- There is a museum of strawberries in Belgium.
- Oregon has more ghost towns than any other US state.
Simeon Solomon was an English painter associated with the Pre-Raphaelites who was noted for his depictions of Jewish life and same-sex desire.
His career was cut short following arrests and convictions for sodomy in 1873 and 1874.
Hugh Arthur Franklin was a British suffragist and politician. Born into a wealthy Anglo-Jewish family, he rejected both his religious and social upbringing to protest for women's suffrage. Joining in with the militant suffragettes, he was sent to prison multiple times, making him one of the few men to be imprisoned for his part in the suffrage movement. His crimes included an attempted attack on Winston Churchill and an act of arson on a train. He was the first person to be released under the Prisoners Act 1913, and he later married the second, Elsie Duval. Following his release, he never returned to prison, but still campaigned for women's rights and penal reform. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament on two occasions, but did win a seat on Middlesex County Council and was a member of the Labour Party executive committee.
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, and commonly known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.
A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events. This was the first time that China had hosted the Summer Olympics, and the third time that the Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were the third summer Olympic Games staged in a developing country after the Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.
Beijing was awarded the 2008 Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee after two rounds of voting. The Government of the People's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transport systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, including twelve constructed specifically for the 2008 Olympics.