. 1814 also saw the death, by natural causes, of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, inventor of the Guillotine.
8. This is the 400th anniversary of the marriage in Virginia in 1614 of John Rolfe to Pocahontas.
9. In 1314 Robert the Bruce defeated the forces of Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn.
10. One thousand years ago, in 1014, Sweyn Forkbeard died, opening the way for his son Cnut (Canute) to become King of England.
.jpg)