Happy Leap Day!!

Leap Day History –

Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. If we didn’t add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

Leap Day Trivia –

• I do! Traditionally, women take the ring into their own hands and propose on Leap Day.
• According to the Guinness Book of Records, the only verified example of a family producing three consecutive generations born on February 29 is that of the Keogh family. Peter Anthony was born in Ireland on February 29, 1940, while his son Peter Eric was born on the Leap Day in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1964. His daughter, Bethany Wealth, was, in turn, born in the UK on February 29, 1996.
• A Norwegian family named Henriksen from Andenes holds the official record of number of children born on February 29. Mrs. Karin Henriksen gave birth to 3 children on consecutive February 29; her daughter Heidi in 1960 and her sons Olav and Leif-Martin in 1964 and 1968 respectively.

Celebrity Leap Day birthdays –

Some famous people born on February 29 include:

• 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
• 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (William Tell, The Barber of Seville) (d. 1868)
• 1896 – Morarji Desai, former Indian prime minister (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
• 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, former president of El Salvador
• 1960 – Anthony (Tony) Robbins, American motivational speaker
• 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player
• 1972 – Antonio Sabàto Jr, Italian-born actor
• 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
• 1980 – Chris Conley, American musician and songwriter/composer

Next leap Year/Day –

Monday, February 29, 2016

Happy Leap Year/Day!!