Month: July 2022

Black Country Day 14 July – this day was chosen as it is considered to be the date of the inception of the Newcomen engine, the first commercially successful engine. Invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, it was first installed at Coneygree Coal Works in Tipton and was used to pump water out of mines. A replica … Continue reading “Black Country Day 14 July”

Bastille Day celebrates the storming of the Bastille – a military fortress and prison – on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that was a turning point in the French Revolution. Holding gunpowder and other supplies valuable to revolutionaries, the Bastille also symbolized the callous tyranny of the French monarchy, especially King Louis XVI … Continue reading “Le quatorze juillet”

Asalha Puja falls on the sixth lunar month (typically July), and commemorates Buddha’s first sermon after enlightenment which took place in the Deer Park in Benares (Varanasi), India. The festival offers a chance for Buddhists to reflect on the sermon’s four noble truths: there is suffering, suffering is caused by attachment, there is a plane … Continue reading “Asalha Puja (13 July)”

World Chocolate Day is an annual global celebration of chocolate, taking place on 7 July, which is thought to be the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550. (Personally, every day is World Chocolate Day for me. We used to regularly use the machine below as children, pestering our Mum and Dad … Continue reading “World Chocolate Day (7 July)”