• Today is Peter and Paul Day, commemorating martyrdom of the Apostles. Church tradition holds that Nero had Peter crucified and Paul beheaded because they refused to stop preaching the Gospel. Today’s observance began in the 3rd century.

     • Today is Remote Control Day, a favorite observance of couch potatoes everywhere.

      • Today is National Almond Butter Crunch Day.

     • Today is Elvis Presley Boulevard Day. The City of Memphis voted to name a 12-mile portion of the street that passes Graceland in honor of Elvis. Street signs disappeared immediately.

     • Today is Waffle Iron Day.

     • Today is Independence Day in Seychelles.

On this date in . . .

1838: To mark Queen Victoria's coronation the day before, the British newspaper The Sun published its entire issue with gold ink.

1776: Virginia adopted a state constitution and made Patrick Henry governor.

1956: Dressed in a tux and tails on Steve Allen’s TV variety show, Elvis Presley sang "Hound Dog" to a basset hound sitting on a stool.

1978: Actor Bob Crane was murdered in a Scottsdale, Arizona, motel room. A former deejay, he starred as Col. Robert Hogan on TV’s Hogan’s Heroes.

1983: History's oldest caged rabbit died in Longford, Tasmania. Flopsy was 18 years 11 months old.

1983: Prince Mongo of the uncharted planet of Zambodia, accused of tampering with an electric meter in Memphis, was sentenced to 10 days for contempt when he appeared in court wearing green body paint, a fur loincloth, gold goggles, and carrying a skull under one arm. Later that year Prince Mongo ran for mayor of Memphis and got 2,650 votes.

1986: In Louisville, Kentucky a man arrested for drunk driving claimed to be legally blind and that the car was actually being driven by his dog, Sir Anheuser Busch II. He served 30 days in jail.

1991: A company called Longest Taco Tico made the world’s longest burrito in Newton, Kansas. They used 2,557 tortillas, 75 pounds of cheese, and 607 pounds of refried beans to build the 1,598-foot burrito.

1992: Doctors in Pittsburgh reported the first transplant of a baboon's liver into a human patient. The 35-year-old recipient survived three months.

1994: Robert Shepard escaped from the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia, by scaling an 18-foot wall using a rope made from dental floss purchased at the jail store. He was recaptured a month later. The jail store no longer sells dental floss.

2002: President George W. Bush transferred presidential powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours during a routine colon screening.

2003: Actress Katherine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Connecticut at age 96. She won a record four Oscars for best actress.

2005: A group of half-naked animal rights demonstrators got plenty of attention in Madrid's historic Puerta del Sol square  in a protest against bullfighting. Five young women carrying "Stop the Bloody Bullfights" signs wore only panties and had plastic bull horns on their heads. The protesters claimed 70,000 bulls a year were killed in bullfights in Spain.